Netflix fans do not have long left to wait for a brand new season of Squid Game: The Challenge.
456 players will take part in Squid Game: The Challenge season two competing for a huge £4.56 million prize. (Image: NETFLIX)
Squid Game fans have just two days left until a brand new season of a high stakes reality game returns to Netflix screens.
Once again, 456 players will take on a series of brutal games in the hopes of winning a staggering $4.56 million cash prize for season two of Squid Game: The Challenge.
The hit Netflix reality show, based on the popular Korean thriller Squid Game, was a huge success when it first hit screens back in 2023. Another series was announced earlier this year, with it now being just days away.
Unlike the original phenomenon where players are killed if they lose, there will still be devastating impacts as contestant will miss out on winning the life-changing amount of money. Despite the full cast remaining under wraps, Netflix has already announced some huge names, including familiar faces from Selling Sunset and Big Brother.
Episode release schedule explained
Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 will return to screens on November 4. However, not all episodes will be released straight away.
Instead, fans will have to wait a week for different instalments for the three week run.
On November 4, fans will be treated to four episodes as a group of brand new players are introduced to the game.
November 11 will then see the next three episodes aired.
But fans will have to wait until November 18 for the remaining episodes in the huge season finale.
Squid Game The Challenge games
With subtle nods to various games, executive producer Nicola Brown told Tudum: “Those little Easter eggs are important for both the viewers at home and the players.
“The first thing they do when they walk into the dorm is look at the walls and try to figure out what the new games might be.”
Here are some games fans can look forward to:
The count – a brand new game that will determine how the competition continues
Six-Legged Pentathlon – teams race head to head, with legs tied together with mini games thrown in
Catch – a brand new game which games designer Ben Norman teases is not as simple as it sounds
Mingle – players on a carousel must gather in groups consisting of a number called out and walk into an adjoining room
Marbles – with the same rules as season 1 players again partner up and given a bag of marbles and 30 minutes
Slides and Ladders – a new game that turns the familiar board game into something high stakes and “oversized”
Circle of Trust – blindfolded at desks in a circle, the player who received a gift box must guess who gave it to them
Finale game – Remains a mystery for now
Is there a season 3?
With season 2 just days away, Netflix has already geared up for another season of the hit reality show. Anyone wishing to take part can apply online for a chance to compete.
However, according to Tudum, there is another way to get on the show. Tudum hints: “Player recruitment for Season 3 is also now taking place through Squid Game: The Experience inboth New York and London.
“Winners at the immersive, IRL experience will receive priority in the casting process, though this does not guarantee they will be selected to take part in Season 3.”
Squid Game: The Challenge season 2 premieres Tuesday, November 4 on Netflix.
Ajike “AJ” Owens was a dedicated 35-year-old mother of four when she was shot and killed by her 58-year-old neighbor, Susan Lorincz, in June 2023. The tragedy, which rocked the otherwise peaceful, tight-knit community of Ocala, Fla., followed years of Lorincz making habitual calls to the police to report neighborhood kids, including Owens’, for playing in a vacant lot next to her home. Lorincz, who is white, claimed that the children — most of whom are Black and were under 12 — were a threat, citing one of the nation’s many “stand your ground” laws, which allow individuals to use deadly force to protect themselves if they feel their life is in danger.
Now award-winning filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir, with the support of producer-husband Nikon Kwantu and such nonfiction luminaries as Sam Pollard and Soledad O’Brien, has chronicled the two years leading up to Owens’ death in “The Perfect Neighbor,” premiering Friday on Netflix after an Oscar-qualifying theatrical run. Composed almost entirely of police body camera footage, the moving and powerful verité documentary uses the case to depict the perils of such laws, which are all too easily misused or abused in a society where not every claim of self-defense is treated equally.
A jury convicted Lorincz of manslaughter in August 2024, but the repercussions of her erratic and violent behavior continue to impact the Owens family and their neighbors. Gandbhir, whose sister-in-law was a close friend of Owens, hopes “The Perfect Neighbor” will honor Owens’ memory while showing how our nation’s growing fear of “the other” and the proliferation of “stand your ground” laws are a deadly combination.
Initially, you weren’t planning on making a film about this tragic killing, but you were documenting the aftermath of the crime. Why?
We got a call the night Ajike was killed, and we immediately jumped into action to try to help the family. We stepped in to be the media liaisons. They looked to us to try to keep the story alive in the media, just because they were worried [it would be overlooked]. This is Ocala, Fla., the heart of where “stand your ground” was born. Susan wasn’t arrested for four days because they were doing a “stand your ground” investigation. We were not thinking about making a doc, really. We were just terrified that there would be no justice.
But in Ajike’s case, there’s reams of footage and audio recordings that captured what happened. How were you able to obtain so much of that material from the police department?
Anthony Thomas, who works with [civil rights attorney] Benjamin Crump, had sued the police department through the Freedom of Information Act and got them to release all of the material that they had pertaining to the case. That’s how we got the footage. What came to us was the police body camera footage, detective interviews, Ring camera footage and cellphone footage. There was also all the audio calls that Susan had made to the police, and then after the night of the [killing], the calls the community had made. There was basically a plethora of stuff that we were handed, in a jumble, and Anthony was like, “Sort this out. See if you can find anything that makes sense for the news, like snippets we can share.”
I was surprised at how much material there was, and I’m just talking about what made it into the film.
It speaks to how much Susan called the police. Basically, the body cam footage [was a result of those calls]. What’s interesting is the reaction when we screened the film for the community. They agreed to be part of this so we wanted to show them before it came out. We’re very concerned with participant care and the ethics of this. They said that they didn’t think that we had everything, because Susan [allegedly] called the police sometimes, like, 10 times a day. They [said they] think the police gave us maybe what they could organize, where they don’t look terrible. But they don’t think that that’s everything.
Ajike “AJ” Owens, pictured on the poster, was shot and killed by her neighbor in 2023. The crime is at the center of Geeta Gandbhir’s new documentary “The Perfect Neighbor.”
Ajike’s mother, Pamela Dias, has been a major force in keeping her daughter’s memory alive — and seeking justice. How did she feel about you making this film?
I went to Pamela and said I could make a movie and maybe we could make a change. It’s quite an endeavor to try to change gun laws or the “stand your ground” law, but maybe we can reach people. She said yes. This is a woman who by her own admission was blinded by grief [when Ajike was killed], who said she couldn’t see two feet in front of her. But she knew even then that her daughter’s story had to be told. She said her daughter died standing up for her kids, and she felt it was her turn to stand up.
I told her the material was graphic. But Pam was inspired by Emmett Till and how his mother had an open-casket funeral and told the photographers to take pictures because she wanted the world to know what had happened to her baby. Plus, we thought about George Floyd and [how footage of his killing] sparked a movement. It is a terrible thing to bear witness, but if we let these things continue to happen in the shadows, then they will happen forever. It’s only by bearing witness that things might change.
What about your own emotional well-being while making this film?
See all my gray hair? [Laughs.] I realized later it was grief work for me, because I needed to know what happened. I had to know what happened. I couldn’t understand how someone could pick up a gun and kill their neighbor over children playing nearby. How did we get here? So many questions were just eating me, so the work was in some ways cathartic. Then once we had it all strung out and I thought it was a film, I brought on Viridiana Lieberman, who’s our editor. We had a similar sensibility about what we wanted this to be and we really committed to living in the body camera footage.
“Body camera footage is a violent tool of the state,” Gandbhir says. “It’s often used to criminalize us, particularly people of color. It’s used to dehumanize us, to surveil us, to protect the police. What I wanted to do with this material was flip that narrative and use it to humanize this community.”
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Why not use narration?
I worked for 12 years in narratives and scripted before I segued into documentary. I learned that the best vérité documentaries are show and not tell. If you tell people what they’re seeing, there’s some room for doubt or for your bias or some questioning around it. But to me, this footage plays like vérité. There’s no reporter on the ground. There’s no one influencing what’s happening in the neighborhood, other than the police who are coming in and asking questions. I felt that made the footage and the story undeniable. No one could say that we were down there asking provocative questions. And the body camera footage is so incredibly immersive, I wanted people to have the experience of what the community experienced.
How would you describe what they went through?
Their experience felt a bit like a horror film. You have this beautiful, diverse community living together with a strong social network, taking care of each other and each other’s kids. What was so powerful to me in the body camera footage is you really got to see this community as they were before [the tragedy], and you never get that. There’s horrible shootings all the time, and we see the aftermath, right? We see the grieving family, we see the funeral. We have to re-create what their lives were like before. And in this, you see this beautiful community thriving and living together, and that was so profound. I wanted to rebuild their world so everyone could see the damage done by one outlier with a gun. How she was the only one who was repeatedly calling the police and seeing threats where there were none.
