Thirty years after it first aired, This Life will return to the BBC for a whole new generation to enjoy this 90s cult classic.

The era-defining British series – created by Amy Jenkins – starred an early-career Andrew Lincoln (The Walking Dead) as well as Daniela Nardini, Jack Davenport, Amita Dhiri and Jason Hughes.

The quintet played a group of twenty-something lawyers sharing a house in south London ‘as they navigated friendship, ambition and the complexities of their twenties.’

Or, as the synopsis dubbing it ‘raw, real and revolutionary’ reads: ‘The 90s’ most famous houseshare. Five aspiring lawyers are aiming for the top – but behind the scenes, they’re a mess of love, drugs and excess.’

Hailed a ‘landmark drama’ with ‘fresh, raw and unfiltered performances’, it became the ‘defining series of the decade’ and a time capsule of London life during this time.

Behind the scenes, the show was also a fertile training ground for Britain’s up-and-coming directors, such as I May Destroy You’s Bafta-winning director Sam Miller and Harry Bradbeer (director behind hits like Fleabag and Enola Holmes).

The 32-episode rerun, offering a trip down memory lane, will be introduced by Daniela.

Fans and critics alike have praised its impact as a cultural touchstone and enduring legacy – despite its short time on screens.

Metro called it ‘the greatest drama of the 90s’, adding ‘no other TV series managed to capture the Cool Britannia zeitgeist as brilliantly as This Life’.

In a 2021 review, The Guardian wrote: ‘It was the sort of television where you wanted to contact all your friends immediately after watching an episode to recap it. It was funny but it also broke your heart.

‘It felt freakishly true to life. It depicted all the messiness and glory of being in your 20s in a way that you never usually see on commercial television.’

And in a review fresh after its release in 1996, The Independent shared: ‘What keeps you watching, in the absence of much discernible forward motion, is a quality of observation – the dialogue, apart from the odd passage here and there, continues to have an eavesdropped quality.’

The show has been praised for its diverse storylines, such as gay character Warren, who is grappling with his identity and discussions around interracial couples.

Over on IMDB, user shootingstar82 wrote: ‘While there are a couple of moments where This Life feels a little dated, overall, it holds up very well and is still immensely watchable.

‘This is one of the truly great British TV shows which I look forward to viewing again at some point in the future.’

‘A near-perfect study of life’s transitional period between careless partying and responsible adulthood,’ ideorio shared.

Discussing its unexpected popularity, and what drew him to the show in 2020, Miles actor Jack shared with The Guardian: ‘The writing was really different from most television. If you took a load of drugs, you didn’t necessarily die immediately.

‘If you had unprotected sex, you didn’t automatically become HIV positive. People liked it because there was no moralising. If you’re 22, you’re going to make some really bad decisions, but that’s OK. Relax.’

This Life returns to BBC Four at 10pm on Wednesday, March 18. Seasons one and two, as well as the 10-year reunion, will be available from iPlayer from 6am.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE: BBC spin-off of ‘best comedy ever’ soars up Netflix top 10 after being quietly added

MORE: BBC fans give verdict after bingeing first 5 episodes of Pride and Prejudice spin-off

MORE: BBC confirms Michael Sheen will replace Richard Osman as House of Games host

Season 1 of Peacock‘s Ted prequel series laid on the gross gags pretty thick. There wasn’t a whole lot in the way of character development, and humor coming out of those characters. Sure, we don’t expect Seth MacFrarlane’s vulgar and racist teddy bear to get better — he’s a talking teddy bear! But we wish we saw more than what we did in the first season . Is the second season better?

TED SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT? 

Opening Shot: At the Bennett house, John Bennet (Max Burkholder) and Ted (voice of Seth MacFarlane) watch an SNL episode hosted by Patrick Stewart with Salt-N-Pepa as the musical guest; they try to come up with the most “fucked up” host-musical guest combinations they can think of.

