After Sarah Michelle Gellar revealed over the weekend that the planned Buffy The Vampire Slayer reboot was no longer going ahead, the actor has now shared her take on why the series didn’t get picked up.

Directed by Chloé Zhao – who was Oscar-nominated this year for Hamnet – the revival would have brought viewers back to Sunnydale, introducing a new slayer played by Ryan Kiera Armstrong, as well as featuring Sarah’s Buffy in more of a mentoring role.

Sarah Michelle told People magazine in an interview published on Monday that she blames the cancellation on one unnamed executive.

“We had an executive on our show who was not only not a fan of the original, but was proud to constantly remind us that he had never seen the entirety of the series and how it wasn’t for him,” she claimed.

“So, that tells you the uphill battle that we had been fighting since day one, when your executive is literally proud to tell you that he didn’t watch it.”

The Cruel Intentions star also insisted that she felt the Buffy reboot not being picked up for a full series was not due to the quality of the show, declaring that the script’s “dialogue flew off the tongue.

She also praised the “duality” of having a younger slayer, who was the same age Buffy was when the first show started, alongside the original grown-up character.

“I’d like to use this moment also to say that Ryan Kiera Armstrong is a superstar,” she added. “I’m gutted that no one will see her as a slayer.”

Sarah Michelle announced the “disappointing” news on her Instagram over the weekend, explaining that the streaming service Disney+ had chosen not to pick up the pilot.

“I want to thank Chloé Zhao because I never thought I would find myself back in Buffy’s stylish, yet affordable boots,” she said. “And thanks to Chloe, I was reminded how much I love her and how much she means not only to me, but to all of you. And this doesn’t change any of that.”

Buffy The Vampire Slayer originally ran for seven series between 1997 and 2003.

The series followed Buffy and her friends as they navigated the trials and tribulations of high school and college, while also fighting vampires, demons and other supernatural creatures.

Saturday Night Live UK will finally be hitting our screens this weekend – with the show’s first guest hosts and musical performers having now been announced.

Ahead of the series’ premiere on Saturday night, Sky has confirmed that SNL legend Tina Fey will be the UK spin-off’s very first presenter.

The premiere is in safe hands, as Tina worked as the head writer on the American version of SNL between 1997 and 2006. She has since gone on to host the US show six more times.

She will be joined by Brit Award winners Wet Leg as SNL UK’s inaugural musical guest.

Following Tina’s appearance as host, Fifty Shades Of Grey actor Jamie Dornan will be hosting the second episode, with Brit Award winners Wolf Alice joining him as the musical act.

Episode three will then be hosted by Oscar-nominated actor Riz Ahmed, with Kasabian serving as musical guests.

Lorne Michaels, who created SNL in 1975, will also work as the UK show’s executive producer, along with a team of 20 writers and a regular cast of 11 comedians, which includes Taskmaster alum Emma Sidi and Ania Magliano, Black Ops star Hammed Animashaun and TikTok fave Jack Shep.

SNL UK will follow the same format as the long-running American version, in which a new host each week performs sketches alongside the regular cast in front of a live studio audience.

Written the week of the filming, all 75-minute episodes will feature an opening monologue from the host, sketches, live performances from the musical act and a British take on SNL’s satirical news segment, Weekend Update.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today Show, one of the show’s producers, James Longman, said he hoped to offer some joy to viewers during “rough times”.

“It’s a perfect time for this kind of show. The world is rough out there at the moment, so it’s a really good time to laugh,” James said this morning, hinting that the show would feature plenty of topical and satirical laughs. “There’s so many things to be funny about, and so it’s just finding the right angle for us. The key for us is to be funny.”

SNL UK is due to begin this Saturday (March 21) on Sky and Now TV, and will run for six episodes.

The Straw Hats have set sail once more in season two of Netflix’s much-loved series One Piece.

When One Piece debuted in 2023, it quickly was hailed as one of the best live-action adaptations of a manga ever, and became the Netflix’s most-watched original series of the second half of that year.

