![\"olivia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/olivia-coleman-wonka-656da34091f20.jpeg\" "\\"Olivia")
<\/p>\nOlivia Colman’s musical origin story about the greatest chocolatier who ever lived has been climbing Netflix’s UK charts. Wonka, starring Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet in the lead role, is a prequel to 1971 classic Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, going back to the early days of the chocolatier.<\/p>\n
Added to Netflix UK on Tuesday, Wonka is now the second most-watched film on the platform. Directed by Paul King, who co-wrote the script with Simon Farnaby, the film features a stacked cast also including Sally Hawkins, Hugh Grant, Calah Lane, Keegan-Michael Key, Rowan Atkinson, Paterson Joseph, Matt Lucas, Mathew Baynton and Jim Carter.<\/p>\n
Chalamet plays a younger version of the chocolatier portrayed by Gene Wilder in the 1971 movie, as the character forges his path in the chocolate industry and contends with his rivals.<\/p>\n
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Warner Bros.<\/p>\n
Related: Best streaming services UK 2026 \u2013 including Disney Plus, Netflix, iPlayer and Apple TV<\/a> The film is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a critic rating of 82% out of 332 reviews, while also proving popular among viewers, having earned an audience score of 90% on the same platform.<\/p>\n Wonka has been branded as “irresistible” by The Telegraph<\/a> and a “warm, cosy” movie that will be regarded as “a festive classic” (via Time Out<\/a>).<\/p>\n Elsewhere, The Atlantic<\/a> wrote: “Wonka is saccharine, yes, but if you\u2019re going to indulge, it\u2019s better to be in the hands of a master confectioner.”<\/p>\n In their review, RogerEbert.com<\/a> described the film as “a breezy two-hour musical comedy that hopes to make the audience shed a sentimental tear or two, but is mainly content to amuse, delight, and inspire cheers when the bad guys are defeated”.<\/p>\n Jaap Buittendijk<\/p>\n On Chalamet’s performance compared to Wilder, ABC News<\/a> noted: “No one will ever play the bright comic exterior and dark soul of Willy Wonka like Gene Wilder, but Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet takes a charming shot at it in this wispy musical origin story that earns a pass for offering much needed family fun for the holidays.”<\/p>\n Digital Spy<\/a> gave the film a three-star review, arguing that the film “doesn’t quite become the delicious confection it wants to be, but there are still enough sweet treats along the way”.<\/p>\n Wonka is streaming on Netflix now.<\/p>\n Visit our Streaming Guide<\/a> now to see at a glance where you can view ALL your favourite shows and movies.<\/p>\n The new edition of Living Legends, celebrating the global phenomenon of BTS, is here! Buy this ultimate fan guide in newsagents or online<\/a>. Reporter, Digital Spy<\/p>\n Stefania is a freelance writer specialising in TV and movies. After graduating from City University, London, she covered LGBTQ+ news and pursued a career in entertainment journalism, with her work appearing in outlets including Little White Lies, The Skinny, Radio Times<\/a> and Digital Spy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Her beats are horror films and period dramas, especially if fronted by queer women. She can argue why Scream is the best slasher in four languages (and a half).\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Olivia Colman’s musical origin story about the greatest chocolatier who ever lived has been climbing Netflix’s UK charts.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":646401,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[147950,379,217712,381,96,190731,1156,2839,217711,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-646400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-collection-latest-news","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-9d88a459-7cc0-49a8-8ca5-c9bf8b03d59f","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-entertainment","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-gb","tag-movies","tag-shorttitle-irresistible-olivia-colman-movie-climbs-netflixs-chart","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=646400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/646400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/646401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=646400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=646400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=646400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/p>\n![\"timothee](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/wonka-timothee-chalamet-656c648903ce4.jpeg\" "\\"Timoth\u00e9e")
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<\/p>\n![\"Headshot](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781833875_483_a5577bef-f874-41e6-b03b-0f8d9f1e5f46_1686136547.file.png\" "\\"Headshot")
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