Latest news with #UzoOleh
Metro
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Gripping sci-fi series with 'preposterous twist' now streaming on Channel 4
It's a great time to be a fan of great science fiction, especially on the small screen. We've had Andor season 2, Doctor Who season 15, and a brand spanking new series of Charlie Brooker's twisted brainchild, Black Mirror. If, though, you've already watched the Rebels rise up, the Doctor save the day and enjoyed Black Mirror's twists and turns, then you might be looking for something new to watch. Well, if that's the case, you're in luck. Channel 4 has a brand new show you can watch right now, and even better, it's supposedly got a bonkers twist. The new drama is called BETH, and it follows Joe (Nicholas Pinnock) and Molly (Abbey Lee), a couple who unexpectedly get pregnant after multiple failed IVF attempts. Needless to say, though, once the miracle child is born, it becomes clear that something is very wrong for reasons we won't go into here – the spoiler police are everywhere . To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Written and directed by award-winning filmmaker and photographer Uzo Oleh, the show is already being compared to Black Mirror, although critics are divided on the series. In their three star review The Guardian's Lucy Mangan praised the show for it's stylish direction and impressive cast but critisised it's pacing, writing 'the script needs to be tighter and work harder so that we aren't left feeling as if we've just watched the beginning of a Black Mirror episode.' The Independent also gave the show three stars in their review. Much like The Guardian, they felt the premise was a little underbaked and criticised the 'poorly executed', and 'preposterous' twist. That said, though, they did say it provided 'food for thought' and urged their readers to check it out because, in their words, 'when it's good, it's a little miracle'. Sadly, Anita Singh from The Telegraph was far less kind. She gave BETH just two out of five stars and wrote that while it looks beautiful that Uzo 'was too hung up on the visuals'. Of course, the critics aren't the only ones who've seen the show and general audiences have been far kinder. More Trending On X @AndrewOldbury wrote: 'It's great to see Channel 4 breaking new ground by commissioning digital dramas. Beth is a meditative and delicately told story by Uzo Oleh of a couple's attempt to conceive.' Meanwhile, on YouTube @catharinalara220 added 'Fabulous film. Tense and suspenseful. Wonderful work' a sentiment echoed by @mariamysoul, who added 'Love Nicholas Pinnock's effortless acting, and Uzo Oleh is a talented new director. Wish it had been longer. Hope it becomes a series.' BETH is Channel 4's first digital original drama, and as such, it can either be streamed on Channel 4's own streaming platform, where it's broken up into three parts View More » Or you fancy you can watch it on YouTube, where it has been uploaded as one full episode. Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: All six episodes of 'stressful' Australian thriller finally free to binge in the UK MORE: Netflix quietly adds 'superb under-the radar comedy' set in Victorian London MORE: Gogglebox family announce heartbreaking death as fans pay tribute
Daily Record
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Channel 4 viewers say unique sci-fi drama compared to Black Mirror 'has to become a series'
One viewer called the drama a little miracle Channel 4's latest venture into YouTube drama has been received with mixed feelings, branded as a vexing iteration of Black Mirror but with a 'preposterous twist'. Entitled BETH, it marks the broadcaster's debut digital original series. As of yesterday (June 9), viewers have had the opportunity to delve into the narrative through various mediums. Audiences can access the drama via Channel 4's own streaming service, divided into three bite-sized episodes ranging from a mere 7 minutes to a modest 16 minutes each. Alternatively, the whole piece is assembled into one single episode for free on YouTube, delivering a succinct total run-time of 35 minutes. Given these concise formats, it's perhaps not a shock that the mind behind the project, writer and director Uzo Oleh, has previously confined his filmography to short films. In the leading roles are Nicholas Pinnock – set to feature in Long Bright River – and Australian model Abbey Lee, reports Surrey Live. They portray Joe and Molly, a couple flourishing in success whose long-held aspiration to parent a child eventually materialises; however, their joyous event turns their lives upside down. As Joe discovers a shocking truth, he grapples with the dilemma of safeguarding his family or disclosing his findings to the world. Although BETH has just started making its rounds among audiences, early critiques and feedback are beginning to surface. Notably, a review by The Guardian was less than flattering, labelling BETH as "a frustratingly unfinished Black Mirror." They continue to critique: "Channel 4's first YouTube show about a couple's IVF woes looks stylish, but at just three 15-minute films, it feels wildly rushed. TV this brief needs to be perfectly formed .... and this is far from it." They further comment: "Beth is a very stylish and confidently directed piece, with fine performances throughout – especially from Pinnock, though he also benefits from having the most to do. But the script needs to be tighter and work harder so that we aren't left feeling as if we've just watched the beginning of a Black Mirror episode." In another review, The Independent pans the finale as 'preposterous', skipping detailed spoilers: "I won't go into spoilery details here, but there's a ginormous twist, which is not only poorly executed, but actual pay-off is pants. I'm no doctor, but I'd say there's a six per cent chance of it inspiring awe." Nevertheless, they manage to recommend the show, saying: "But you should still check out Beth because, when it's good, it's a little miracle." The sentiment of value for the viewing time wasn't lost on others either, especially given its concise format. On social media, one audience member expressed: "It's great to see Channel 4 breaking new ground by commissioning digital dramas. Beth is a meditative and delicately told story by Uzo Oleh of a couple's attempt to conceive." Another viewer expressed their desire for the digital drama to be a precursor to something bigger. Commenting on the show's YouTube channel, they enthused: "Amazing Brother...I love it. This has to become a series".