After an agonising three-year wait, Monkey D. Luffy, Nami, Roronoa Zoro and the rest of the super-powered team of pirates are back in action – alongside a new ragtag group of enemies, allies and magical creatures.

Here are all the new actors joining One Piece in its second season, and a quick guide to where you might know them from…

Charitha has joined the second series of One Piece as Miss Wednesday, the princess of the desert kingdom Alabasta.

The British actor is no stranger to popular Netflix shows, having played Edwina in the second series of Bridgerton.

After her big break in the Amazon Prime adaptation of the Alex Ryder books in 2021, playing Sabina Pleasance, Charitha went on to appear in Dune: Prophecy as a younger version of Tabu’s character Francesca.

On the big screen, you may recognise her for her performance as the flight attendant in Josh Hartnett’s action film Fight Or Flight, and in the recent festive film Christmas Karma, which co-starred Kunal Nayyar and Danny Dyer.

Season two of One Piece also welcomes Mikaela Hoover to the cast, who voices the talkative reindeer Tony Tony Chopper.

You’ll likely recognise her for her recent role in Superman, in which she plays journalist Cat Grant.

The superhero movie marked her latest collaboration with director James Gunn, having played Nova Prime’s assistant in Guardians Of The Galaxy, voiced Floor the Rabbit in Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 and appeared as the president’s assistant, Camila, in The Suicide Squad.

She has also had guest roles in Charlie Sheen’s comedy Anger Management, 2 Broke Girls alongside Kat Dennings and in last year’s TV crime thriller Duster.

You can next see Mikaela in the second season of Netflix’s Beef, which also features Oscar Isaac and Carey Mulligan.

David Dastmalchian appears as Mr. 3, the Baroque Works member who can produce candle wax from his hands.

A well-known face to fans of sci-fi and comic book adaptations, David played Kurt in the Ant-Man films, Polka Dot Man in The Suicide Squad and voiced Julian Day in the recent Batman animated films.

Following his big-screen debut in The Dark Knight, playing Joker’s deranged henchman, David teamed up again with director Christopher Nolan in 2024, taking on the role of real-life lawyer William L. Borden in Oppenheimer.

You may also recognise him for his role in Dune as Piter De Vries, the assistant to Stellan Skarsgård’s Baron Vladimir Harkonnen, and for starring in horror, Late Night With The Devil.

On TV, he appeared in the 2017 series of Twin Peaks as Pit Boss Warrick, Dexter: Resurrection as the Gemini killer and all 10 episodes of Apple TV’s eccentric sci-fi series Murderbot.

Katey Sagal, who plays Dr. Kureha in the manga adaptation, is a veritable TV icon.

She is known for playing Peg Bundy on the sitcom Married… With Children and, more recently, starring in Sons Of Anarchy as matriarch Gemma Teller Morrow.

Her other credits include voicing Leela in Futurama, having a leading role in the family sitcom 8 Simple Rules, and playing Dan’s second wife in the TV sitcom The Conners.

Most recently, you might have seen Katey play Nora’s mother in Tell Me Lies, appear in former Married… With Children co-star Christina Applegate’s comedy/drama Dead To Me or star alongside Sophie Turner in the horror film Trust.

Mark Harelik appears in One Piece as another of the doctors on Drum Island.

The actor and playwright has been consistently working since making his TV debut in Wings in 1993.

On the big screen, his long and varied career includes Election with Reese Witherspoon, Jurassic Park III and 2017’s Battle Of The Sexes, starring as real-life baseball player Hank Greenberg.

As for his TV work, he played the head of the physics department in The Big Bang Theory, God in Amazon Prime’s Preacher and most recently worked with Jake Gyllenhaal in Apple TV+ drama Presumed Innocent.

Callum Kerr has a supporting role in the second series of One Piece, playing a Marine Captain who can turn into smoke.

The Scottish actor and country singer found fame playing George Kiss in Hollyoaks between 2020 and 2021, before joining the cast of the musical drama show Monarch, acting alongside Susan Sarandon and Anna Friel.

