Backrooms Goes Home: The Viral Horror Hit Faces Its Streaming Audit
A24's $81.5m internet-born horror phenomenon arrives on premium VOD on 7 July — the next test of whether viral fandom can outlast the opening weekend.
Sophie Bennett 4 min read
Streaming
Streaming is treated here as one crowded, converging marketplace. Recent analysis follows the calendar crush as films, series, music and games fight for the same week, Hollywood racing into phone-first microdramas, and the watchalong era arriving as Sidemen and the BBC reinvent World Cup viewing. Individual titles get their due — the viral horror hit Backrooms facing its streaming audit, an Enola Holmes 3 week proving range beats scale, Beyoncé's surprise Morning Dew drop — alongside what-to-watch guides and viewers naming the best TV of 2026 so far.
Ted Lasso pays tribute to Anthony Head with an end card in episode nine
The penultimate episode of the new series closed with a card reading “In memory of Anthony Head”, months after the actor’s death at 72.
Marcus Reeve 4 min read
Sky ITV takeover chiefs pledge to maintain content scale
Sky and ITV executives used the Royal Television Society convention to address content investment as their $2.1 billion acquisition moves through UK regulation.
Marcus Reeve 6 min read
Charlie Brooker’s Blackmere Adds Rory Kinnear Ahead of 2027 Netflix Debut
Charlie Brooker’s four-part Netflix series Blackmere has added Rory Kinnear to its cast, with the absurd crime-thriller comedy arriving in early 2027.
Daniel Fletcher 5 min read
Army of Shadows Channel 4 thriller adds Olivia Colman and Susan Sarandon
Oscar winners Olivia Colman and Susan Sarandon have joined Channel 4's six-part thriller Army of Shadows, now filming in London and Paris.
Eleanor Whitfield 5 min read
BBC removes 11 Mitchell and Webb sketches from iPlayer anniversary release
The BBC has restored That Mitchell and Webb Look to iPlayer for its 20th anniversary while removing 11 sketches it says no longer work today.
Sophie Bennett 6 min read
Matthew Rhys makes Emmy history as the first actor to win lead awards in drama, comedy and limited series
The Welsh actor took two lead acting Emmys on the same night, for Netflix limited series The Beast in Me and Apple comedy Widow's Bay, completing a category trifecta no performer had managed before.
Daniel Fletcher 5 min read
BBC drops RuPaul's Drag Race UK after eight series
RuPaul's Drag Race UK will leave BBC Three and iPlayer after its current series as the BBC points to significant financial pressures and required savings.
Daniel Fletcher 5 min read
Enola Holmes 3, Madonna and Elle: the streaming week that proves range beats scale
A Netflix detective sequel, a Legally Blonde prequel, Madonna's Confessions II and hit thriller Obsession show how streaming now sells a menu, not a moment.
Sophie Bennett 4 min read
Beyoncé's surprise Morning Dew drop turns the B'Day anniversary into a streaming-era event
Her first new song in two years, dropped without warning on 4 July, opens the countdown to a 20th-anniversary B'Day reissue — pop monetising memory.
Sophie Bennett 4 min read
Sleuthing Sheep and Young Sherlocks: Why Amateur Detectives Have Taken Over Television
From cosy crime to prodigy origin stories, TV's amateur-sleuth wave reveals what audiences crave: proof that ordinary attention can still defeat chaos.
Sophie Bennett 4 min read
Troy Baker's Netflix Horror Role Shows Streaming Games Chasing Prestige, Not Just Play
The games icon joins Sadie Sink and Zoe Kravitz in Netflix's interactive horror Unhinged — a casting model borrowed from prestige television.
Sophie Bennett 4 min read
Hollywood races into microdramas as phone-first storytelling goes mainstream
Major studios, streamers and creator-led companies are moving into short vertical dramas, a format once treated as a social-video sideshow but now drawing serious investment.
Sophie Bennett 6 min read
Streaming calendar crowds as films, series, music and games fight for the same week
A packed release slate shows how entertainment platforms increasingly compete across categories, with viewers asked to treat one week as a full media menu.
Sophie Bennett 5 min read
Sidemen and BBC take World Cup viewing into the watchalong era
BBC Sport teams up with the Sidemen for a live watchalong of Ecuador v Germany, blending influencer reaction with public-service coverage.
Sophie Bennett 4 min read
New on Netflix June 2026: Films and TV series to add to your watchlist
A round-up of the latest films and series landing on Netflix in the UK this June, from fresh originals to returning favourites worth queuing up before the month ends.
Sophie Bennett 3 min read
Viewers name the best TV of 2026 so far, from Legends to The Pitt
A reader survey crowns crime drama, social satire and warm British comedy as the standout shows of the year, spanning streaming and public-service channels.
Sophie Bennett 3 min read
BBC podcast outpaces Lineker's Netflix show in World Cup digital battle
Early figures suggest the BBC's Football Daily is drawing bigger audio and video numbers than Gary Lineker's Netflix-backed daily tournament show.
