3. The Girlfriend (Prime Video , Sep 10) ![\"Olivia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/\/b41bec56-fead-4654-a441-9126e4fb9910.jpg\")
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Olivia Cooke in The Girlfriend<\/p>\n
CHRISTOPHER RAPHAEL\/AMAZON<\/p>\n
\u201cTeam Laura or Team Cherry?\u201d could be this autumn\u2019s water-cooler question thanks to this six-part adaptation of Michelle Frances\u2019s gripping debut novel from 2018. \u201cThe most marvellous psychological thriller,\u201d according to Jilly Cooper, The Girlfriend hinges on Laura, whose luxurious life starts to unravel after her well-meaning 23-year-old son, Daniel, takes up with a smart, ambitious new partner. Robin Wright stars and directs; Laurie Davidson and Olivia Cooke complete the Mumsnet-worthy mother\u2013son\u2013daughter-in-law triangle.<\/p>\n
4. Slow Horses (Apple TV+, Sep 24)<\/p>\n
\u201cA place of yellows and greys,\u201d is how Mick Herron describes the MI5 outpost Slough House, an epically dingy milieu superbly recreated across four Apple TV+ seasons. Book five in the series, London Rules, arrives on screen soon and, while Gary Oldman\u2019s portrayal of the disreputable agent Jackson Lamb is as indelible as the stains on his mac, viewers should do themselves a favour by hitting the source material. Start with the knife-edge first book Slow Horses to see the kebab-shop le Carr\u00e9 build his world of espionage from the ground up. And if you\u2019ve watched the series already, don\u2019t be put off the books \u2014 they bring another dimension to the Slough House renegades.<\/p>\n
5. One Battle After Another (cinemas, Sep 26) <\/p>\n
Paul Thomas Anderson has form with Thomas Pynchon: in 2014 the director orchestrated the first film of the elusive author\u2019s work with an adaptation of the 2009 psychedelic gumshoe ramble Inherent Vice. Headed by Leonardo DiCaprio, One Battle After Another is loosely based on Pynchon\u2019s 1990 novel Vineland, a timely trip through a divided America. <\/p>\n
6. The Long Walk (cinemas, Sep)\/The Running Man (cinemas, Nov) <\/p>\n
Stephen King has long been a gift to book-lovers \u2014 how many new readers have been forged between the pages of It, Carrie or Salem\u2019s Lot? But he\u2019s also become such an essential creative wellspring for film-makers that the industry would shrivel without him. After The Life of Chuck with Tom Hiddleston (cinemas, Aug 22), two of his dystopian stories finding their natural place in 2025. The Shaun of the Dead director Edgar Wright has remodelled The Running Man, originally filmed with Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987, while Francis Lawrence\u2019s take on the 1979 novel The Long Walk (like The Running Man, published under King\u2019s Richard Bachman alias) is Squid Game x Speed.<\/p>\n
7. Steve (Netflix, Oct 3) <\/p>\n
This is a name-changed take on Max Porter\u2019s 2023 novella Shy, the story of a troubled young offender sent to a special boarding school ominously called Last Chance. While the excellent cast \u2014 Simbi \u201cLittle Simz\u201d Ajikawo, Emily Watson, Tracey Ullman and, as the headteacher Steve, Cillian Murphy \u2014 are likely to be up to the storytelling task, Porter\u2019s lyrically tangled, psychologically astute writing demands to be read on the page.<\/p>\n
\u2022 The best films of 2025 so far<\/a><\/p>\n 8. Regretting You (cinemas, Oct 24)<\/p>\n The last novel by the young adult\/romance writer Colleen Hoover to be made into a film was It Ends with Us, a production that incubated the legal feud between Blake Lively and her co-star and director Justin Baldoni. Here\u2019s hoping this adaptation of Hoover\u2019s 2019 novel ran smoother, with Allison Williams (Get Out, Girls) and Mckenna Grace portraying a complicated mother-daughter relationship. Fans of Gilmore Girls-style family intrigue will regret nothing.<\/p>\n 9. Train Dreams (Netflix, Nov 21)<\/p>\n Robert Grainier \u2014 an itinerant labourer and the protagonist of Denis Johnson\u2019s time-skipping Great American novella \u2014 returns home one day in 1920 to discover his wife and child have vanished after a fire \u201cstronger than God\u201d rips through their Idaho valley. Catching the book\u2019s signs, wonders and spectacular landscapes, Clint Bentley\u2019s film adaptation casts Joel Edgerton, William H Macy and Felicity Jones in Johnson\u2019s profound meditation on the shape and meaning of a life.<\/p>\n 10. Frankenstein (Netflix, Nov) Oscar Isaac in Guillermo del Toro\u2019s Frankenstein<\/p>\n KEN WORONER\/NETFLIX<\/p>\n Mary Shelley\u2019s 1818 novel has long galvanised film-makers, the idea of a bolt-necked monster now a pop-culture staple. Read the original to experience the violent gothic sweep of the 18-year-old author\u2019s imagination \u2014 and to earn the right to reprimand anyone calling the creature \u201cFrankenstein\u201d. The Pan\u2019s Labyrinth director Guillermo del Toro has been promising his version of the man-v-God meltdown for nearly 20 years; this autumn, it will jolt off the slab, with Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein and Jacob Elordi as his creation. <\/p>\n 11. Trespasses (Channel 4, autumn) <\/p>\n Set in 1975 on the outskirts of Belfast, Louise Kennedy\u2019s slow-burning but highly acclaimed 2022 debut novel tells the story of Cushla Lavery, a 24-year-old Catholic primary school teacher and part-time barmaid who starts an affair with a married Protestant lawyer. Lola Petticrew will play Cushla and Tom Cullen her dangerous love interest Michael, but the starriest presence is Gillian Anderson, who will take on the role of Cushla\u2019s chaotic alcoholic mother, Gina.