He later played the young Everett in Virgin River, and starred as Galad Trakand in season three of The Wheel Of Time.

You might also recognise Callum for his appearance in Robbie Williams ’ video for his 2017 single Mixed Signals.

Camrus Johnson, who plays Mr. 5, is most likely recognisable for his role as Luke Fox in the TV series Batwoman, in which he acted alongside Ruby Rose.

His first big role came when he played Omar Hassabala in the 2019 teen romance movie The Sun Is Also A Star.

One Piece is his latest Netflix collaboration, having also appeared in two episodes of Luke Cage and played a supporting role as Corporal Carson in Millie Bobby Brown’s streaming blockbuster The Electric State.

Julia Rehwald appears as Smoker’s subordinate in One Piece. She, too, is a well-known face to Netflix audiences, after being hailed as one of the most exciting scream queens currently working after starring as Kate Schmidt in the Fear Street trilogy.

Star Wars fans, meanwhile, will know her for voicing Celesta Kami in the recent animated series Young Jedi Adventures.

Rigo plays the leader of the Revolutionary Army in One Piece, but you may better recognise him as Lightner, the mercenary villain introduced in season four of Outer Banks.

The actor also starred in the Animal Kingdom television show, played a firefighter in the Grey’s Anatomy spin-off Station 19 and recently appeared in an episode of Duster.

Zimbabwean actor Daniel Lasker, who plays Mr. 9 in One Piece, is best known for his performance as Furfur in the sci-fi show Raised By Wolves.

His other TV credits include appearing in BBC drama Our Girl as a US soldier, and playing Merrick in the recent adaptation of Mallory Blackman’s Noughts + Crosses.

On the big screen, Daniel recently starred alongside Josh Duhamel and Aidan Gillen in London Calling.

Sophia Anne Caruso stars in One Piece as Miss Goldenweek, a character who can alter people’s emotions using paint.

She is a recognisable face in the world of theatre, originating the role of Lydia Deetz in the Broadway musical adaptation of Beetlejuice.

On screen, Sophia appeared in Paul Feig’s fantasy The School For Good And Evil alongside Charlize Theron and Kerry Washington.

Rob Colletti plays the tyrannic ruler of the Drum Kingdom in One Piece.

Although more famous for his stage work, including originating the role of Dewey Finn in Broadways’ School Of Rock, he also had a small part in 2021′s The Sopranos prequel, The Many Saints Of Newark.

Watch seasons one and two of One Piece and Netflix now.

It’s hard to imagine the long, cold winters without The Traitors to keep us all entertained – but luckily, you won’t have to for a long while.

The BBC is remaining faithful to The Traitors and its celebrity spin-off as it renews the show until at least 2030, meaning we’re in for at least four more seasons of backstabbing, shocking murders and unpredictable roundtable action.

Tim Davie, the outgoing BBC director-general, announced the exciting news during a valedictory speech to The Royal Television Society on Thursday morning.

While the main show and its celebrity format had already been renewed for additional seasons, this new deal means The Traitors will run for at least eight seasons in total.

The Celebrity Traitors‘ second season will air later this year, following the runaway success of the first last autumn, with a further three star-studded seasons planned through to late 2029.

Kalpna Patel-Knight, head of entertainment commissioning at the BBC, said in a new statement: “We can’t wait to share many more twists and turns with viewers all across the UK in the coming years.”

Meanwhile, the CEO of production company Studio Lambert, Stephen Lambert, enthused: “The Traitors has become a genuine television phenomenon across the world, but especially in the UK, and we’re thrilled to continue the journey with the BBC.

“It’s hugely exciting that audiences will have many more years of strategy, suspense and shocking twists still to come.”

It’s no surprise that the BBC wants to keep the show on air for as long as possible, given The Traitors has become a cultural phenomenon and a mammoth ratings success.

The Celebrity Traitors debuted on BBC One in October to an average audience of 14.9m, with 15.4m tuning in to watch Alan Carr win the series.

