If you tend to channel-browse on lazy afternoons or sick days, it's hard not to be engrossed in a Lifetime movie. For better or worse, the melodrama, crime stories, and sometimes even depictions of real events in these movies will leave you stunned. If you haven't experienced this phenomenon yet, here's how to watch Lifetime movies in the UK because you're totally missing out.
Although Lifetime is a US channel, you can watch it in the UK on Sky (channel 164), BT TV (channel 329), Virgin TV (channel 208) and Talk Talk TV (channel 329). There is an app to watch their movies on demand, but unfortunately it's only available to US viewers. So if you want to see a specific Lifetime movie in the UK, you'll have to go the traditional route and set the record straight.
For years, the Lifetime movies were considered terrible movies. Lifetime originally launched in 1984 as a channel aimed at female viewers, joining cable channels like Showtime and HBO in making TV movies, but as the Washington Post reported in 2015, its content was more "dramatic." ". "I think one thing, certainly one thing about the old Lifetime movies is that there's always a relatable character in it, and then the most extreme things happen," network VP Arturo Interan told the Washington Post . "Your husband is a serial killer, or you are addicted to gambling." Interan continued:
“If you’re going through a tough time in your life, I promise you – your life is not as bad as what some of the characters in the Lifetime movie are going through.”
But in recent years, that era of "Lifetime" has seemed like a distant memory, with the channel increasingly leaning toward making movies that "will earn them bigger, more mainstream audiences, awards and more respect in the industry." From the 2012 Steel Magnolias remake to the 2015 Whitney Houston biopic, there's a clear gulf between the Lifetime movies made in the '90s and early '00s compared to now.
It's also worth noting that Lifetime isn't just a channel for women, according to BuzzFeed News, "73 percent of Lifetime's original movies from 1994 to 2016 were written or directed by women." In 2015, it was also " The only channel on television with its top five original films […] if you compare that to Hollywood, where only 4% of directors and 15% of screenwriters are female, according to Stats.com. Women And Hollywood, I think it's fair to say that Lifetime is one of the best places for female filmmakers and writers right now.
"Hiring women works," Tanya Lopez, senior vice president of original film programming, told BuzzFeed. "Mentorships, internships, all those things are great at a certain entry level, but the reality is people just Want to work. Our north star is: giving. That’s the only way. "
