Geez! There goes the neighborhood.

Thom Eberhardt's 1984 doomsday cult movie told the story of two sisters, played by Kelli Maroney and Catherine Mary Stewart, who battled cannibal zombies after an exctinction event. "A huge comet passes near the earth, vaporising nearly the whole planet," reads the official 1984 Night of the Comet synopsis. "Only a few teenagers, who were inside a steel movie projection booth, survive - all those outside were turned to dust. But a few partially exposed people are now hideous, blood-thirsty zombies - and they begin a deadly hunt for the last remaining humans."

Now the cult classic is heading for a remake, with Roxanne Benjamin (Southbound) writing a screenplay for Orion Pictures, according to Deadline.

The film, which was originally called Teenage Comet Zombies, inspired a slew of horror movies with strong female protagonists, with Joss Whedon citing it as a big influence on Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The film was made for about $700,000 and earned $14 million at the box office.

Benjamin is best known for the V/H/S franchise and the horror movies The Devil’s Candy, Southbound, and a segment in the horror anthology XX. She is currently in postproduction on the upcoming thriller Body At Brighton Rock. Orion will also remake Child’s Play, as well as the upcoming The Prodigy, Gretel and Hansel, and the Bill And Ted reboot, so the pedigree seems fairly good. 

There's no word yet on when the Night Of The Comet remake will begin production, and no release date has been set. Watch the skies. 

The future of the Oculus Rift 2 may be in jeopardy following a series of recent events.

This story really starts when Oculus co-founder Brendan Iribe decided to leave the company. His decision to depart was, at the time, seen as a shocking move. However, TechCrunch soon reported that his decision to leave may have been based on some arguments within Facebook and Oculus regarding the future of the technology. Specifically, it seems that Facebook may want to cancel the production of the Oculus Rift 2.

However, the differences between Facebook and Iribe reportedly go deeper than just the cancellation of a future product. Sources indicate that the two sides have fundamentally different views regarding the future of Oculus and VR in general. The gist of the debate seems to be based on Iribe's desire to ensure that Oculus remains a leader in terms of VR power. The implication is that Facebook might value more of a budget device that will be more appealing to a wider array of users.

Iribe's Facebook farewell made no mention of that cancellation. Instead, he stated that Oculus "started a revolution that will change the world in ways we can't even envision," and that he is "deeply proud and grateful for all that we've done together." Beyond that, he made no other public statement regarding his decision to leave.

Meanwhile, Facebook is throwing a little cold water on all this speculation. They say that they "can’t comment on our product roadmap specifics," but that they do "have future plans, and can confirm that we are planning for a future version of Rift." We assume that a future version of the Rift is not a reference to the previously announced Oculus Quest.

However, the specifics of the Quest might be more revealing than they initially seem. As an all-in-one VR headset, it's possible that the Quest represents Facebook's view for how future VR headsets should be. This is in opposition to previous versions of the Rift that required a high-end PC to use but were more powerful than their standalone competition.

This review contains spoilers.

1.8 The Giving Time Is Here

Like Penelope and Miguel, I am a Purge survivor. No, really! If you'll indulge me my inner Sophia Petrillo, picture it: Louisville, 2014.

It's a hot August day, when fliers start appearing on telephone poles around town. The leering face of the masked man from the original Purge film dominates the flier, which promises “Louisville's The Purge” from 8PM until 6:30AM. In hindsight, it seems silly, but at the time, it was taken seriously as a real threat. Five months earlier, a mob of two hundred teenagers formed up at a major park on the city waterfront. The group rampaged up and down major streets, beating, robbing, and vandalising property before the incident dispersed. Several people were hospitalised. Given that incident was fresh in the mind of the city leaders, the fliers were taken seriously and police presence was ramped up throughout the city. Local sporting events were cancelled or moved to different dates. Businesses closed early. The Purge was unavailable to rent or buy at local businesses. And, seemingly, the world stayed home to Tweet and listen to police radio broadcasts via the internet.

In a lot of ways, that incident—which resulted in nothing more than the usual Friday night mayhem mixed with people shoplifting and yelling “The Purge!” while fleeing—helped to solidify the thought that The Purge was actually a fairly realistic depiction of how people would react to such an event. Granted, nobody went out to commit mayhem, but everyone stayed home and watched on television and focused on every crazy event that happened. It was a spectator sport, and we all took part.

That reality seems to be a crucial part of The Purge's universe. Sure, you have Purge Parties, and gatherings like the one thrown by the Stantons to raise funds for the NFFA. But it seems like most people just look for a safe place, like Pete the Cop's bar, to ride out the storm. If you have the resources, like Rick and Jenna, you seal yourselves into your home and don't come out until dawn, no matter how many people come by pounding on the doors. Unfortunately, Jenna opened the doors and let Lila in, now no one is going to be sleeping at night.

Once that seal is broken, then danger lurks around every corner, and The Giving Time Is Here does a good job at making that a reality. The house creaks and bumps, every footfall brings about the creak of a stair, and in the distance outside, gunfire and screams and cars pass. In my situation, there wasn't a lot to listen to other than the usual drunk yelling and passing cars, but The Purge has done a great job of filling the space behind characters with sound. There's always car sounds, screaming, gunfire... there's rarely anywhere that's quiet, and when it's quiet, it's uncomfortably so. When you're at Pete's bar, it's lively, but it feels more comfortable because you're safe with other people (who have been disarmed) and it would take a considerable action by outsiders to break that peace, but if you're Rick and Jenna, impatiently waiting for daybreak, every little noise could be another neighbour breaking into your home to kill you much like the last one did.

Rick, Jenna, and Lila didn't have a surprise twist ending, but I don't use that to discredit Thomas Kelly's script. It worked, and watching the flashbacks helped flesh out Lila's character a little bit more. She still falls under the rough header of psychotic ex-girlfriend, but her behavior is fitting given her status as a spoiled little rich girl. Lili Simmons has great eyes, and she does well with the equal parts anger and fear she directs towards Rick. Her ending scene is appropriately tragic, but both Hannah Emily Anderson and Colin Woodell do well in selling the shock and horror of the scene. It's a nice twist to see Jenna support her husband in the end, and to have him not take Lila's generous offer of financial independence, given his poor beginnings, establishes the character a little more firmly.

Focusing on two aspects of our assembled Purge crew helps the episode feel more propulsive, and helped Rick and Jenna's tension build and build without breaking.

The few times we did cut away to Pete's bar, things were equally nervy. That Pete has run afoul of the NFFA isn't a huge surprise, but I did like the official reveal of the role Good Leader Tavis is actually playing, and that bus confrontation was handled very well. Director Michael Nankin pulls the rug out from under Penelope almost immediately, though Joe is there to save the day. At least, save the day for the moment. Joe's ultimate motivation is now in question thanks to a brilliant closing act shift in perspective. That tracking shot through the van, and the horror on the assembled faces, was a wonderful bit of television. He's been saving lives all night, and killing aggressive parties all night, but... what's his idea of safe, and why aren't the people in his van there yet?

Or, perhaps, the only safe place from The Purge is in the ground, but that seems to be anathema to Joe's general philosophy. Either way, it's a very interesting (and surprising) twist. Perhaps it's to be expected; someone that violent can't be all good, and yet it was still wasn't expected. At least, for now. I can't help but wonder just who is giving Joe the ability to turn off people's protective devices and the ability to track people down when they're in trouble. Perhaps Joe, like Tavis. is a participant in some sort of government-funded Purge program, as seen in The First Purge. He is unemployed and in the prime of his murdering years, so... I guess we'll find out prior to the end of the series.

Read Ron's review of the previous episode, Lovely Dark And Deep, here.

This review contains spoilers.

5.3 The Death Of Vibe

Well, they did it. The rare Flash episode hat trick. We never had three exceptional episodes in a row in season four, and right now The Flash season 5 is three-for-three. Misleading title aside (for real, is this the TV episode title of clickbait?), The Death Of Vibe is not only a solid hour of The Flash, it’s the kind of unhurried (be quiet!) storytelling that the show could do with a lot more of. It’s got a bigger story to develop, and this week, it doesn’t even pretend to feel obligated to use a villain of the week as a device to get things moving.

It takes something on the order of three minutes for The Death Of Vibe to give us a better picture of Nora and flesh out the mystery of the Cicada even further. Even before the other revelations that were teased out over the rest of the episode, those opening moments got me fully on board with the idea of Cicada as the season-long big bad. Cicada as a “metahuman Jack the Ripper” who has appeared at various points in future DC Arrowverse history, never to be caught, is a terrific introduction, one that not only divorces him almost completely from his comic book counterpart (for the better), but also adds a layer of mystery nearly as powerful as his power-dampening abilities themselves.

I will confess, I am more than a little fuzzy on the logic of Nora not wanting to change the past too much but then also needing to change it, and thus the drastic steps of bringing in the new Wells. Have I just not been paying close enough attention, or was this all a little vague from the start? I suspect this is one of those things I shouldn’t think too hard about, because the rules change whenever it’s convenient. But whatever, if it keeps moving this season along as efficiently as these first three episodes, I don’t care.

I’m still less 'in' on the Caitlin and Ralph sidequest than everything else the show has going right now. However, I’m starting to genuinely like Caitlin and Ralph’s interactions even more, but I do wish it left a little more time for Caitlin/Cisco. But it’s a fine B story, and I never feel like it’s a distraction or a time waster.

It’s more of a relief to see everything on this show lining up like they should, with characters clicking the way we know they can, and nearly everyone getting their little moments. Just Iris’ “I trust you” to Nora when Nora has her plan to save Cisco spoke volumes, reminding us why she is so often the leader of this team. And is it me, or is this by far the most relaxed and authoritative we’ve ever seen Barry Allen? This is the most fully-formed, least damaged Flash we’ve ever had, and while good writing goes a long way, I feel like Grant Gustin is really inhabiting that element of it well. I feel like I've said this at various points in previous seasons, but I mean it this time!

And once again, the show finds time for its sense of humour, but compartmentalises it in just the right way. Ralph volunteering to take care of that armed robbery so that the team can get on with solving the Cicada mystery was a great moment for him, and I love the idea that Ralph will spend time building experience points on side missions rather than being forced into heavier storylines that the character might not fit in with at times. And really, the eco-friendly armed robber was genuinely hilarious, and probably funnier than any single joke we got last year. I think they finally figured out just what to do with this character, just where to deploy him as Ralph and when he should be Elongated Man, and when Hartley Sawyer’s comic timing is most needed.

I spent much of the episode not being sold on Sherloque Wells and... whatever that accent is. Surely, Tom Cavanagh isn’t going to do that all season, right? But he grew on me pretty quickly, and (as expected) the Cavanagh/Valdes pairing produced immediate comedic sparks. With his final moments with Nora, however, my doubts evaporated completely. I’m in for whatever mysteries this character is hiding, and I look forward to solving others with him.