Meanwhile, the most recent regular run – which aired earlier this year – also hit a series high with a record-breaking 9.4 million average viewers tuning in to watch the finale on BBC One.

This new deal also cements iPlayer’s position as the British home of the international The Traitors franchise, with versions from the US, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia remaining exclusive to the iPlayer.

However, although The Traitors’ future is secure, one element recently added to the show is not.

Speaking at an event at the University of East Anglia in Norfolk, Lambert admitted there are no plans to bring back the divisive “Secret Traitor” twist when the show returns to our screens next year.

“There have been other shows which have done something similar, where the audience didn’t know who ‘the mole’ was, and the trouble is you’re completely a victim of the edit… and that doesn’t feel very satisfying,” he admitted.

Filming for the upcoming fifth season of The Traitors is expected to start this summer, with the season airing early next year.

The Celebrity Traitors’ second season will hit our screens in the autumn, and although a line-up has yet to be revealed, the likes Ruth Jones, Danny Dyer and Alison Hammond are rumoured to be entering the castle.

The most recent season of The Traitors introduced a new twist that split fans right down the middle.

In the latest run’s opening episode, Claudia Winkleman explained that, for the first time, a “Secret Traitor” was being appointed, who even viewers were being kept in the dark about the identity of.

Of course, in the end, the twist lasted for just three episodes, before Fiona was unmasked to viewers as the figure in the red cloak.

While the efficacy of the “Secret Traitor” twist is definitely still up for debate, Traitors producer Stephen Lambert has insisted it’s not one we should expect to see repeated when the castle reopens its doors.

“What I like about The Traitors is there’s so many ways that story can go […] once you add a different cast and once you think of some additional tweaks here and there,” he told an audience at the University Of East Anglia, as reported by IGN.

“After the huge success of the Celebrity Traitors, we introduced the idea of a Secret Traitor as a way of doing something that was different, but it wasn’t something we wanted to keep going with.”

He conceded: “The trouble is you’re completely a victim of the edit – and that doesn’t feel very satisfying.”

Filming on the upcoming fifth season of The Traitors is due to begin filming in the summer – as is shooting on the second season of the show’s celebrity counterpart.

While a line-up is yet to be confirmed for The Celebrity Traitors’ second output, a number of stars have already been rumoured to be joining the cast, including the likes of Ruth Jones, Danny Dyer and Alison Hammond.

Meanwhile, if you’re missing having Claudia on our screens, her new BBC talk show kicks off on Friday night, with her star-studded inaugural guests having already been unveiled.

If you’ve already torn through all four episodes of Netflix’s hit miniseries The Dinosaurs, you’re definitely going to want to check out the streaming giant’s latest gift for viewers.

The unique documentary premiered last week, and has already gone down a storm, with the show exploring the “rise and fall of the dinosaurs”, with narration from the incomparable Morgan Freeman.

On Monday evening, Netflix released blooper footage from Morgan inside the recording booth, and we’re delighted to report that it’s an absolute treasure trove.

From the international treasure introducing himself as “Morgan fucking Freeman” to the Oscar winner stumbling over some species’ trickier names (“Yutyranus? Let’s say Yutyrannus, ‘anus’ sounds like ‘ass’”), the clips are a must-watch for anyone who loved The Dinosaurs.

The Dinosaurs was co-produced by recent EGOT recipient Steven Spielberg, and serves as the sister show to his previous nature series Life On Our Planet.

Since its premiere earlier this month, the show has gone down a storm with critics (it holds a rare 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on seven especially positive reviews) with particular praise for Morgan’s commentary.

It’s similarly proved popular with Netflix users and, at the time of writing, it’s the UK platform’s number one show, ahead of hits like Bridgerton, The Night Agent and Vladimir.

Over the last few days, the paleontology community has also been weighing in – and let’s just say they have a few notes.

The Dinosaurs director Nick Shoolingin‑Jordan previously told Netflix’s companion outlet Tudum that he wanted to “tell the full chronology all the way through and take the audience on a rip‑roaring adventure” with his latest venture.