We’re used to seeing police body cam footage used as evidence following a police brutality incident, or as entertainment in true crime shows. It’s used to tell a very different story in your film.
I wanted to subvert the use of body cam footage. Body camera footage is a violent tool of the state. It’s often used to criminalize us, particularly people of color. It’s used to dehumanize us, to surveil us, to protect the police. What I wanted to do with this material was flip that narrative and use it to humanize this community.
Why do you think that Susan was not seen as a threat by the police?
She’s a middle-aged white lady. She weaponized her race, her status, and she kept trying to weaponize the police against the community. The fact that she was using hate speech against children [she allegedly called them the N-word]. She was filming them. She was throwing things at them. She was cursing at them. But the police didn’t flag her as more than just a nuisance…. After the third time she called and it was unfounded and not about an actual crime, there should have been some measure taken to reprimand her. They didn’t tell the community that they could file charges against her: “She’s harassing you all. She’s harassing your children.” It was systemic neglect. And honestly, should the police be a catch-all for everything? Probably not. But they were not equipped. They didn’t take the necessary steps and the worst outcomes happened, which is that we lost Ajike, and Susan is in prison for the rest of her life. I’m sure that’s not the outcome she wanted.
There’s a moment in the film where a policeman knocks on Susan’s sliding glass door. She doesn’t know it’s a cop. She opens the curtain and screams at him in a terrifying, almost demonic voice. It’s quite a switch from her nervous, genial 911 calls.
Yeah, the jump scare. That was one of the moments where I was like, “Oh, there she is.” And the 911 call, after she shot Ajike. She was hysterical. Then her voice changes when she says, “They keep bothering me and bothering me, and they won’t f— stop.” I felt my heart clench, because it’s like, “Oh, there she really is.” She has this way of going between victim and aggressor. A little Jekyll and Hyde. It’s frightening.
The victim/aggressor dynamic is part of what makes “stand your ground” laws so dangerous. They can be weaponized.
“Stand your ground” policy was born in Ocala and now it’s in around 38 states, in different forms. It’s a law that emboldens people to pick up a gun to solve a dispute. If you can other-ize your neighbor to the extent of [killing] them, the question is, what else will you do? What else will we tolerate? As human beings, how we show up in our communities is a reflection of how we show up in the world. This film takes place on this tiny street, but it is a microcosm of what is happening today. Susan represented the dangers, and that little community represented the best of what’s under threat.
The Woman in Cabin 10, the new Netflix thriller fronted by Keira Knightley, has left viewers unnerved with one ‘scary’ crime detail feeling like an all too plausible reality
Jess Flaherty Senior News Reporter
19:08, 19 Oct 2025
Keira Knightley pictured attending the premiere of The Woman In Cabin 10 at BAFTA Piccadilly on September 25, 2025 in London, England(Image: Aimee Rose McGhee/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Netflix)
The film begins with Lo’s return to the newsroom after a traumatic incident where she witnessed a source being murdered for agreeing to talk to her for a story. Her editor encourages her to take some time off, but Lo is adamant about getting back to work.
At first, everything seems fine; Lo is warmly welcomed by philanthropist Richard Bullmer (Guy Pearce), who has organised the trip to celebrate his wealthy wife, Anne (Lisa Loven Kongsli), who is terminally ill with cancer.
It transpires that it was Anne who insisted on Lo joining the group as she admires her work. Anne wants Lo to assist her in refining her speech for the gala, where she plans to announce her intention to donate her vast wealth to those less fortunate upon her death.
Later, Lo hears a commotion in the neighbouring cabin and steps out onto her balcony to investigate. She hears a splash and sees a woman floating in the water below.
A bloody handprint on the glass partition separating their balconies leaves her unnerved. When she seeks answers and clarity, all her fellow passengers and the crew are present and accounted for.
With no one apparently missing, her recent trauma is used to dismiss her claims as a PTSD-induced hallucination, causing growing impatience among the other guests. Despite nobody believing what she knows she saw, Lo embarks on a perilous search for the truth.
Anne begins to act out of character – she forgets a meeting she had previously arranged with Lo, and despite claiming she’s stopped taking her medication, she attributes her confusion to those pills.
In a shocking revelation, it turns out Richard used his friend’s facial recognition software to find a woman who could realistically impersonate Anne and alter her will, transferring her billions to him instead of donating them to charity.
The woman Lo saw being thrown overboard was the real Anne, with the imposter – now sporting a freshly shaven head and dressed in Anne’s clothes – assuming her identity.
This aspect of the film’s twist ending left some viewers feeling uneasy – the unsettling idea that as technology and AI advance, finding doppelgängers to serve as substitutes could become a feasible reality.
One Reddit user commented: “It was good. It’s refreshing to watch a film that doesn’t waste any time. What’s scary is it’s probably possible for someone to use facial recognition to find a doppelgänger.
“My only minor quibble with it was I would’ve expected her to read the room more quickly and keep her suspicions to herself. Because we all know there are no good billionaires.”
One viewer shared: “I rewound the movie to make sure they didn’t cheat by using imposter Anne the whole time, to trick us, and only using two separate actors when they’re depicted in the same room together.
“They didn’t cheat! That’s what was so neat, I didn’t notice the swap either. Never crossed my mind.”
Others simply shared their thoughts on the film overall.
One person commented: “People will nitpick things to death but I rather liked it. Not too long and to the point. 7/10.
“Good Saturday night movie that isn’t complete trash and gives you a decent enough murder mystery with an ending that pays out.”
Author Ruth Ware shared with Netflix’s Tudum that despite her book being published nearly ten years ago, its relevance persists because “the fear of not being believed is perennial, unfortunately”.
The five-part thriller is inspired by the real-life story of two children abducted by their father after discovering his wife’s infidelity.
This sets off a relentless quest by a mother to reclaim her son and daughter, aided by an ex-Mossad agent who has become a private investigator.
The conflict intensifies – not only between Leo and Valeria – but also within their influential families as Isaac and Tamara are whisked away to different parts of Europe to keep them from their mother.
The drama draws inspiration from Tamara Trottner’s 2020 memoir No One Saw Us Leave, or its Spanish title Nadie nos vio partir, in which she narrates how she and her brother Isaac were taken during the 1960s.
The narrative provides a glimpse into the Jewish-Mexican community of that era, according to Netflix’s Tudum, as Tamara’s mother faced condemnation from the tight-knit community.
Many viewers are curious about the cast – here’s where you might have seen the actors before.
Heading the cast is actress Tessa la, portraying the desperate mother Valeria Goldberg.
The star is renowned for her roles in Narcos: Mexico, Unstoppable, The House of Flowers: The Movie, and Something Blue.
As per IMDb, she’s next set to appear in TV shows La Banda, Yellow, and De brutas, nada.
Leo Saltzman – Emiliano Zurita
Actor and producer Emiliano Zurita takes on the role of Leo Saltzman, a father pressured by his parents to take his children away from Valeria.
Zurita has previously appeared in TV series such as Zorro, Dance of the 41, Natural Born Narco, and The Head of Joaquin Murrieta.
Samuel Saltzman – Juan Manuel Bernal
Juan Manuel Bernal portrays Samuel Saltzman, with previous credits including Lazos de amor, Confessions, Perfect Obedience, The Blue Room, Monarca, and he also starred in The Head of Joaquin Murrieta alongside Zurita.
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Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.
This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Stranger Things and The Last of Us.
Carlos – Gustavo Bassani
Gustavo Bassani plays Carlos, Valeria’s lover whom she ultimately leaves her husband Leo for.
Bassani’s past roles include appearances in Transmitzvah, Yosi, the Regretful Spy, Maledictions and Papeles.
Elías – Ari Brickman
Ari Brickman, an actor, director, composer and writer, takes on the role of Elías. He has had roles in Like Water for Chocolate, Nora’s Will, Technoboys, All That Is Invisible Más alla de ti, and directed several episodes of Netflix’s sci-fi epic Sense8.
Isaac Saltzman – Alexander Varela
Child star Alexander Varela plays Isaac Saltzman, Leo and Valeria’s son. His previous roles include parts in Luis Miguel: The Series and Who Killed Him?, but No One Saw Us Leave is his most significant project to date.
Tamara Saltzman – Marion Siro
Marion Siro, another child star, plays Tamara Saltzman, who is taken along with her brother.
The cast also includes Flavio Medina, Juan Manuel Bernal, Caro Darman and Natasha Dupeyrón.
A Netflix period drama has been hailed a “masterpiece” by fans who have described it as a “hidden treasure”
The show was a modern reimagining of a literary classic(Image: NETFLIX)
Netflix boasts an enormous catalogue of television programmes and films, yet period drama enthusiasts might have missed one brilliant little gem on the streaming service, reports Surrey Live. This emerges whilst others have been captivated by a doomed romance and a Jane Austen classic.
