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 and Home magazine.

And I'm Ian McKeown, writer on TV and Satellite Week, TV Times, what's on TV and what watch.com and today we're looking at the new releases that will be available on Friday 1st of of August 2025, including Jason Momoa in Apple TV.

Plus period drama chief of War set in the islands of Hawaii at the turn of the 18th century.

And new football documentary series Built in Birmingham, Brady and the Blues on Prime Video.

And we'll also be going behind the scenes, a professional American wrestlet wrestling with a WWE Unreal on Netflix and revisiting Fire country as the California firefighting drama returns to now tv.

But first, in what is in the.

News, Maisie Adam, Reese Shearsmith and Sanjeev Bhaskar are among the celebrities who will be taking on fiendish challenges in the next series of one of my favorite shows, taskmaster on channel 4.

What else is in the news, Hannah?

Well, Samuel L. Jackson will star in Nola King, a spin off from the Paramount plus series Tulsa King.

Good stuff.

Well, there's something of a sporting flavor, I would say to this week's pod, Hannah.

We're going to start on Prime Video with the new documentary series Built in Birmingham, Brady and the Blues.

And here's a clip.

The takeover of Birmingham City has completed.

NFL legend Tom Brady has become a minority owner in the team.

Who he was a sportsman, wasn't he?

Tom Brady, Uzi, probably.

What he knows about football you could put on a postage stamp.

Am I afraid of.

This is not a vanity thing.

This is like let's get our elbows dirty.

So famously, Wrexham Football club were bought by a couple of Hollywood stars, weren't they, Hannah?

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny.

And of course, Netflix made a series all about that.

Well, move over, Wrexham.

Birmingham City are in on the act because American footballer Tom Brady, well, he's retired now, but he's one of the all time great quarterbacks.

He bought a minority share in the club and yeah, with the intention of kind of doing a similar thing.

And of course, Reynolds and McElhenny have been very successful at Wrexham, haven't they?

They've, they think they got three promotions in a row.

So we come to Birmingham the Blues to see how Brady is going to get on.

Yeah, it's a bit of a rocky ride.

It has to be said.

And in fact they rattle through the first season in, in one episode.

So, yeah, I imagine they're going to take a little bit longer with the rest of it.

And for those who don't know, they.

Well, they booted out the existing manager even though Birmingham were doing quite well.

They were.

I think they're about sixth in the league and, and yeah, the plan is to get them into the Premier League and they were in the championship, but they, they get rid of the manager controversially and they appoint Wayne Rooney, of course, we mentioned last week, didn't he is going to be getting his own reality show.

And well, I won't tell you what happens next, but it's interesting, let's put it that way.

So it's a very similar formula to the series all about Wrexham in that, yeah, we hear from the fans.

In fact, we see Brady going to one of the local pubs to meet all the fans.

And you have Stephen Knight, the scriptwriter of shows such as Pookie Blinders, which of course is set in Birmingham.

We have.

He's one of the talking heads.

I mean, I love this kind of thing, so I thoroughly enjoyed it.

And if you'd like that Wrexham show, then, yeah, this is more of the same, but let's just say not quite with such a happy ending.

What did you think, Hannah?

Do you know what?

I. I do like things like this because it doesn't really matter whether you're a football fan or a soccer fan or anything really, does it?

Because you just sort of get to see a load of faces that you recognize because they're kind of celebrity faces and then they obviously are.

I mean, there is lots of drama here, as you say, and not always a happy ending, but it's kind of interesting to see backstage, I suppose, a bit like it is with anything.

And, and with this you get exactly, exactly that.

It's exactly as you say.

It's kind of the same premise as what we've seen before, but it's, it's.

I don't know, it's interesting as people kind of trying their hand at something that necessarily, you know, in this instance, actually there are a lot of people that do know what they're doing, but, you know, too many cooks comes to mind at, at some points during it, during this.

And the amount of money never fails to amaze me with things like this.

The huge, huge amounts of money, sponsorship money that goes to.

I mean, I know you have a short lived career as a footballer, as a soccer player.

I do appreciate that.

So you need to make it quick.

But goodness me, that's a lot, a lot of money, Ian.

More than we could ever imagine.

But no, I thought, I do like things like this.

I think people, people will enjoy it.

Good stuff.

