Georgia Tennant Returns as Doctor Who’s Jenny — plus Heat 2 and More

Evening News · Friday 23 October 2026

The Doctor’s daughter is coming back. Georgia Tennant returns as Jenny in a new set of Big Finish audio adventures, and tonight’s edition also has a FrightFest horror finding a home, another delay for Heat 2, Sam Heughan joining Viola Davis, a new Raoul in Lupin and a record year for Universal at UK and Irish cinemas.

The News That Matters

Georgia Tennant returns as Doctor Who’s Jenny in Big Finish’s Zero Chill

• New development: Big Finish has announced Jenny – The Doctor’s Daughter: Zero Chill, a box set of three new audio adventures, Radio Times reported on Friday 23 October
• The stories: Relax by Adrian Poynton, Dancing in the Dark by Daisy Aitkens and Fast & Fuming by Lisa McMullin
• Cast: Georgia Tennant as Jenny, Sean Biggerstaff as her friend Noah and Tennant’s Staged co-star Anna Lundberg as Jexabel Glyce, the richest woman in the universe
• UK availability: Out in June 2027 as a download and a collector’s three-CD set. Pre-orders are open now, exclusively from Big Finish

Jenny and Noah have saved space and time once more, so surely they deserve a break? Jenny’s old enemy Jexabel Glyce has other ideas. “I am so thrilled to be bringing another lot of stories from Jenny and Noah to you all,” Tennant said. “Let the chaos continue…”

Jenny was created from the Tenth Doctor’s DNA in the 2008 episode The Doctor’s Daughter, and Big Finish has kept her story going ever since. It is a busy week for Doctor Who on audio: the very first TARDIS team is off to wartime Malta, and Jo Martin’s Fugitive Doctor is back on the run.

FrightFest horror Recluse finds a North American home for 2027

• New development: Vertical has bought North American rights and will release the film in cinemas in the first half of 2027, Deadline and Bloody Disgusting reported on Friday 23 October
• Who made it: The feature debut of Antlers and Servant writer Henry Chaisson, with Steven Schneider of Spooky Pictures (Paranormal Activity) as an executive producer
• The story: Sasha Frolova plays Joan, an audio engineer who returns to her family’s decaying country estate when her reclusive artist father is hurt, and starts hearing recordings linked to her mother’s disappearance years earlier
• UK availability: It played FrightFest in London after its Tribeca premiere. UK release date not yet confirmed

Xander Berkeley (Candyman), Toby Poser (Hellbender), Mia Vallet, Kimball Farley and Frankie Seratch also star. “Making Recluse was an extraordinary journey,” Chaisson said, adding that seeing it connect with audiences at Tribeca, Fantasia and FrightFest had been “hugely rewarding”.

Schneider calls it “pure nightmare fuel”. With Spooky Pictures behind it, it is part of the same wave of creator-led horror we wrote about earlier this week. A grieving daughter, a decaying house and a box of tapes is a very good place to start.

Heat 2 is delayed again, with Stephen Graham now due to start filming in January

• New development: Stephen Graham said on NBC’s Today show on Thursday 22 October that Michael Mann’s sequel will now start shooting in January 2027, World of Reel reported
• The delays: Mann had aimed to start in August, and when Graham’s casting was confirmed in September, filming was due to begin in November
• Cast: Adam Driver, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale, with Graham playing a younger Neil McCauley, Robert De Niro’s role in Heat
• UK availability: An Amazon MGM Studios film. UK release date not yet confirmed

Heat 2 is both a sequel and a prequel, adapted by Mann from his 2022 novel written with Meg Gardiner. DiCaprio takes on a younger version of Val Kilmer’s Chris Shiherlis and Bale plays Al Pacino’s Vincent Hanna, with Jason Clarke, Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Odessa Young also in the cast. It is set to shoot in Los Angeles, Chicago, Paraguay and Singapore.

No reason for the delay has been given. A two-month push makes a 2027 release unlikely. Graham was on the show to promote his serial killer thriller Nocturne, which is in this week’s Streaming Highlights.

Sam Heughan joins Viola Davis in John Logan’s Paramount+ thriller Ascent

• New development: The Outlander star is the first major addition to the cast, Radio Times reported on Friday 23 October
• His role: Conal, a “lethally charming” top agent at Ascent Ventures who gets a thrill out of every job
• The story: Davis plays Catriona, an elite corporate fixer who must use her ruthless skills when her estranged daughter is put in danger
• UK availability: A Paramount+ series, which streams in the UK. Filming starts in Los Angeles in 2027. UK date not yet confirmed

John Logan, who wrote Skyfall and Gladiator and created Penny Dreadful, is the showrunner. The series is described as “a character-driven thriller set in the dangerous world of global corporate crisis and damage control”.

