We’re entering hibernation mode and spending cosy evenings on the sofa. Here’s what to add to your watch list now …
Live To 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones
If you haven’t yet watched Live To 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, there’s no better time to get stuck into this four-part series. Autumn is often the time we start to re-prioritise self-care after a summer full of holidays, parties and care-free fun, and this docu-series is a fascinating look at the behaviours and lifestyle changes that can help us to live longer. Dan Buettner discovered five destinations where people were living to be 100 at the highest rates in the world. These five destinations, aka “Blue Zones” – Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Ikaria, Greece; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, California – each have their own unique secrets, but also share some surprising common behaviours that are proven to promote longevity and health. Live To 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones takes viewers around the world to investigate the diet, behaviour and lifestyles of those living the longest, most vibrant lives. Buettner gains insight on how we might live longer by following their leads, because, as he discovers, the things that make a long, healthy life are the same things that make life worth living. On Netflix now.
Beckham
“There’s a bit of an argument in the house at the moment,” David Beckham says in the opening scene of his Netflix documentary. “I think it should be Golden Bees. Victoria likes DBee’z Sticky Stuff.” He is of course talking about his honey production – just one pasttime which has been keeping him busy since his football retirement. Not just for football fans, there is plenty to keep everyone entertained in Netflix’s documentary on David Beckham. The four-part docu-series tells the inside story of David Beckham from his youthful dreams of playing for Manchester United to meeting Victoria – ‘See that one there? I’m going to marry that one’ – launching his career and balancing life, ambition, love and family. It’s an intimate documentary with interviews with everyone from David and Victoria to David’s parents, teammates, Sir Alex Ferguson and more – with spliced archive footage of the Spice Girls throughout, the series is brimming with nostalgia for the late 90s and early noughties and will be a trip down memory lane for anyone who remembers the era when Posh & Becks solidified their supercouple status, while also charting David’s later career off the pitch. On Netflix now.
The Lovers
The Lovers is a feelgood hit and an easy watch on Sky. The six-part series stars Roisin Gallagher and Johnny Flynn. Janet is a bad-tempered, funny, Belfast supermarket worker who is depressed and struggling to find meaning in her life, and Seamus is a handsome, self-centred, political broadcaster with a very attractive celebrity girlfriend living a seemingly perfect life in London. When their worlds collide as Seamus arrives in Belfast to launch a new TV series, the unlikely couple start an affair. On Sky Atlantic and NOW.
House of Kardashian
Caitlyn Jenner made headlines when it was announced that she would take part in a Sky documentary on the Kardashians that had no involvement of the rest of the family. With previously unseen archival footage of the Kardashian-Jenner family, the three-part documentary explores the rise, reach and the cost that comes with being some of the most famous women on the planet. Clare Cameron, Executive Producer, 72 Films explains: “you might question what is left to reveal about the Kardashian-Jenners – arguably one of the most famously, overexposed families in Hollywood. Through our interviews with those who have been in the family’s orbit since the beginning, we uncover their personal motivations, and explore how a changing culture allowed their influence on women around the world to thrive.” Available on NOW from Sunday October 8.
Before I Go To Sleep
First released in 2014, this suspense thriller has just been added to Netflix and we’re putting it right up to the top of our rewatch list. Starring Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth, the story follows a woman suffering from anterograde amnesia who wakes up every day remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past. It is only when she begins to keep a video diary as instructed by her doctor that new terrifying truths emerge that force her to question everything and everyone around her. Based on the novel by S J Watson, this psychological thriller is worth another look. On Netflix now.
Fair Play
In Fair Play, starring Bridgerton‘s Phoebe Dynevor alongside Alden Ehrenreich, an unexpected promotion at a cutthroat hedge fund pushes a young couple’s relationship to the brink, threatening to unravel far more than their recent engagement. As the power dynamics irrevocably shift in their relationship, the couple must face the true price of success and the unnerving limits of ambition. In her feature debut, writer-director Chloe Domont weaves a taut relationship thriller, staring down the destructive gender dynamics that pit partners against each other in a world that is transforming faster than the rules can keep up. Also starring Eddie Marsan, Rich Sommer, and Sebastian De Souza, the film unravels the uncomfortable collision of empowerment and ego. On Netflix now.
Lessons in Chemistry
Lessons in Chemistry, the first novel by author Bonnie Garmus, was one of the biggest bestsellers of the past year (and one of THE GLOSS team’s favourites). Set in the early 1960s, the book observes chemist Elizabeth Zott with her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute, who take a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel-prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with – of all things – her mind. True chemistry. But like science, life doesn’t always follow a straight line. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show “Supper at Six”. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. That’s because Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change the status quo. If you haven’t already read Lessons in Chemistry, do it now as the TV adaptation is coming to Apple TV on October 13.
Other book-to-screen adaptations to note: All The Light We Cannot See, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name by Anthony Doerr, is a limited series that follows the story of Marie-Laure, a blind French girl and her father, Daniel LeBlanc, who flee German-occupied Paris with a legendary diamond to keep it from falling into the hands of the Nazis. Coming to Netflix on November 2. In Leave The World Behind, based on the novel by Rumaan Alam, a couple rent a luxurious home for the weekend with their kids but are soon interrupted when two strangers arrive in the night, announcing news of a mysterious cyberattack and asking to stay in the house they claim is theirs. This apocalyptic thriller lands on Netflix on December 8. We recommend picking up copies of both books before watching the screen adaptations.
The Crown
Coming in November, The Crown returns for its final season. Part one will be released on November 16, with part two dropping on December 16. This ten-episode season spans a number of years and key events taking us right up to the early 2000s. Notable events include the romance between Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed before that fateful car journey in Paris in August 1997 and its devastating consequences, the wedding of Prince Charles to Camilla Parker Bowles, and the blossoming romance of Prince William and Kate Middleton at St Andrews University in Scotland. Imelda Staunton will return to her role as Queen Elizabeth II. Watch it on Netflix.