In fact, the introduction of Sherloque is a perfect example of what The Flash season five is doing so well right now. Season four felt like such an obviously self-conscious attempt to clear the table of the emotional baggage and “darkness” of season three that it was jarring. But season five is still embracing the weirdness of last year, nodding to it, and making it work within whatever its new context is. “The Council of Wells,” which was the cause of so many eyerolls that I wondered if I was going to end up sending WBTV an opthamologist bill, is touched on here and... the joke worked. I mean, c’mon, “Kinderflash” is charming.

But this is what good TV shows should be able to do. The old 'jump the shark' routine is stale. Good shows, provided they haven’t completely betrayed the audience’s trust or intelligence (and for all my annoyance about season four, I wouldn’t go that far) are allowed a wobble. Hell, just look at the latest season of Daredevil, which is a genuine masterpiece, coming at a time when most critics have been bemoaning how the show lost its way with too many ninjas and crossover setups in its second season. Good TV finds a way, and so far, The Flash season five is good TV.

Read Mike's review of the previous episode, Blocked, here.

This review contains spoilers.

2.2 Black Jesus Blues

Our cultural criticism tends to give more points to stories that make us think than stories that make us feel, but my own personal preferences have always fallen toward the latter. Few shows—network or otherwise—make me feel as much as Black Lightning does, and this was particularly true in the final scene of tonight's episode.

In it, we see Jefferson Pierce tell the Garfield High student body that, because of his absence during the attack on the school and its aftermath last season, he will be stepping down as principal. The response is an emotional one: distraught, angry, maybe even afraid. Ultimately, the response is also one of faith, of support, of love. Because if Jefferson Pierce has taught this student body anything it's the power of community, hope, and believing in yourself and one another. Teaching shouldn't just be about imparting knowledge; it should also be about listening.

"Thank you for always teaching me," Jeff tells his students. And they take the responsibility seriously because that is what Jefferson has always expected of them. Where's the future? It's here at Garfield High—not only with these bright young students, but with Jefferson Pierce. He isn't done yet. Not as Black Lightning and certainly not as a vocal member of this community who stands up for the rights and lives of its students.

Something tells me that Jefferson, though he may have agreed to make a show of support for the new principal, is going to stay quiet for long. The board has brought in a white administrator named Mike Lowry to take over for Jefferson. Jeff is very sceptical, but is doing what he can to make the transition a smooth one. It helps that he will still be at Garfield High as a teacher. Black Lightning isn't a show to fall into simple storytelling, so I have a feeling this Mike Lowry won't be a straight up antagonist, but that doesn't mean there won't be some growing pains. 

While Jeff is losing some of his power as a shepherd of Garfield High's young people, Lynn is gaining power as a shepherd of the pod children. When one of them unexpectedly wakes up, unwittingly killing one of Lynn's fellow scientists and himself and letting another scared, dangerous pod kid loose on Freeland, Lynn has some decisions to make. She sends Jefferson and Anissa after escaped pod kid Wendy Hernandez and focuses her attention on Issa Williams, the young meta who seemingly came back from the dead after being gunned down by the police in the season premiere.

Issa is sweet and scared, and has been treated as a criminal not only by the police, but by his family and the ASA. Lynn takes him home for family dinner, and it's exactly what poor Issa needs... Not that it solves any of his problems. It becomes apparent during the course of family dinner that one of Issa's metahuman powers is the ability to make others tell the truth, or at least what's on their mind. It scares most of the Pierces away, but Issa finds solace in Jennifer's company. After all, she knows what it's like to be afraid of herself, or for others to be afraid of her, too.

Ultimately, Issa is embraced by some members of his family, but the kid is living on borrowed time. If Lynn doesn't find a cure for his unstable meta genes, a mutation that came about not naturally but because of Green Light, then Issa will die. It's not the only thing he has to worry about, either. Lynn's bosses seem poised to use any meta's powers for their own purposes, should they find an effective way to control them—something that surely will only become more of a problem for Lynn as the season progresses.

Lynn has taken on the responsibility of all of the pod kids' lives, and that's no small thing. The point is hammered home not only in young Issa being forced to face the possibility that he could die at any time, but also in an effectively simple scene that sees Lynn securing Wendy Hernandez back into the pod. Unlike Issa, Wendy chooses to go back into the pod in the hopes that it will give her more time, but that doesn't mean she isn't terrified. She stares into Lynn's eyes as she falls back into a deep slumber. No pressure, Lynn, but these kids are counting on you.

It's no surprise that Wendy chose to go back in the pod. Before waking up, she had been in stasis for thirty years. The world has moved on without her. Her friends and family have lived decades without her, if they are still alive at all. It's the kind of isolating experience that we see play out in Tobias' loneliness. With Syonide seemingly dead, Tobias has taken to kill off anyone who knows him. The task involves shooting a crooked cop and going to a nursing home to kill an old friend who has aged as Tobias has stayed young.

What is Tobias' aim? Who knows, at this point. Khalil knows who he is, though perhaps not enough of who he is to pose a real threat. Black Lightning will obviously never forget Tobias Whale, and one would think in this age of technology that it is impossible to completely erase yourself from existence. Still, Tobias seems poised to try, and if anyone can pull it off, it's probably him. After all, he is a smart, determined man with one terrifying trait on his side: he has nothing to lose, save for his power.

Read Kayti's review of the previous episode, Rise Of The Green Light Babies, here.

The Flash will return soon for its fifth season on The CW, and this will now be our nerve centre for all the Century City news that's fit to print. We'll have all the casting latest, plus trailers, story details, and maybe even a spoiler or two - they'll be signposted ahead of time with our resident spoiler squirrel, Daphne, of course!

Here's a preview of the next episode...

And here's the synopsis...

Barry (Grant Gustin) and Iris (Candice Patton) face the ultimate parenting test when Team Flash battles Spin (guest star Kiana Madeira), a savvy millennial armed with meta tech, and a dangerous agenda for their daughter, Nora (Jessica Parker Kennedy). Ralph (Hartley Sawyer) is feeling defeated until an unlikely source issues a challenge to help boost his confidence.

We've also scooped up the promo images that have been released for the next episode, and they're all in our gallery above. Just click on the main image up there to have a flick through them.

The Flash season 5 air date

The Flash's season 5 premiere was on 9th October in the US. Sky One began airing it on 18th October.

We'll bring you all the new details as we get them!

Flip over to page 2 for more on season 5's cast changes and story...

The Flash season 5 cast

There'll no doubt be a few changes afoot before our favourite speedster returns.

One such change is the promotion of Hartley Sawyer. The actor will return for season 5 to play Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man as a series regular, according to TV Line. The arc of Swayer’s Dibny – Barry’s former police mentor, whose career ended in disgrace for fabricating evidence – was one of the defining parts of The Flash season 4; an arc that was simultaneously comical and powerfully dramatic, going from sleazy private investigator to reluctantly heroic metahuman The Elongated Man. The character – often confused with DC's powers-similar Plastic Man – debuted in the pages of The Flash comic book back in 1960.

Sawyer’sFlash run ran concurrently with his run on the Go90 sci-fi series Miss 2059. He previously appeared on Saving The Human Race, Caper, The Young And The Restless, GCB, Glory Daze and (zombie comedy,) I Am Not Infected.

Danielle Nicolet, who plays Central City's District Attorney Cecile Horton, is also gaining series regular status.

Danielle has been around off-and-on since season one, but Deadline has now confirmed that we'll be seeing a lot more of her when the ever-popular DC show returns from its summer break.

The series remains one of the most beloved on the network, and it has consistently delivered traditional superhero adventure, terrific characters, and a hefty dose of weirdness when the situation demands it. Barry Allen won't be coming back alone - The Flash season 5 runs alongside renewals for Supergirl, Legends Of Tomorrow, Black Lightning, and Arrow.

The Flash season 5 story

So, what do we know about season 5 so far? Well, there'll naturally be a new villain, but they won't be a speedster, there'll be another Arrowverse crossover (yay), one of the main themes of the season is "family", Future Nora will return, Iris will spend more time in the field, Ralph will get to use his detective skills a lot more, Tom Cavanagh will be back as a "funny" version of Wells, and Kid Flash will definitely show up in the very first episode.

A brand new poster has also been unveiled for season 5. Here it is...

After years of legal limbo and sticky rights issues, it looks like Friday The 13th might finally be getting another modern reboot, courtesy of, err, basketball legend LeBron James.

Variety reports that James’ SpringHill Entertainment is in talks with Roy Lee’s Vertigo Entertainment to acquire the rights to the franchise, which have been fought over for going on 10 years now - with original writer Victor Miller recently winning a court case against original director Sean Cunningham. This is not exactly surprising news considering the Halloween sort-of-reboot just posted the second biggest opening weekend in October history. 

If the deal goes through, James’ production company has a first deal with Warner Bros., so that would be a likely home for the project. That in itself is intriguing since they produced the 2009 remake of Friday The 13th through New Line Cinema. That remake (back when the term was fashionable) was also produced by Michael Bay and posted a then eye-popping opening in February of $40 million. Despite talks of a sequel, no follow-up ever emerged.

Arguably, Jason Voorhees has always been a bit of a Michael Myers knockoff. With that said, during the 1980s, there was no bigger or more popular visage of horror than the dude in the hockey mask with a machete. A potent image, Jason was arguably the first slasher monster who became the hero of his own franchise; the one audiences actually wanted to stab people. Such an approach might be more difficult to pull off in this decade, but a savvy producer (or basketball player) could be able to find a path back to Crystal Lake.

The Boy arrived in early 2016 as a fairly interesting horror movie, headlined by Lauren Cohan who was then the fastest rising star of The Walking Dead. We thought the film was sort of okay, and while it made a decent $64 million bang for STXfilms’ $10 million budget buck, a sequel – barring a straight-to-DVD one – was not expected. Well, we’re getting one anyway.

Katie Holmes has signed on to star in The Boy 2, with original director William Brent Bell set to reprise his duties, working off a script by returning original writer Stacey Menear. 

The first film introduced us to Greta (Cohan), hired by an elderly couple as a live-in caretaker in a creepy English estate known as Heelshire Mansion, where she was also expected to “babysit” a porcelain doll named after their late son, Brahms. After a few bumps in the night, Greta discovers that the real Brahms is actually living inside the walls, wearing a porcelain mask to cover his hideous face. Oh, and he’s a dangerously psychotic.

The Boy 2 will see Holmes play the matriarch of a young family who has the misfortune of moving into Heelshire Mansion, where creepy doll-faced Brahms is still secretly squatting. Things will get weirder when the woman’s young son discovers Brahms, and strikes up a bizarre friendship.