Well, we move across to Apple TV plus for a new historical drama series called Chief of War.

And here's a clip.

Tell me of the outside world.

It is strange.

The pale skin honors no gods of land.

They will be coming soon.

If this island is divided, this kingdom will fall.

Well, I thoroughly enjoyed what I have seen so far of this, primarily because Jason Momoa features so heavily.

And doesn't he look great?

What a legend.

I mean, he has got a, an army of fans really, hasn't he?

And has done so much stuff in recent times, like Aquaman.

But this is a Apple TV plus, so as I always say, a really well put together and no expense, bad piece of work.

And he's playing a really quite different hero in this.

It's set in 18th century Hawaii and I must admit at first I thought I'm only going to enjoy this because Jason's in it, but actually the more I watched of it, the more I thought, no, hang on a minute, Hannah, be a bit fairer here and be a bit kinder.

And it's based on true.

So you, you learn something here too.

I certainly did.

Anyway, nine parts and he plays the part.

Jason Momoa plays the part of a warrior.

I'm gonna try and pronounce all these names, forgive me if I get them wrong, called Kiana.

And he attempts to unite these four kingdoms which are islands, but are constantly at war with each other.

And so it's not war as we know it, it's kind of war with space spears.

And he's a bit bloody in places and, and he risks everything for his land.

He's completely fearless, which is kind of what we come to know of Jason Momoa really, isn't it?

You know, that kind of character that he plays.

It's absolutely action packed, but there is some lovely romance in there as well.

There's some really touching moments too, and I think that's what I really enjoyed about this.

It wasn't just all brutality, war, you know, armies fighting each other.

There had sort of a deeper level and some romance and what have you in there, which I think makes this, broadly speaking for, for more people, I would say.

So I have to say I didn't go into this with high hopes other than to think that I would enjoy it because of Jason Momoa playing the main part, but actually It's.

It.

I came out learning an awful lot, and I thought that it has some really kind of.

Some lovely backdrops as well with this, too.

And the history of Hawaii is not well known.

I didn't know.

I didn't know half of this until I watched it.

So it's.

I think it's.

I think it is pretty authentic.

And as I say, filming in Hawaii and New Zealand makes.

Makes for a beautiful backdrop.

What do you think, Ian?

Yeah, I found it very interesting.

Jason Momoa is ripped.

He is.

He is.

And he really licks the past in this because he is this mighty warrior, but he sort of turned his back on warfare because of something that's happened that we're gonna find out.

So he and a small group of associates have gone from his sort of native island to live on another island with another tribe.

But he is sort of summoned back by his.

By his own king.

It looks stunning.

And also what I particularly like about it is that they speak in the authentic language that would have been used there at the time, which.

Which really gives it that extra authenticity.

And just culturally, in terms of, you know, they've got all this ceremonial headdresses and so on that they wear.

And we see how they used to train their warriors, how they used to hunt.

I mean, there's an amazing sequence, shark hunting, so there's lots of good stuff about it that I enjoyed.

However, I. I mean, it's pretty.

When it is.

When it does get into the warfare, it's pretty brutal, but, you know, exciting but brutal.

And I just hope it's not going to kind of descend into just lots of very bloody battle scenes.

Yeah, so there's.

There's.

There's going to be a plot about the sort of warring factions between the islands of Hawaii and.

And the.

The sort of different tribes there and kings that are there.

But, yes, of course, the white man is going to come as well, Hannah, and ruin everything for everyone.

But.

Twas ever thus.

But, yeah, it just shows you, you know, all over the world, war seems to be just inescapable, alas.

But, yeah, I thought it was.

It was different.

I thought Momoa was great in it.

And they seem to have.

Yeah, they've got a very strong cast.

And.

Yeah, just the authenticity of having it in that in the proper language is an added bonus over on Netflix.

Yes, we've got more.

Well, is it a sport?

That's a.

That's a moot point.

We have some professional wrestling for you in wwe.

Unreal.

And here's a clip for people that.

Think, isn't that just a bunch of guys pretending to fight?

When you see the behind the scenes, I don't know how you can't fall in love with a business.

Yeah, I want to make sure it makes the noise so it's gonna be kind of thick.

Oh, my goodness.

This was the biggest show of the year.

I'm like freaking out and.

And then as soon as my music plays, I'm Rhea Ripley.