The Guardian
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Beth review – like a frustratingly unfinished Black Mirror
If something is going to be small, it needs to be perfectly formed. If it's a short story, you need to be giving it Katherine Mansfield levels of welly. If you're contemplating a 90-minute adaptation of Great Expectations, you need to be David Lean. If it's a canape, it needs to be a tiny yorkshire pudding with a mini slice of roast beef tucked in and a dot of horseradish on the top. A smear of cream cheese on a cracker won't do. And if you are putting together a set of three 15-minute films as the first original drama for Channel 4's digital platform, to be shown on YouTube to try to get the youth market to pump the brakes on its handcart to hell and see what this 'art' business is all about (before it is streamed in one gobbet on your main broadcast channel), the same principle applies. It needs to be a miracle of compression, a story told without a wasted second or word. It will need to evoke much but still nail the key points and obey the narrative rules by which we make sense of any tale and through which we enjoy it. Beth is a yarn written and directed by photographer and short film-maker Uzo Oleh, about a couple who unexpectedly fall pregnant after giving up on IVF after many unsuccessful attempts. Molly (Abbey Lee) is a willowy, Scandinavian-looking blond. Her husband, Joe (Nicholas Pinnock), is Black. The longed-for baby, Imogen (later played, once we've skipped through some years, by Jemima Lown) is the image only of her mother. The doctor, Balthas (Nick Blood) who oversaw their fertility treatments is white, too, and suddenly the comforting hand he placed on Molly's knee during their last session looks like the tip of an iceberg. If you did not know from the accompanying publicity that this was a sci-fi drama you would be pretty sure where the story was heading. And in fact the couple do split up – we next see Joe coming to collect Imogen when she is about six or seven from her friend's birthday party because Molly has an appointment, and taking her back to her grandma Gabby (Louise Bangay). On his way to Molly's house to pick up the medications Gabby has left behind, Joe sees her and the doctor together in the local pub and at the house we see evidence that the two of them are living together. It is not clear if this is news to Joe – and if so, how, given that Imogen's age suggests it is unlikely to be a recent development – but whatever the case, he is provoked into opening her laptop and reading through the emails between Dr Balthas and Molly about Imogen. Again, questions abound – of the irritating, technical sort rather than a product of intrigue. Are these current emails, in which case does this couple not talk face to face about the child? Or has he seamlessly located a cache from six or seven years ago that discusses her origins? Harking back, what did tip him over into this uncharacteristic fury so long after the event? Perhaps most pressingly – why is he hung up on the suggestion of infidelity when there is a key word in most of the emails that would stop the rest of us in our tracks, suggesting as it does an event of world-changing proportions? Meanwhile, at home with Molly, grandma's own suspicions are hardening into certainty, while Molly returns home to Joe and confirms his and ours. The ending is not compressed so much as wildly rushed. The entire run time is 34 minutes (I don't know if this means the YouTube films will break even their quarter hours up to allow adverts, but God we're in an even worse state than I thought if so) and too much of this is spent depicting the couple's 'unbreakable' bond, the delight in the pregnancy and labouring the sweetness of the child (the latter with no narrative payoff at all – it's irrelevant to the reveal). I'd rather have had 30 more seconds devoted to contemplating the implications of Joe's discovery (or even explaining the email thing) and done without quite so much of Joe's brother dilating on Molly's attractiveness at a party, presumably to make the possibility of an affair with Balthas more plausible. Beth is a very stylish and confidently directed piece, with fine performances throughout – especially from Pinnock, though he also benefits from having the most to do. But the script needs to be tighter and work harder so that we aren't left feeling as if we've just watched the beginning of a Black Mirror episode. An endeavour like this should feel dense but leave you wanting more – through tantalisation and not, as here, largely through frustration. Beth is on YouTube now and on Channel 4 at 10pm on 9 June.
