In a streaming world where binge-watching has become a favorite pastime, there is Netflix, which has made its mark among its competitors streaming platforms as it never fails to deliver captivating content that keeps viewers hooked into checking out what new series or even movies will be gracing their screens in the near future. Last month has been one of the best in terms of impressive viewership being gained by many brand new shows on Netflix’s Top 10 English series chart.
This time around, the charting list has undergone a surprising shift, as for the second time in a row, the newly released British crime thriller limited series Bodies, which premiered on Netflix on October 19, 2023, has secured a spot on the top 10 chart. In addition to this, weeks after its debut on the streaming platform, the eight-episode series has finally grabbed the number-one spot with 7.7 million views and 58,600,000 total hours viewed.
The series has also gained great critical reviews on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes; it has an 82% approval rating with an average rating of 6.7/10 based on 22 critic reviews. The website’s critical consensus reads, “Anchored by the indispensable Stephen Graham, Bodies‘ multiple twisting time strands coalesce into one satisfying binge.” Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 65 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating “generally favorable reviews.”
Another series that has secured a place on the top 10 English lists this week is as follows:
The first season of Get Gotti secured second place with 7.3 million views and 18,400,000 total hours viewed, followed by the natural history documentary Life on Our Planet, narrated by Morgan Freeman, in third place with 5.5 million views and 38,300,000 total hours viewed. Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher fell from first to fourth place this week, drawing 4.2 million views along with 34,500,000 total hours viewed.
The limited series directed by Fisher Stevens, which has been making the most buzz on Netflix, Beckham, has finally slipped down and came in fifth spot with 4 million views and 18,900,000 total hours viewed.
Big Mouth: Season 7 remained on the list for its sixth week, this time in eighth place with 2.7 million views along with 12,500,000 total hours viewed. Maintaining its place on the list for the second time in a row, I Woke Up A Vampire: Season 1 ranked in the seventh spot with 2.4 million views and 8,400,000 total hours viewed. These series were also able to dethrone Sex Education Season 4, which secured the eighth spot with 1.7 million views and 13,800,000 total hours viewed.
The last two entries on the list were Surviving Paradise: Season 1, which ranked ninth on the list with 1.3 million viewers, accumulating 8,900,000 total hours viewed. Whereas, CoComelon: Season 8 landed the last spot by being on the list entering its sixth week with 1.3 million views totaling 1,400,000 total hours viewed during this week.
Bodies: All about the new limited series
Bodies is part sci-fi, part murder mystery, part period drama, and part police procedural series, which was primarily written and created for Netflix by Paul Tomalin, based on the DC Vertigo graphic novel of the same name written by Si Spencer and illustrated by Dean Ormston, Tula Lotay, Meghan Hetrick, and Phil Winslade. The official synopsis of the series is as follows:
In present-day London, Detective Sergeant Shahara Hasan encounters a suspicious teen during a protest. Realizing he’s armed, she chases him through the city’s alleyways until she’s stopped in her tracks: He’s pointing his gun right at her, and a naked body lies motionless beside him. When the teen flees, Shahara realizes she didn’t hear his gun go off.
As she investigates the man’s death, her journey toward the truth parallels three other investigations across multiple timelines — each of them involving different detectives but the same victim. As the four detectives attempt to solve the case, they unravel a mystery that could put hundreds of thousands of lives at stake.
On the other hand, the main cast members of the series include Jacob Fortune-Lloyd as DS Charles Whiteman (1941); Shira Haas as DC Iris Maplewood (2053); Amaka Okafor as DS Shahara Hasan (2023, 2053); Kyle Soller as DI Alfred Hillinghead (1890); Greta Scacchi as The Lady (1941); Tom Mothersdale as The Body / Gabriel Defoe (all); Michael Jibson as DCI Jack Barber (2023), and Stephen Graham as Commander Elias Mannix / Sir Julian Harker (all).
The recurring cast includes Derek Riddell as DCI Calloway (1941); George Parker as Henry Ashe (1890); Gabriel Howell as Elias Mannix (2023), and Synnøve Karlsen as Polly Hillinghead (1890).
The guest stars include Jonny Coyne as Farrell (1941); Alexandra Roach as Maggie (2023); Mark Lewis Jones as Andrew Morley (2023), Elias Mannix’s foster parent; Kate Ashfield as Elaine Morley (2023), Andrew’s wife; Anna Calder-Marshall as Lady Agatha Harker (1890); Natalie Gavin as Sarah Mannix (2023), and Kae Alexander as Bothroyd (2023).
Take a look at the official trailer of the series, which showcases this genre-bending mystery thriller as “Four Detectives. Four timelines. One body. To save Britain’s future, they’ll need to solve the murder that altered the course of history first.”