TV & Showbiz

Sneak peek at Netflix’s new Harlan Coben series filmed around Greater Manchester

No trailer yet but here's our first few glimpses.

Danny Jones Danny Jones - 12th October 2024

Netflix’s latest Harlan Coben adaptation, which has been filmed all around Greater Manchester over recent months, officially has a release date.

Following the success of the best-selling thriller author’s previous shows on the streaming platform, both of which were also filmed at least in part around the region, they confirmed that a further two shows would be coming too.

The drama series is called Missing You and is based on Harlan Coben’s 2014 novel of the same name. Believe it or not, this is the NINTH time that Netflix has adapted one of his books (yes, nine!), with this being the third time they have filmed one of his works in and around Manchester.

Much like the story itself, the trio seem to have a bit of a love affair going on between them – though we promise you this one will be much more complicated…

Set to release on 1 January 2025, Missing You stars Rosalind Eleazar in the lead role as Kat Donovan, a detective specialising in Missing Persons.

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Starring alongside other big British names like Ashley Walters, Richard Armitage, Sir Lenny Henry; Steve Pemberton, Jessica Plummer and James Nesbitt, the series is once again produced by Quay Street Productions (part of ITV Studios).

Without giving too much away, here’s the synopsis: 11 years ago, Detective Kat Donovan’s fiancé Josh – the love of her life – disappeared and she’s never heard from him since. Now, swiping profiles on a dating app, she suddenly sees his face and her world explodes all over again. Creepy, right?

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Josh’s reappearance forces her to dive back into not only his life since going missing but the mystery surrounding her father’s murder and uncover long-buried secrets from her past too.

Although many of Coben’s stories take place in the US, the Netflix adaptation is also transposed to a UK setting and so filming took place all over Greater Manchester, including the city centre, Le Mans Crescent and Victoria Square in Bolton, as well as various other spots around the North West.

Credit: Vishal Sharma/Netflix © 2024 (supplied)

Coben serves as executive producer through his company, Final Twist Productions, with help from the likes of Danny Brocklehurst (Brassic) and Guy Hescott (The Red King, Without Sin); Victoria Asare-Archer from Stay Close is the lead writer and directing is split between Nimer Rashed (Fool Me Once) and Isher Sahota (Ridley, Grace).

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Set across five hour-long episodes, if Netflix’s follow-up to Fool Me Once – which was recently named the most-watched show on the platform in the first half of 2024 – is even half as popular as its previous programme, it’ll still be a huge success.

As for Quay Street, the locally-based production house has a long track record of delivering top-quality drama thanks to its founder and multi-award-winning producer, Nicola Shindler OBE, who set up the company back in 2021.

Her credits have included Fool Me Once, It’s A Sin, Stay Close, Ridley Road, Finding Alice, The Stranger, Happy Valley and cult favourite Queer As Folk (1999-2000).

With a pedigree like that, we’re confident the latest Harlan Coben adaptation from Netflix will be just as good as the last one, and we can’t wait to play another round of ‘guess where in Manchester that was filmed’. Speaking of, it’s not the only local production of late.

A new rom-com set in Manchester has started filming in the city centre

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Featured Images — Supplied (via Netflix)

TV & Showbiz

We rediscovered an old Boddingtons advert and now we’re gasping for ‘the cream of Manchester’

Danny Jones Danny Jones Old Boddingtons ad cream of Manchester canal

If you’re from Greater Manchester, the name Boddingtons likely needs no introduction, but if you’re new to the area or part of the generation that’s young enough to have never clocked the legendary logo before, the ‘Cream of Manchester’ was known for making a good advert or two.

Answers on a postcard? Yes, we of course are referring to the classic ice cream van ad that featured a young Melanie Sykes serving an ice-cold pint of Boddingtons to a thirsty athlete, played by former EastEnders actor Ken George.

In fact, the recognisable TV presenter and British household name went on to feature in a few of them, including a contemporary recreation back in 2017, but it isn’t any of her appearances that recently re-captured our attention.

The old ‘Boddies’ ad that we stumbled across in 2025, more than 30 years on from when it originally aired, is the Gondola/’Just One Cornetto’ spoof filmed right here in the city centre along Manchester’s famous canal network.

Circa 1993. Recognise where it is?

Just as beautiful as Venice, if you ask us – and that’s just the pint…

As you can see, not only did the once beloved Boddingtons advert capture a glimpse of the River Irwell near the old Granada Studios and how Manchester’s waterways used to look back in the day, but it was also a pretty modern, ironic take for the time.

Inspired by arguably one of the most famous ads of all time, the Boddies marketing team and director Jeff Stark didn’t just imitate or poke fun at Wall’s Cornetto ice cream: they played on the genuine nickname and imagery drummed up by locals who drank it week in, week out.

The famous frothy white head and the ‘do you want a Flake with that?’ is the kind of joke you still hear to this day when someone overdoes it with a Guinness, but turning the glass into a golden ice cream was a bit of genius.