The Boy 2 is an interesting return to movie headlining for Katie Holmes, who recently banked appearances in films such as Ocean’s Eight (uncredited), Logan Lucky and Dear Dictator alongside a major role in The Kennedys: Decline and Fall and a run on Ray Donovan. She is, of course, historically known for her 1998-2003 TV run on Dawson’s Creek and as Christopher Nolan’s original Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins.

We’ll keep you updated on The Boy 2 as news arrives.

We already know that Todd Phillip’s Joker is trying to distance itself from the DCEU – pitched as a darker, grittier, more serious stand-alone spin-off. This is a crime thriller that just happens to be set in a world that might one day have superheroes in it, and it is most definitely not a Batman movie. 

Making that even clearer, Phillips has cast Bruce Wayne as a little boy – with Dante Pereira-Olson as a young Bruce in a world that clearly has a very different continuity to the comic books. 

Pereira-Olson starred as a young version of Joaquin Phoenix's character in You Were Never Really Here, so it’s likely that his future on-screen nemesis recommended him for the part.

He’s also got a new butler too, with Douglas Hodge (Robin Hood, Serena) cast as Alfred. Since Alfred already has a new backstory mapped out in Pennyworth, and grown-up Bruce obviously has his own upcoming film, it seems unlikely that Joker will spend too much time gearing either character up for anything that may or may not lay in their potential futures. Are they both just there to remind us that this is (sort of) a Batman story? Or will little Bruce play a bigger part in the Joker’s origin story, teasing a future franchise that we’ll probably never get to see? 

Pereira-Olson and Hodge join Phoenix in a cast that includes Robert De Niro, Frances Conroy, Zazie Beetz and Brett Cullen as Bruce's dad, Thomas Wayne. Joker is set for release on October 4th, 2019. 

Neflix UK has announced that we can expect new episodes of Star Trek: Discovery to begin streaming on 18th January, 2019. The episodes will first air on CBS: All Access stateside in the hours before they hit the streaming service over here. It'll be good to see it back!

Probably one of the most intriguing characters in season 1 of Discovery for us was L'Rell, who spent a lot of time playing a responsive game of strategic political chess behind the scenes. It was clear that despite her capture, the multi-layered warrior woman was destined for greatness. Now we have our first glimpse of her upward mobility as the new chancellor of the Klingon high council, and it's been quite the makeover...

There were a lot replies to the image of the new L'Rell, but this was our favourite by far...

Perfect.

We recently got a new trailer for season 2...

And here's the first trailer we had for the new season out of SDCC...

TTFN, chums.

Star Trek: Discovery season 2 air date

We're looking at a 18th January, 2019 air date on Netflix UK for season 2. It'll be 13 episodes long. Season 1 was supposed to be 13, but got bumped up to 15 late in the day.

Flick over to page 2 for more on season 2, including new cast additions and further story details...

Star Trek: Discovery season 2 pics

The first images from season 2 were been released to EW. Burnham, in her new uniform, is on the Enterprise in the first pic...

The second pic features new character Linus, a member of the Saurian race...

A new poster for the second season of Star Trek: Discovery has confirmed a January premiere for CBS All Access' series. An exact date hasn't been revealed yet, but we'll be keeping our eye out!

Fans are already curiously noting the red wings appearing in the centre of the Federation insignia on the new poster. Could Spock's disappearance in season 2 be linked to the Romulans?

scovery season 2 cast

Legendary comedian and actress Tig Notaro has joined the cast of Discovery, Variety confirmed. She'll be playing Chief Engineer Denise Reno of the U.S.S. Hiawatha, for a currently-unknown number of episodes.

Notaro's critically acclaimed series One Mississippi was cancelled by Amazon earlier in the year, but as any fan of hers will know, she likes to keep busy, and has several projects already in the pipeline.

Season 2 is starting to fill up fast with new additions - news of Notaro's casting comes quickly after the announcement that Inhumans star Anson Mount will climb aboard when the series begins production.

The Star Trek: Discovery season finale dropped a massive photon torpedo on fans, with the revelation of the original Enterprise coming into contact with the Discovery. The biggest implication may be whether we'd meet any members of that crew. The answer is yes, as Mount (Hell On Wheels) will play Captain Christopher Pike.

The role of Captain Pike was originated by Jeffrey Hunter, who played the role on the original, unaired pilot of Star Trek, "The Cage." The series was retooled before air, bringing in a mostly new crew and a new Captain in the form of William Shatner as James T. Kirk. Hunter's Captain Pike was an older, more seasoned, haunted character than what we eventually got with Kirk, and it was later revealed that his Starfleet career had met a tragic end.

Hunter's performance did eventually make it to air, when large sections of "The Cage" were used as flashbacks in the two-part episode "The Menagerie." In it, we meet the current day Christopher Pike (this time played under heavy makeup by Sean Kenney), disfigured by radiation burns and confined to an electronic wheelchair. Kenney's scenes as Pike were used as a kind of framing sequence that allowed the story of "The Cage" to be presented.

The character was also played by Bruce Greenwood in JJ Abrams' Star Trek (2009) and 2013's truly dreadful Star Trek Into Darkness. Greenwood's interpretation was great, but was killed off, and that would seem to be the end of him. So at least we'll get to see more of Pike in the original timeline. Pike has also popped up in several novels and other "expanded universe" Trek properties.

But if Captain Pike and his Enterprise are going to appear on Star Trek: Discovery season 2, then it's an absolute certainty that we're going to meet the Discovery version of Mr. Spock, as well. Spock was Pike's First Officer on the Enterprise before Kirk took command, and with the show already demonstrating ties to Spock, then this is the natural next step.

Number One, a character from the original Star Trek pilot, 'The Cage,' will make an appearance.

Rebecca Romijn has been cast as Number One, a role played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry in 'The Cage.' (Barrett-Roddenberry would go on to play the role of Nurse Christine Chapel in The Original Series, and the voice of the computer in mutiple Star Trek shows and Lwaxana Troi in The Next Generation.

Back then, the network bristled at the idea of having an unknown woman in a lead role and having a female character in a position of authority, so in the retooling of the show from the original pilot to the aired pilot, the character of Number One didn't make it from the bridge of Pike's Enterprise to the bridge of Kirk's Enterprise. (Though Spock obviously did.)

Our first look at the new incarnation of the character has been revealed on Instagram. Take a look below...

While we've known for a bit that Ethan Peck would be taking on the role of Spock in Star Trek: Discovery season 2, the actor was properly introduced in this capacity to the Star Trek fandom at New York Comic Con, which saw Peck on stage with his Disco co-stars and creators to tease season 2.

"It was a long audition process," said Peck, who is apparently currently reading a biography of Leonard Nimoy, of how he got the role. "At the beginning, I didn't know what I was reading for. And so I knew it was for Star Trek and this guy was struggling with emotion and logic, and duh. Later on, I found out who it was and was like, 'Oh my gosh.'"

Peck said he had a lot of anxiety going into the last audition, but decided that, whatever happened, it was "an amazing experience to brush up against this character and this world." Ultimately, of course, he did get the gig, and Peck said he sat down on a curb and cried for 15 minutes when he got the news.

How did Peck feel when he first got on set, put on the ears, and got to work?

"I had all this work to do ahead of me," said Peck of the initial, humbling and daunting experience. "Now, I feel like a little bit of ownership over it, but at the beginning, it was just like: Wow, this is such work, and what big shoes to fill. It felt kind of strange and wild and terrifying, but it kind of pulled me to the future, and here we are."

While fans have yet to properly see Peck's performance as a younger version of the iconic character (though we do catch a glimpse in the new trailer), his co-stars are already singing his praises.

"I just love how much he gives," said Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham) at the NYCC panel. "I love his soul. He has brought his entire soul to this. He knows full well what it means, and has given his all to it. And it's been very inspiring to see. And we have become very close very quickly and I could not ask for a better brother. You guys are gonna be wowed by him.

Back in April, Jonathan Frakes, aka Next Generation's Commander Riker and Star Trek: Discovery director, appeared at El Paso Comic Con and revealed that the new episode he directed will include flashbacks with Young Spock.

Frakes stepped behind the camera for epiosde 2 and, according to a helpful fan who live-tweeted the event, Frakes revealed that his episode will include Anson Mount as Captain Pike and flashbacks featuring a young Burnham and a young Spock, who grew up together under the guardianship of Spock's biological parents Sarek and Amanda.

Frakes' comments are interesting in that they imply that the storyline featuring the Enterprise under the command of Captain Christoper Pike (with Spock as a science officer) will reach past the first episode.

Star Trek: Discovery season 2 story

Star Trek: Discovery is currently eyeing an April production start date, and ahead of cameras rolling on season 2, the crew pulled up at WonderCon 2018 to chat about what we can expect from the sophomore season of the CBS All Access show that divided Trekkies (or Trekkers, if you prefer) right down the middle when it arrived last year.

Showrunners Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts explained to the crowd that season 2 will edge away from “the backdrop of war” and into a “more exploratory phase and a more diplomatic phase”, steadily becoming “a bit more of a Trekian chapter.”

After fielding several questions from the audience about the continuity of the show, Harberts went on to confirm that Discovery is indeed in the Prime Timeline, and that season 2 will reveal a bit more about how that stitches up to our current knowledge of Trek history:

“The idea was to always be in the Prime Timeline. Obviously, there are questions and concerns and things that are different. Our technology is a little different. We have a ship that runs very differently. We are our own show in a lot of ways. Season two is really exciting for us. This is our opportunity to really show how Discovery fits into this Prime Timeline. We are firmly committed to that.”

He also added that we may well see an inevitable uniform change for the crew of the Discovery in season 2. "Well, we bump up against the Enterprise at the end of our [season one] finale, and we know what kind of uniforms they wear. So, we will leave it at that."

Star Trek: Discovery season 2 crew

Jonathan Frakes, a man that needs no introduction to Trek fans, previously helmed episode 10 of Discovery's first season, 'Despite Yourself' and he revealed at El Paso Comic Con that he'll be back calling the shots on two episodes in season 2 - episodes 2 and 10.

Frakes was the one that dropped the Mirror Universe spoiler on fans last year during the Continuing Voyage Tour, teasing all sorts of shenanigans before we even knew what had hit us, and he was back at it again during this recent appearance, noting that in the second episode, we'll be getting some Young Spock flashbacks, and that the newly-recast Captain Pike (Anson Mount) won't just be on a fly-by - he'll stick around for at least one more episode after the premiere (we presume it'll be the second one, as Frakes is so involved in it, but we've been wrong about these things before).

Jonathan Frakes appeared to confirm that he'd finished directing the ninth episode, posting a wrap picture of himself on set that had us feeling extremely nostalgic - but honestly would it have killed him to throw a leg up on the chair, there, for old times' sake?!

