Screen Wrap · Monday 19 October 2026
Doctor Who’s Varada Sethu is joining Gary Oldman in Slow Horses season 7. Tonight’s Screen Wrap also has Apu’s return to The Simpsons with a new voice, Kevin McKidd and Laura Fraser in the BBC’s The Young Team, Ofcom’s investigation into 5’s Huw Edwards drama, and Netflix revealing its first-ever box office figures with La Bola Negra.
The News That Matters
Doctor Who’s Varada Sethu joins Slow Horses season 7
- Series: Slow Horses season 7, Apple TV
- New cast: Varada Sethu, Ethan Moorhouse, Tuppence Middleton, Merab Ninidze and BAFTA nominee Joshua McGuire
- Returning: Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb; James Callis as Claude Whelan
- Story: Adapted from Mick Herron’s Bad Actors
- Behind the camera: Ben Vanstone adapts; Robert McKillop directs; produced by See-Saw Films
- UK availability: Slow Horses streams on Apple TV in the UK. Season 7 date not yet confirmed
Slough House is recruiting. Varada Sethu, who joined Doctor Who as companion Belinda Chandra and has also appeared in Andor and The Other Bennet Sister, is one of five new faces for the seventh season of Apple TV’s Emmy-winning spy drama. Ethan Moorhouse, Tuppence Middleton (Downton Abbey: A New Era, Mank), Merab Ninidze (Homeland) and BAFTA nominee Joshua McGuire (The Gold) also sign up, and James Callis is back as the slippery Claude Whelan.
The new run adapts Bad Actors from Mick Herron’s Slough House books, sending Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb and his misfit spies after a mole at the heart of the British government before they can bring down the state. Ben Vanstone adapts and Robert McKillop directs. For more from the Whoniverse today, this morning’s edition had Tom Baker’s advice for the next Doctor.
Apu speaks again on The Simpsons, now voiced by Sunil Malhotra
- Episode: “The Revengening”, a prelude to this year’s Treehouse of Horror, shown Sunday on Fox in the US
- New voice: Sunil Malhotra, taking over from Hank Azaria
- Also new: Janina Gavankar (The Morning Show) as Apu’s wife, Manjula
- Showrunner: Matt Selman: “We’re excited by what Sunil has already brought to the role”
- UK availability: The Simpsons streams on Disney+ in the UK. UK date for “The Revengening” not yet confirmed
Apu Nahasapeemapetilon has a voice again. The Kwik-E-Mart owner was heard on The Simpsons on Sunday for the first time in about eight years, with veteran voice actor Sunil Malhotra taking over from Hank Azaria, who stepped away after a backlash over how the character represented South Asians. Since then Apu has been seen in the background but never heard.
Malhotra said the audition “made my stomach sink” and that he was ready to walk away unless he could meet showrunner Matt Selman and co-executive producer Cesar Mazariegos first. Janina Gavankar also makes her debut as Manjula, and Selman says the plan is to let the character “evolve”, with more of Apu to come.
Kevin McKidd and Laura Fraser join the BBC’s The Young Team
- Series: Six-part BBC drama adapted from Graeme Armstrong’s award-winning novel
- Director: Paul McGuigan (Gangster No. 1, Sherlock)
- Cast: Jakob James Smith (MobLand) as Azzy, with Connor Newall, Scot Greenan, Kevin McKidd and Laura Fraser
- Production: Synchronicity Films, now filming in Scotland; Fox Entertainment Global distributes worldwide
- UK availability: Will air on BBC iPlayer, BBC One and BBC Scotland. UK date not yet confirmed
Cameras are rolling in Scotland on the BBC’s adaptation of Graeme Armstrong’s novel, and Grey’s Anatomy star Kevin McKidd and Breaking Bad’s Laura Fraser are on board as inspirational headteacher Mr McGiver and Azzy’s long-suffering mum, Angela. Fifteen-year-old Alan “Azzy” Williams, played by Jakob James Smith, roams Airdrie with his pals on Friday nights, desperate to be fully initiated into the local gang, until one bold move sparks a brutal conflict.
Director Paul McGuigan says the series brings him back to direct in Scotland for the first time in 30 years. Much of the young cast was found through an open audition across North Lanarkshire that drew more than 1,000 applicants.
Ofcom investigates 5’s Huw Edwards drama Power
- Programme: Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, a two-part 5 drama starring Martin Clunes
- Investigation: A fairness and privacy complaint under Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code
- Producer: Wonderhood Studios
- 5’s response: “We stand by the programme and will be robustly defending this complaint”
- UK availability: The drama was shown on 5. Ofcom has not given a date for its decision
The broadcasting regulator has opened an investigation into 5’s two-part drama Power: The Downfall of Huw Edwards, which starred Martin Clunes as the former BBC newsreader. Ofcom confirmed only that it is looking at a fairness and privacy complaint. Under its rules, such complaints must come from the person affected or someone they have authorised. Edwards has not said publicly that he complained, but he has criticised the drama, saying its makers “made no attempt” to verify its story.
5 says the programme was made in line with the Broadcasting Code and that all allegations were put to Edwards through his solicitors before transmission. Ofcom will now hear from both sides, which could include producer Wonderhood Studios, before reaching a decision.