The programme draws inspiration from a beloved collection of novels that continue to enchant readers today.
Countless viewers have praised the show on IMDb, with the series garnering numerous perfect 10/10 ratings.
One glowing review declared: “What a beautiful, beautiful show… And not just in terms of cinematography (which makes you want to pack your bags and head to Prince Edward Island right this second), but also in terms of the the heart and soul that has been put into the show which is clearly evident.”
Another user kept their review title simple: “Love it.”
They elaborated in their perfect 10/10 assessment: “This is one of my favourite shows.
“I loved the old version and this one is a beautifully updated version of that story. I see a lot of hate written from purist with no scope of imagination, who dislike this. However, it is about time that we accept the fact that rural 1900’s Canada was not all flowers, red roads and poetry.”
A third viewer gushed about the programme: “This is one of the most beautiful shows I have ever had the pleasure of watching.
“I have read the books and though it differs from the books it truly is the closest to perfect television we have gotten in the past 10 years or so. It tackles modern day issues that have been alive throughout time and does so in a thought provoking fascinating way.”
Another viewer branded it a “masterpiece” and shared: “One of the best shows I have ever watched I highly recommend it to everyone doesn’t matter what age you are.
Geraldine James starred in the heartwarming period drama(Image: NETFLIX)
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Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.
This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like Stranger Things and The Last of Us.
“Everyone will find something interesting in it. Amazing acting, scenography, costumes, music and of course storylines.”
Yet another fan called it “a hidden treasure” and added: “There aren’t enough words to describe how much this show means to me. Watching this show has brought me so much hope and happiness.”
Another glowing review hailed the series as “absolutely brilliant” and went on: “Anne with an E is exactly the show that we need in our world today. It deals with all kinds of important topics such as residential schools, women’s rights, black history, and the LGBTQ community. It does so in an heart warming, educational, and kid friendly manner.”
Anne with an E first arrived on screens in 2017 and offered a contemporary take on the beloved Anne of Green Gables books by Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery, who wrote under the pen name L. M. Montgomery.
Amybeth McNulty led the sweet adaptation of the classic novels(Image: NETFLIX)
The programme was reimagined by Breaking Bad writer Moira Walley-Beckett for CBC and Netflix. Echoing the 1908 classic Anne of Green Gables, the series centred around spirited orphan Anne Shirley (portrayed by Amybeth McNulty), beginning with her adoption by elderly siblings Matthew (R.H. Thomson) and Marilla Cuthbert (Geraldine James).
Despite facing numerous challenges, our heroine Anne remained positive as the show addressed hard-hitting issues such as child abandonment, racism, gender inequality and even psychological trauma.
The cast also included Dalila Bela as Diana Barry, Lucas Jade Zumann as Gilbert Blythe, and Aymeric Jett Montaz as Jerry Baynard.
It was bound to happen sometime. This year, the most important Hollywood movie of the key summer season didn’t start its quest for world domination in movie theaters. It came out on Netflix.
“KPop Demon Hunters,” the cartoon musical about a girl group using catchy tunes to keep evil at bay, has become a viral phenomenon since it launched on the streamer June 20. With 210 million views globally so far, it’s the most watched animated movie ever on Netflix, and is expected to soon top “Red Notice” as the company’s most popular film.
That should be no surprise at this point. Unlike many previous widely watched Netflix movies, “KPop” — produced by Culver City-based Sony Pictures Animation — has penetrated the cultural zeitgeist, leading to gushing from millennial parents’ group chats including mine, chart-topping songs and, of course, memes galore.
To keep the momentum going, Netflix took the unusual step of putting the movie in theaters weeks after its streaming debut.
“KPop Demon Hunters” sing-along screenings played in more than 1,750 locations domestically to packed houses, with more than 1,150 sold-out showings, though it did not play in AMC cineplexes. It was the No. 1 movie in theaters, scoring in the ballpark of $18 million in ticket sales, according to industry sources, enough to top the third weekend of Zach Cregger’s horror hit “Weapons.” Netflix released the sing-along version of “KPop Demon Hunters” for streaming on Monday.
Netflix, as is its typical practice, did not report actual box office grosses, so the counts for its first No. 1 box office hit aren’t official. Nonetheless, theater operators were clearly relieved to have the movie, even if for only two days. The August box office doldrums are in full swing, with little to cheer about from the traditional studios.
The summer blockbuster season is expected to end with about $3.5 billion in total revenue from the first weekend of May through Labor Day, according to analysts, which would be either roughly flat or slightly down from last year’s thin slate. More than $4 billion is considered normal or healthy by pre-pandemic standards.
The biggest hit this summer was Disney’s “Lilo & Stitch,” a live-action remake that collected $422 million in the U.S. and Canada and more than $1 billion globally. Last summer, two movies topped $600 million: Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” and Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” both of which were Disney titles.
Netflix has had a tense relationship with the theatrical business since it first got into making movies. The company puts movies in cinemas for limited runs as part of marketing efforts, awards campaigns and as a way to appease filmmakers who prefer the big-screen experience. Co-Chief Executive Ted Sarandos earlier this year called the theatrical business “outdated” for most people, citing weak box office numbers after the COVID-19 closures.
Indeed, theatrical attendance has shrunk even more than the top-line revenue figures suggest, with shortfalls partly papered over by increases in ticket prices over the years.
When Scott Stuber ran Netflix’s film business, he pushed the company to do more with theaters because auteur directors wanted it. The film side is now run by Dan Lin.
People who advocate for the multiplex keep hoping that some event will persuade Netflix that its theory is wrong — that something like the “KPop Demon Hunters” screenings or next year’s Imax rollout for Greta Gerwig’s upcoming “Narnia” project will prove that Sarandos is mistaken and theatrical windows will actually benefit Netflix beyond using them as promotional ploys.
Rivals say their movies do better on streaming services when they’re already theatrical hits, a theme repeated by the new owners of Paramount who are trying to grow their direct-to-consumer business.
But if anything, Netflix is digging in.
The company sees the success of “KPop,” along with the recent release of “Happy Gilmore 2,” as proof that movies can resonate culturally without theaters and the massive advertising budgets necessary to open a film on 4,000 domestic screens. The Adam Sandler-starring sequel scored 46.7 million views in its first three days on the service and set a Nielsen record for the most-watched streaming movie in a single week.
Netflix has long faced skepticism from Hollywood over its film business, which can put up big viewership with movies like “Red Notice” and “The Adam Project” that seem to vanish from audiences’ consciousness without a trace.
We kind of already knew that movies, particularly animated musicals aimed at kids, could find a big audience online without being a theatrical smash. “Encanto,” released in November 2021 during the pandemic and the Bob Chapek era, did paltry box office by modern Disney standards but became a phenomenon when its Lin-Manuel Miranda-penned songs took off on social media.
When kids latch onto something, they watch it repeatedly, and they don’t care if it’s been in theaters or not. If the movie is good and relevant to them, it can work regardless of the release strategy.
Would “KPop Demon Hunters” have worked if it had been released in theaters exclusively? Who knows. If it had opened to modest box office results, as animated original movies tend to do lately, it would have immediately been written off as a disappointment. Instead, it stayed on the Netflix top 10 lists for weeks and climbed the Nielsen rankings because of word of mouth.
Part of its success is that the movie feels very “now,” whereas animated films sometimes aim for timelessness. It’s culturally specific, with universal themes (friendship and young people’s need to belong) that have powered Disney blockbusters for decades. A colleague of mine aptly described it as a sort of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” meets “Frozen.” Its music is current and rides the wave of everything influenced by South Korean pop culture.
Will it have the enduring influence of the “Frozen” franchise or “Moana,” movies that started primarily as properties for girls but became touchstones for a broader audience? Perhaps not, but it does give Netflix another data point to validate its streaming movie strategy.
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SEOUL — When South Koreans start to obsess over a movie or TV series, they abbreviate its name, a distinction given to Netflix’s latest hit “K-pop Demon Hunters.” In media headlines and in every corner of the internet, the American-made film is now universally referred to as “Keh-deh-hun” — the first three syllables of the title when read aloud in Korean.
And audiences are already clamoring for a sequel.
The animated film follows a fictional South Korean girl group named “HUNTR/X” as its three members — Rumi, Mira and Zoey — try to deliver the world from evil through the power of song and K-pop fandom.
Since its release in June, it has become the most watched original animated film in Netflix history, with millions of views worldwide, including the U.S. and South Korea, where its soundtrack has topped the charts on local music streaming platform Melon. Fans have also cleaned out the gift shop at the National Museum of Korea, which has run out of a traditional tiger pin that resembles one of the movie’s characters.
Much of the film’s popularity in South Korea is rooted in its keenly observed details and references to Korean folklore, pop culture and even national habits — the result of having a production team filled with K-pop fans, as well as a group research trip to South Korea that co-director Maggie Kang led in order to document details as minute as the appearance of local pavement.