Fans hoping that the series would be able to smooth out its behind-the-scenes woes in season 2 might have to wait until season 3.

As reported by THR, Star Trek: Discovery showrunners Aaron Harberts and Gretchen Berg have been fired following budgetary concerns and reports of staff mistreatment. This is the second time CBS has dismissed Discovery's showrunner. In the first season, Bryan Fuller was fired amidst budget and creative disagreements prior to the series' start.

Executive producer Alex Kurtzman, who directed the series premiere, will take over as showrunner in a transition that will coincide with a planned production hiatus between episodes 5 and 6.

"We've made some producer changes at Star Trek: Discovery," CBS Television Studios said in a statement. "The series continues under the creative vision and leadership of executive producer and co-creator Alex Kurtzman. Discovery remains on course for season two in 2019 with new and continuing stories that build on its successful premiere season."

According to THR's sources, Berg and Harberts went over-budget on the season 2 premiere, but it sounds like the larger issue leading to their departure was alleged harrassment. Multiple writers were reported to have come forward to inform Kurtzman of bullying, including an incident in which Harberts reportedly leaned across the writers room table at one point to shout expletives at a member of the writing staff. When hearing rumours that members of the writing staff were planning on filing a complaint with HR, Harberts reportedly threatened the staff to stay quiet.

In addition to Harberts and Berg, executive producer Akiva Goldsman has also left the show, reportedly due to a clash with the writing staff in terms of management style and personality. It doesn't sound like anyone in the writers room has had a very good time so far, which is a shame given the excitement, ambition, and themes of this project.

Star Trek: Discovery is expected to be back in 2019. We're still excited, even if it sounds like the making of this often delightful show is a bit of a mess.

The Passage, Justin Cronin's enormous, bestselling, millenium-spanning 3-book vampire epic, is coming to TV next year, and now we know when it'll start - 14th January, 2019. We're now just awaiting a UK broadcaster announcement for the series, so watch this space!

Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner) is executive producing this, along with Matt Reeves, David W. Zucker, and Adam Kassan. The series was originally optioned as a movie when the first novel was only half-written, but everyone apparently felt it worked much better as a TV series, and moved the option accordingly.

The book series jumps back and forth in time between a hundred years in the future, where residents of one of the last remaining colonies of humans in a United States overrun by vampires try to keep the ultraviolent lights on, and the present day as the vampire outbreak quickly overtakes the country. It's often compared to Stephen King's The Stand.

A brand new trailer for the series has also been released. To the Placebo cover version of Running Up That Hill-mobile!

More as we have it.

The Passage story

Here's the official synopsis from Fox:

Based on author Justin Cronin’s best-selling trilogy of the same name, THE PASSAGE is an epic, character-driven thriller written by Liz Heldens (“Friday Night Lights”). Executive-produced by Emmy Award winner and Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Ridley Scott (“The Martian,” “Gladiator”) and writer/director Matt Reeves (“Dawn of the Planet of the Apes,” “Cloverfield”), THE PASSAGE focuses on Project Noah, a secret medical facility where scientists are experimenting with a dangerous virus that could lead to the cure for all disease, but also carries the potential to wipe out the human race. When a young girl, AMY BELLAFONTE (Saniyya Sidney, “Fences,” “Hidden Figures”) is chosen to be a test subject, Federal Agent BRAD WOLGAST (Mark-Paul Gosselaar, “Pitch”) is the man who is tasked with bringing her to Project Noah. Ultimately, however, Wolgast becomes her surrogate father, as he tries to protect her at any cost. Brad and Amy’s journey will force them to confront Project Noah’s lead scientist, MAJOR NICHOLE SYKES (Caroline Chikezie, “The Shannara Chronicles”), and the hardened ex-CIA operative in charge of operations, CLARK RICHARDS (Vincent Piazza, “Boardwalk Empire,” “Rescue Me”), whom Brad trained. It likewise brings them face-to-face with a dangerous new race of beings confined within the walls of Project Noah, including former scientist TIM FANNING (Jamie McShane, “Bosch,” “Bloodline,” “Sons of Anarchy”) and death-row inmate SHAUNA BABCOCK (Brianne Howey, “The Exorcist”). In seeking out any allies he can find, Brad also turns to his former wife, DR. LILA KYLE (Emmanuelle Chriqui, “Entourage,” “Murder in the First”), for help. But as Project Noah’s scientists hone in on a cure that could save humanity, these new beings begin to test their own powers, inching one step closer to an escape that could lead to an unimaginable apocalypse.

The Passage air date

14th January, 2019 stateside. We'll bring you a UK broadcaster and air date as soon as we get it!

The Passage cast

Mark-Paul Gosselaar will play a Brad Wolgast, an FBI agent who, initially tasked with bringing the viral patient zero – a 10-year-old girl named Amy Bellafonte – to her experimenters, has a crisis of conscience and instead rescues the girl from her fate as a test subject, leaving both on the run from the irate bureaucrats. However, just as in Cronin’s novels, Fox’s The Passage will tell its story across multiple timelines, following Wolgast and Amy in the prime/present timeline and a flashback timeline, explaining the origin of the viral vampires through Amy’s eyes.

Saniyya Sidney will play a crucial co-lead role as the messianic, super-powered, immortal patient zero of The Passage’s vampire apocalypse, Amy Bellafonte.

Helping Wolgast and Amy fight the virus in the present timeline are the rest of The Passage cast, consisting of Genesis Rodriguez (Time After Time, Big Hero 6) as Alicia, B.J. Britt (Antoine Triplett from Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., Pitch) as Peter and Jennifer Ferrin (Hell On Wheels, Time After Time) as Sarah. Additionally, Brianne Howey (Fox’s The Exorcist, Horrible Bosses 2) plays test subject Shauna.

Vincent Piazza will play Clark Richards. The character seems to have the makings of a standout, said to be brilliant and charming with a dark sense of humour. Clark is intriguingly described as “all restless energy and fierce intelligence.”

This review is spoiler-free other than material released in the show's trailers.

Much ado has been made about how, in the absence of any new Stranger Things episodes this year, Netflix is seeking to fill the Halloween binge-watching void with Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina. A sort of companion show to the CW's Riverdale that features members of the same creative team - including showrunner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (who liberally adapts his comic of the same name) - this effort feels like a much more grounded affair, which is odd given how its main character is a teenage witch whose family worships Satan. This review dares not to tell you what, if any, narrative link there is to the goings on just across Sweetwater River, but that subject won't even be on the minds of the most hardcore Bughead devotees, as Chilling Adventures is firmly committed to walking its own dark path.

Our story opens with Sabrina Spellman (Mad Men's Kiernan Shipka) preparing for her sixteenth birthday, one that will be commemorated with a Dark Baptism in which she will declare her devotion to serving Satan. Born of a warlock father and a human mother who died when she was an infant, Sabrina finds herself torn between two distinct parts of her personality.

She lives in the town of Greendale (already established on Riverdale as a hub of supernatural activity) at her family's funeral home with her kindly Aunt Hilda (a scene-stealing Lucy Davis from The Office), her strict Aunt Zelda (Miranda Otto from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy), and her Cousin Ambrose (a haunting Chance Perdomo), a helpful pansexual warlock who is forced to remain under house arrest at the residence as punishment for crimes he committed years ago.

The main reason Sabrina is so tormented about giving up her mortal side to fully become a witch is her commitment to her friends, most notably her boyfriend Harvey Kinkle (Ross Lynch). The Sabrina/Harvey relationship is at the emotional core of Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina's first season, and it is one that feels way more grounded in reality than any of the couplings on Riverdale, which is odd given the otherworldly forces constantly trying to rip the pair apart. Equally realistic are Sabrina's dealings with her best friends: The inquisitive and strong Roz (Jaz Sinclair) and Susie (Lachlan Watson), a character who finds herself bullied by other students at Baxter High.

Working to encourage Sabrina to join the Church of Night are Father Blackwood (Richard Coyle), the leader of her family's coven and the dean at Greendale's secret witchcraft school, The Academy of the Unseen Arts, and Doctor Who's Michelle Gomez as Mary Wardell, a teacher and confidant who has her own shadowy agenda with the youth. Along with Old Scratch himself, these are Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina's primary antagonists, and Gomez is especially, er, enchanting as a character who, through the power of dramatic irony, viewers are always aware of her evil intentions... even if the Spellmans are not.

Standout supporting characters include Tati Gabrielle as Prudence, a witch student at The Academy of the Unseen Arts whose life gets regularly intertwined with Sabrina's, Bronchot Pinchot (!) as Baxter High's smarmy principal, and Lost co-star L. Scott Caldwell as Roz's mysterious grandmother.

Initally the focus of the season is Sabrina's Dark Baptism, and whether or not she will decide to fully embrace her birthright. Once this storyline is dealt with, the series finds itself struggling for a bit at its midpoint as it engages in some narrative wheel-spinning in the form of the no-frills dark Hogwarts goings on at The Academy of Unseen Arts and an extended Exorcist-homage.

Both of these plotlines feel like the sort of filler that continually taints Netflix's Marvel shows. However, the season's near-perfect second half more than makes up for these slow-burn episodes, and viewers realise that what may have seemed like story placeholding was actually a clever bit of narrative misdirection designed to turn your attention away from the subtle changes impacting the characters are driving them towards the season's powerful finale.

Holding all of this together is Kiernan Shipka. Her portrayal of Sabrina is that of a well-meaning teen whose desire to protect her loved ones can lead to some questionable decision making (to say the least). She creates a believable character who is immersed into one unfathomable situation after another. On the shoulders of a less talented actress, the house of cards that is Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina would collapse into itself.

Here Shipka gives a naturalistic performance that - especially in later episodes - makes you understand Sabrina's motives, even if you don't agree with the choices the character makes. She is a typical teen thrown into a supernatural world, but unlike the characters on say The Magicians or the new Charmed reboot, her experiences somehow feel relatable.

As a whole, the acting on this series is memorable. Even secondary characters without much screentime like Susie, who is coming to terms with her sexuality and living up to her family's legacy, are given ample room to allow the actors that embody them thrive. In fact, there is not a character who does not experience profound development over the first ten episodes.

Of the many character pairings viewers will fall in love with, perhaps the greatest are Hilda and Zelda. When we first meet them, Hilda is regularly the focus of Zelda's wrath, frequently killed and resurrected by her acerbic relative. You come to understand the pair's dysfunction as the series progresses, and learn that beneath it all is a shared love for each other. Damaged and crazy, but love nonetheless. (And prepare yourself, no character on TV this year is as instantly lovable as Lucy Davis' Aunt Hilda).

To answer the Sabrina The Teenage Witch fans who grew up on the 1990s show, all I'll say is that Salem is a part of this series. But you'll have to watch to see how.

