Foreign.

Hello and welcome to Binge Watch, the podcast where we take a look at the hottest new TV and film releases on streaming television platforms.

I'm Hannah Fernando, the group editor of Woman and Woman in Home magazine.

And I'm Ian McEwan, writer on TV and Satellite Week, TV Times, what's on TV and whattowatch.com and today we're looking at the new releases that will be available on Friday 15th August, 2025, including NOW TV Rocumentary Becoming LED Zeppelin about the early years of the 1970s Rock Titans and Alien franchise.

TV spin off Alien Earth on Disney.

And we'll also be checking out slasher rom com Heart Eyes on Paramount and drug smuggling thriller In Flight Star starring Kathryn Kelly, who's absolutely brilliant on itvx.

But first, Ian, what is in the news?

Ben Stiller will direct Apple TV documentary Stiller and Nothing Is Lost, which is about the careers and lives of his late parents, Jerry Stiller and and Meara and Keira Knightley will star in the one off Netflix drama the Woman in Cabin 10.

She'll play a journalist aboard a luxury yacht alongside Guy Pearce as the wealthy owner Hannah Waddingham, David Morrissey, Art Malik and one of our favorites, Paul Kay.

Well, good selection for you this week.

Quite a lot of fear, I would say.

It's not Halloween.

I had to check the dates.

It's not Halloween, is it?

I know it is not Halloween, nor is it Valentine's Day, but we'll come on to that later.

We're going to start on Disney plus with a new sci fi series called Alien Earth.

And here's a clip.

We have a downed spacecraft.

I want what's on that ship.

We can do it.

We're fast, we're strong, we don't break.

It's like a zoo.

But the animals got out.

This ship collected five different life forms from the darkest corners of the universe.

So this launched as a double Bill on Wednesday 13 August and it will then drop weekly.

I was very concerned, Hannah, when Fargo, one of my favorite films, was turned into a TV series, in fact, a TV franchise.

But I needn't have worried because it was really, really well done.

And the same person, Noah Hawley, is doing something similar to the Alien film franchise, which started way back in 1979 with Ridley Scott's Alien in Space.

No one can hear you scream.

So, yeah, I've really been looking forward to this and I have to say I wasn't disappointed.

So it set two years before the original film and yes, starts with A crew on a ship similarly waking up from hyperspace.

And, yes, there will be something nasty on board, but in this case, they've actually collected all these specimens from deep, deep space, all these sort of frightening creatures they're bringing back to Earth.

However, there's a bit of a mishap, let's say, and the vessel crash lands.

But it's not just about the xenomorph that we're so familiar with.

Earth is kind of divided up between these huge corporations.

And one of them is called the Prodigy Corporation, which, as the name suggests, is run by a very talented youngster called Boy Cavalier, and he's creating these transhuman hybrids.

So he's basically.

There are all these terminally ill children, and he's going to sort of take their consciousness and put them into these synthetic adult bodies.

They rather overplay the Peter Pan theme on this, but never mind that.

It's an interesting idea.

And there's a lot of stuff about AI and that kind of thing, a lot of questions about identity.

And so they're kind of almost like super soldiers because they have, like, speed and strength, but they still have sort of the minds of children.

Anyway, they are sent in to the crash site where the ship is, and obviously there are different people trying to get their hands on what's on board this crashed spaceship.

And it's.

Yeah, it's some good stuff.

There are some new creepy crawlies that we haven't seen before, and they're just.

Oh, my God, it's just terrifying.

Yeah.

So Babu Sisse is in this as a cyborg security officer.

You got Timothy Oliphant, and you've also got Adrian Edmondson, would you believe it, from the Young Ones.

Yes, he's in it as well.

So, yeah, I think it's been very well served.

Initially, I was thinking, I wish they'd just crack on and get the aliens killing people.

But, yeah, it has got this whole new backstory with these.

You've got the kind of synthetics and you've got cyborgs, and if you've got hybrids.

And one of the hybrids, Wendy.

Yes, Peter Pan, that's right.

Played by Sidney Chandler.

So she, the child whose consciousness she has had a brother, Joe, played by Alex Lautha, and he's a military medic.

And she's kind of become obsessed with finding out where he is and what he's doing.

So that is all going to play out as well.

So, yeah, I love the Alien films.

I watch them over and over again and I very much like this.

What did you think, Hannah?

Well, those creepy crawlies and nasty things are pretty grim, aren't they?

I mean, they really are.

I mean, it's not, it's not a genre that I love, as you well know, but this is really well done.

I often kind of wonder, you know, when Alien was, you know, it seems old now, doesn't it?