Sophie Bennett 4 min read
Fox to swallow Roku in $22bn deal as Murdochs bet big on connected TV
The Lachlan Murdoch-led broadcaster is buying the streaming hardware and ad platform it once sold its stake in, aiming to fuse Tubi with Roku's 100 million-plus households.
Sophie Bennett 8 min read
Netflix expands iHeartMedia podcast pact, adding Martha Stewart and the Hudsons
The streamer is bolting three more star-driven titles onto its exclusive video podcast deal with iHeartMedia, deepening a push to make podcasts mainstream streaming content.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
'Emily in Paris' to take its final bow with a globe-trotting sixth season
Netflix has confirmed the hit romantic comedy will end with Season 6, with Lily Collins promising a finale shot across Greece, Monaco and Paris that closes Emily's story 'in the most chic way'.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
Netflix walks away from Warner Bros. as Paramount's $111bn bid wins Hollywood's biggest prize
After a months-long bidding war, Netflix declined to match Paramount Skydance's escalated offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, ceding HBO, the studios and CNN — and turning to a $25bn share buyback instead.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
Netflix orders second series of Steven Knight's House of Guinness
The Peaky Blinders creator's Dublin-set period saga has been recommissioned after a strong debut run, with the writer signalling ambitions to take the dynasty all the way to the 1960s.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
Netflix calls time on two cult favourites, ordering final seasons of 'Good Girl's Guide' and 'Devil May Cry'
Within days of each other, the streamer renewed its hit teen mystery and its acclaimed video-game anime for third and final seasons, completing two stories built as trilogies from the start.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
Channel 4 claims it is outgrowing every major streamer in 2026
The public-service broadcaster says its digital viewing minutes are rising faster than rivals from the BBC to Netflix, as it positions younger audiences at the heart of its strategy.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
Netflix and Spotify blur the lines between streaming and podcasting
A distribution pact bringing Spotify Studios and Ringer video shows to Netflix marks the clearest sign yet that the podcast and television businesses are converging.
Rajan Mehta 7 min read
Fox lands Sky and a wave of global buyers for Doc Martin remake Best Medicine
The US reimagining of the ITV comedy favourite has been picked up across more than a dozen territories, with Sky and NOW taking UK rights as the format proves its international pull.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
Spotify to hold concert tickets for superfans in new Live Nation tie-up
A multi-year partnership will reserve a pair of tickets for an artist's most dedicated Premium listeners before general sale, using streaming data to identify genuine fans rather than touts and bots.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
Amazon doubles down on data-driven ads with Prime Video's Dynamic TV Creative
At its upfront, the retail giant unveiled tools that automatically tailor ad messaging to what viewers are watching, sharpening its assault on the traditional TV advertising market.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
Apple leans into live sport as Apple TV+ price rise beds in
Following a steep subscription increase, Apple is stacking its streaming service with Formula 1, Major League Soccer and baseball as it seeks to justify the higher tariff to viewers.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
BBC and RTÉ commission two series of dark comedy Tall Tales & Murder
Love/Hate creator Stuart Carolan and Veep director Chris Addison team up on a crime drama starring Aidan Gillen and Ella Lily Hyland, with a rare two-season order from the outset.
Sophie Bennett 7 min read
Netflix renews Devil May Cry for third and final season
Showrunner Adi Shankar confirms the anime adaptation will close out its planned trilogy, capping a streaming success that repeatedly cracked the platform's global top 10.
Sophie Bennett 6 min read
Disney streaming swings to double-digit margins as D'Amaro era opens
The first quarterly results under chief executive Josh D'Amaro showed direct-to-consumer operating income up 88 per cent, with the company guiding to accelerating growth in the second half.
Rajan Mehta 7 min read
Warner Bros. Discovery splits into two as streaming and cable part ways
The media group is separating its HBO Max and studios business from its cable and news networks, a structural overhaul that reshapes the global content landscape.
Sophie Bennett 8 min read
ABC files early FCC licence renewals 'under protest' in free-speech clash
Disney's broadcast arm has reluctantly complied with an accelerated regulatory review it says is unconstitutional, in a dispute with political roots that is rattling the US TV business.
Sophie Bennett 8 min read
Spotify and Universal strike landmark deal to let fans build licensed AI covers
The streaming giant will let paying subscribers create AI covers and remixes of opted-in songs, with Universal artists sharing in a new revenue stream built on consent, credit and compensation.
Sophie Bennett 8 min read
UK studio plans face a new rival: AI data centres
As the streaming boom cools, some UK property developers are reportedly reassessing film and TV studio projects in favour of data-centre demand.
Sophie Bennett 5 min read
Why streamers are turning hit TV shows into cinema events
The old pipeline sent films to streaming. Now streamers are sending proven series and fan favourites back toward cinemas to build bigger franchise moments.
Sophie Bennett 5 min read