Dan Tapster, its showrunner, added: “We had eight 50-minute episodes to tell the entire story of life on Earth [in Life On Our Planet], so there were lots of things where we could only scratch the surface – and the dinosaur story was absolutely one of them.

“With The Dinosaurs, we finally get to tell that story in full and celebrate it like no one has ever done before.”

Since premiering on the platform last week, Netflix’s new documentary The Dinosaurs has become a huge hit with viewers.

A sequel of sorts to the nature series Life On Our Planet, the new venture was co-produced by EGOT recipient Steven Spielberg and features narration from the unmistakable Morgan Freeman.

The four-parter tells “the story of the rise and fall of the dinosaurs — where they came from, why they mattered, how they evolved and how they met their ultimate fate” using cutting-edge visual effects from Industrial Light & Magic, the team behind the sensational ABBA Voyage.

So far, The Dinosaurs has gone down a storm, earning a rare 100% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes (based on seven positive reviews) and at the time of writing, it’s still the number one show on Netflix UK, ahead of the likes of Bridgerton, The Night Agent and Vladimir.

But what’s the reaction been like within the community of dinosaur experts?

Over the last few days, a Reddit thread inviting paleontologists to weigh in has been popping off, with a mix of reactions.

One of the most popular answers came from user u/Maip_macrothorax, who has described it as a somewhat “shallow” watch, albeit not a “terrible” one.

“While it suffers from similar issues to Life On Our Planet (like the ‘evolutionary superiority’ framing), it’s to a much lesser degree,” they wrote. “The pacing here is also a lot better.

“I just wish they explained some things better,” they added, while criticising some of the information for being on the “misleading” side.

Fellow dino expert u/mmcjawa_reborn had a similarly mixed reaction, hailing the show for featuring “a lot of critters” who don’t always get a moment to shine – specifically naming “Procompsognathus, Rhynchosaurs, Marasuchus [and] Tanystropheus” – and praising the use of visual effects to bring the dinosaurs to life.

However, they agreed that the narration had “varying accuracy” while some character designs veered towards “dull”.

“Worth a watch… just wish the script for the narration was better,” they surmised.

Another viewer, u/endmaga2028, admitted they were “disappointed” at certain mispronunciations early on in the series, though others were less critical on this subject.

Meanwhile, u/Practical_Reveal9477 was even less impressed, calling the show “overly dramatic” and with “little educational value”, suggesting that “all signs pointing to a simple and quick cash grab”.

On the other hand, u/GuessBrilliant9167 admitted they were moved to tears by the final episode, even if they conceded the show on the whole was “a bit more of the same”.

“The bird/dinosaur montage and comparing behaviours made me very emotional and reminded me how resilient and successful dinosaurs were and still are today,” they enthused.

Director Nick Shoolingin‑Jordan previously told Netflix’s Tudum outlet that he wanted to “tell the full chronology all the way through and take the audience on a rip‑roaring adventure” with The Dinosaurs.

Showrunner Dan Tapster added: “We had eight 50-minute episodes to tell the entire story of life on Earth [in Life On Our Planet], so there were lots of things where we could only scratch the surface – and the dinosaur story was absolutely one of them.

“With The Dinosaurs, we finally get to tell that story in full and celebrate it like no one has ever done before.”

The Dinosaurs is now streaming on Netflix.

Strictly Come Dancing fans are in shock following reports in the tabloid press that four of the show’s resident professionals will not be returning for this year’s series.

On Saturday, The Sun claimed that Gorka Márquez’s contract would not be renewed ahead of the next season of Strictly, citing a “source” who claimed that “bosses want a fresh start” ahead of the next run.

Luba Mushtuk and Michelle Tsiakkas were also among the pros rumoured not to be back for the upcoming season, with the tabloid alleging a day later that Nadiya Bychkova was the fourth to be dropped.

At the time of writing, none of the four has addressed the speculation, but the news has sparked a big reaction among Strictly devotees…

A BBC representative told The Sun: “Plans for Strictly Come Dancing 2026 will be confirmed in due course.”