There are nods to traditional Korean folk painting, a Korean guide to the afterlife, the progenitors of K-pop and everyday mannerisms. In one scene, at a table in a restaurant where the three girls are eating, viewers might notice how the utensils are laid atop a napkin, an essential ritual for dining out in South Korea — alongside pouring cups of water for everyone at the table.
“The more that I watch ‘Keh-deh-hun,’ the more that I notice the details,” South Korean music critic Kim Yoon-ha told local media last month. “It managed to achieve a verisimilitude that would leave any Korean in awe.”
::
“K-pop Demon Hunters” has nods to traditional Korean folk painting, a Korean guide to the afterlife, the progenitors of K-pop and everydaymannerisms.
(Netflix)
Despite its subject matter and association with the “K-wave,” that catch-all term for any and all Korean cultural export, “K-pop Demon Hunters,” at least in the narrowest sense, doesn’t quite fit the bill.
Produced by Sony Pictures and directed by Korean Canadian Kang and Chris Appelhans — who has held creative roles on other animated films such as “Coraline” and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — the movie is primarily in English and geared toward non-Korean audiences. But its popularity in South Korea is another sign that the boundaries of the K-wave are increasingly fluid — and that, with more and more diaspora Korean artists entering the mix, it flows in the opposite direction, too.
Those barriers have already long since broken down in music: many K-pop artists and songwriters are non-Korean or part of the Korean diaspora, reflecting the genre’s history of foreign influences such as Japanese pop or American hip-hop.
“Once a cultural creation acquires a universality, you can’t just confine it to the borders of the country of origin, which is where K-pop is today,” said Kim Il-joong, director of the content business division at the Korea Creative Content Agency, a government body whose mission is to promote South Korean content worldwide. “Despite what the name ‘K-pop’ suggests, it is really a global product.”
In “K-pop Demon Hunters,” Zoey is a rapper from Burbank. In addition, the soundtrack was written and performed by a team that includes producers, artists and choreographers associated with some of the biggest real-life K-pop groups of the past decade.
Streaming productions are increasingly flying multiple flags, too: Apple TV’s “Pachinko” or Netflix’s “XO, Kitty” are both American productions that were filmed in South Korea. But few productions have been able to inspire quite the same level of enthusiasm as “K-pop Demon Hunters,” whose charm for many South Koreans is how accurately it captures local idiosyncrasies and contemporary life.
While flying in their private jet, the three girls are shown sitting on the floor even though there is a sofa right beside them. This tendency to use sofas as little more than backrests is an endless source of humor and self-fascination among South Koreans, most of whom would agree that the centuries-old custom of sitting on the floor dies hard.
South Korean fans and media have noted that the characters correctly pronounce “ramyeon,” or Korean instant noodles. The fact that ramyeon is often conflated with Japanese ramen — which inspired the invention of the former decades ago — has long been a point of exasperation for many South Koreans and local ramyeon companies, which point to the fact that the Korean adaption has since evolved into something distinct.
It’s a small difference — the Korean version is pronounced “rah myun” — but one that it pays to get right in South Korea.
Apple TV’s “Pachinko,” with Sungkyu Kim, Eunchae Jung and Minha Kim, is an American production filmed in South Korea.
(Apple)
The girls’ cravings for ramyeon during their flight also caught the eye of Ireh, a member of the real-life South Korean girl group Purple Kiss who praised the film’s portrayals of life as a K-pop artist.
“I don’t normally eat ramyeon but whenever I go on tour, I end up eating it,” she said in a recent interview with local media. “The scene reminded me of myself.”
South Korean fans have also been delighted by a pair of animals, Derpy and Sussy, which borrow from jakhodo, a genre of traditional Korean folk painting in which tigers and magpies are depicted side by side, popularized during the Joseon Dynasty in the 19th century.
In the film, Derpy is the fluorescent tiger with goggle eyes that always appears with its sidekick, a three-eyed bird named Sussy.
“K-pop Demon Hunters” is peppered with homages to Korean artists throughout history who are seen today as the progenitors of contemporary K-pop.
(Netflix)
Though they have long since been extinct, tigers were once a feared presence on the Korean peninsula, at times coming down from the mountains to terrorize the populace. They were also revered as talismans that warded off evil spirits. But much like Derpy itself, jakhodo reimagined tigers as friendlier, oftentimes comical beings. Historians have interpreted this as the era’s political satire: the magpie, audacious in the presence of a great predator, represented the common man standing up to the nobility.
The movie is peppered with homages to Korean artists throughout history who are seen today as the progenitors of contemporary K-pop. There are apparent nods to the “Jeogori Sisters,” a three-piece outfit that was active from 1939 to 1945 and is often described as Korea’s first girl group, followed by the Kim Sisters, another three-piece that found success in the U.S., performing in Las Vegas and appearing on “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
Longtime K-pop fans might recognize the demon hunters from the 1990s as S.E.S., a pioneering girl group formed by S.M. Entertainment, the label behind present-day superstars Aespa and Red Velvet. (Bada, S.E.S.’s main vocalist, recently covered “Golden,” the film’s headline track, on YouTube.)
For a long time, South Korean audiences have often complained about outside depictions of the country as inauthentic and out of touch. Not anymore.
“Korea wasn’t just shown as an extra add-on as it has been for so long,” Kim said. “‘K-pop Demon Hunters’ did such a great job depicting Korea in a way that made it instantly recognizable to audiences here.”
Owen Cooper has made history with his Primetime Emmy Award nomination, as Netflix’s surprise hit of 2025 has been smashing records again
Netflix’s unexpected smash hit of 2025 continues to shatter records, a full four months after its initial release on the streaming giant.
The buzz is palpable as the complete roster of Primetime Emmy Award nominations was unveiled this Tuesday (15th July).
Set for this September, television’s most prestigious night will witness titans like Severance, The Last of Us, and The Bear vie for top honours.
In a historic moment, Adolescence’s young sensation Owen Cooper has become the youngest nominee ever in the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series category, surpassing a record that stood for over half a century, previously held by Scott Jacoby who was nominated at 16 for the 1972 TV movie That Certain Summer.
In the gripping Netflix series, Cooper delivers a compelling performance as Jamie Miller, a 13 year old boy detained under suspicion of murdering a female classmate, reports the Express.
Owen Cooper is the youngest person to ever be nominated in this category(Image: NETFLIX)
Stephen Graham, Cooper’s co-star, hailed him as a “rare talent” on The One Show, comparing the prodigious actor to the legendary Robert De Niro.
Graham himself has been acknowledged with a nomination for Best Lead Actor in a Limited Series and received accolades for his role in penning the acclaimed drama alongside Jack Thorne.
Ashley Walters, another cast member, earned recognition in the supporting actor category for his portrayal of DI Luke Bascombe.
Speaking to Deadline, Cooper confessed “it’s crazy” upon receiving one of his first significant awards nominations.
“It’s been the best year of my life,” he continued. “Now it’s over a little bit, I’m going back to a bit of normality. School has been perfectly fine.”
Having caught the eye of Hollywood bigwigs, Cooper is lined up to appear alongside Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in the forthcoming Wuthering Heights adaptation by Saltburn director Emerald Fennell.
His co-star Stephen Graham compared the young actor to Robert De Niro(Image: NETFLIX)
Watch Squid Game season 3 – Free Netflix subscription
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Sky is giving away a free Netflix subscription with its new Sky Stream TV bundles, including the £15 Essential TV plan.
This lets members watch live and on-demand TV content without a satellite dish or aerial and includes hit shows like The Last of Us and Black Mirror.
During filming, Cooper disclosed that Adolescence was gaining such traction on Netflix that his fellow actors couldn’t ignore it.
“They were all saying how big the show’s gone,” he shared with a grin.
“And they were sick of seeing me on TV and stuff. That’s what Jacob said. Margot said that she was dying to watch it.”
Both audiences and critics have unanimously hailed Adolescence as a “masterpiece” making it an essential addition to your watchlist if you’ve yet to discover this gem.
Lena Dunham’s new comedy-drama Too Much arrived on Netflix today – but one particular star has made fans do a double take over her resemblance to her BBC star mum
Netflix’s Too Much landed on the streamer today(Image: Ana Blumenkron/Netflix)
Lena Dunham finally returned to our screens today with her latest Netflix comedy-drama Too Much – a semi-biographical love story starring Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe. Loosely based on the story of how Lena ended up with her British musician husband Luis Felber, the ten-parter follows Jessica as she moves to London from New York after a devastating break-up.
While stars Megan and Will have received rave reviews since the show landed on Netflix, many viewers have been distracted by actor Daisy Bevan thanks to her resemblance to her very famous mother. The 33-year-old plays Josie – one of Jessica’s new colleagues in London – and takes on one of her biggest roles to date on the series, having previously appeared in McDonald & Dodds, The Alienist and The Outcast.