But it was brilliant.

How, how you can make things more sort of scary, grim, upsetting, but yet this has, this has managed to reach another, another level.

And I don't know, I, it's, it's different enough to, for you to kind of think actually they're onto something here.

It's not, it's.

I don't, I don't.

It doesn't feel like something that you, I don't know, tune out of really, really quickly now.

I've just seen too much grimness and it's horrible.

Like some, like the kind of the fighting scenes that you'll see in other action packed movies, really a switch off for me.

I didn't have that at all.

With this and the kind of, I think the flashbacks and the, it's, it's cleverly done.

I think even if you don't like this genre, there's something quite special about it.

We move across to Channel 4 streaming for a new drama series called In Flight and here's a clip.

This time you fly to Istanbul, I'll meet you with three kilos of arrow.

You're going to bring that back on your sling.

If you refuse, we'll kill your son.

You need to hide.

Why?

Do you trust me?

Fight back.

So now don't underestimate me.

If you go to the police, a lawyer, a friend will kill your son.

Yes.

So this is a six part series and it's set across the uk, Bulgaria, Thailand and Turkey.

Although I think I'm right in saying actually it was all filmed in Ireland.

I want to say Ireland.

It's all filmed in Belfast, on location in Belfast, which is quite bizarre because when you actually watch this, it's, it's hard to believe.

It's so cleverly done.

And I alluded to this at the beginning of the podcast.

This has got Katherine Kelly and I'm a massive fan of Katherine Kelly.

I think she's done incredibly well to not be typecast and to do something a bit different each time she does it.

And she plays the part of a single mum and flight attendant called Jo, and she's got a 19 year old called Sonny, a son called Sunny.

And this is really ultimately a story about how far a mother will go for her son.

And I think, as a mother, I think, what would I do?

What lengths would I go to to try and help?

And, you know, I think I probably have quite a sense of justice.

And she does too.

Now he has been jailed for killing a local man in a brawl.

And he says it's a murder he didn't commit.

You know, he absolutely believes.

Absolutely innocent, and she completely believes him.

But alongside of that, she gets.

And then this is the bit that's kind of weird, but it happens, and very quickly you're taken in with it.

And her part changes so unbelievably in such a short space of time, from being this sort of sweet mum trying to do everything she can, to suddenly being part of a sort of a huge gang, a terrifying gang.

And that is because she's approached at a bar by a criminal, Cormac, and he tells her that her son's life is in danger unless she uses her job as an airline steward to smuggle huge quantities of drugs from Bangkok and Istanbul.

And what do you do?

What do you do as a mother?

Do you take it on?

Do you tell the police?

He says, if you tell police, you tell lawyers, you tell anyone, that's it, he's dead.

So she is.

She is forced to carry it, carry this out.

But alongside all of that and that drama, and as I say, someone changing from one extreme to the other within two episodes, I hasten to add, she also.

They also managed to kind of weave in some kind of romance and some, you know, some relationship stuff too.

So it doesn't feel kind of just on one level.

From what I've seen of this so far, I really, really am enjoying it.

And I think that Katherine Kelly, I feel like I'm fangirling, but she's really very, very good.

And whether it's credible or not, which is questionable, it didn't matter to me, actually.

I just.

I just was enjoying what I was seeing.

And the fact that, as I say, this was all filmed on location, once you watch this, I think you'll find it quite hard to believe.

What did you think, Ian?

I liked it.

I do think Kathryn Kelly, bit like Joan Crawford, is very good at suffering, isn't she?

And, boy, does she suffer in this.

People trying to smuggle drugs through customs is always very tense, isn't it?

Thinking of Midnight Express, the beginning of that classic movie.

And so it is in this.

It's a good setup.

I think the fact that if she doesn't agree to smuggle these drugs, her Son's going to get stabbed in prison basically, so she doesn't really have a choice.

But it's not just a one time deal.

It's going to keep going and going until, you know, presumably he can get out because his name is cleared.

But we don't know if that's going to happen.

So good to see Stuart Martin in this as Cormac.

So I'm more used to seeing him play sort of nice guys.

He was in Jamestown years ago and he's done quite a few series of Miss Scarlet and the Duke, the period who done it.

He was very good at that.

He's left that now, of course, but yeah, he's great in this and he's not.

I mean, obviously he is a baddie.

But there's something.

Maybe it's because he's just so handsome, but there's something vaguely relatable about him as well because it's almost as if, like this is just business, you know, I have to do what I have to do, you've got to do what you got to do.

And that's it.

This is where we are.

Yeah, I think it's well done, it's exciting and you do have, as you said, you've got this kind of.

