Riz Ahmed's 'heart-pounding' drama with Timothy Spall lands new UK streaming home

The new Hamlet movie starring Riz Ahmed, Morfydd Clark, Art Malik, Joe Alwyn, and Timothy Spall has found itself a fresh streaming home in the UK.

Previously available to purchase or rent, the film can now be streamed with a Sky or NOW Cinema subscription.

Taking William Shakespeare's classic play into the modern day, this adaptation follows Ahmed as Prince Hamlet, who's haunted by the ghost of his murdered father while his uncle Claudius prepares to marry his widowed mother Gertrude.

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Hamlet then descends into the underworld of London's South Asian community, embarking on a journey for revenge. But will he be able to get the justice he desires while keeping an eye on his sanity?

Released in UK cinemas in February, Hamlet has a solid 72% positive score on Rotten Tomatoes from 108 critic review – with Mark Kermode calling it "a really smart film".

The Guardian wrote: "Screenwriter Michael Lesslie and director Aneil Karia have devised a stark and severe new interpretation of Shakespeare's Hamlet; there are transpositions and cuts, some light modernisations, and the text is stripped down a good deal. It's an austerely challenging reading."

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"There is a frenetic energy shared between the whole cast that buzzes off the screen and pushes our narrative forward," reads Metro's review.

"One of the highlights of this adaptation is the midpoint climax at Claudius' and Gertrude's wedding, where the story of the poisoning is played out in a traditional performance that leaves your heart pounding. The scene creates a crescendoing tension that completely devours you."

The San Jose Mercury News's reviewer had some "misgivings" with the film, but concluded that "you have to admire Hamlet for its lead performance, its style and its bravery in doing something different than what we've seen before".

Hamlet can be streamed now on Sky/NOW Cinema.

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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he's covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I'm a Fish.