Daisy Bevan plays the role of Josie in Too Much(Image: Getty Images)
Daisy is the daughter of Nip/Tuck star Joely Richardson and film producer Tim Bevan, having followed her parents into a career in showbiz. Joely is best known for her role on Showtime/BBC Two show The Tudors as well as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Sandman, 101 Dalmations and other big projtects.
Joely, 60, is also a member of the Redgraves – a family of iconic actors which includes her mother, Call the Midwife’s Vanessa Redgrave, her film director father Tony Richardson, her late sister, Maid in Manhattan’s Natasha Richardson, and her cousin, Doctor Who’s Jemma Redgrave.
Joely Richardson congratulated her daughter Daisy Bevan on Instagram(Image: Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Daisy’s dad Tim is best known for producing Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour and Love Actually. The couple married in 1992 but split nine years later.
Joely congratulated her up-and-coming daughter with a gushing post on Instagram, writing: “To Daisy Carmen the wisest and most inspirational person I know, and the magnificent and groundbreaking Lena Dunham – congratulations on the launch of ‘Too Much’ tomorrow night on Netflix.
“A friendship that blossomed into creative endeavour. I’ve only seen the trailer but ‘British Jones’ instead of Bridget Jones had me laughing out loud.
“Couldn’t help but include childhood snaps with a nod to rust coloured beanies. What a cast. ps. And @rooibos_ldn for best haircuts. Am filled with PRIDE in every sense of the word.”
Liam Payne fans have been left in tears just moments into Netflix’s Building The Band, his final project, which he filmed in the weeks leading up to his tragic death
Daniel Bird Assistant Celebrity and Entertainment Editor
13:13, 09 Jul 2025
Liam Payne fans in tears just minutes into Netflix’s Building The Band(Image: Netflix)
Liam Payne fans have been left inconsolable as his final Netflix project has been released. Building The Band, which Liam filmed for Netflix just weeks before his death, has finally been released on the streaming platform.
The programme will show Liam at his best, helping other emerging musicians discover their talent and helping them navigate life in a band. But following his heartbreaking death in October last year, there had been speculation as to whether the show would still air.
Netflix later confirmed that they had shown the programme to Liam’s family, who had given their blessing and had watched the entirety of the show. On the programme, Liam sits alongside pal Nicole Scherzinger, who helped create mega-band One Direction when she was a guest judge on The X Factor, as well as former Destiny’s Child singer, Kelly Rowland.
Building The Band’s AJ McLean shared a moving tribute to the late Liam Payne(Image: Netflix)
As the show opened, host and Backstreet Boys star AJ McLean shared a very moving tribute to Liam. He said: “When we came together to film Building The Band, we never imagined we’d soon be saying goodbye to our friend, Liam Payne.
“Liam is a guest judge in later episodes and through his presence, we see his deep love for music and his unwavering commitment to helping others find their voice. It’s through that spirit that we dedicate this series to Liam and his family.” Since the first episode dropped earlier today, fans have taken to social media to share their heartbreak and tears.
One said: “I’m already broken.” A second went on to add: “I’m not strong enough to watch the show. The last work, the last performance, the last smile… I can’t do it, not yet. My mind keeps dragging me back to the pain, to the brutal truth that he’s gone. Maybe one day I’ll be brave enough but right now I just can’t.”
Liam filmed the series weeks before his tragic death(Image: Netflix)
“I miss you so much, my love, wherever you are. I hope you’re being free and happy,” said another. Meanwhile, a fourth devastated fan typed: “You’re so deeply missed Liam.” Another commented: “Ahhh… I don’t think I can bring myself to watch Building The Band just yet. The trailer alone broke me, and I can’t even imagine how much harder the full show will hit. I’m sorry, Liam. One day, I promise. I’m so proud of you, and I know you were proud of it too.”
But in the first four episodes of the series, this is the only mention of Liam. As the credits rolled, the only judge who was named was Nicole Scherzinger.
As the fourth episode came to an end, host AJ revealed that the winning band would receive $500,000 as the cameras panned to Nicole and Kelly Rowland, with Liam being absent from the shot.
In October, Liam sadly died aged just 31, after falling from the third-floor balcony of his hotel room in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In the weeks leading up to his death, he had been in Manchester filming the series. Netflix had ensured that Liam’s legacy will be cemented on the programme and he will remain a firm key feature on the show.
A source said: “Even though Liam had filmed a substantial amount of material for the show, the decision was made shortly after his passing to continue the project, honour his legacy and amazing story as a One Direction member and bring this series to audiences.”
Building The Band episodes one to four are available to stream now on Netflix.
Liam Payne’s final work project, Netflix’s Building The Band, has finally been released for viewers and features an emotional tribute to the late musician who died last year
Daniel Bird Assistant Celebrity and Entertainment Editor
10:38, 09 Jul 2025Updated 10:41, 09 Jul 2025
Liam Payne fans have been left disappointed as the first episodes of his final TV project, Building The Band, have been released. The late One Direction singer filmed the Netflix show last year, just weeks before his tragic death.
He had been holidaying in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when he sadly fell from the balcony of his third-floor hotel room and suffered injuries incompatible with life. But prior to his tragic death, Liam had been happily filming the series alongside his pal Nicole Scherzinger and Destiny’s Child star, Kelly Rowland.
The programme, which was a huge career move for the 31-year-old, saw him helping emerging musicians hone in on their talent and offering advice to them, something he was extremely passionate about. Today, the first four episodes of the series were released on the streaming platform.
Liam Payne is due to appear alongside Kelly Rowland and Nicole Scherzinger on Building The Band(Image: Netflix)
But, there was only one mention of Liam, right at the start, during a moving tribute by host and Backstreet Boys star, AJ McLean. He said it when filming the show, they could have never expected to have lost Liam so soon after.
As the credits started to roll throughout the first four episodes, only one judge was credited – Nicole Scherzinger, meaning that Liam will feature in later episodes of the series.
Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, one fan said: “I didn’t know that all four episodes of building the band were available, I thought only ep 1 is released. Is Liam in any one of them, or is he in the episodes that are gonna be released on the 16th?”
Fans believed that Liam would be included in the first four episodes(Image: Netflix)
A second added: “The tribute to Liam Payne at the start of Building The Band is lovely, don’t get me wrong. But I expected to see a bit more of him in the clips.” Meanwhile, a third went on to tweet: “Building the Band has already premiered, and in these first 4 episodes, Liam hasn’t appeared yet, but there is a small tribute at the beginning.
“We will see Li as a judge in the second part, which premieres on JULY 16, the day that marks 9 months since the worst tragedy. I won’t be able to handle it.” Show runner, Cat Lawson has since praised Liam for his contribution to the show.
She said: “The show is dedicated to Liam. We all loved him and he was amazing in the show,” before explaining that his death last year had affected everybody he worked with on the programme, saying: “You get to know people really quickly [on these shows] and he was a glorious person.”
As the show opened, host and Backstreet Boys star AJ McLean shared a very moving tribute to Liam. He said: “When we came together to film Building The Band, we never imagined we’d soon be saying goodbye to our friend, Liam Payne.
“Liam is a guest judge in later episodes and through his presence, we see his deep love for music and his unwavering commitment to helping others find their voice. It’s through that spirit that we dedicate this series to Liam and his family.”
Episodes one to four of Building The Band are available to stream on Netflix, now.
It’s been 20 years since Dan Biddle fatefully missed his stop on the Circle Line train. Twenty years since Mohammad Sidique Khan looked him in the eye and reached inside his backpack. And 20 years since Dan’s cosy happy life was, quite literally, blown apart.
16:16, 03 Jul 2025Updated 16:18, 03 Jul 2025
It’s been 20 years since Dan Biddle fatefully missed his stop on the Circle Line train. Twenty years since Mohammad Sidique Khan looked him in the eye and reached inside his backpack. And 20 years since Dan’s cosy happy life was, quite literally, blown apart.
On Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer will be among 400 people in St Paul’s Cathedral paying their respects to the 52 killed and more than 770 injured in the London suicide bombings of July 7, 2005.
But for Dan – 7/7’s most severely-injured survivor – the day will also mark another anniversary. It’s been 19 years since Dan left hospital and he’s been fighting for an inquiry into what was known. He and countless others want and need answers.
Now instead of tears and platitudes from Britain’s great and the good on Monday, Dan, who can be seen in new Netflix series Attack on London Hunting the 7/7 Bombers, is calling on Starmer to put right what Tony Blair once did wrong – and finally grant the 7/7 victims their long called-for public inquiry.
Dan Biddle lost both his legs during the terror attack(Image: Supplied)
He says: “We don’t need tears. We don’t need platitudes. We need our public inquiry. And we need answers to the questions we still have. It’s been 20 years – Now is the time to do it.”
