There are not many Millennials+ who can say that they haven’t heard of Four Weddings and a Funeral.
The 1994 film, starring a bumbling and fresh-faced Hugh Grant, followed his character Englishman Charles and his group of friends who seem to be unlucky in love.
If you were a huge fan of the film, then cancel your weekend plans because a new series adaptation has been released on Stan and it is absolutely charming.
All 10 episodes of the series have been released as of Friday, December 18 and stars Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones), Nikesh Patel (Indian Summers), Rebecca Rittenhouse (The Mindy Project), John Reynolds (Stranger Things), Brandon Mychal Smith (Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Zoe Boyle (Downton Abbey) and Sophia La Porta (Ripper Street). Star of the original feature film, Andie MacDowell, and Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friends Wedding — swoon) also guest star.
As the official synopsis reads: “The new series follows Maya (Emmanuel), the young communications director for a New York senatorial campaign, who receives a wedding invitation from her college schoolmate now living in London. She leaves her professional and personal life behind, in favour of travelling to England and reconnecting with old friends and ends up in the midst of their personal crises.
“Relationships are forged and broken, political scandals exposed, London social life lampooned, love affairs ignited and doused, and of course, there are four weddings… and a funeral.”
In an interview with BriefTake in 2019, Patel called the show a “classic rom-com”.
“I don’t think that this project would have happened if there wasn’t Mindy at the helm saying ‘This is the vision that I have for this cast and particularly for the couple that we watch’,” he said. “In classic rom-com fashion, there is a unique sort of world that they weave their story in and I think that really came from her.
“It was sort of eye-opening to me in a way because there was something that felt very free and easy and obvious about telling the story that way, that kind of made me think: ‘Oh, yeah, there’s so much more possibility for actors of colour than getting bogged down in stories that are very determined by the colour of your skin or your culture from which you come.'”
In addition to the show itself, the soundtrack is as equally spell-binding with songs including New Kind of Love by Skylar Grey, For Once in My Life by Emelie Sande and a stunning version of I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Nina Nesbitt.
Stream Four Weddings and a Funeral on Stan now.