The Gist:  After SNL ends and Showtime At The Apollo begins, John and his vulgar teddy bear buddy see an ad for a phone sex line. They know if they call a 1-900 number, John’s parents Matty (Scott Grimes) and Susan (Alanna Ubach) would probably blow their stacks (at least Matty will).

At school the next day, as they look for a place to smoke a joint, John and Ted find a phone in the basement. They call the 1-900 line from the ads and they get through. Success! They talk to a girl named “Shawna” who makes believe she’s having an orgasm almost as soon as they say their names. “We’re hurting her!” the inexperienced John says to Ted.

Days go by and many boxes of tissues are consumed. In the meantime, John’s cousin Blaire (Giorgia Whigham) tells Matty and Susan that her father — Matty’s older brother — Bernie (Scott Michael Campbell) wants to visit, and Blaire doesn’t want him there. Matty, who always believes he’s the king of the castle, insists. Of course, when Bernie does arrive, he spends time bullying his little brother with strong nut taps and other physical abuse. He also wants Blaire to come back home, mainly because Blaire’s mom left him and he needs someone to take care of him. Blaire, for her part, starts to call her father on his bullying of her uncle, but not before she’s confronted by Matty’s bare ass slung over Bernie’s shoulder.

Back at school the inevitable happens; the principal (Penny Johnson Jerald) tells the class that they got a phone bill for $5000 and they’re going to investigate who called this phone sex line with the help of determined Board of Ed investigator Mr. Lawrence (Peter Macon). The seniors are angry that the state-sanction “senior cut day” was taken from them and they chant for the “masturbators” to reveal themselves. In the meantime, John and Ted try to figure out how to get the heat off of them, including making up a student named Jeremy Schwarzfinger, who “liked Sublime before 1992.”

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Ted is a prequel to the Ted movies that starred Mark Wahlberg. More than ever, it feels like a live-action Family Guy.

Our Take: We will say that the writing of MacFarlane, who directed the episode, and his writers was a bit tighter in the second season premiere of Ted than it was in the first season. There was more than one gag that made us laugh, and we didn’t get a whole lot of the signature MacFarlane “stretch a gag until it becomes unfunny, then funny again” schtick.

We kind of wish the story wasn’t about Ted and John as much as it is, though. Sure, the show is called Ted, and having a living, f-bomb-dropping, somewhat racist teddy bear is this show’s reason for being. But all we see Ted and John doing is stupid crap and getting away with it, while there’s actual stories going on with the rest of the Bennett family.

Blaire is actually the emotional center of the show, and it’s evident in the story where she tries to get her father Bernie to stop bullying her uncle Matty, and takes matters into her own hands when he won’t stop. We would love to see a show about how Blaire is making her own way in mid-’90s Massachusetts, and finding that living with the Bennetts, including her dopey cousin and a bear that wonders which order he’d sleep with the women from Friends, is still preferable to her own family.

We do get the feeling that most of the season will progress like this, with John and Ted getting into stupid crap and actual character development happening around them. That’s a whole lot better than what we got with the first season, so maybe sight gags like seeing a pile of used tissues get bigger is the price to pay to get to know the other Bennetts a little bit.

Performance Worth Watching: When we say that Blaire is the emotional center of the show, we mean it, and it comes through in Giorgia Whigham’s performance.

Sex And Skin: Surprisingly, nothing explicit except the sight of Matty’s bare ass. The rest is just talk.

Parting Shot: Matty and Blaire have a beer, and she says, “I’m glad I’m here.” Matty says, “Have you heard about this kid Jeremy?”

Sleeper Star: Scott Grimes has been doing this a long, long time, and he does a great job of showing how Matty pretends he’s in control, but knows he absolutely isn’t.

Most Pilot-y Line: Mr. Lawrence: “No one in Framingham was listening to Sublime before 1992, when their debut studio album 40 Oz. To Freedom rocked the charts!”

Our Call: STREAM IT, but barely. Ted is definitely more watchable in Season 2, more interested in character and story than it was in Season 1. But we just wish that, while Ted himself is pretty irredeemable, we got more growth out of John rather than just a series of gross shennanigans.