No discussion of Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina is complete without mentioning the Satan-worshipping elephant in the room. Yes, fundamentalist groups are going to have a field day with this one, especially given our current conservative climate. Yet somehow the Satantic stuff - and hoo boy is there obviously a lot of it - feels like set dressing for what this show is truly about, and that's a family who deeply loves each other despite the insane times in which they live. If that ain't relatable prestige television for 2018, I don't know what is.

Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina arrives on Netflix on Friday the 26th of October.

Each season of Netflix's pricery royal drama series The Crown is set to cover about a decade of the Queen's life, so it wasn't a shock to hear that a round of recasting was in the offing, which started with the lead role of Elizabeth - that went to the always-terrific Olivia Colman. Prince Philip's shoes were up next, and after Paul Bettany was unable to juggle his schedule around, the challenge of filling those fell to the fantastic Tobias Menzies (Outlander).

In terms of new casting news, we can reveal that Emerald Fennell (Chickens, Call The Midwife, Victoria) will play Camilla Parker-Bowles. The addition of Charles's boat-rocking love interest was announced via The Crown's official Twitter account...

Netflix has also released a new pic of Tobias Menzies in season 3 for us to have a look at...

Helena Bonham Carter will also be replacing Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret. Here's a pic of the actress in action...

Bonham Carter spoke to Variety about setting The Crown up with a brand new cast for season 3...

“[We’re] completely terrified," she admitted. "I think also because the first two seasons were such a success, we have the onus of inheriting the responsibility of doing justice to all these genuinely famous people, and then on top of it, inheriting them from this previous generation of actors who’ve done such good jobs.”

Bonham Carter also added that “None of us look at all like our previous generation. We don’t actually look like our real people either. I don’t look like Margaret. I don’t think Olivia [Colman, who is replacing Claire Foy] looks particularly like the Queen, but it’s interesting. We just have to try and create some sort of essence. The good thing is that all the characters are so multifaceted, so we will probably capture different bits.”

We've also had our first look at Olivia Colman as Queen Elizabeth II...

More as we have it.

The Crown season 3 release date

We've not yet had confirmation of a release date for season 3, but we'll let you know as soon as we do.

The Crown season 3 cast

We heard that Olivia Colman (Broadchurch, The Night Manager) would be taking over from Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth II in seasons 3 and 4 of the award-winning drama late last year.

EW broke the news ahead of season 2 of The Crown hitting the streaming service on 8th December. Honcho Ted Sarandos had previously confirmed a plan to churn out six seasons of the show in all, but it's unclear at this point whether another actress will take over from Colman for the final few, or whether some make up effects will be utilised to turn our Liz into the face we've become more familiar with in current years.

"I'm so thrilled to be part of The Crown. I was utterly gripped watching it," Colman said in a statement. "I think Claire Foy is an absolute genius - she's an incredibly hard act to follow. I'm basically going to re-watch every episode and copy her."

Foy also responded to the news with some kind words. "I just love her, I admire her so much and the idea that we sort of will be doing the same job but not actually working together is just enough - I'm honoured by that."

Josh O'Connor (The Durrells) will be playing Prince Charles in his teens and twenties.

It’s sometimes easy to believe the lie that “proper” TV started with The Wire and The Sopranos– landmark American shows that made the small screen look big and started tipping scales away from Hollywood cinema. But we all know that’s not true. Britain has been breaking the mould with television drama for decades, and a handful of high-concept, critically-acclaimed shows have done more for the medium than anything else across the pond.

Sean Bean stars in a new boundary-pushing Sky original production due to air on Sky One in 2019: Curfew. With a unique story set in the world of street-racing, an impressive cast featuring Bean, Billy Zane and Miranda Richardson, and a meaty script about ordinary people racing for their own survival, it’s exactly the sort of water-cooler show that dares to stick its neck out like the best of British TV.

We recently got our hands on the exciting first trailer for Curfew (which you can watch below), and took a deep dive into some of its key moments to see what we can expect from the series.

In anticipation of Curfew’s release, here’s a look back at some of the British TV shows that shook the small screen. America might have Tony Soprano, but we’ve got Time Lords, real queens and Steven Moffat…

Doctor Who (1963-present)

After 55 years, 36 seasons, 13 Doctors and 840 episodes (and counting), it’s still hard to measure the cultural impact of Doctor Who. Something more than a British institution, beyond its place as an ongoing sci-fi landmark, the show has cemented itself in the global consciousness as a uniquely British export that proves just how original and creative genre TV can be. Doctor Who is a testament to just how funny, scary, moving and addictive good TV can be when it’s made with real heart and soul.

Sherlock (2010-present)

Take a walk along London’s Baker Street and you won’t be able to move for the tourists. People come from all over the world to see where Sherlock Holmes came from but they’re not there for Arthur Conan Doyle – all queuing up in the gift shop to buy mugs with Benedict Cumberbatch’s face on them. Steven Moffat’s modern-day Holmes reboot is a masterstroke of reinvention, and the show’s popularity owes as much to the pitch-perfect writing, casting, acting and directing as it does to Cumberbatch’s mug.

Black Mirror (2011-present)

Charlie Brooker didn’t invent the sci-fi anthology series, but he made it better. More importantly, he made it work. Bringing The Twilight Zone into the 21st Century with razor-sharp writing and more than a little humour, each season of Black Mirror attracted the best talent around to form a collection of short sci-fi movies that frightened, entertained and challenged in equal measure. Season four was arguably the best (with episodes like USS Callister really breaking the mould), which makes expectations for season five even higher.

Prime Suspect (1991-2006)

Back in the early 90s, the only actors who made TV shows were the ones who couldn’t get a film career. That’s not true, of course, but the current era of A-list led blockbuster TV was still a long way off in 1991 when Helen Mirren first took the lead in Prime Suspect– bringing some serious pedigree to the complex role of Jane Tennison. Spaced out over seven mini-seasons that ran for 15 years, every one of Tennison’s cases became a landmark event at home and abroad.

Spooks (2002-2011)

When Spooks first launched in 2002, it was written off as a British attempt to make 24. At the time, Jack Bauer was only one season into his own show, and the idea of making a counter-terrorism series felt fresh. As Jack’s adventures got sillier, MI5’s got bigger, better and more stylish – quickly carving its own niche and brushing off any comparisons to anything but Bond, Bourne and the best spy fiction.

Luther (2010-present)

Like Cracker before it, Luther stands and falls on its antihero – with Idris Elba playing the obsessive, violent, driven lead detective like someone out of a Shakespearean tragedy. Mixing Columbo and Sherlock Holmes, the show gave Elba plenty to sink his teeth into – arguably doing his best work since The Wire. Handfuls of Golden Globe, Emmy and BAFTA nods later, season 5 is set to be major international event when it lands later this year.

Cracker (1993-2006)

Cracker is best known for giving the world Robbie Coltrane – leading the show as forensic psychologist Eddie “Fitz” Fitzgerald – but more than a decade after its last film-length special in 2006, the show’s legacy is much more far reaching. Proving at the time that Britain could out-Columbo Columbo with a serious, character-driven detective show, Cracker also helped to pioneer the idea of a show led by a seriously flawed hero. Fitz was a bit of a jerk, but we loved him anyway.

The Prisoner (1967-68)

Let’s face it, The Prisoner was weird. Long before Lost started making no sense, and a decades before Maniac started being a bit odd, Patrick McGoohan’s surreal sci-fi showed the world that TV doesn’t always have to explain itself – at least not straight away. David Lynch gets a lot of credit for walking his own line in Twin Peaks, but McGoohan was brave enough to do it first.

Line Of Duty (2012-2017)

Cop shows have been a staple of TV pretty much since the medium was first invented, so it takes something quite special to pick up a reputation as the one of the best police procedurals of all time. Leaving the character studies to Luther and the super-sleuthing to Sherlock, Line Of Duty went where other detective shows feared to tread – right into the intricate, gritty details of real police work. A patchwork of plots, following the series actually required paying attention, but the payoff in expertly written, subtly performed drama was always worth it.

Downton Abbey (2010-2015)

Downton has had an odder journey than most – starting off as the kernal of an idea in Julian Fellowes Oscar-winning 2001 film, Gosford Park, before growing into an entirely original TV show (that’s now prepping a feature length film of its own). Essentially an evolution of the period social dramas that Britain has been perfecting since the 70s (from Upstairs, Downstairs to Brideshead Revisited), Downton Abbey added gloss, depth and some seriously fine writing to elevate the genre into something that felt definitive.

Broadchurch (2013-2017)

Every few years, a show comes along that everyone watches. The kind of show you have to see the night it’s actually on, unless you want to spend all the next day at work with your headphones in, Broadchurch (specifically the last season) was all anyone could talk about last year. The masterstroke of the show was to let the audience act as the detective – keeping us guessing right up until the final episode about who the culprit was, with David Tennant and Olivia Colman’s characters knowing as much as we did.

Threads (1984)

“It wasn’t until I saw Threads that I found that something on screen could make me break out in a cold, shivering sweat and keep me in that condition for 20 minutes, followed by weeks of depression and anxiety,” admits The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw, naming Mick Jackson’s nuclear war drama as the scariest thing he’s ever seen. Breaking new ground for real world horror, post-apocalyptic sci-fi and for what you were allowed to show on TV, any show that’s ever scared you in the last 30 years owes plenty to Threads.

The Crown (2016-present)

We’re currently between seasons in the lifespan of The Crown, and the wait for season 3 is getting slightly painful already. Spanning 20 hours of achingly beautiful period drama, the first chapter of The Crown played like a royal Godfather– taking us behind the plush seat of power to find the real people inside Buckingham Palace. Claire Foy, Matt Smith, Vanessa Kirby, Jared Harris and John Lithgow all gave career-best performances in seasons 1 and 2, and all eyes are now on Olivia Colman, Tobias Menzies and Helena Bonham Carter to see where (and when) they take the Windsors next.

Bodyguard (2018)

When we think back to 2018 in years to come, we’ll remember the royal wedding, that time we almost won the World Cup, and those few weeks when everyone got a bit obsessed with Richard Madden. All Bodyguard really did was tell a great story – but it managed to tell it in a way that hinged around cliffhangers so tense that it made the whole country break out in a collective sweat. A throwback to an age when we had to whole week to watch the next episode (madness), Bodyguard proved the power of patience like nothing else.

As you probably already know, Netflix is a hugely popular streaming service that encourages binge-watching but also likes to check every now and then to see if you're still alive. It's nice like that.

There's a lot of new entertainment on the site every month, and we're going to compile it all for you here.

As always, Netflix warns us that this list is subject to change. This means that on occasion a title listed here will be moved to a different date, or be removed completely. Sometimes a few are also added in, as and when. Unfortunately, we have no say in this! Just one of those things.