Also you've got this romantic storyline because Joe's ex lover who is married, he's played by Ashley Thomas from Top Boy, he's called Dom and he's a customs officer.

Yeah, well, that could be handy, couldn't it?

And yeah, in episode one, it shows the first time that she's gonna have to do this smuggling.

Also you see that the son is just having a horrific time in this prison, you know, so you can, you can understand that.

She'll think, yeah, I'll do anything, I'll do whatever it takes.

But yeah, she has to smuggle the stuff through customers.

But there's been a tip off because cabin crew don't normally get checked, do they?

They just sail straight through while we're all queuing up.

But yeah, there's been a tip off.

So what's gonna happen?

Well, you'll find out.

But yeah.

Another great role for Catherine Kelly, who is reliably good in everything really, isn't she?

And yes, I enjoyed it.

Over on NOW TV we've got a new rockumentary called Becoming Led Zeppelin and here's a clip.

The first time we played together, you could say it was going to be a good group.

It was an electric atmosphere and that had been what I've been waiting for.

Jimmy produced the album I wanted it to be.

Be something that they hadn't heard before the press.

He didn't seem to like us.

Got ripped to pieces.

People wouldn't even book the band.

Manager of Peter Grant gets a tour together in America.

We're backstage at the Fillmore and Peter says, if you don't crack it here, it's over.

Fun fact for you, Hannah.

Did you know that Led Zeppelin, the name of the heavy rock band from the 1960s and 70s.

It's a pun on lead balloon.

How did I not know this?

I don't.

How did I not know this?

Anyway, this is, this is about the early years of the band in the late 60s and they came up as kind of hard working musicians and Jimmy Page had played with people including the Yardbirds and he put this band together, a terrific drummer in John Bonham, John Paul Jones on the bass, who was also a session musician, Light Page.

They played on lots of really famous singles and albums and singer Robert Plant, they couldn't really get arrested in the uk.

They went to tour America where they really broke through and it was kind of like a make or break tour.

Like it was, you know, if it doesn't happen for you in America, that's it.

So, yeah, good to hear the backstories not just of their sort of musical journeys, but, yeah, Robert Plant, incredibly.

We originally wanted to become an accountant, can you believe that?

Some great footage, some great music, interviews with the surviving members.

And they do they come across as, I must say, as really nice guys, even though they had.

They built this reputation for tremendous excess on tour, didn't they?

And in fact, Bonham tragically died after consuming an industrial amount of vodka.

And sadly, it mentions in this film that his wife said, you know, don't get involved with Robert Plant because it, you know, it won't end well.

So it misses out really their heyday in a way when most of their, you know, most successful albums and biggest singles came out.

So it would be good to see that phase of the band covered perhaps in a future film.

But yeah, I think it's really well done and the guy who made it, he.

They weren't very keen on the project, but he made such a good case for it and was clearly so well informed and he'd also, I think he'd done a documentary series about American roots music and as soon as they been brought up kind of in the Blues Explosion and that's what they were involved in in their early years, they thought, yeah, this is a guy that we trust to tell our story.

So Yeah, I mean, for music fans it's an absolute no brainer.

I enjoyed it.

What did she think?

Hannah?

I love them, you know that I absolutely love things like this.

You learn something that you, you never knew.

And I think probably even hardcore fans, which I'm not will do as well.

And as you say, it kind of, it sort of stops short of the band success, doesn't it really?

But this is the first documentary rockumentary that they've authorized.

And so therefore you do feel like you get much, much more.

You can tell when something's unauthorized, can't you?

And it's just not quite as close to them as you'd like.

And this feels.

Well, it is, it's authentic and credible and their journey is just truly interesting.

I think they, you know, they broke America before they break here, before we realized what we were kind of missing.

And it's just that, it's just that wasn't an easy path, don't get me wrong, but it's a completely different path to how music stars make it these days.

And I was talking about it with someone this morning.

I wonder if we'll ever go back to how it was before.

For bands to be able to make it in a kind of an old fashioned way.

We talk about it in magazines, don't we, in print, you know, is it in decline?

Actually, no, I think it will come back.

It'll go full circle.

It's just an interesting phenomenon because actually when you see this, they've really gone through it.

They've really gone through the process and you see some sort of new reality shows.

I'm not saying all musicians make it through reality shows.

Of course they don't.

It's other ways.

Certainly not the way that Led Zeppelin did.

But, you know, it's just a completely different path.

So I thought I found it very thoroughly interesting.

We're going to finish over on Paramount plus with a new feature film called Heart Eyes.

And here's a clip.

