London, Tuesday 13 January 2026 — Netflix is using this week to reset its 2026 UK streaming strategy as the platform moves into its first full release cycle since Stranger Things ended. With no single global franchise currently anchoring its schedule, Netflix is turning to a mix of prestige British drama, star-led Hollywood films, international series and live entertainment to keep viewers engaged through the winter viewing period. Over the next five days, the company will effectively test which new titles can generate sustained audience attention in the UK market and which will simply serve as short-term content fillers. For British audiences, the focus is on recognisable stars, high-production drama and accessible weekend viewing. This is reported by , citing Netflix’s UK release schedule and industry briefings.
Tuesday 13 January
The Boyfriend – Season 2 (Japan)
Netflix’s quietly successful reality-dating series returns, this time set against the frozen landscape of Hokkaido. Ten men live together while running a small coffee truck, with friendships, jealousy and romance developing in real time.
What makes The Boyfriend different from Western dating shows is its tone. It is slower, more emotional and far less confrontational, which has helped it find a strong audience in the UK among younger viewers who prefer something more thoughtful than Love Island. Netflix sees it as part of its strategy to bring Japanese formats into the global mainstream.
Wednesday 15 January — Netflix’s big release day
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials (UK)
This is Netflix’s prestige centrepiece of the week.
Set in the 1920s English countryside, the series follows Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent, played by Mia McKenna-Bruce, who becomes an amateur detective after a house-party prank leads to a real death. Helena Bonham Carter plays the aristocratic Lady Caterham, while Martin Freeman takes on a key supporting role as the enigmatic Battle.
Written by Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall, this three-part miniseries is aimed squarely at UK audiences who enjoy BBC-style period mystery dramas. Netflix is hoping it will do for January what its Christie adaptations have done for Christmas television on terrestrial channels: become the programme everyone is talking about.
Love Through a Prism (Japan / UK)
Release: 15 January
Love Through a Prism is a new Netflix anime series set in a fictional London art academy, following Lili Ichijoin, a young Japanese painter who travels to Britain to study and build an international career. The story centres on her rivalry and growing relationship with a gifted British student, as both struggle for recognition in a highly competitive creative environment.
The series combines Japanese anime storytelling with a European setting, using London’s art schools, galleries and student culture as a backdrop. Netflix has positioned the show as part of its push to bring anime to a wider international audience, particularly younger British viewers who are drawn to visually rich romance and coming-of-age stories rather than action-led animation.
The project is notable for being one of the few anime productions to place London at the centre of its narrative, rather than using the city simply as an exotic location.
The Upshaws — Part 7 (US)
Release: 15 January
The final season of The Upshaws brings an end to one of Netflix’s longest-running family sitcoms. The series follows Bennie and Regina Upshaw, a working-class couple in Indianapolis, played by Mike Epps and Kim Fields, as they juggle marriage, money problems and raising a complicated modern family.
In the concluding episodes, Regina enters local politics while Bennie’s car-repair business faces financial pressure, giving the season a slightly more serious tone beneath its familiar comedy. Although the show rarely makes headlines, it has built a loyal international audience and remains one of Netflix’s most consistent performers among older and family viewers.
Bone Lake (US)
Release: 15 January
Bone Lake is a psychological thriller about two couples who unknowingly book the same isolated holiday home beside a remote lake. What begins as an awkward social situation quickly develops into something far more dangerous as secrets, jealousy and hidden motives begin to surface.
The film gained strong reviews on the US independent film circuit in late 2025 for its tense atmosphere and performances. Netflix is releasing it as part of its adult-oriented thriller slate, aimed at viewers looking for something darker and more provocative than mainstream crime dramas.
The Rip (Netflix Original Film)
Release: Friday 16 January
The Rip is Netflix’s biggest original film of the week and one of its major releases of early 2026. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon star as Miami police detectives who discover $20 million in cash during what should have been a routine raid on a drug stash house.
As news of the money spreads, trust within their unit begins to collapse and rival criminal groups move in, turning the discovery into a violent struggle for control. The film combines crime drama with large-scale action sequences, including car chases and shoot-outs, and is designed to appeal to a broad UK and US audience.
Netflix is treating The Rip as a potential breakout hit, using the long-established pairing of Affleck and Damon to anchor what it hopes will become one of its most watched films of the year.
Weekend highlights (17–18 January)
The weekend is designed around easy binge-watching and big-screen entertainment:
- One-night drama → Seven Dials is perfectly structured to be watched in a single sitting.
- Big movie night → The Rip is Netflix’s clear centrepiece.
- Relaxed daytime viewing → The Upshaws offers light, familiar comedy.
- Late-night thriller → Bone Lake provides something darker and more intense.
- Background binge → The Boyfriend works well for slow, steady viewing across the weekend.
Netflix’s strategy is to keep viewers on the platform all weekend, moving from prestige drama to action film to comfort television without leaving the app.
This is the first week in 2026 where Netflix is seriously testing what will replace its biggest franchises. Instead of relying on one huge series, it is spreading risk across British drama, Hollywood stars, international formats and live entertainment.
If Seven Dials and The Rip both land well with UK audiences, Netflix will have proof that it can build new tent-pole titles without Stranger Things — and that will shape everything the platform releases for the rest of the year.
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