Highlights in November include Orson Welles' 'lost' film The Other Side Of The Wind, The Sinner season 2 and Narcos: Mexico for your binge needs, the She-Ra reboot series, Michael Douglas's original Netflix show The Kominsky Method and a brand new six-episode run of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

Here are the weekly series ahead in November, slowly digested in reasonably-sized chunks:

The Judgement, Oh My Ghost, The Rise Of The Phoenixes, A Taiwanese Tale Of Two Cities, Riverdale, Dynasty, Black Lightning, Patriot Act and the brand new season of The Good Place will all be streaming weekly.

And here's the rest....

1st November

Children of Men
Crusoe
Dead Set
The Hooligan Factory
The Tigers of Scotland
Calico Critters: A Town of Dreams
Calico Critters
Calico Critters: The Treasure of Calico Village
Deadly Expose
Edge of Fear
Expatriot
Hang 'Em High
In a Valley of Violence
Katt Williams: The Pimp Chronicles: Pt. 1
Malone
Our House
RoboCop
Sleepwalker
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Follow This Part 3
Angela's Christmas

2nd November

Daybreakers
House Of Cards Season 6
The Holiday Calendar
The Other Side Of The Wind
Re:Mastered: Tricky Dick And The Man In Black
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
Brainchild
Trolls: The Beat Goes On Season 4

5th November

John Leguizamo's Latin History For Morons

6th November

The Late Bloomer

8th November

Neighbors

9th November

An American Tail
BASEketball
Ali G Indahouse
The Best of Me
The Perfect Man
Waterworld
La Reina Del Flow
Super Drags
The Sinner Season 2
Westside
Outlaw King
Medal Of Honor
Beat Bugs Season 3
Spirit Riding Free Season 7
Treehouse Detectives Season 2

10th November

Almost Christmas
Limitless

13th November

Warrior
Loudon Wainwright III: Surviving Twin

15th November

The Windsors
May The Devil Take You
The Crew

16th November

2 Guns
Cam
Narcos: Mexico
The Kominsky Method
Cam
The Princess Switch
The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs#
Ponysitters Club Season 2
She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power
Prince Of Peoria

19th November

The Man Who Knew Infinity
The Last Kingdom Series 3

20th November

The Final Table
Sabrina
Trevor Noah: Son Of Patricia
Kulipari: Dream Walker
Motown Magic

21st November

The Tribe

22nd November

Greenleaf Season 3
Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Gauntlet
The Christmas Chronicles

23rd November

The Evolution Of Us
Frontier Season 3
Fugitiva

27th November

Bumping Mics With Jeff Ross and Dave Attel

29th November

Soltera Codiciada

30th November

Death By Magic
1983
Baby
F Is For Family Season 3
Nicky Jam: El Ganador
Rajma Chawal
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Wedding
Tiempo Compartido
Spy Kids: Mission Critical Season 2

We'll keep this list updated every month, folks.

Sandra Bullock stars alongside Sarah Paulson and John Malkovitch in apocalyptic thriller Bird Box– a neat looking horror that looks like it might be the new A Quiet Place. 

Directed by Susanne Bier (In A Better World, The Night Manager) as a Netflix Original, Bird Box has a pretty great premise. Something nasty has laid waste to the planet and it’s still out there – picking off survivors one by one. You can run away from it, and you can hide from it, but the only thing you can’t do is look at it. Manifesting itself as your greatest fear, whatever the something in Bird Box is, it’ll get ya if you actually see it.    

Bullock plays Malorie, a woman who gets inconveniently pregnant right when the apocalypse starts. Forming a small group with her sister (Paulson) and kids, Malorie tries to escape the monsters by blindfolding herself – picking her way through the aftermath without looking at anything. Obviously, she has to peek sometimes, and obviously, that’s when things get scary.

The film is adapted from Josh Malerman’s novel of the same name, which was divided into three parts – spread over several years as Malorie has her kids, waits for them to grow up, plans her escape and tries to pull it off. As the trailer shows us Malorie being pregnant with her kids – as well as navigating them down a river, blindfolded – it looks like Bier’s film is sticking to the structure pretty closely. 

Bird Box hits Netflix (and selected cinemas) on December 21, just in time for Christmas.

Note: Some massive great spoilers lie ahead for Friday The 13th…

To date, the Friday The 13th collection of movies spans a dozen releases that, as you’d expect, has seen a sizeable evolution. What’s happened over the course of the franchise is the promotion of the character of Jason Voorhees into a modern day horror movie icon.

Yet if you go back to the original film, released in 1980, the character of Jason was never intended to be a horror icon at all – that honour initially went to Jason’s mother Mrs Voorhees instead. The film was initiated by director Sean S Cunningham, who was actively looking to make a low budget horror, that could capitalise on the thirst for such pictures at the time. He recruited a friend of his, Victor Miller, and the pair of them put together a screenplay, and conceived the Jason character in doing so.

But Jason wasn’t the villain, and this is often forgotten. Cunningham and Miller actually put Friday The 13th together as a story at heart about a mother on the rampage for revenge over the death of her son. As Miller would post on his own website, “I still believe that the best part of my screenplay was the fact that a mother figure was the serial killer - working from a horribly twisted desire to avenge the senseless death of her son, Jason”. Said mother figure was played with chilling effect by late Broadway legend, Betsy Palmer. Her nervous, fidgety performance, combined with her high-pitched whispering, to this day has an ability to get utterly under the skin.

Here are a few nerdy extra facts about the movie, and we’ll continue this tale on the other side…

Buy now on DVD or Blu-ray  〉

Digital Download  〉

The character of Jason does, of course, appear in Friday The 13th, but only in earnest surprisingly late in the day (in fairness, he is dead from the start). When he eventually wreaked his own havoc, that paved the way for the swiftly-generated sequels to start following.

However, the actual villain of the first film was very much intended to be Mrs Voorhees. The central idea of taking a mother who would kill for her kids, and actually having her do just that was the foundation of the film. Jason, insists Victor Miller, is as much a victim in the first movie. His full piece can be found here.

The evolution of Jason, though, hasn’t been a bad thing. It’s hardly unusual for horror-tinged films to have their foes gradually take full centre stage as a franchise develops, and perhaps it was therefore fitting that Freddy Krueger and Jason would directly go head to head in a single film back in 2003.

Notably, though, that film also saw a revival for the character of Pamela Voorhees too (albeit now played by Paula Shaw). A potent reminder of who the underlying villain of Friday The 13th really was…

Warning: contains major Daredevil season 3 spoilers.

Marvel's Daredevil Season 3 has finally arrived on Netflix, and kids, it is spectacular. This is one of the best seasons in the entire Marvel Netflix pantheon, and even though it is (relatively) light on the Marvel Comics references, there is still plenty to unpack, and probably plenty more I'm going to miss on the first viewing.

So here's how this works... I've tried to catch all the cool Marvel references in Daredevil Season 3, but there's only so much I can do. I'm only one man trying to clean up Hell's Kitchen, after all. Let me know anything I missed down in the comments, or hit me up on Twitter. If your catch checks out, I'll update this with it. Together, we can make the most complete guide to Marvel Easter Eggs in Daredevil Season 3 out there!

One quick word of caution about all of this. While I will try not to spoil future episodes in the entry for a specific episode, sometimes speculation leads to spoilers. And while I definitely endorse everyone calling out what they spot down in the comments, I can't control any Daredevil season 3 spoilers you might see if you're down there, or if you scroll too far. Just be careful if you're trying to remain unspoiled!

Fire up your Netflix machines, and let's get to work!

Daredevil season 3 episode 1: 

It’s not a spoiler to say right out of the gate that this season is influenced by several Daredevil comics stories, and one of them is Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli’s classic Born Again. But if you’re looking for an adaptation of Born Again, this season definitely ain’t it.

That being said, opening with Matt recuperating in a church while being cared for by Sister Maggie is straight out of Born Again. It’s the circumstances that are slightly different, though. Here, we kick things off because of the events from the finale of The Defenders, where a building quite literally fell on Matt Murdock. In Born Again, the church (and Sister Maggie) doesn’t appear until midway through the story, when Matt is already physically and mentally broken. And while a building didn’t fall on him in that story, he ends up in the church after his actual apartment building is blown to bits... so there’s a little bit of a parallel.

- Sister Maggie Grace, by the way, first appeared in Daredevil #229 (you guessed it...that's a Born Again chapter). She’s also a prominent figure in Kevin Smith, Joe Quesada, and Jimmy Palmiotti’s Guardian Devil. The more sharp-tongued, assertive Sister Maggie we see here is slightly more reminiscent of the way the character is portrayed in that story.

- Another parallel with Guardian Devil is Matt’s generally shitty attitude and his crisis of faith. While the circumstances contributing to those in that story were drastically different, and supernatural in nature (that is most certainly not the case this season), it’s the closest parallel to this season’s dickhead Matt I can think of. In Born Again he was more just broken and mentally unwell. While that is the case here, it's just manifesting differently.

- Nice to see the return of Ben Donovan in this episode. It's a relatively small thing, but without Rosario Dawson's Claire Temple to show up and link everything together, I rather like how these shows are now just letting minor characters weave in and out of all the shows, much the way they do in the actual Marvel Comics themselves.

- Ray Nadeem is not from the comics, nor, as far as I can tell, is he even loosely based on anyone from the comics. Don’t let that stop you from getting involved with this character, though. Jay Ali’s performance is terrific.

Otherwise, there aren’t a hell of a lot of actual comic book easter eggs this episode. Just lots of influences. Sometimes it’s better this way, and once again, it’s not a spoiler to say that I think everyone is going to enjoy the hell out of this season.

Daredevil season 3 episode 2: 

- I feel like maybe once per season each of these shows allows themselves one "comic book style" shot. The bit with Matt staring off into space in the basement of the church fading into Fisk looking the other way feels almost like a comic book split panel effect. Maybe this wasn't intentional, maybe it was.

- The Mother Theresa back tattoo on that Albanian thug has nothing at all to do with the comics, but it's an amusing touch, especially how the FBI guys jokingly refer to him as "Mother Theresa."

- Is Fisk’s incident in the weight room the first time we’ve gotten an indication of JUST how strong he is? In the comics, it’s always pointed out that Kingpin isn’t fat, he’s “all muscle.” Here, he’s benching, what...315? Damn, Wilson!

- It took me until my second viewing to catch that Ray is a vegetarian.

- When Matt is out wandering outside the church, he’s kind of dressed like Stick, isn’t he? He’s already acting like his old sensei/frenemy, so may as well dress like him, too.

- Oh, do you think this cool fight in the backroom of the sketchy dry cleaner is this season’s answer to season one’s brilliant hallway fight? Keep watching...

