Netflix subscribers are being urged to watch the ‘most binge-worthy show’ you can finish in one day this weekend.
COVID was a tricky time, there's no doubt about that, but what got a lot of people through the tough months was binge-watching a series - whether that be old or new.
One series that was released back then focused on fictional orphan-turned-chess-prodigy Beth Harmon (played Anya Taylor-Joy), who rises to the top of her game, but faces many other battles outside of the chess hall along the way.
The Queen's Gambit was based on the 1983 novel of the same name by Walter Tevis, with a screenplay of the series handled by Allan Scott and Scott Frank.
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Scott rewrote the story a whopping nine times, and it took him around three decades to get the show produced because nobody thought people would be that interested in chess.
And despite being released five years ago, the series has become the hot topic of conversation on the Netflix Reddit forum after one fan lauded the show.
"The most binge worthy Netflix show or movie you’ve ever watched," one Redditor asked. "You ever start a show or movie on Netflix thinking you’ll just watch one episode, then suddenly it’s 3am and you’ve watched the whole thing? Just curious what people’s recommendations are for ones that really had you hooked."
The Queen's Gambit immediately came to mind for many viewers, as one person penned: "One of the best shows I’ve seen."
A second added: "Watched in one night," while a third quipped: "That show is so good."
The Queen's Gambit has an impressive 96 per cent critics' score on the review aggregation site, while also achieving an audience score of 94 per cent.
Industry critics loved the series, with The New Yorker's Rachel Syme penning: "What makes The Queen's Gambit so satisfying comes in large measure from the character Taylor-Joy brings to screen: a charming, elegant weirdo who delivers her lines with a cool, wintergreen snap, and never really reacts the way one might expect."
Richard Roeper, from the Chicago Sun-Times, wrote: "Raise your hand if you anticipated a coming-of-age, period-piece drama about a female chess prodigy in the 1950s and 1960s becoming perhaps the most addictive and binge-worthy series of 2020."
And Nancy Durrant, from the London Evening Standard, said: "Even if you don't know your knight from your bishop it's thrilling, while the naturalistic script flows beautifully.
"Most satisfyingly, every time you think it's going to fall back on some awful 'woman in a man's world' trope, it just doesn't."
Topics: Netflix, Film and TV, Anya Taylor-Joy, Streaming
Callum Jones