Screen Babble Weekend Watch: Harry & Meghan Vol 2, Vardy v Rooney, World Cup final, and Litvinenko

Steven Ross, NationalWorld’s Digital Trends Writer, brings you Weekend Watch, the sister podcast to Screen Babble, a carefully curated calendar of the shows that are worth watching this weekend and beyond. Weekend Watch considers all the shows coming to terrestrial TV and streaming platforms in the coming days and sorts the wheat from the chaff so you don’t have to.

This week’s highlights include the World Cup final, which will see Argentina play reigning world champions France - if Argentina win it will mark Lionel Messi’s first World Cup victory. The final will be broadcast on BBC One and ITV from 3pm on Sunday 18 December. The third place playoff between Croatia and Morocco will air on BBC One at 3pm on Saturday 17. Another big final, though likely not on the same scale as the cup, is Strictly Come Dancing - Hamza Yassin, Helen Skelton, Molly Rainford, Fleur East will compete for the crown on BBC One at 7.05pm.

In the world of streaming, the second half of Netflix documentary Harry & Meghan landed on Thursday 15 December. Three more episodes were released and include slightly more royal gossip than the first half of the series. The documentary has divided viewers, as some have been shocked by the treatment of Meghan by the media and The Firm, and others are disgusted that she is airing the family’s dirty laundry in public.

Litvinenko landed on ITVX on Thursday 15 - the four part-drama series sees David Tennant play Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian defector who worked for British intelligence and was poisoned in an act of retribution. The series, which is available to watch on ITVX now, follows the investigation into Litvinenko’s assassination.

Another true-crime drama series that will be worth a watch is Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama. The two-part series will air on Channel 4 on Wednesday 21 and Thursday 22 December. The drama follows the Wagatha Christie court case in which Rebekah Vardy attempted to sue Coleen Rooney for defamation after the latter suggested that Vardy had leaked stories about her to the press.

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