It’s the Beast Games finale, and Bridget Jones is back: What to watch this week
Bring on the granny pants and awkward moments, because beloved singleton Bridget Jones is back on our screens on Thursday.
But that’s not all the week has in store.
It’s the finale of Beast Games, there’s a new album by Rizzle Kicks, Civilization VII is being released, and the 90s/00s theme continues with Clueless the Musical.
Read on for this week’s biggest releases…
Buckle up for the Beast Games finale
When Beast Games launched, the Amazon series promised to be the biggest live game show in the world.
The reality competition show sees 1,000 people compete in a series of elimination challenges for a $5m (£4.02m) cash prize.
The man behind it is, of course, MrBeast himself – the most popular YouTuber in the world, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson.
The finale is this Thursday. But the series has not been without controversy. It’s drawn comparisons with Squid Game, for the elaborate tasks that contestants are set.
In September, Amazon and MrBeast were named in a US lawsuit which made a number of claims about how participants were treated on set.
Amazon and MrBeast did not respond to a request for comment on this. MrBeast previously claimed that the allegations were “blown out of proportion”.
Everyone’s favourite singleton returns
The section below contains spoilers about Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy
After almost a decade away, hapless heroine Bridget Jones is back.
Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy hits cinemas this Thursday, right in time for Valentine’s Day (I have booked tickets… tragically).
Following the death of Mr Darcy, Bridget (played by Renée Zellweger) is now a widow, trying to bring up two kids. She is also re-entering the world of dating, by having a fling with a much younger man – played by Leo Woodall, of One Day fame.
My colleague Colin Paterson asked Renée how she began preparing to play Bridget again.
“I start trying to speak like [Bridget] before I start rehearsing,” the American actress said.
“So I sound a bit like I have pretences, putting on airs for a while. It’s abysmal for a while,” she laughed.
“I find that hard to believe,” Leo jumped in. But Renée insisted, “it’s true.”
Tune in to BBC Breakfast on Monday for Colin’s full interview, ahead of the film’s release.
Rizzle Kicks are back
If seeing Bridget Jones isn’t your ideal way of celebrating Valentine’s Day, then why not spend it listening to Rizzle Kicks’ new album, Competition Is For Losers.
It’s out on Friday, and is set to see the pop/hip-hop duo – made up of Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sulé – sharing life lessons on love, sobriety and masculinity.
It’s being seen as a comeback, after the pair decided to bow out of the music scene for almost a decade for mental health reasons.
And Jordan and Harley told me it’s their “best album yet”.
“It’s definitely harder to promote than it used to be but we’re confident of its energy if you do listen,” they said.
“Everyone probably says that. Joy feels rebellious these days. So we stepped back into our own lane.”
The album features collaborations with artists including Maverick Sabre, DJ Premier, Mick Jenkins and newcomer Lex Amor.
Clueless the Musical
Cher Horowitz was the lovably spoilt, fashion-obsessed Beverly Hills high school girl we took to our hearts in the 1995 teen film Clueless.
The film, based on Jane Austen’s Emma, was a box office hit and spawned a TV spin-off.
Now, Clueless is coming back – as a new West End musical. It stars Emma Flynn as Cher and Keelan McAuley as Josh, and features songs by Suddenly I See singer KT Tunstall.
I’m here for the fashion, but there’s so much more to Clueless. Cher’s wisdom includes self-acceptance, and recognising the importance of female friends.
And let’s not forget her iconic put-down to unwanted male attention that I’ll admit to rolling out endlessly in my teens: “Ugh, as if!”
The show opens at London’s Trafalgar Theatre on Friday.
The wait is over for Civilization VII
By Tom Gerken, Technology reporter
It’s been a long time since Civilization VI hit the shelves in 2016. Now, the latest in the cult strategy series – which first appeared in 1991 – is finally being released.
Civilization VII brings with it all sorts of new features to keep gamers happy. I was lucky enough to be one of the people to get my hands on it ahead of time, and I can say with confidence it’s a game-changer.
As I wrote in my preview in August last year, a bundle of brand new features are embedded in the game, centred around a new hook – you now play through three eras, changing world nations as you go, and building on top of what came before.
The list of new features is so broad it would be impossible to list them here, but when I told the developers that it seemed like they’d just gone through Reddit and taken every suggestion, they joked that wasn’t far off what really happened.
The hotly-anticipated new game comes out Tuesday on PC.