So, yes, the behind the scenes sports documentary is such a big thing at the moment, isn't it, Hanno?

You know, you've got cycling, rugby, football, Formula one, nascar, American football, you name it.

Golf.

They've made a behind the scenes documentary series about it.

And this time, time we're going inside the world of wwe, which, which has become huge, isn't it?

And in fact, well, one of its big stars, Hulk Hogan, passed away recently.

I mean, I personally have never really got into wwe, but I know that it is huge.

And of course, you know, the big stars of it, I mean, the, the potential for them.

Look at the Rock.

Look what happened to him.

Look what happened to John Chino, who's just been in a film with Idris Elba.

You know, these guys become big stars and they can make a lot of money and then they can cross over to Hollywood, you know.

So, yeah, as I say, this is going behind the scenes.

You're going to see people like the Rock, Cody Rhodes, who's kind of like the pin up boy.

I really liked Rhea Ripley, a female wrestler who's looks very kind of goth.

She's got lots of taxidermy at home.

She's, she's great.

You do see John Cena, you see CM Punk making a comeback.

So, yes, I wasn't really familiar with, with all of these names, but it's very different from the wrestling I grew up watching, which was on a Saturday afternoon on ITV with people like Giant Haystacks and Big Daddy.

And this is, it's showbiz, you know.

So what's quite interesting, I mean, everybody knows that, you know, of course they're not real fights as in like a boxing match, but they're actually storylines with characters that are very carefully choreographed.

And they have to be because it's dangerous as well.

You've got people like smashing each other over the head with chairs and stuff like that.

And so you find out that actually quite interestingly, there are people, producers watching the action.

There's a storyline that they're supposed to follow and it's supposed to fit to a strict Time as well.

So they, so if it's overrun and they say, okay, cut out this move, that move.

And they're talking into the earpiece of the referee who can then sort of convey messages to the wrestler.

So it's all, it's all quite cleverly done.

And yeah, that larger the live characters, you've got the goodies, you've got the baddies.

Sometimes they go from being one to the other.

Yeah.

So I did find it quite an interesting look behind the curtain, but I'm, I'm not that into WWE as I say, but I know there are a lot of fans out there, so I think this will go down very well.

What did you think, Hannah?

Do you know what?

It used to be my brother when we were younger that would watch things like this.

And I've got to be honest with you, it never felt authentic at all.

I know that a lot of concerns about this has been that this is kind of taking you behind the curtain, isn't it?

A little look behind the curtain that actually you might find out a bit too much and kind of ruin the whole idea of this kind of staged, staged performance.

I'm not sure it did that for me because actually it's always felt staged.

I don't know how.

I've never understood how these styles have become so big.

And like you said, there's been some hugely successful names in this business.

It's just absolutely absurd to me and I'm not sure that this has done anything to change my mind on that.

It's just a really strange pretending to throw people around and make.

Well, I suppose they do make a wad of cash from it.

But yeah, the sneak peek behind the curtain, I think people, if you are, you know, people are interested in, in wwe, then it, then it could be interesting.

Is it teaching them anything they don't know?

I wouldn't have thought so.

Unless you thoroughly do believe everything you see.

And as you say, there's lots of kind of things like this.

And at the moment, isn't this sort of behind the scenes document even what we were talking about earlier, you know, football, soccer, stadiums, what's really going on?

And I, I guess that nosiness is, it is in us all.

And that does sort of scratch that itch, so to speak.

But I, I didn't, I, I've got to be honest with you, I don't think it told me anything I didn't already know.

We're going to finish over on Sky Witness and now TV with the third season of an American drama series.

Called Fire country.

And here's a clip.

Gabriella, you take Diego to be your lawfully wedded husband.

We can help.

Let's go.

Oh, need to fight.

Fire out here is a free man.

Can't decide if firefighting is going to save that kid or get him killed.

Yes.

So I've watched the first and second episode of, of this and as you say, it's its third outing, isn't it?

So it's a US drama.

It's obviously incredibly well received, which is why.

Why it continues.

And I don't know what you think here, but I think you particularly, particularly, you'll catch up quite quickly.

If you haven't seen the other two series, I would say you're quite.

You'll catch up quite quickly with, with the characters.

And it's quite a.

It's quite an explosive start, really, because it's a.