<\/p>\n 12. The Death of Bunny Munro (Sky, late 2025) Matt Smith in The Death of Bunny Munro<\/p>\n SKY UK<\/p>\n The dank second novel by Nick Cave is no beach read, but if you\u2019re spending the holidays in an upsettingly grimy motel room somewhere in southern England, it could be a perfect match. Digest its strong meat \u2014 think David Peace writing for Robin Askwith \u2014 then watch the six-part adaptation starring Matt Smith as a sex-obsessed cosmetics salesman who takes his son on an ungodly Fiat Punto road trip. Lindsay Duncan, Robert Glenister and David Threlfall join Cave\u2019s grotesque odyssey.<\/p>\n 13. The Night Manager 2 (BBC, late 2025)<\/p>\n A sequel to the BBC\u2019s 2016 version of John le Carr\u00e9\u2019s 1993 novel has long been in the ether, with the writer open to an all-new storyline before his death in 2020. Season two is now imminent, featuring a reprise of Tom Hiddleston\u2019s star-making turn as Jonathan Pine. Refamiliarise yourself with the novel\u2019s tangled geopolitical web, or descend into le Carr\u00e9\u2019s classic Cold War labyrinth with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the source of the BBC\u2019s immaculate 1979 adaptation with Alec Guinness. <\/p>\n 14. Lord of the Flies (BBC, late 2025) <\/p>\n William Golding\u2019s pre-pubescent Apocalypse Now thrums with postwar visions of evil. When a band of boys are stranded on a tropical island, Piggy and Ralph attempt to establish an egalitarian society, but brutal Jack has different ideas. Peter Brook\u2019s ominous 1963 adaptation was brilliantly pastiched in The Simpsons episode Das Bus; this version, scored by Hans Zimmer and scripted by the TV powerhouse Jack Thorne (Adolescence), will introduce a new generation to the power of the conch.<\/p>\n \u2022 The best films to watch on BBC iPlayer<\/a><\/p>\n 15. The Housemaid (cinemas, Dec 26) <\/p>\n The pseudonymous physician Freida McFadden has become a thriller-writing sensation since self-publishing her debut in 2013. The Housemaid was the brain specialist\u2019s breakthrough, though; lurid psychological catnip for Gone Girl fans. The story of a former convict turned maid and her dysfunctional employers, it was made for a sun lounger and a tall drink, so get ahead of the twists before Paul Feig\u2019s adaptation \u2014 starring Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney \u2014 hits cinemas on Boxing Day.<\/p>\n 16. East of Eden (Netflix, early 2026) <\/p>\n John Steinbeck\u2019s biblically inclined 1952 family saga relocates the story of Cain and Abel to First World War-era California. James Dean\u2019s brooding portrayal of Cal Trask in Elia Kazan\u2019s potently distilled 1955 film was generation-defining for the sensitive young men of its time. This reimagining, written and produced by Kazan\u2019s granddaughter Zoe Kazan, will re-spin the tale by focusing on Cal\u2019s absentee mother, Cathy Ames (Florence Pugh).<\/p>\n 17. Rivals 2 (Disney+, 2026)<\/p>\n If you missed the rite of passage that was passing Jilly Cooper\u2019s Rivals around a form room \u2014 the dog-eared copy suspiciously falling open at certain erotic pages \u2014 there\u2019s no better use of a summer holiday than initiating yourself into Rutshire mores. Series one of Disney+\u2019s excellent adaptation managed to navigate the less 2025-friendly aspects of the book without losing the sexy, silly thrust of the whole enterprise. Armour yourself in stilettos and hairspray ready for series two. <\/p>\n \u2022 Read more TV reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews<\/a><\/p>\n 18. Shuggie Bain (BBC, 2026)<\/p>\n Despite being announced in 2022, the BBC\u2019s adaptation of Douglas Stuart\u2019s 2020 debut still appears to be in limbo. There\u2019s still time, then, to read the Booker-winning novel if you haven\u2019t already: no matter when the show emerges, Stuart\u2019s harrowing tale of the Glaswegian teenager Shuggie Bain, his alcoholic mother, Agnes, and their lives in the cab ranks and council flats of the 1980s \u201creal Glasgow\u201d will not quickly leave your memory.<\/p>\n 19. Vladimir (Netflix, 2026) <\/p>\n As her husband and fellow academic faces charges of sexual misconduct, the nameless protagonist of Julia May Jonas\u2019s sharply modern 2022 campus novel becomes obsessed with a new professor 15 years her junior. Sex, power, female appetite, \u201cmorality in art\u201d: the twists in the book\u2019s Nabokovian ethical maze are elegantly signposted by Jonas. Executive produced by Sharon Horgan, it will star Rachel Weisz, with 28-year-old Leo Woodall as the title character.<\/p>\n Which TV show, based on a book, are you most looking forward to watching? Let us know in the comments below<\/p>\n Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix<\/a>, the best Prime Video TV shows<\/a>, the best Disney+ shows<\/a> , the best Apple TV+ shows<\/a>, the best shows on BBC iPlayer<\/a> , the best shows on Sky and Now<\/a>, the best shows on ITVX<\/a>, the best shows on Channel 4<\/a> streaming, the best shows on Paramount+<\/a> and our favourite hidden gem TV shows<\/a>. Don\u2019t forget to check our critics\u2019 choices to what to watch this week<\/a> and browse our comprehensive TV guide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anyone who was forced to read the whole Harry Potter series before they were allowed to watch the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41236,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[353,49,48,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-41235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Oscar](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/\/24bee55c-c59d-454a-82c7-9c3bd9469164.jpg\")
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