How To Watch Ted

Peacock currently offers two subscription types: Premium with ads and Premium Plus ad-free. Peacock Premium costs $10.99/month, while Premium Plus costs $16.99/month.

You can save a bit by subscribing to one of Peacock’s annual plans, which give you 12 months for the price of 10. These cost either $109.99 with ads or $169.99 without ads.

Peacock Premium Plus is also available to subscribe to via Prime Video with a seven-day free trial that you can’t get by subscribing directly on Peacock.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

A ‘perfectly executed’ teen romantic comedy that was a modernisation of a Shakespeare play is now streaming for free in the UK.

Released in 1999, 10 Things I Hate About You marked the break-through for actors Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Written by Karen McCullah Lutz and Kirsten Smith, it was inspired by Shakespeare’s comedy The Taming of the Shrew.

Retold in a late-1990s American high school setting, it followed new student Cameron James (Gordon-Levitt) who becomes smitten with Bianca Stratford (Oleynik) and attempts to get bad boy Patrick Verona (Ledger) to date her unsocial sister Kat (Stiles) in order to get around her father’s strict rules on dating.

In the years since it was released, the film has become a cult classic and is often referred to as one of the greatest romantic comedies of all time. This week it was added to Channel 4.

‘As satirical as it is romantic, this is one teen film that is wise enough to span generations in its appeal,’ The Los Angeles Times wrote in its review at the time of the film’s release.

‘Takes an old story and proves the themes are timeless by applying them to a modern setting,’ Movie Views shared.

‘Smartly paced, fun and funny, this is just as enjoyable for adults as it is for its intended teenage market,’ Radio Times added.

Reflecting on the film’s cultural impact, Teen Vogue once ranked it the number one movie on its list for best teen romance movies, and GQ included the film on their list of the best 90s movies, while Harper’s Bazaar had it on their list of the best movies that defined the 90s.

‘One of, if not the best romance-comedy movie of all time,’ viewer John recently posted on Rotten Tomatoes.

‘Hands-down one of my all-time favourite movies. It’s the perfect blend of wit, charm, and heart, all wrapped up in a late ‘90s high school setting that still holds up today,’ Hannah wrote.

‘The writing is refreshingly sharp for a teen comedy, offering a modern twist on Shakespeare. It’s not just the clever dialogue – it’s the strong cast and killer soundtrack that really make it stand out,’ Julian added.

In 2012 it was announced that a standalone sequel to the film, titled 10 Things I Hate About Life, was in development – with director Gil Junger set to return.

Evan Rachel Wood and Thomas McDonell were cast in the lead roles, and although filming began on the project, it was eventually halted and the movie was shelved indefinitely.

More than a decade later, in May last year, it was announced another sequel was in development – this time called 10 Things I Hate About Dating.

That film will again see Junger serve as director, while this project will be based on Jean-Baptiste ‘Molière’ Poquelin’s The Misanthrope, or the Cantankerous Lover.

When the movie was announced, Junger said he would love to see the cast from the original movie reprise their roles, either with cameos or as supporting cast members.

‘I would love to work with Julia again. She shaped the lives of millions of women. That Kat character really spoke to young women in a very powerful way,’ he told People.

‘If it resonates with [the original cast] and I can have some cameos or even real parts, I’d love [that],’ he added.

The movie is set to be the first in a trilogy of sequels, with the additional projects tentatively titled: 10 Things I Hate About Marriage, and 10 Things I Hate About Kids.

Following Ledger’s death in 2008, Junger also said the new film will also pay tribute to him.

‘I think that’s a beautiful idea, and the answer is now going to be yes…he deserves to be loved.’

10 Things I Hate About You is now streaming on Channel 4.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE: Emma Bunton clears up Spice Girls and All Saints feud rumours

MORE: Right Said Fred complain ‘we’re still cancelled’ 35 years after only hit record

MORE: McDonald’s just brought back a nostalgic favourite — but there’s a big catch