Netflix released You Don’t Know Me, a courtroom drama from the BBC, last week.
At this point, Netflix has released a ton of new content, including the third season of The Umbrella Academy and a slew of old Nickelodeon episodes. There’s a newcomer to Netflix’s Top 10 list: BBC murder drama You Don’t Know Me.
June 17 saw the premiere of You Don’t Know Me on Netflix after its release in the UK in December. The Iron Chef revival, Peaky Blinders, God’s Favorite Idiot, and Stranger Things 4 have all been at the top of the list in recent years (No. 1).
Do You Know Me, You Don’t?
Based on Imran Mahmood’s 2017 novel of the same name, You Don’t Know Me is a crime drama. Hero (Samuel Adewunmi), a South London man on trial for the murder of a drug dealer, is the focus of the drama.
Hero denies that the story depicted by the evidence is representative of what actually occurred, despite the overwhelming weight of the evidence pointing to his guilt. Hero, defying the advise of his counsel, tells the entire story in his final statements. Two years ago, he met his current girlfriend Kyra for the first time (Sophie Wilde).
To avoid entering into spoiler zone, we won’t go into any additional detail. Without a doubt Hero will be met with hostility when he tells his story, with the prosecution arguing he is lying and misrepresenting the facts.
You Don’t Know Me has four episodes, each lasting under an hour. Between December 5 and December 13, they broadcast on BBC One and are now available to watch on Netflix. BBC iPlayer is another option for UK viewers to watch all four episodes.
Why is You Don’t Know Me so controversial?
A 6.9/10 rating on IMDB (opens in new tab) based on over 2.5K individual ratings, You Don’t Know Me doesn’t have an official Rotten Tomatoes rating.
Rebecca Nicholson(opens in new tab) of The Guardian awarded the show a rating of 3/5. Hero’s constant babbling throughout the show reminded Nicholson more of an audiobook than a television show. This is why I think it fails to bridge the aesthetic gap between what works in a novel and what works on screen. But when it begins to awaken, it leaves a trail of hope.” If the audience (and the Jury) don’t get impatient and walk away from the show.
Radio Times’ Abby Robinson(opens in new tab) gave the show a more upbeat review, giving it a rating of 4/5. According to Robinson, the show is “compelling, well-executed piece of television that is deserved of your attention” and is worthy of its original prime-time Sunday evening TV schedule. Due to the show’s dual nature, Robinson points out that you get both the best of both worlds—and how anyone might suddenly find their life turned upside down.
Instead of skipping it, Decider (which opens in a new tab) says you should “stream” it. You should love the performances and the story itself if the courtroom segment of the story “doesn’t set your teeth on edge.” Getting past the courtroom scenes, on the other hand, is a real challenge. It seems like there is a recurring theme here.
What Are the Chances That You Won’t Like You Don’t Know Me?
The audiobook version of You Don’t Know Me may be worth a try if you enjoy courtroom drama and audiobooks, respectively. Avoid it until you’re completely out of options if you’re not a fan of talking and narration in your TV shows.
In the end though, You Don’t Know Me is only four episodes long, so there’s no harm in checking out the first one. You’ll be able to assess whether the story is interesting enough to keep watching or if you’d be better off moving on to anything else.
There’s a ton of new content available on Netflix right now. In addition to The Umbrella Academy’s third season, IT Chapter One, and Chris Hemsworth-led Spiderhead, we have a slew of under-appreciated Spider-Man films, as well as IT: Chapter 2 and IT: Chapter 3.