Meanwhile there’s one person Dan won’t be wanting to speak with, if, as expected, he attends: Tony Blair. He was prime minister at the time of the attack and blocked the initial plea for an independent public inquiry. The War in Iraq was also cited as one of the motivations for the bloodbath in the bombers’ confession videos.
“I don’t think I could sit in a room with him [Blair] and not use a large amount of expletives, because the anger is always there,” explains Dan, now 46. “I firmly believe 7/7 could have been prevented, and I’ve got to live it with that knowledge. And I cannot believe Blair would be so naive to think that if we go to war, there’s not going to be repercussions in this country. When I think of the money he earns giving talks about it”
Casualties of the London terrorist bombing attack (Image: Mirrorpix)
The 46-year-old first renewed appeals for Starmer to reconsider an inquiry through the Mirror last month. But he’s vowed to keep on asking.
Hundreds of families were affected that day in 2005 when four suicide bombers, led by primary school assistant Mohammad Sidique Khan unleashed the deadliest terror attacks in Britain since Lockerbie.
Armed with backpacks filled with homemade explosives, Khan, 30, and Shehzad Tanweer, 22, both from Beeston, Leeds, and father-of-one Germaine Lindsay, 19, from Aylesbury, Bucks, boarded three morning rush hour tube trains. Around 8.49am they set off the explosives on circle line trains near Edgware Road and Russell Square stations and a Piccadilly Line train near Aldgate station, killing six, seven and 26.
A fourth bomber, Hasib Hussain, 18, also from Leeds, detonated his device an hour later on the top deck of the Number 30 bus, which had been diverted via Tavistock Square, killing 13. It’s believed his device initially failed.
Dan Biddle and his wife Jem, who live in Abergavenny(Image: Wales on Sunday)
On the morning of July 7 2005, Dan boarded a circle line train towards Edgware Road, a 26-year-old 6ft4in football-mad construction manager. Then in a flash of the explosion, everything changed. Dan lost both legs, an eye and his spleen and had a pole speared through his abdomen after being one to the victims of the Edgware Road blast.
He perforated his colon, burst his eardrum, lacerated his liver, was covered in burns and spent eight weeks in a coma. He now faces a daily battle with Complex PTSD, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, and survivor’s guilt.
Mohammad Sidique Khan, one of the suicide bombers(Image: Getty)
It later emerged Khan was known to intelligence services but was not considered a high priority. The Government’s internal 2009 Intelligence and Security Committee review concluded the decision was “understandable” given “the information available” at the time.
Dan and Adrian Heili, the hero Army medic who saved his life against the odds that day, meanwhile maintain there are still vital questions not answered by either the committee’s 2009 report, their earlier report in 2006 or indeed, the latter 2011 Coroner’s Inquest, which identified a number of failures and missed opportunities by MI5 – but ultimately ruled they would not have prevented 7/7.
Former construction manager Dan says: “The inquest was more about ascertaining time of death, place of death, perpetrator, that type of thing. A public inquiry looks at what was known. It looks at ‘was there any point where there could have been an intervention to stop it’?”
Unanswered questions remain that Dan can’t ignore(Image: Press Association)
“The guy that did this is dead. I don’t get a trial. I don’t get my day in court. But why can’t we have the same disclosure around what led up to 7/7 as other atrocities got?”
Dan has a long list of questions, including: how long Khan was on MI5’s radar, why a telephone recording discussing an attack was not acted upon and why Khan was not made a high priority, despite alleged photos of him at a suspected extremist training camp. It was also reported that the US National Security Agency had looked into disturbing emails from Khan the year before the attacks. These are just a few of many.
“A public inquiry won’t give me my legs back,” says Dan, now an accessibility consultant in Abergavenny. “It won’t give me my eye back. But I’d have a sense of justice that somebody has been held accountable.
“Some 52 people lost their lives, why doesn’t that warrant one[an inquiry]? Jean Charles de Menezes was tragically shot a couple of weeks after 7/7, he got a public inquiry. Why is his one life worth more than 52? If they really think it’s not possible, then please just explain to me why – and I’ll get back in my box.”
Dan is pleading for a public inquiry(Image: Humphrey Nemar)
Dan has recently spent days reviewing all the previous Government reports line by line while writing his first book Back From the Dead, which was released in June.
The 2006 Intelligence and Security Committee Report had originally been sent to Dan while he was still in hospital. It came with a covering letter from the then-Committee chairman The Rt Hon Paul Murphy MP. It referred to the attacks of “July 7, 2006.”
“Talk about adding insult to literal injury,” says Dan, who married the love of his life Gem, 42, in 2015. “How can you put much credence in the report if they can’t even get the date of the attack right?”
A public inquiry could also be a financial lifeline to those, like Dan, with life-changing injuries. Dan received just shy of £116,000 from the Government’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.
It’s a fund which gives a standardised payout, calculated by which body part is injured, to all victims of violent crime, with no regard as to whether it was a street mugging or a terror attack. Dan says he was also instructed he could only claim for three injuries.
He says an inquest simply isn’t enough
“The money’s gone,” he says. “It barely lasted five years.”
If an inquiry found anyone was to blame, it could open up an avenue for victims to receive extra compensation.
Meanwhile Dan admits the thought of Blair earning north of £100,000 for speaking engagements about his time as prime minister – including the War in Iraq – is particularly painful. “I think he’s disgraceful,” says Dan.
In one final plea to the dignitaries who’ll be attending on Monday, Dan adds: “I’m not a stupid man. I knew that getting blown up, life was going to be tough. But I didn’t think it would be unjust.”
The Home Office has no current plans to hold a public inquiry.
Complete timeline of how the 7/7 bombings unfolded
*Around 8:49 a.m Mohammad Sidique Khan, 30, Shehzad Tanweer, 22, Germaine Lindsay, 19, detonated homemade devices on Circle Line trains between Edgware Road and Paddington and Liverpool Street and Aldgate, and a Piccadilly Line train between King’s Cross St Pancras and Russell Square. They killed six, seven and 26.
*At 9.47am Hasib Hussain, 18, detonated a device, believed to have earlier failed, on the top deck of the Number 30 bus outside the British Medical Association HQ in Tavistock Square.
*All but Lindsay were British-born, from Beeston, Leeds. Jamaican-born Lindsay, an Islam convert, lived with his then-pregnant wife in Aylesbury, Bucks. She was later revealed to be the ‘White Widow’, Samantha Lewthwaite, an alleged member of Somalia ’s radical Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab.
7/7 bombers, Hasib Hussain, Shehzad Tanweer, Jermaine Lindsay and Mohammad Sidique Khan(Image: PA)
*Video confessions later saw the bombers citing the War in Afghanistan and Iraq as one of their motivations. The Met Police’s Operation Trident collected more than 2,500 pieces of evidence. There was further tragedy at Stockwell Tube on 21/7 when Brazilian student Jean Charles De Menezes, 27, was mistaken for a suspect in a feared follow up attack and shot dead by police
*A 2006 Initial Intelligence and Security Committee Report finds no evidence MI5 could have prevented the attacks.
During a separate trial regarding a foiled fertiliser bomb plot, it was revealed Khan and Tanweer had been tracked by MI5 for a time during 2004, but it was decided they were not a priority.
Dan’s new book tells his story
The then Home Secretary John Reid refused a public inquiry into what had been known, saying it would be a “massive diversion of resources” from the security services’ operations. Some 25 7/7 Families start legal proceedings to force a public inquiry.
*Reid authorises the subsequent 2009 IASC report which also concluded 7/7 could not have been prevented.
* David Cameron becomes Prime Minister and grants the seven-month Coroner’s Inquest, overseen by Lady Justice Hallett, with a more limited scope of inquiry. In 2011, after seven months of evidence, she made nine recommendations to the Home Office, Security Services and Emergency Services. She also concluded MI5 could not have prevented it and rules against a public inquiry as it would add further distress to the families.
*The 25 Families drop their legal suit for an inquiry immediately after the inquest report. They make it clear they still have unanswered questions but fear their emotionally-draining legal action is futile.
* Various news organisations report on allegations that Khan visited a Pakistan Al-Qaeda training camp as well as military training camps in Dubai and that The US’s NSA had intercepted alarming emails from him the year before the attacks.
*Dan maintains several key questions around how long Khan was on their radar, why a telephone recording discussing an attack was not acted upon and why Khan was not made a high priority, despite alleged photos at a training camp.