It is a very different role for the Scottish actor, who has spent more than a decade as Jamie Fraser. He is also set to star in the political action thriller Embassy with Anna Kendrick and JK Simmons.

Lupin returns with a new Raoul, and Omar Sy explains why

• New development: Omar Sy told Radio Times, in an interview published on Friday 23 October, why Théo Christine has replaced Etan Simon as Assane’s son Raoul
• The story: Days before his release from prison, Assane is framed when a copycat “Lupin” hits several museums at once, and he must escape to unmask the thief
• Who is back: Ludivine Sagnier, Antoine Gouy, Soufiane Guerrab and Hervé Pierre as Assane’s old enemy Hubert Pellegrini. Laïka Blanc-Francard joins the cast
• UK availability: Lupin Part 4 is streaming on Netflix in the UK from today, Friday 23 October

“Time has passed and we wanted him to be older and bring something more to this character,” Sy said. “In the story we want to go deeper on the drama, so we needed a different actor for that, less of a kid.” Saying goodbye to Simon was “really hard”, he added, “but if you want the show to continue and evolve, there are certain decisions that you have to make”.

It has been more than three years since Part 3, and Sy says this run focuses on the father and son. Find more to watch in this week’s Streaming Highlights.

Universal has its best year ever at UK and Irish cinemas, with 10 weeks still to go

• New development: Universal Pictures UK & Ireland’s films have taken £284.9m in 2026, beating its record of £280.2m from 2015, Screen reported on Thursday 22 October
• The big hitters: The Odyssey (£87.8m), Michael (£53.2m), The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (£38.5m), Minions & Monsters (£20.1m) and Obsession (£20m)
• Share: Universal’s films account for 28% of all UK and Irish box office takings this year
• UK availability: Still to come in UK cinemas: I Love Boosters (30 October), George Michael – The Faith Tour (6 November), A Talent for Murder (20 November), Violent Night 2 (4 December) and Onslaught (11 December)

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey is now the 10th-highest-grossing film of all time in the UK and Ireland, and has taken £27m of its total from Imax screens. Curry Barker’s Obsession is the third-highest-grossing horror film ever here. Only Disney has had bigger years, in 2016, 2018 and 2019.

“With 2026 marking Universal Pictures UK and Ireland’s best year ever at the box office, we’re incredibly proud of our filmmakers and partners,” said managing director Kezia Williams. See the latest UK box office chart and this week’s new cinema releases.

David Zayas joins Dakota Fanning in Apple TV’s Alex Cary spy thriller

• New development: The Dexter and The Bear actor has a major recurring role, Deadline reported on Friday 23 October
• The story: Fanning plays an undercover Treasury agent inside a vast, corrupt international company, who starts to believe her main target, its heir, is a good man worthy of her love
• Cast: Stellan Skarsgård, Daryl McCormack, Grace Gummer, Joely Richardson, Susan Kelechi Watson and Louisa Krause
• UK availability: An untitled Apple TV series, which streams in the UK. UK date not yet confirmed

Alex Cary (Homeland) is the creator and showrunner, Kari Skogland directs, and Elle Fanning is an executive producer alongside her sister. Doctor Who fans will spot a familiar name among the producers: Julie Gardner, who helped bring the show back in 2005, is an executive producer for Bad Wolf America.

Zayas is also returning as Angel Batista in Dexter: Resurrection season two. It is another big Apple TV thriller, following news of Varada Sethu joining Slow Horses.

Lili Taylor and Jaeden Martell join Kit Connor in the true-crime film PRƎPPY

• New development: Eight new cast members have joined, Deadline reported on Friday 23 October: Megan Lawless, Lili Taylor, Gideon Adlon, Jaeden Martell, James Wilkie Broderick, Jaya Harper, Jahi Winston and Alex Consani
• The story: The summer of 1986 leading to the murder of Jennifer Levin in Central Park by Robert Chambers, the so-called “Preppy Killer”
• Who made it: Janicza Bravo (Zola) directs for STX and Jason Bateman’s Aggregate Films. Filming is under way in Manhattan
• UK availability: UK release date not yet confirmed

Heartstopper star Kit Connor leads with Diana Silvers and Talia Ryder, and Elizabeth Marvel and Bill Camp also star. David Levine and Rose Lichter-Marck wrote the script.

The case put privilege, class and sex on trial in 1980s New York, and Bravo is a bold choice to tell it. Megan Lawless is fresh from a breakout role in Obsession.

Will you be pre-ordering Jenny’s new adventures, and which Big Finish range should come next?