In fact, the old Boddies ad even helped launch the career of stingy ‘Gladys Althorpe’ herself, Anna Chancellor, who went on to appear in What A Girl Wants, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and many more.

She and Sykes weren’t the only ones either; another admittedly sexually-charged campaign released roughly a year later featured another familiar face in Sarah Parish (Doctor Who, Trollied, The Wedding Date) – again, always ending with a stereotypically Manc, if not at least Northern, punchline.

It was smash hits like these that saw Boddingtons dubbed not only Manchester’s most famous beverage but ‘the Cream of Marketing‘ for a time as well.

The beer may not be as prominent as it once was, but its legacy as part of classic UK telly is up there with R Whites Lemonade, Dairy Milk, Compare The Meerkat, and so many more.

You can see a super-cut compilation of some of their retro ads HERE.

Oh yeah, and if watching all this has made you get a thirst on like it did us, you’ll be glad to hear that while it may be difficult to locate these days, there are still a few places you can find a pint of Boddies in and around the area.

The lost art of Boddingtons, and which pubs still serve The Cream of Manchester
By ‘eck, it’s still gorgeous.

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Featured Images — advertarchive (screenshot via YouTube)

TV & Showbiz

Why fans are fearing cancellation of Catfish and The Bottlemen’s massive Manchester gig

Thomas Melia Thomas Melia Will Catfish Manchester gig Heaton Park be cancelled

Indie rockers Catfish and The Bottlemen are playing a headline show at Heaton Park in Manchester, but plenty of gig-goers have a genuine fear of a potential cancellation.

The Welsh band known for their stacked roster of hits, including ‘Cocoon’, ‘Kathleen’, ‘7’, ‘Pacifier’ and many more, are set to play Heaton Park on 13 June, but there has already been a fair amount of scepticism among fans online.

Just last year, Catfish and The Bottlemen cancelled an array of international shows, including one rather long-awaited gig in Ireland.

This Irish date would’ve marked the band’s first show in the country in five years; however, 15 minutes before doors were due to open, the Dublin date got cancelled.

Catfish and The Bottlemen are expected to play at Heaton Park on 13 June
Catfish and The Bottlemen are expected to play at Heaton Park on 13 June / Credit: Supplied

No comments were made by the band as to why this decision happened, instead, all updates and communication came from the ticket company directly.

MCD Productions, who were in charge of hosting the would-be gig at Fairview Park, revealed that the reason for the abrupt cancellation of Catfish’s Ireland gig was due to ‘artist illness’, stating that all attendees would be issued and are entitled to a full refund.

The following week, Catfish also cancelled all of their US and Australia tour with no official statement from the rock group, and fans were frustrated to say the least.

Two weeks after these stark cancellations, the indie rockers announced two stadium shows: Cardiff and London, with the Manchester date in Heaton Park revealed a month later – all scheduled for this summer.

The issues don’t just lie with gig cancellations either; the band’s lineup has been in turmoil over recent years, with musicians joining and leaving this Welsh rock act.

Catfish and The Bottlemen back in 2016 ahead of Sound City in Liverpool
Catfish and The Bottlemen back in 2016 ahead of Sound City in Liverpool / Credit: Supplied

Most notably, former guitarist Johnny Bond, who originally left the band in 2021, issued a statement in 2022 via Instagram about “behaviour constantly re-occurring” that he found to be “intolerable”.

Only two original members remain: Van McCann, lead singer and now the main guitarist since Billy Bibby left in 2021, and Benji Blakeway, the band’s bassist and backing vocalist.

Many have speculated on some of that behaviour, and the source behind at least some of the band’s problems is the extremely talented, charismatic, but often frenetic frontman himself; you only need to search his name on the likes of TikTok to fall down the rabbit hole.

While there are lots dismissing some of his behaviour on stage as nothing more than loose, in-the-moment ‘rockstar energy’, others have expressed concern for his well-being at times.

Catfish’s latest Instagram post reporting the fact that the Heaton Park date is now sold out has been met with hundreds of comments from fans worrying that it won’t go ahead.

One user wrote, “Are u gonna cancel this one 7 mins before doors open too?”, while another took to the comment section to say, “I’ll be there. Don’t know about van tho”.

Replies to their tweets on X (formerly Twitter) have been similar too, as one fan writes: “Don’t worry guys, it’ll be cancelled soon!”.

These are, of course, just a taste of a much larger sample size, as their ‘comeback’ in February 2024 with ‘Showtime’ – their first new song in five years – looked like it could be the start of a new album cycle, but there hasn’t been anything else since then.

Barring the 10th anniversary version of their debut LP, The Balcony, and the re-release of old single and cult favourite ‘ASA’, there’s very little to suggest that there is even a latest project that currently exists to make any progress on.

Catfish and The Bottlemen are scheduled to play Heaton Park in Manchester on 13 June – let’s hope it’s not a ‘Longshot’. For those of you going, do you have any actual doubts whether or not it will go ahead?

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Featured Images – Publicity Pictures (via Supplied)/Kaleb Nimz (via Unsplash)

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