HuffPost UK has also contacted Strictly Come Dancing for comment.

Gorka – who has made the Strictly final three times during his 10 years as a professional – sat out most of last year’s season due to his commitments as a judge on the Spanish version of the show.

Nadiya and Luba joined in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

During their time on the show, Nadiya has gone without a celebrity partner twice, while Luba has been benched four times.

Michelle, meanwhile, became a Strictly pro in 2022, and has only been paired with a celebrity once during her four-season stint.

Fans already knew that Strictly would be getting something of a refresh in 2026, following the much-publicised departures of its long-time hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

Replacement presenters are yet to be confirmed, with a number of famous faces rumoured to be in consideration for the coveted gig.

Strictly Come Dancing will return to BBC One for its 24th season in the autumn.

The Bear is set to end after its upcoming fifth season, cast member Jamie Lee Curtis has claimed.

Late last month, the Oscar nominee appeared to let the cat out of the bag with a revealing Instagram post.

In the picture, Jamie – who plays matriarch Donna Berzatto in the comedy-drama – appeared alongside The Bear’s Abby Elliott, suggesting the actors had just finished filming a scene together.

“FINISHED STRONG!” she wrote in the caption. “Surrounded by an extraordinary crew and group of writers and producers and scene partners on the show that Chris Storer created, completing the story of this extraordinary family that we have all fallen in love with.”

Fans speculated this meant the end of the road for the popular culinary series, which Jamie has confirmed to be the case.

Earlier this week, a reporter from Access Hollywood asked the Freaky Friday star whether the post confirmed that the next series would be the last.

“Everybody’s confirmed the show is ending,” she insisted. “I don’t understand why that’s such a [big deal].

“Unless I’m gonna get a call from all the people saying, ‘You just told [everyone],’ I think everybody understood that it was the last season of the show. If it isn’t, then I’ve completely blown it.”

Although there has been no official statement from The Bear about its upcoming ending, undisclosed sources confirmed to Deadline that Jamie’s comments were accurate.

However, this news won’t come as too much of a surprise to fans of the show, as leading man Jeremy Allen White previously revealed that the show’s creator, Christopher Storer, had originally only planned for the show to run for four seasons.

Series four ended with Jeremy’s character, Carmy, leaving the restaurant and signing over his stake in it.

Despite feeling like a goodbye to The Bear, the series was soon renewed for its fifth season, although at the time there was no word if it would be the last.

Over the last three months, the cast has been spotted around Chicago, filming new scenes for the upcoming final episodes.

The Bear premiered in 2022 to huge acclaim, winning 21 Emmy awards and five Golden Globes over the course of the series, including individual acting wins for Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri and Ebon Moss-Bachrach.

There is no current release date for season five of The Bear, but you can watch all four series of The Bear on Disney + now.

Described by one critic as “Fleabag for 50-somethings”, Netflix’s steamy new comedy-drama, Vladimir, looks set to become your new binge-watch obsession.

Starring Rachel Weisz and Leo Woodall, Vladimir follows a fourth wall-breaking narrator as she becomes obsessed with her young, attractive colleague while also trying to manage her husband’s sexual misconduct allegations in the workplace.

Set in the world of academia, Vladimir’s unpicking of cancel culture and middle-aged desire is already sparking debate, with some critics loving the depiction of the complexities of the situation and others struggling with the show’s “unlikeable protagonist” and apparently shallow exploration of a serious subject.

If you’re looking for something spicy and addictive to stream this week, here’s everything the critics have been saying about Vladimir and why it deserves a spot on your Netflix watchlist…

“Vladimir is that rare visitor to the screen – proper television for proper grownups. The eight-part adaptation of Julia May Jonas’s provocative 2022 debut novel of the same name has not shied away from the properties that made the book great – black comedy, bleak insight, evisceration of accepted pieties – and fitted them perfectly to the new form.