Update: La Bola Negra makes history as Netflix reports box office for the first time
- New development: Opening-weekend grosses published, the first time Netflix has ever reported box office
- US opening: $277,500 from four cinemas in New York and Los Angeles, a $69,375 average per screen
- Record: Highest screen average ever for a Spanish-language film; second only to Parasite among non-English-language films
- Window: About 45 days in cinemas before Netflix on 2 December
- UK availability: In UK and Irish cinemas from Friday 6 November, released by Altitude Films
Last week we said the opening numbers for La Bola Negra would be worth watching, and now Netflix has shown its hand. For the first time, the streamer has published box office figures, and Los Javis’ queer epic took $277,500 from just four cinemas, an average of $69,375 per screen. That is the best ever for a Spanish-language film and second only to Parasite among non-English-language releases.
The Cannes best director co-winner and Toronto audience award winner will widen in the US over the coming weeks before reaching Netflix on 2 December. Netflix plans to report grosses for more releases, including David Fincher’s The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth.
Jesse Eisenberg turns to TV with a new A24 series
- Creator: Jesse Eisenberg, writing, directing and executive producing
- Story: Based on an Eisenberg short story; he has said it follows an 18-year-old girl in autumn 2002, at the start of the culture wars
- Producer: Developed with Peter Rice under his A24 deal, shortly before he was named Netflix’s chief content officer
- Next step: Expected to go out to buyers in the coming weeks
- UK availability: UK date not yet confirmed
Fresh from closing the London Film Festival with The Debut, as we reported in last night’s Screen Wrap, Jesse Eisenberg is moving into television. The Oscar-winning writer of A Real Pain will write, direct and executive produce an untitled A24 series based on one of his own short stories. On the London red carpet he described it as being about the beginning of the culture wars, following an 18-year-old girl in the autumn of 2002.
The show was developed with former Disney and Fox executive Peter Rice, who has just been named Netflix’s chief content officer. Deadline says Rice is not expected to stay hands-on but will probably keep his executive producer credit, and Netflix, home to A24’s Beef, is likely to be in the running.
Update: TikTok restores the Musk documentary’s ad account, blaming an error
- New development: TikTok has reversed the suspension reported on Saturday
- TikTok’s statement: The advertising account “has been restored after an error”
- Film: Musk, directed by Alex Gibney; released in the US by Bleecker Street
- UK availability: Universal holds the international rights. UK date not yet confirmed
A day after we reported that TikTok had banned ads for Alex Gibney’s Musk, the platform has changed its mind. A TikTok spokesperson told The Verge on Sunday that the film’s advertising account “has been restored after an error”, which the company described as technical, and a source close to the production confirmed the restoration to Deadline.
It is not the documentary’s first brush with the platforms: last month several sites initially rejected its trailer over “political” content. Producer Nick Shumaker says the team has to be “as loud as possible” whenever it happens.
Yorkshire comedy The State of Us heads to UK cinemas with Vertigo
- Film: The State of Us, directed by first-timers Jake Harvey and Ollie Gardner
- Cast: Samuel Bottomley (How to Have Sex), Callum Scott Howells (It’s a Sin), Safia Oakley-Green, Seamus O’Hara, Sunetra Sarker and Frances Barber
- Music: Tom Ogden, frontman of Blossoms
- Festivals: Premiered in competition at the Edinburgh International Film Festival; screens at the Rome Film Festival today
- UK availability: In UK cinemas in 2027, released by Vertigo Releasing. Exact date not yet confirmed
Vertigo Releasing has picked up The State of Us, a British coming-of-age comedy shot in Yorkshire, for UK cinemas. Samuel Bottomley plays 19-year-old Frankie, who breaks his dying best friend Taylor, played by Callum Scott Howells, out of a hospice for their yearly ritual of watching fireworks from a favourite hilltop, on a night that spirals into chaos.
Jake Harvey, who also wrote the film, co-directs with Ollie Gardner, and Blossoms frontman Tom Ogden composed the score. After its Edinburgh premiere, the film plays the Rome Film Festival today ahead of a 2027 UK release.
Oscars international race hits a record 105 films, with Sri Lanka back after 17 years
- Category: Best International Feature Film, first round
- Entries: 105 films assigned to voters, beating the previous record of 93 set in 2020
- Firsts: Debut entries from Cyprus, El Salvador and Rwanda; the DR Congo’s first in 29 years; Sri Lanka’s first in 17 years
- Rule change: Top-prize winners at Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Venice, Toronto and Busan can now qualify alongside national submissions
- Next: Shortlist voting runs 7–11 December; the 15-film shortlist is announced on 15 December
- UK availability: The UK’s entry is Rehearsals for a Revolution. UK release dates for most entries not yet confirmed
The best international feature race has never been this crowded. A record 105 films have been assigned to Academy voters in the first round, the first time the category has reached three figures and well past the old high of 93, TheWrap reports. There are first-ever entries from Cyprus, El Salvador and Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s first in 29 years and Sri Lanka’s first in 17 years.
A rule change helped: for the first time, films can also qualify by winning the top prize at one of six festivals, rather than the category being limited to one film per country. Cristian Mungiu’s Palme d’Or winner Fjord is among the favourites, and the UK is represented by Pegah Ahangarani’s Rehearsals for a Revolution.
Movieversalfilm Takeaway
A busy Monday for British screens: Slough House gains a familiar face from the TARDIS, the BBC heads to Airdrie with a fresh young cast, and a Yorkshire comedy finds its way into cinemas. The bigger industry shift, though, may be Netflix finally publishing box office figures. If La Bola Negra keeps those numbers up when it reaches UK and Irish cinemas on 6 November, expect more of its films to get a proper big-screen run.
Apu is back with a new voice after eight years of silence: the right way to bring him back, or should The Simpsons have let him go?