"Stunning" British murder mystery with EastEnders star is now streaming on the BBC

If you want to watch a murder mystery film with a twist over the weekend, then BBC iPlayer may be the place for you, as Thomas Hardiman's Medusa Deluxe is now streaming on the service for the next 11 months.

The film takes place in the cutthroat world of hairstyling, with several hairdressers convening for a regional competition. Tragedy strikes, however, when one competitor is found dead - but will they find the culprit?

"Winding through neon-lit halls and backstage dressing rooms, competitors unspool long-simmering resentments and secrets as they search for the killer among them," reads the logline.

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Written and directed by first-time filmmaker Hardiman, the cast for the film includes former EastEnders star Clare Perkins, Anita-Joy Uwajeh, Kae Alexander, Darrell D'Silva, Harriet Webb and Luke Pasqualino.

Upon its release in 2023, Medusa Deluxe was generally praised by critics, with Rotten Tomatoes currently reporting a solid approval rating of 71% from 70 reviews. Its audience score, however, is markedly lower at 52%.

"Medusa Deluxe is an extravagant, relentlessly propulsive and wildly entertaining film, rich with provocative performances, jaw-dropping ambition, astounding visuals — both squalid and sublime — and a dizzying blend of dark humour," noted Mashable.

"From its playfully inventive opening to its flash-forward finale, Thomas Hardiman's wild - and wildly impressive - first feature, set during a British regional hairdressing competition, is a proudly indelicate, painstakingly structured pleasure," opined The New York Times.

IndieWire was also full of praise, remarking: "An arresting and visually stunning achievement, Medusa Deluxe breaks the framework on storytelling and sheds the skin of a subculture in the process."

Ahead of its theatrical release, Skins and Our Girl star Pasqualino spoke exclusively with Digital Spy about the bond that was developed between the cast during filming, with enforced lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic helping in this regard.

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"The time in which we shot the film in – with it being COVID, lockdown and limited access to shops and restaurants – we made our own entertainment," he said. "We would stay together. We would go out for walks.

"We used to all stay in the same part of the building. So we just used to hang out together. So to have that bond, and then, you know, be cushioned in this uncertainty that was COVID, I think that lent itself really well to the nature of the film."

Medusa Deluxe is streaming on BBC iPlayer.

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Reporter, Digital Spy George is a freelance writer who specialises in Movies and TV. After graduating with a degree in Film Studies and Journalism from De Montfort University, in which he analysed the early works of Richard Linklater for his dissertation, he wrote for several websites for GRV Media.  His film tastes vary from blockbusters like Mission: Impossible and John Wick to international directors such as Paolo Sorrentino and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and has attended both the London and Berlin film festivals.