It's all set around a prison release fire service scheme which is set in California.

And this series kicks off at the wedding of Gabriella and paramedic Diego.

And so.

And straight away you kind of.

You get the sense that.

That something dramatic is about to happen.

I'm not sure if it's the music or the pace or the way it's been shot, but you know, straight away, you know, something, something's happening.

There's an undercurrent here.

There's a lot of chatter about whether Gabriella, who is a firefighter as well, whether she really wants to get married.

She shared a kiss with another firefighter previously.

He's a.

He's a.

He's a convict because he's part of the scheme.

And, and he's now a trainee fireman called Bodie.

And you see them talk, you kind of see that there's an undercurrent here.

And then she's due to get married.

And there's that awful moment in the church where you're like, I do.

Are you actually going to say, Are you not going to say it?

And as you do, a helicopter crashes and it's a huge incident.

I've got to be honest with you.

It felt like the longest time in the world to listen to somebody, whether they were going to say I do or not.

And then of course, the, the helicopter part of it smashes through the church window.

And the majority of it comes down on this cafe drinking tavern called Smokey's Tavern.

And there are people in there, Gabriella's ex, Jake, and he's dining in there with his late partner's daughter, Genevieve.

So it's kind of like all hands are on deck to try and it's incredibly dramatic immediately.

And then whilst they're trying to do their best and she's in her wedding dress trying to kind of help all these people, there's this undercurrent of kind of romance and passion and wanting to be with someone that you, that you shouldn't be with, couldn't be with, aren't supposed to be with, as she was due to get married.

So I think in this series, Gabriella plays a really big part in this because I think in previous ones we haven't sort of got to know her quite as well as you'll get to know her in this and, and see some of her flaws because you know that up until now I don't think you particularly have.

So from what I've seen so far, I did quite enjoy it.

But I, I've got to be honest with you, some of that footage, I mean, I've never seen a helicopter crash, but just didn't feel brilliantly plausible, I've got to be honest with you.

What did you think of it?

Oh, come on, we've all been to weddings that have been interrupted just before the bride says, I do buy a helicopter crash.

Come on.

Yeah, so I'd not seen this before.

I didn't really know anything about it.

And it does pick up from exactly the end of the previous season when Bodhi, who, you know, clearly is in love with Gabriella, he walks out of the wedding ceremony.

Yeah.

So, I mean, it's very, as you can gather from the plotting, it is very soapy that there's no escaping that.

But of course, I mean, I like the fact that it's this sort of convict release scheme that's very unusual.

And, and in this season, Bod, he wants to become like a fully fledged proper fireman.

You know, this has kind of become his new focus and of course it's got all these different fire related emergencies so, you know, there's a lot of drama and action.

But yeah, it's, it's not, it's not really for me, but I, I'm sure it has its, its fans.

But yeah, I just found it like super soapy and quite kind of cheesy and I thought the characters were not that well developed, but yeah, certainly exciting, let's put it that way.

I don't want to, you know, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade here, even though that's what the fire service would want me to do if it was on fire.

Anyway.

I don't know where I'm going with that.

Yes.

One little thing to add is that a guest star in this season is a musician called Jelly Roll who apparently expressed an interest in, in being in the season.

And Max Thierio, who is the creator and plays Bodhi, he met him, I think at an awards ceremony.

They got chatting and now, yeah, he, he's got a part in the show.

So, yeah, I'm sure existing fans, they will want more of the same.

That's exactly what they're going to get and they're going to love it.

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

All about the lionesses, isn't it?

Really?

Come on, Come on, you.

Come on.

Come on.

Of course it is.

Those penalties.

Why do things have to go to penalties?

Hey, why?

How about you?

Yeah.

I mean, it has been absolutely incredible.

It's been brilliant.

I loved it.

I have binged my way through every episode of the Tom Basden domestic sitcom Here We Go on Iplayer, which we reviewed recently and I just can't get enough of it.

It's fantastic.

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

So what's on the agenda, Brenda?

Well, there's a new adaptation of literary classic the Count of Monte Cristo land.

On you and oh, this is good news.

One of my all time favorite animation series, King of the Hill, it's back on Disney plus.

I cannot wait.

And yes, I will be doing one of my impressions.

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

But in the meantime, dear listeners, keep watching.