Back From The Dead: The Untold Story of the 7/7 Bombings by Dan Biddle with Douglas Thompson, by Mirror Books hardback, £20, is out Thursday. Buy here
TV Columnist Sara Wallis reviews Squid Game 3, as TV’s most stressful show returns to Netflix today for its third and final season…
08:00, 27 Jun 2025Updated 08:06, 27 Jun 2025
The players mourn over another pink-bowed coffin in Squid Game 3
*Warning: Some plot reveals, no major spoilers*
Surely the most stressful TV experience of all time, dystopian horror-show Squid Game is back today for its third and final flourish – and you won’t want to miss it. The South Korean mega hit, which will send your blood pressure soaring within minutes, somehow manages to become even more messed up and sinister than before. Millions of viewers across the globe have been hooked by the plot so far, which sees desperate, broke ‘losers’ compete in a series of children’s games for quick cash. What they don’t realise until it’s too late is that there’s a violent twist. Win these menacing games, win millions. Lose and get shot in the head by a soldier in a mask and red jumpsuit. The fewer players left, the more money for each one. As you can imagine, they all become completely unhinged and begin to turn on each other. It’s thrilling, popcorn-eating TV.
Lee Byung-hun as Front man in Squid Game 3
After season one became a cultural phenomenon, Director Hwang Dong-Hyuk admitted he was stressed out (his teeth fell out) as he faced the difficult Second Album Syndrome, with expectations through the roof. Three years later, season two saw our anti-hero Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), aka winning Player 456, re-enter the game with the intention of bringing down the bad guys.
By the end he was leading a rebellion, hoping to take them down from within. But the evil Front Man (Lee Byung-hun) always seemed to be one step ahead. It ended on a brutal cliffhanger, with Gi-hun witnessing the death of his friend at the hands of the Front Man, who was disguised as Player 001.
We’ve only had to wait six months this time for these final six, nail-biting episodes. Picking up exactly where we left off, the first episode is titled Keys and Knives, which sets us up for the first new game. It’s hide and seek, but no one’s laughing. Some players get keys, some get knives, you can guess the rest. As ever, the gigantic set-pieces, made to make the players feel small like children, are visually stunning and creative. The stage is set, classical music blares out, shrill voices sing-song the instructions, and we watch as the players try to outrun death at every turn.
Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun, aka Player 456(Image: (Image: NETFLIX))
This season gives the actual games more airtime, meaning the edge-of-seat moments are longer, making everything more disturbing. Episode two, The Starry Night, is entirely one game played out, where bonds are tested, dynamics shift and you can expect plenty of shock-horror moments. Next another frantic childhood game results in a bloodbath, before ultimately the remaining players reach the grand finale, called Sky Squid Game.
Watching the whole thing on screens are the VIPs, a group of wealthy, masked foreigners (American and British accents among them), who all place bets, moving little numbered chess pieces, while smoking and drinking. Though this part is no doubt supposed to be a caricature of a corrupt society, it’s all so cartoony with terrible acting that it jars with the excellence of the main scenes.
If you can get over groaning at these hammed-up villains, you will at least appreciate the social commentary on class, capitalism and immorality. While they enjoy this gladiator-style bloodsport as entertainment, as the players themselves become more deranged by greed, it holds up a mirror to the worst of humanity. By the time we reach the final episode, titled Humans Are…, we have also become numb to the violence. Seasons two and three could never have quite the same impact as season one. However, with the new games designed to cause even more division among the players than before, and a callous, unguessable twist early on that changes the whole dynamic, Squid Game becomes monstrous in a different way.
Park Gyu-young as Kang No-eul, a soldier with a plan(Image: Noh Ju-han / Netflix)
Watch out for drama outside of the main arena, as police officer Jun-ho (Wi Ha-jun) mounts a desperate search for the island, knowing his brother is the Front Man. What he doesn’t realise is that his plan is being sabotaged from within. Organs are still being harvested, and one soldier defects and tries to escape, while there are plenty of players, such as a mother and son and pregnant girl, to get emotionally attached to – and plenty to hate. Some of the side plots feel a bit muddled and some player hallucinations are confusing, but for the central characters there is a lot of heart to be found amid the trauma. Ignoring rumours of spin-offs and more seasons (and a glorious final wink), it feels right to end this show now. Squid Game has been an brilliant television hammer-blow, but surely no one has the stomach for more…
British pop star Liam Payne’s final TV appearance is finally on the horizon, less than a year after he died suddenly in Argentina.
Netflix on Tuesday released the trailer for its upcoming singing competition series “Building the Band,” which features the late One Direction singer as one of its guest judges. The series, set to premiere July 9, could bring a sense of closure for fans of Payne, who began his singing career as a contestant on the competition series “X Factor.”
In the teaser, Payne offers his wisdom to aspiring singers, urging them, “I need to feel the connection between you guys.” The singer knew a thing or two about group chemistry: during his second “X Factor” foray in 2010, judges Simon Cowell and Nicole Scherzinger decided Payne should join fellow contestants Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson to form One Direction. Despite losing the crown, the quintet went on to become a pop sensation best known for songs including “What Makes You Beautiful” and “Story of My Life.”
“Building the Band” reunites Payne with Scherzinger, whose role is judge and mentor. Destiny’s Child alum Kelly Rowland also serves as a guest judge. Backstreet Boys singer and Payne’s friend AJ McLean is the show’s host. The series features 50 singers who work with the veteran musicians to form six bands.
Netflix confirmed Payne’s posthumous appearance earlier this month as it released a first look and announced the series’ premiere date. The streamer wrapped production on “Building the Band” before Payne’s death and received support from the singer’s family to push forward. Payne’s “family reviewed the series and is supportive of his inclusion,” Netflix said in a statement to Deadline.
Payne died Oct. 16 after falling from a balcony at a Buenos Aires hotel. He was 31. Shortly after his death, officials determined the singer died from multiple traumas and internal and external bleeding caused by the fall. Officials announced in December that Payne also had traces of alcohol, cocaine and a prescription antidepressant in his system when he fell.
Two hotel workers and Payne’s friend Rogelio “Roger” Nores were three of five people charged for their alleged involvement in the singer’s death but were cleared of those charges in February. Appeals court judges ruled at the time that Nores did not have a role in Payne’s “obtaining and consuming alcohol” and that he could not have taken actions to prevent Payne’s death.
The two remaining suspects — charged in December with allegedly supplying Payne with narcotics before his death — will stand trial, officials announced earlier this month.
The Midcentury Modern home of Justin Edwards, one half of the couple whose love story informs the show — an adaptation of Judy Blume’s 1975 novel — is flooded with work from Black Angelenos.
“Local Los Angeles artists were important for me to put into the sets, and the Edwards family home, specifically, being collectors of Los Angeles art,” Akil, an L.A. native, told The Times.
Production designer Suzuki Ingerslev and set decorator Ron Franco are also Angelenos, which they said contributed to the cultural competency of their work on “Forever.” Although the writers’ strike made elements of their jobs difficult, both agreed that their experience on “Forever” was uniquely positive, in large part because of their curation of the art in the Edwards’ home.
“Sometimes art can really make a space and it makes a statement and it tells you who the character is,” said Ingerslev. “In this case, you really knew who the Edwards were — they curated art and they cared about where they live — and I thought that really made a big difference through the art and through the furnishings as well.”
Franco agreed, saying he had fun sourcing artwork from Black artists that matched Ingerslev’s color palette and also contained themes pertinent to the show.
“A lot of times the shows that you see now are just headshots and everything that we put up becomes a background piece that’s kind of blurred,” he said. “We are very lucky in that this camera really opened up, and you follow everybody through both of the [permanent] sets and you really feel a lot.”
Audiences noticed their effort, said Ingerslev, who’s been bombarded with questions about the artworks in “Forever,” which was just renewed for a second season.
Here are five local Black artists whose work are featured in the show.
Noah Humes, 31
Humes cites a book about artist and writer Romare Bearden that he received from Akil when he was 6 years old as the foundation for his worldview as an artist. (Humes’ mother was a casting director on “Girlfriends,” the 2000s TV series created by Akil, whom Humes calls “Auntie Mara.”)
“I look back [and] that’s what helped form and shape my energy with how I approach the canvas, wanting to tell the story of my community and different things that I see — social moments, political moments, historical remnants,” said the figurative painter.
Humes is drawn to bright colors that capture the vibrancy of his hometown of L.A. “Her” and “Mid City,” which feature prominently in the Edwards family’s media room in “Forever,” depict solitary figures against yellow backgrounds. The foliage in “Her” grows in Humes’ mother’s frontyard. “Mid City,” the neighborhood where Humes was raised, features the red-crowned parrots that wake him up every morning.
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1.“Her”(Noah Humes)2.“Mid City”(Noah Humes)
“I felt inclined to represent and show a certain subtlety of ‘We’re here, we’re centered, we’re always a focal point of unfortunate times, but also we can overcome things and become stronger than we have been,’” Humes said of the twin paintings, which he completed in 2020 after George Floyd’s murder and the national racial reckoning that followed.