“The screenwriter, Jeanie Bergen, who has obviously absorbed the book into her very bones, retains all of Jonas’s wit, confidence and, crucially, her willingness to dwell in grey areas and luxuriate in the complexities that govern life in middle age.”

“It’s not flattering and it’s certainly not nice, but it feels honest and maybe even – oh, let’s just admit it – relatable.

“Dig into the heart of your deepest desire, Vladimir argues, and you’ll find nothing more or less than your own face staring right back at you.”

“Weisz is tremendously funny as she navigates this crush while her life unravels. The style of the series takes a bit of getting used to – it’s fourth-wall breaking, with Weisz addressing the camera throughout and speaking in sometimes quite stilted, stagey language. But before long you fall into the rhythm of it. Think of it as Fleabag for 50-somethings.”

“Why shouldn’t we see a story through the eyes of a chaotic and flawed woman? It’s still quite rare, even in 2026, for female anti-heroes to be afforded the same treatment as their male counterparts, decidedly doing away with any need to make them palatable, or to give you a driving reason to root for them. She’s fun to watch, and that should be enough.”

“Weisz meanwhile, is a terrific actor (even if her American accent occasionally hits those Rs like a back wheel bumping the curb when parking) and the chemistry with Vladimir feels, rightly, elliptical.

“But she is an unlikeable protagonist – her decision-making at times even sociopathic – and the tone of the show, its frequent collapse of the fourth wall, can be grating. Your tolerance for that device might correlate with your judgment of the show’s rather unhinged ending.”

“Vladimir takes on a host of knotty issues, from changing sexual mores to aging to infidelity to – imagine the loudest sigh ever sighed – cancel culture. Given that self-assigned degree of difficulty, Vladimir is far from the catastrophe it could easily be in clumsier hands.

“But while Weisz is reliably magnetic and the eight episodes often amusing as farce, Vladimir is an imperfect translation of the novel’s hothouse subjectivity to TV’s three-dimensional space, where canvases for projection and conduits for desire take the form of flesh-and-blood human beings.

“Come for the steamy obsession and stay for everything else. Rachel Weisz shows her onscreen mastery in this completely unexpected Netflix show that doesn’t quite know what it wants to be.”

“Almost all of the eight episodes feature a hot and heavy sex scene, and showrunner (and original author) Julia May Jonas has spectacularly nailed the spice. Nothing is gratuitous or unnecessary, and desires are explicitly explored with nothing off-limits.”

“As far as darkness goes, Vladimir is little more than a run-of-the-mill narcissist, not asking for the protagonist’s book when she requests to read his. However, most narcissists are significantly more charming, whereas Vlad’s cool guy personality is more ‘meh’.”

“Like the film After the Hunt with Julia Roberts, Vladimir looks at campus misconduct in the later #MeToo era. But it plays the goings-on as dark comedy rather than psychological drama.

“Consider its tongue firmly in its cheek, which works sometimes but on other occasions can be confusing. “

“Vladimir raises interesting, timely questions about power, feminism, and the #MeToo movement, but it stops short of engaging with them in a meaningful way. Because it doesn’t seem to know quite what it wants to say about the topics, it ends up not saying much at all, the commentary staying close to the surface rather than diving deep into the intricacies. It revels in its main character being messy and subversive, but after all is said and done, it’s more thematically clean and conventional than it wants to be.”

“Ms. Weisz never seems quite comfortable as the so-called M. And only if she were would the story about inappropriate lust between students and faculty – and faculty and faculty – be as amusing as she has to pretend it is.”

“Vladimir offers viewers a front-row seat to its protagonist’s frantic inner monologue by having her deliver her thoughts straight to camera. Look, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag doesn’t own the art of fourth-wall breaking, but it’s impossible not to see its influence in the professor’s asides. If you’re going to use a technique that’s almost synonymous with another TV show about a spiraling, complicated, unnamed woman, you’d better bring something new to it.

“To its credit, Vladimir tries, but doesn’t quite pull it off.”

All eight episodes of Vladimir are now streaming on Netflix.