- I’ll be honest, I’m not totally sure if Foggy had this kind of working class background in the comics, or if Theo Nelson ever appeared or was mentioned there. In the comics it turned out his actual mother was Evelyn Sharpe, a powerful, high-class attorney. I’d be shocked if they ever go that way here.

- Karen’s “there’s no proof of that!” when Foggy is trying to convince her that Matt is dead feels like a sideways nod to the old comic book logic that “if there’s no body, they can still come back.”

- Fisk’s “Love is the perfect prison” sounds like something Billy Corgan would have written circa 1996. Hell, ol’ Billy is looking a bit like Kingpin these days.

- Gosh, that one FBI agent sure is a hell of a shot isn’t he? Almost like they’re telling us something...

Daredevil season 3 episode 3: 

- That full Ralph Ellison quote from Invisible Man, “Life is to be lived, not controlled, and humanity is won by continuing to play in face of certain defeat" feels both like what should be carved on Matt Murdock's tombstone and...just a quote we all really, really need to hear right now.

- Fisk keeps referring to Vanessa having a bodyguard named Felix, but I don’t think this is from the comics. Please do correct me if I'm wrong.

- I’m pretty sure that Agent Poindexter is not and cannot be the sniper briefly glimpsed in Daredevil season 1 we all hoped was going to turn out to be Bullseye. A minor trade off for a great introduction to the character here. At this point, it's not a spoiler to say he's Bullseye, right? You all figured that out already. Plus, it's in the trailers!

- Even via hallucination, it’s great to see Wilson Fisk in the classic Kingpin white suit. Matt hallucinating Fisk is a nice indicator of just how far gone he is at the moment, and again, while this isn’t straight out of any particular comics, it’s right in the spirit of both Born Again and Guardian Devil.

- I really appreciate the “stealth mode” fight in the parking garage. For all of Daredevil’s ninja training and roots, that’s usually focused on the actual ass-kicking elements of it, rather than the ninja’s crucial arts of stealth and deception. The fact that it takes place in a well lit parking garage is even cooler.

- Matt being a dick to Foggy is kind of like Born Again, too. Only there, it was because he had basically lost his mind to pressure and depression. Foggy would reach out to Matt by phone and Matt would pretend not to know (or maybe not actually know) who he is.

Daredevil season 3 episode 4:

- They establish here that Matt is 5'10, which I think is about right for Charlie Cox's actual height. However, I'm pretty sure that in the comics (either via The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe or those awesome trading cards from the '90s) it was established that Matt stands around six feet. Anyway, whatever, as a short dude I am totally here for more superheroes of average height.

- THIS is the hallway fight you’ve been waiting for. And you aren't hallucinating, this long take fight goes on for nearly 15 minutes. No comic book easter eggs here, but...god damn it's good.

- Pretty sure Jasper Evans isn't from the comics, but please correct me if I'm wrong and I'll update this!

- Kingpin is playing some very familiar mindgames with Poindexter. Pretty sure we've heard this kind of talk from a certain occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Yeah, yeah, yeah "keep politics out of your articles" blahblahblah, I've heard it all before and I do not care. If you refuse to see the connections between art and the real world, that's not really my problem.

- Sending Matt to a watery grave via checkered taxi is straight out of Born Again. All that did was make Matt even crazier.

Daredevil season 3 episode 5:

- Fisk deciding to ruin Matt Murdock's life is perhaps the biggest parallel to Born Again we've seen so far. While he has certainly been suspicious of Matt since their brief chat during season two, if he isn't 100% clued in to the fact that Matt is Daredevil right now, he sure will be soon. In any case, he loathes Matt enough to want to destroy him, and making that happen via apparently "legitimate means" is the most Kingpin thing ever, and right in line with Born Again.

- Felix Manning is from the Born Again story. He first appeared in Daredevil #230. There, he was responsible for outfitting someone with an authentic Daredevil costume. Hmmm...

- Keeping all of the flashback materials in an Airwalk box is a nice touch.

- The logo of Poindexter’s old baseball team is very much the Bullseye logo from the comics. The black and white of the scene only drives that home further.

- In the comics, Bullseye's history with baseball has been explored a couple of times. The first was in Bullseye: Greatest Hits by Daniel Way and Steve Dillon. There, Bullseye was a promising minor league pitcher, and he demanded to be taken out while he was in the midst of a perfect game (not the differences between what happened on the show). His coach asked him to get one more batter out, and Bullseye obliged, by killing the batter with a pitch. 

The other was in the really interesting and fun Bullseye: Perfect Game by Charlie Huston, Shawn Martinbrough, and Lee Loughridge. That tells the tale of how Bullseye took a year off from supervillainy to become a Major League Baseball pitcher. His intention was to take a hit job on a problematic opposing player. Instead, the two got into an incredible pitchers' duel. If you can track this down, it's totally worth a read, especially if you're a baseball fan.

Daredevil season 3 episode 6:

- Ahem...you will note that Karen Page and Matt Murdock most certainly do not have coffee together in this scene. Symbolic? I mean, Luke Cage kinda ruined that beverage for any character pairing for the entire Marvel Netflix Universe, didn't he?

Here's an amusing thing Deborah Ann Woll told reporters while this season was filming:

"You know what happened? On our Marvel shows, we are no longer allowed to just actually literally go for coffee as characters because of that euphemism. We've literally had scenes where, I'm like, 'alright, well let's go get some coffee.' Literally let's get coffee, and they're like, 'no you can't say that because people will read into it.' Isn't that too bad?"

- Every time Karen Page is in a sketchy situation, or even in the vicinity of drugs, it makes me think of (you guessed it) Born Again. While the show has long been building a very different kind of tragic backstory for Karen, and at this point I don't think the comics version would ever work here, it's still a little unnerving, considering how attached we've all become to this character.

- Poindexter's increasing derangement as he feels his world unraveling almost feels a little like one of Bullseye's earliest appearances, during the early days of Frank Miller's legendary tenure on the Daredevil comics. At one point Bullseye had a brain tumor and it affected his perceptions and his already shady behavior pretty dramatically. I don't think they're going there (and certainly not so soon), this just felt like a little bit of a reminder.

- Welcome to the first proper Daredevil and Bullseye fight. And while it had already been well established that Poindexter is an almost supernaturally good shot, this is the classic “can use anything at all as a weapon” Bullseye from the comics. This is truly a spectacular action sequence, and the fourth in four episodes. And we're not even halfway through the season yet!

There are two massive parallels to the comics here. One involves Bullseye, the other doesn’t.

In Born Again, Fisk hired an unbalanced person to masquerade as Daredevil. In the case of this show, that unbalanced person is actually Bullseye. BUT…

...Bullseye did spend some time in the Daredevil costume himself, during Ann Nocenti and Lee Weeks’ underrated period on the character. Hell, Bullseye ended up convincing himself he was actually Daredevil for a while. It’s easy to imagine how that could end up playing out here the rest of the season. The fact that he introduces himself with an "I'm Daredevil" would almost seem to play into this, so I'm curious to see how it plays out as the season continues.

Spot anything I missed? Drop it in the comments or hit me up on Twitter and if it checks out, I'll keep updating this!

Angie Thomas’ debut novel The Hate U Give was first published in February 2017 and shot straight to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. No wonder - it’s a furious, political and personal gut punch of a novel, a highly emotional and sophisticated YA drama about a young African-American girl finding her voice after a horrendous act of police brutality.

Now it’s been turned into a movie, starring Amandla Stenberg as the lead character Starr Carter, with Notorious and Faster director George Tillman Jr directing.

Den of Geek sat down with Thomas to talk about the shooting that inspired the book, empowering a new generation and how Harry Potter saved her life.

How did you feel when you first saw the film?

I think I’ve seen it four times now. You know, there’s actually a video reaction of me. I told the social media people “Just come in, and record me. Whatever my initial reaction is – just do it. Just start recording.”

I thought I was going to be standing there, clapping or something. I was sitting there, sobbing.

I mean, I sobbed so hard. It was such a beautiful adaptation of the book. I’m still honoured that it even exists. I’m blown away every single day by it.

The book was a massive phenomenon. At what point did you know it had become this great, big thing?

I think when it really hit me was when the book was still on the list four weeks later [laughs]. And then four months later, it was still there. That just blew me away.

I think when it really hit me, too, was when I came here to the UK, and I met people who had already read it, and they loved it. For it to be such an American story, and to know that it connected with UK readers the way that it did – that was really one of those huge moments for me. So I still can’t believe that.

What sort of responses and reactions have you got from teenagers to the book?

Their reactions are always my favourites. You know, whether it’s the young black girls who say, “Oh my God!” They’ll come up to me and they have to clap: “Oh my God!” You know? And I know what that means. That means they loved it. They’re like [says while clapping]: “This. Is. Me. This. Was. My. Experience. Thank. You.”

Or they’ll say, “I never read a book before this.”

And then you have the young black boys who are like, “Yo, I hate reading, but I read this in a day. This is dope!”

And then it’s the white kids from rural communities who have no black people in their city or their town, who say, “This book opened my eyes. It changed my mind.”

That’s why I do it – for all of those reactions. So to know that I’ve given so many young people something that they can either connect with or see themselves in? That’s an honour. So they’re the reason I do what I do, and I’m going to keep doing it.

Tell us a little bit about what inspired you to write it in the first place?

First of all, I wrote it as a short story when I was in college. I lived in a mostly black, poor neighbourhood, like Starr’s, and I went to a mostly white, upper-class private school, like Starr did. And I had to be two different people in two different worlds.

I would often leave my house, playing Tupac, but by the time I got to school, I was listening to the Jonas brothers, because I thought that’s what I had to do to fit in. And I was careful about how I presented myself. I never wanted anyone to write me off as the ghetto black girl, the angry black girl, or any of those things.

But there was a young man by the name of Oscar Grant who lost his life in Oakland, California. I didn’t know him personally, but I took his death personally. The video showed him lying flat on his stomach, with an officer who had his knee in Oscar’s back. The officer, for some odd reason, shot him in the back. And he was not charged on it. He got away with it.

And that fact led to a lot of riots and protests in Oakland, but it also created conversations in my neighbourhood and at my school. In my neighbourhood, we understood the anger and fear and frustration that the people of Oakland had. But at my school, some of my classmates were like, “Well, maybe he deserved it. He was an ex-con. Why are people so upset? He should have just done what they told him to.”

And I couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that they would try to justify his death the way that they did.

So I wrote a short story to express my own emotions, and to hopefully help them understand. And that short story later became The Hate U Give. It took me a couple of years to decide to write it as a novel, because as a short story, it was hard enough to write, you know? But then when Trayvon Martin happened, and Michael Brown, and Tamir Rice, and I’m hearing politicians justify why it’s OK that a 12-year-old child lost his life – I was so angry and hurt and frustrated.

In the end, the young people in my community were so angry and hurt and frustrated, that I decided to turn the short story into a novel for myself and for them.