For the past two years, a masked maniac known as the Heart Eyes killer has stalked, hunted and brutally slain couples on Valentine's Day with no motive yet uncovered.

This is more than just murder.

He's like Cupid with a kink.

Yes.

Where do I start?

Where do I start with this?

This is when I said earlier, is it like, you know, is it Halloween or you know, is it kind of.

Because actually this is all about Valentine's Day.

So I suppose it could also be on Valentine's Day, but it's a kind of random time to be releasing Something like this, perhaps.

But essentially Heart Eyes is a horrible creature, a murdering creature who has eyes like Hearts.

And.

And I say he.

It likes to kill couples on Valentine's Day.

That really is the sort of the.

The crux of this, in all honesty.

And Heart Eyes will strike anywhere.

You know, he's indiscriminate.

He'll strike absolutely.

It.

I can't keep saying he.

That's wrong.

It will just hit wherever.

And in this instance, it takes on a couple that are slightly.

Will fight back and actually injure Heart Eyes.

But the person who injures Heart Eyes is actually the person who then gets done.

Accused of all the murders or some of the murders, because there are fingerprints there.

They were clearly at the scene.

And there's.

There's relationship twists here where, you know, Ally McCabe, who's kind of the main character in this, you know, she meets a guy, J, but then they sort of fall out on their date and then she ends up kissing him because she sees her boyfriend coming the other way with a new girlfriend.

And they turn out they do really like each other.

And then Heart Eyes attacks them.

I feel like the whole love thing is a bit of an undercurrent here.

It's just.

It's just a bit.

I didn't find that.

That fascinating or that interesting.

This is just exactly what you'd expect.

It makes you jump.

It makes you, you know, you kind of think, oh, you know, it comes from nowhere and at times is really quite gory.

So perhaps it will be no surprise that the producer is also the producer of Scream.

Of course, the Scream series went on to be quite laughable, didn't they?

And I think probably this could end up like that.

What do you think, Ian?

Yeah, it's very much the same kind of tone as Scream, isn't it?

In that it's almost kind of subverting the slasher genre with humor.

It is very gory, I must say.

And Mason Gooding, Cuba Gooding Junior's son, who plays the handsome Jay, has been in two of the Scream films.

I liked Olivia Holt, who plays Ali, and I did like.

So basically, she's.

She thinks she's going to be fired from her job, she splits up with her boyfriend, and then Jay turns up at work to kind of like save the campaign, the advertising campaign.

But there's a Meet Cute They.

They meet in a coffee shop then, oh, that's.

That guy I met in the coffee shop is now my new colleague.

And so I. I kind of think it would have been.

Could have Been quite.

Just a nice rom com really.

The sort of thing Jennifer Aniston might have been in.

But no, it's also a slasher movie.

I mean, it is quite funny in part, but I ended up kind of fast forwarding quite a lot of it because it's just a lot of kind of jump scares and waiting for heart eyes to appear out of the darkness and disappear and you know, with his big machete.

Although Ali is, you know, quite a tough nut.

I'm not sure.

Do we really want more films where men in masks.

Well, it may not be a man.

Spoiler alert.

Are chasing young women?

I'm not sure.

I don't know.

It's quite a good setup.

But I did lose interest towards the end, I'll say that.

But yeah, I mean, I don't think you can set the bar too high for this kind of film because it's looking to deliver laughs and shocks and it does.

So, you know, if you're into things like Scream, I think you'll enjoy it.

Now we got to that time, Hannah, where we find out what the hell you've been binge watching.

Well, you can tell it's a summer holidays for me.

We watched Barbie, which we've not watched since it came out in the cinema.

It was just as good that time around, to be honest with you.

So funny.

I love it.

Lots of people like, oh, God, it's just rubbish.

No good.

I absolutely love it.

It's brilliant.

Well, I want something altogether more manly.

Yet another sports documentary series on Netflix.

This one's called SEC Football and it's all about the college American football scene in America, which is huge.

I mean, they draw crowds at college games that are way bigger than any Premier League association football games over here.

So, yeah, very much enjoyed that.

Now we've just got time to look ahead to next week's offerings.

So what's on the agenda, Belinda?

Well, very sadly, you'll remember that Matthew Perry passed away.

And we've got a new ITV documentary coming out which recounts the life and the tragic death of Matthew Perry, who was amazing and friends and known from friends and of course, one of his best friends, Jenna Brannison has just done the COVID of Vanity Fair, hasn't she too?

Okay.

And Saran Jones will play the British Prime Minister in a new Netflix thriller called Hostage.

So we look forward to those and much, much more.

But in the meantime, dear listeners.

Watching.