4-year-old ITV drama grabs Netflix's No. 1 spot from big name rivals

Keeley Hawes in Honour.
(Image credit: ITV)

Honour, a Keeley Hawes drama that originally aired nearly four years ago on ITV, has surprisingly grabbed the Netflix number 1 TV show spot.

The factual drama — about the real-life so-called honour killing of Banaz Mahmod, who members of her own family murdered for falling in love with the wrong man — has found a whole new audience on the streamer.

Honour is proving so popular on Netflix in the UK, that it has pushed the recent big release Supacell into the second spot. The Man with 1000 Kids is currently third, while Bridegerton season 3 is still keeping its top 10 place at number 8.

The cast of Netflix's Supacell

Supacell is number 2 (Image credit: Netflix)

Honour sees Bodyguard star Keeley Hawes play the real-life detective who brought the killers to justice in the heartbreaking true story. Written by Vanity Fair's Gwyneth Hughes, the drama centers on Detective Chief Inspector Caroline Goode’s (Keeley Hawes) passionate quest for justice. Goode was determined to discover the fate of missing Banaz. Twenty-year-old Banaz was murdered in London in 2006.

In an interview with us at the time, Keeley revealed that she had met the real Caroline. "I did. She came to set very early on, and we had a cup of tea. It's always odd meeting someone that you’re going to play, but in the case of Caroline, we had a bit of artistic licence — for one thing, I'm 5ft 10in and Caroline is very petite. One of the things I really wanted to know about was the emotion.

"So I asked, 'Was it as emotional [in real life]?' She said yes, and it gave me liberty to explore that a little bit without making it feel like it was just for the purposes of the drama. That really was how she felt."

The two-part series opens with the words: "This is a true story about a police investigation in 2006-2007. Some names have been changed and some characters, details and scenes created for the purposes of dramatisation.” 

If you haven’t got Netflix, it's worth noting it's on ITVX in the UK. It's available on BritBox in the US. Check out our best shows on Netflix right now guide for more shows to enjoy.

David Hollingsworth
Editor

David is the What To Watch Editor and has over 20 years of experience in television journalism. He is currently writing about the latest television and film news for What To Watch.

Before working for What To Watch, David spent many years working for TV Times magazine, interviewing some of television's most famous stars including Hollywood actor Kiefer Sutherland, singer Lionel Richie and wildlife legend Sir David Attenborough. 

David started out as a writer for TV Times before becoming the title's deputy features editor and then features editor. During his time on TV Times, David also helped run the annual TV Times Awards. David is a huge Death in Paradise fan, although he's still failed to solve a case before the show's detective! He also loves James Bond and controversially thinks that Timothy Dalton was an excellent 007.

Other than watching and writing about telly, David loves playing cricket, going to the cinema, trying to improve his tennis and chasing about after his kids!