So that’s why I wrote The Hate U Give. It was really for them and for me. I was like, “If I can get one of them to read it, I’ve done something.” I’ve gotten all of them to read it now, and I’m still blown away.

That’s amazing. So what do you hope the movie will do?

You know, I hope the movie will help more people understand why we say Black Lives Matter, you know? We’re in an interesting time right now where people are mad at Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee, protesting police violence, and so many of them don’t understand that that’s all he’s trying to do – protest police brutality.

People are trying to boycott Nike because of their support of him. It’s like: are you saying that you’re more in favour of things that advocate the killing of someone like me?

That’s what it feels like. So we’re in an interesting time right now regarding that. So I hope that this movie helps more people understand why we say Black Lives Matter, and why Colin takes a knee. I also hope people walk away deciding to find out what it’s like to be someone who isn’t like them, you know?

A lot of times, people who read the book or watch the movie, if they aren’t like Starr, they say, “Wow, I had no idea that it was like this for black people” or “I had no idea that this was a struggle”.

And now I hope that it makes them decide to find out: “OK, so what it’s like to be someone else who’s not like me?” Because then you become aware of things that you actually have the power to change. So that’s another big hope for me with the film and the book. I hope that people walk away with some empathy.

I’m a firm believer that empathy is more powerful than sympathy, and I hope that we walk away with that, and that we use that empathy to empower ourselves.

Do you see it as Young Adult novel? It’s very grown up material.

I do, I do. The fact of the matter is, young adults are dealing with so many real adult issues, you know? And YA gets a bad rep. People are like, “Oh, it’s just vampires.” It’s so much more! I would honestly say that Young Adult fiction is one of the most progressive forms of publishing right now. The stories that are being told are stories that not even adult fiction dares to tell.

So I have no problem with the book or the movie bearing that YA banner. I hope that, if nothing else, it shows people that YA is more than just vampires – not that there’s anything wrong with vampires. But it’s more than that. We’re telling stories that young people connect with. So give us our props! [laughs]

The book and the film feel very current. There’s scene at the end of the film which was very reminiscent of Emma Gonzáles’ speech after the Florida shooting…

Yeah, and that has inspired me so much in all of this. Hopefully that will prove to the people who tried to criticise YA or who look down upon YA, that when we’re writing these stories, we’re writing them for the Emmas; and we’re picturing the Emmas before the Emmas really exist, you know?

There’s nothing wrong with us empowering these young people, because one day, they’re going to be the ones running society. I’m very aware of the fact that the kids I write for now will one day be politicians with Twitter accounts, and I respect that. So I need more people to respect YA as being a tool for them.

What sort of books or films really spoke to you when you were a youngster?

When I was a kid, I loved reading. My favourite book was Roll Of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and then Harry Potter – oh my God. Every time I come here, I look for anything Harry Potter-related, I really do, because that was always my dream as a kid.

I love those books, they really distracted me from things that were happening in my own life. I could easily ignore gunshots in my neighbourhood if I got caught up in Harry’s adventures. I feel like I owe her [JK Rowling] my life [laughs]. They really fuelled my imagination, and my imagination, in a lot of ways, saved me.

But as I became a teenager, you know, besides Harry Potter, I hated reading, because I wasn’t seeing books that showed me myself. And instead, hip-hop was where I saw myself. Rappers were telling the stories I identified with, and they were speaking to me and for me. So that was the art that was my mirror.

I often say, as a writer, I want to be a mix between JK Rowling and Tupac [laughs]. I feel like I am! If nothing else, I’ve got a big cast of characters, similar to what she did, and I hope I’m revealing some truths that make people uncomfortable like Pac did. So that’s my goal as a writer.

Do you think representation is getting better in Hollywood?

You know, the fact that even a movie like this was made, says a lot. And the fact that a movie like Black Panther was made, says a whole lot. And then in publishing, I’m seeing differences. I’m seeing changes.

But also, I have my fears that people are going to think that diversity is just a trend. When it can’t be a trend, it needs to be a movement. So it has to be a lasting change.

I’m glad that so many people uphold The Hate U Give the way they do, but I don’t want them to expect every book from every black author to be just as big of a thing. I want black authors to be able to write awful books, too, and get published, because plenty of white authors do, you know?

So I think we’re headed in a good direction. I won’t say we’re there yet, but I think we’re making good progress.

Director George Tillman Jr called you to convince you he was the right person to make the film. What was it that persuaded you?

What really made a lasting impression on me with that first conversation with George was the fact that he not only understood the story and the characters so well, but he knew them. he was talking to me about my characters as if they were real people, and he almost understood them just as much as I did – if not maybe a little more.

And that really struck me. My literary agent was on the call as well and after we got off the phone, my agent called me, and we both just went at the same time, “Wow.” We just had this moment of: “Wow. Wow.”

I knew immediately that he was the one, because he not only understood it, but he had a passion for it. So that really sold me.

Amandla Stenberg is terrific in the movie. Does she feel like your Starr?

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You know, when I was writing the book, she had just released that “Don’t Cash Crop On My Cornrows” video. And I remember watching that and I was like, “Wow, that’s exactly who I want Starr to be. Every single quality that she has, that’s what I want Starr to have.”

I knew that Starr’s story was about getting to the point of finding her voice, and I was like, “Amandla is the goal.”

So that’s who I pictured in my head from that point on. I was like, “This is who you’re going to become. This is it.”

When she was attached to the project, it felt like it was meant to be. To know that she connected with the story in such a way that even now sometimes she’s like, “You’ve nailed things that were happening in my life. I don’t know how you did that.”

It all came together. It felt like the perfect casting choice. I’m still just grateful to have her in this role, and I think she did a phenomenal job.

I told her, “I hope that people will stop calling you Rue. Maybe they might start calling you Starr!”

How did you feel about changes from the book? Were there bits that you were really sad to lose?

You know, when George and the screenwriter, Audrey, first presented to me the idea of getting rid of two characters from the book? That was hard. DeVante and Nana.

At first, I was like, “No!”

And then my mum’s in my ear like, “You better not let them do that!”

But George explained why, and I understood it. And I have to say, the first time I saw the movie, like an hour later, it hit me. I was like, “Oh, they weren’t in it. I didn’t miss them.”

And I did feel like an awful parent for not missing them. But I think in this instance, it served the story well not to have them there. They served a purpose in the book, but that purpose wasn’t necessary for the film. And it worked without them. So that was the only thing I ever had any concerns about, and that was quickly put to rest once I saw the final product.

The ending’s quite different, of course...

Yes, the ending. I wish I would have put that ending in the book, I really do! Because it really gives us a visual of the meaning of Thug Life, and what Tupac intended when he said that. After I read it in the script, I called my editor.

I was like, “So, can we change…”

She was like, “Angie, the book is out. You can’t do that.”

So no. that’s one scene that I think a lot of people are going to be talking about. It always gets the loudest reaction in any theatre I’ve seen it in.

The Hate U Give is out now in UK cinemas.

Scare mazes are everywhere now. Taking the best of American haunted house attractions, walk-through theme park rides and fright night events, the UK now offers plenty of opportunities for you to be terrified by drama students whilst you shuffle through a dark corridor with a group of strangers.  

Done badly, the costumes look naff, the theming doesn't work and the jump scares get boring. Done well, they can be a huge amount of fun – making you feel like you’re in the middle of a zombie apocalypse or a serial killer movie or a field full of evil scarecrows. 

Halloween is almost here so British farmers are busy cutting a path through their corn, abandoned buildings are being dressed to look like haunted asylums, and hundreds of out of work actors are practising their boo faces in the mirror. It’s officially scare maze season, and here’s the best places to find a good one.   

'Barnaggedon', Hallowscream Yorkshire

Hallowscream won 2018’s Best Scream Park prize in the ScareCon awards, and they’ve got five mazes themed around evil clowns, future zombies and Victorian meat markets. New this year is the brilliantly named ‘Barnaggedon’, which fuses dead factory workers, evil circus performers and 3D technology – giving you the chance to don a pair of specs and run screaming through a scare maze where the horrors are half projection and half "real".  

Phobophobia – A Hillbillies Halloween, London Tombs London 

Already billed as “The UK’s scariest attraction”, the London Tombs is a permanent fixture next to London Bridge tube station, but Phobophobia is their annual Halloween event that promises to kick things up a notch. This year, the theme is dubious social stereotypes – with a high-end maze built around evil chainsaw-wielding cannibal rednecks that offers “new levels of shock, fear and depravity”.

‘The Village’, Xtreme Scream Park Leicestershire

Xtreme Scream Park, near Leicester, has six different scare mazes on one site. ‘Ash Hell Penitentiary’, ‘Stilton Hall Hotel And Hell Spa’ and ‘Pie Factory’ (showing you what really goes into Melton Mowbray’s pork pies) are all standouts, but the park’s newest maze, ‘The Village’ won ScareCON’s prestigious Best Halloween attraction in the 2018 awards. Think mutant scarecrows, killer birds and an East Midlands take on The Wicker Man. 

Scaresville Suffolk

Scaresville is pretty unique in offering an entire haunted village to get lost in – with a maze taking you through woods, sewers, houses and barns in what amounts to about an hour of walking in the dark. Scaresville is actually set in the grounds of Kentwell Hall which looks like an actual haunted house, so that’s a bonus.

'Coven Of 13', Shocktoberfest, Tulley’s Farm 
Sussex

Tulley’s Farm turns itself into Halloween town in October (before it turns itself into Christmas town in December), offering nine live horror attractions, including a “haunted hayride”. ‘The Cellar’ boasts a pretty nifty animatronic prop, and ‘The Chop Shop’ is the most intense, but ‘Coven Of 13’ has the best theming – with one section leading you into what looks and feels like shallow water (it isn’t) whilst you’re chased by a gang of witches. 

The Walking Dead: Living Nightmare, Thorpe Park Surrey

Thorpe Park actually has a pretty decent Walking Dead rollercoaster now, which includes a short walk-through scare section, but they amp up their proper themed maze every Halloween. The big draw here is the licence to the show – letting the park recreate all the awful bits you’ve seen on TV. New for this year, the maze will include “the world’s first experience of Season 7”, which probably means you get to watch your friends attacked with a baseball bat. 

‘Hollywood Horror 3’, Dr Fright’s Halloween Nights Northamptonshire

Dr Fright’s ‘Horrortown’ boasts four lengthy mazes, with ‘Shock Therapy’ scaring you with evil nurses, ‘What The Hell?’ scaring you with evil Satanists, and ‘Killer Clowns vs Cannibal Hillbillies’ really leaning into this year’s two biggest trends. The best, though, has to be ‘Hollywood Horror 3’, which pushes you through a maze that’s home to Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers and Pennywise.