Unchosen opens by telling us “Over 2000 cults exist in the UK. Some are closed communities. But many, like this fictional one, live in plain sight.”
Although it feels like this Christian community – that’s very much like a cult, run by Christopher Eccleston (who visited Stockport in 2024!), as Mr. Phillips, is taking place in the 19th Century, it’s actually set in the present day, and given that while kids like to read comics, this lot consider them as something sent by the devil, while another assumes a basic storm is the Rapture. They are quite mad. I once had a colleague who believed in the same. Oh dear…
An early situation, which requires a visit to A&E, brings drifter Sam (Fra Fee – Rebel Moon Part One: A Child Of Fire) into Rosie’s (Molly Windsor – She Said) life – something which would be VERY frowned upon by her husband, Adam (Asa Butterfield – Stitch Head), if he was to find out, but while I’ll avoid spoilers, it’s safe to say that when Rosie has to attend a particularly urgent situation away from the camp, she’s castigated by the leader’s wife, Mrs. Phillips (Siobhan Finneran), to the point where you’d tell her to give her head a wobble!
After all, this is the sort of place where you could get cast out even if you sneak in a mobile phone!
It does state in the trailer that Sam is a man with a shady past, but can he be all bad when his opening gambit is a benevolent act? After all, those in charge seem hellbent in the believe that if teaching Jesus is love, it comes across more about delivering pain.
The title refer’s to Sam’s character who comes into the life of this community, hence he is the ‘Unchosen’, and overall, it’s a strange drama, but it’s very good and brilliantly acted.
And it MUST be a fantasy land: There’s a moment where someone drives past a petrol station, and it’s only 135.9p!
Plus, as they say, if you like this, you’ll enjoy… and I’ll recommend Siobhan Finneran’s 2018 film, Apostasy, in which she played a devout Jehovah’s Witness follower, which irritated her daughters beyond belief. However, they don’t allow blood transfusions, and there comes a point where one of the girls requires one, so which way does she jump? It’s an amazing film, and one of those that no-one seems to have heard about!
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
Unchosen is on Netflix from today.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 40-50 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: April 21st 2026
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Jim Loach, Philippa Langdale
Producers: Nick Pitt
Writer: Julie Gearey
Music: Anne Nikitin
Cast:
Rosie: Molly Windsor
Adam: Asa Butterfield
Sam: Fra Fee
Mr. Phillips: Christopher Eccleston
Mrs. Phillips: Siobhan Finneran
Hannah: Alexa Davies
Anthony: Rory Wilmot
Grace: Olivia Pickering
Mason: Ethan Davidson
Isaac: Aston McAuley
Mr. Crane: Darren Strange
Martha: Julia Czartoryski
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.