Humes also credits his neighbors in L.A., a “system of Black excellence,” for positively influencing his artistry. Animator Lyndon Barrois (“Happy Feet,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks”) is his mentor, and members of the hip-hop collective Odd Future, including siblings Syd and Travis “Taco” Bennett, as well as Thebe Kgositsile — who uses the stage name Earl Sweatshirt — are his childhood friends.
Francis ‘Tommy’ Mitchell, 41
(Francis “Tommy” Mitchell)
Mitchell has been drawing for as long as he can remember, but it was a high school classmate pointing out the permanent nature of a ballpoint pen that led to his aha moment.
“You can erase graphite, you can paint over acrylic and oil,” said the Baltimore- and L.A.-based artist. “Ink is one of those things that I just think of, no pun intended here, it’s forever.”
Mitchell’s portraits feature individuals shaded with ink set against monochromatic acyrlic background. Because it is extremely time-consuming, most artists working in ink compose smaller, more intimate images, said Mitchell. In contrast, his portraits are huge. If the work were hung on the walls of a museum, the viewer may never notice the figure’s skin was drawn in ink and not paint.
“Going to museums or galleries as a kid, I would see these amazing European paintings, and I’m like, ‘Wow, these are amazing,’ but there’s no one that looks like me,” he said, of his desire to focus on portraiture.
“Francis R. of City College”
(Francis “Tommy” Mitchell)
The subject of “Francis R. of City College,” Mitchell’s painting featured in the Edwards’ dining room in “Forever,” is modeled after his father. For Mitchell, the work represents a young man with his whole life ahead of him. Making the painting in his Baltimore studio less than a mile away from City College, where his father attended high school, felt like a full-circle moment.
Seeing the work on television only adds to the significance.
“One of my goals is to always promote those who work in ink because it’s not a traditional medium,” he said, pointing to tattoo artists Jun Cha and Mister Cartoon as inspirations. “So for it to be seen on television, it lends credence to, ‘Hey, we’re doing something special as well.’”
Edwin Marcelin, 50
Marcelin’s first job as a teenager was at Stüssy, a Laguna Beach streetwear brand founded in the early 1980s. Minimalist graphic design, a trademark of Stüssy as well as brands Supreme and Undefeated, has always informed his art.
“Everything usually is about engagement, confrontation or affection,” said Marcelin. “Those are things that I tend to generate towards by using very minimal strokes.”
During his time at the California College of the Arts — then called the California College of Arts and Crafts — Marcelin was drawn to Bauhaus, a German school of art that melds functionality and design. Marcelin applies those abstract Bauhaus fundamentals and adds the element of movement.
“If it ain’t moving, it ain’t me,” said the L.A.-born-and-raised artist.
Marcelin said his emphasis on motion lends itself well to the screen — his piece “Clarity,” a dynamic painting of Michael Jordan taking flight, hangs in basketball-loving Justin’s bedroom in “Forever.”
“I think Black folks in Los Angeles are dynamic, so I try to keep dynamic images, people doing things, not standing there, and I think that translates to film very well,” said Marcelin.
“Clarity” is part of a 23-painting series titled “Black Jesus.” Each image in the series, which took Marcelin about five months to complete in its entirety, references Jordan, who Marcelin said is disappearing visually from pop culture. Case in point: He said his 19- and 16-year-old sons may recognize the Jumpman logo, but they wouldn’t instantly recognize an image of Jordan himself.
“There’ll be more basketball players, but I wanted to do something that was completely abstract representing him because he has so many moments that are fantastically beautiful,” said Marcelin.
Corey Pemberton, 34
With a background in collage, glassblowing and painting, Pemberton’s large mixed-media works — of a man singing into his toothbrush in the bathroom, a naked woman smoking marijuana in bed, a man devouring a plate of his mother’s food — are both intimate and mundane.
“At a certain point, I turned an interest to those who had been marginalized by society in some way, whether it was because of the color of their skin or their gender expression or their socioeconomic status, and developed an interest in depicting those people in a way that both celebrated them but also gave them some space to just exist,” he said.
Such themes of ownership and viewership are etched into Pemberton’s work. For example, he depicts the space and objects around his figures in vivid detail. Objects are important, he said, because they carry memories of “the people who created them or gave them to us or lived with them before us.”
Similarly, his painting “The Collector” celebrates “a young black person who’s making a concerted effort to own and conserve our culture, which is so often falling into the hands of people who don’t care about us on a deeper level.” And in many of Pemberton’s pieces, miniature renderings of his previous works can be found on the walls of his subjects’ homes.
“I think when you see a work presented that way, it sort of brings a heightened level of importance,” said Pemberton.
“I Used to Cook More”
(Corey Pemberton)
So it’s doubly significant that Pemberton’s work is on display in the wealthy Edwards’ home in “Forever.” The art in question, “I Used to Cook More,” can be found in the family’s kitchen and depicts Pemberton’s friend and fellow collector Jared Culp eating out of a white takeout container.
“We were talking about all of the takeout that we now consume as busy young Black creatives in L.A. trying to claw our way to the top of something,” said Pemberton.
But success in the art world has been easier to come by in L.A., where he relocated to after six years in rural North Carolina, said Pemberton.
“When I moved to Los Angeles, not only was I selling work but I was selling work to people with shared experience,” he said. “I was getting feedback that not only were these works that people wanted to live with, but they were works that people saw themselves reflected in, and that I was doing something important or meaningful to more people than just myself.”
Charles A. Bibbs, 77
Bibbs worked in corporate America for 25 years before becoming an artist full time. For Bibbs, art — in a crosshatching style, in his case — is all about communicating universal ideas.
“I mix that crosshatching with different colors and paint, and it’s just one layer on top of another until you get your desired effect,” Bibbs said of his “spontaneous” way of creating that’s “almost like magic sometimes.”
Like many Black artists, Bibbs chose his subject matter out of necessity. As a young man, he encountered few Black artists, yet innately understood the power of positive images of the Black experience, especially in the home.
“It’s a very honorable occupation because you’re giving people a part of you that is changing their lives in an aesthetic way,” he said. “All of those things play into people proud to be who they are.”
“Daddy’s Love”
(Charles A. Bibbs)
In “Forever,” viewers may catch a glimpse of “Daddy’s Love,” a drawing of Bibbs’ father and Bibbs and his sister as children, on the wall outside Justin’s bedroom. But this isn’t the first time his work has made it to the screen. Bibbs is credited with the Black Madonna artwork on the honey jar central to the plot of the 2008 film “The Secret Life of Bees.” He said the experience underscored the importance of art, which he said touches the “subconscious mind.”
“[My work] was part of the presentation of the movie and in some way or another may have helped them understand what that movie was really all about.”
The Liver King has amassed millions of followers on social media for his extreme lifestyle
The Liver King became famous for living an extreme lifestyle(Image: Netflix)
Brian Johnson, known as the Liver King on TikTok, gained millions of followers by showcasing his extreme lifestyle online, which included eating testicles and adhering to nine strict rules he claimed were essential for a healthy life.
He heavily promoted the ‘ancestral’ way of living, claiming it cured his two sons of respiratory issues and allergies that frequently required hospital treatment.
Johnson insisted that living like our ancestors was the secret to his sculpted physique, denying steroid use in interviews. However, it later came to light that the fitness influencer was splashing out around $11,000 per month on performance-enhancing drugs.
He posted a public apology video admitting to his steroid use, sparking a massive public backlash and leaving fans questioning the authenticity of the star.
His steroid scandal is addressed in the Netflix show(Image: Netflix)
Despite the controversy, he still boasts a massive social media following, with an impressive six million followers on TikTok, nearly three million on Instagram, and over one million YouTube subscribers.
A new Netflix documentary delves into the controversy surrounding the Liver King and directly addresses the steroid scandal head-on. However, it fails to mention a £60,000 cosmetic surgery lie told by the star that had a big impact on fan trust, reports Surrey Live.
The Liver King left his followers baffled after he joked about having ab implants during a chat on the Full Send podcast. He later clarified on his website that the “experimental procedure” he claimed to have undergone was just a gag.
Fans have questioned if he has had ab implants(Image: Netflix)
“Personally, I thought it was funny AF…. they actually believed me, which made it even funnier,” the Liver King shared on his website. “You should’ve seen the subprimal look on their faces thinking ‘AlI have to do is get implants?’ I sure as s*** never thought ‘the joke’ a.k.a the fake news would spread the way that it did. It has officially gotten out of hand… and I f****** love it!”
He continued: “Turns out millions of people believed me too, and started actually believing Liver King has ab implants. To this day, if you Google ‘Ab Implants’ I remain the poster child.”
In a bid to regain his fans’ trust, he visited plastic surgeon Dr Daniel Barrett and shared a video of the doctor examining his abs to confirm whether or not they were natural.
Untold: The Liver King is now streaming on Netflix
