January 2026 gave Netflix UK two of the biggest moments it has had: the Stranger Things series finale on New Year’s night, and Bridgerton coming back at the end of the month. In between came a Harlan Coben thriller shot in Britain, a heist film with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, and a three-part Agatha Christie.
If you came here looking for this month rather than January, the list you want is our October 2026 release list, and our guide to what’s new on Netflix UK is kept up to date all year.
This page is the January 2026 record, corrected after the event. Every list published at the time was a forward schedule written in December 2025, so a few titles never arrived and a few dates moved. This is what actually landed.
Key takeaways
- Stranger Things ended at 1am GMT on 1 January — Netflix released it globally at 5pm Pacific on 31 December.
- Bridgerton season 4 part 1 arrived 29 January, four episodes, Benedict’s story.
- The RIP landed 16 January — Affleck and Damon, and the month’s biggest film.
- Run Away opened the month on 1 January, the British Harlan Coben adaptation.
- Netflix is now in 18.1 million UK homes — 61% of them — and passed the BBC as viewers’ first choice in 2026.
The two that defined the month
Stranger Things: the series finale
In the UK, the Stranger Things finale began streaming at 1am GMT on Thursday 1 January 2026. Netflix released it worldwide at the same instant — 5pm Pacific time on 31 December — so British viewers got it in the small hours of New Year’s Day rather than on New Year’s Eve.
That is why you will see the finale listed under both dates depending on where the site is written. Both are correct; the clocks are doing the work.
The episode was called “The Rightside Up” and ran 2 hours and 5 minutes, the longest of the season, according to Forbes. Netflix also put it in cinemas, which it had never done with a television episode before.
Bridgerton: season 4, part 1
29 January, four episodes, and the story moved to Benedict — the second son, and the one the books had been building towards. Netflix split the season, which it has now done with most of its biggest returning shows.
Part 2 followed a month later. We cover when Bridgerton season 4 part 2 arrived separately, including the UK time it went live.
The month’s five biggest titles
| Title | Date | What it was | Who was in it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stranger Things finale | 1 Jan, 1am GMT | Series finale, 2h 05m | The full cast |
| Run Away | 1 Jan | British Harlan Coben thriller | James Nesbitt, Ruth Jones |
| His & Hers | 8 Jan | Limited series | Tessa Thompson, Jon Bernthal |
| The RIP | 16 Jan | Heist film, dir. Joe Carnahan | Ben Affleck, Matt Damon |
| Bridgerton S4 Pt 1 | 29 Jan | Four episodes | Luke Thompson as Benedict |
The British ones
Run Away — 1 January
A father sees his missing daughter busking in a London park, and everything unravels from there. James Nesbitt and Ruth Jones lead it, and it is part of the long-running deal that has made Netflix the home of Harlan Coben adaptations shot in Britain.
These British commissions are a large part of why the UK catalogue is not the American one, something we go through in our guide to why the UK and US catalogues differ.
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials — 15 January
Three parts, adapted from the 1929 novel. Short enough to finish in an evening, which is rarer than it should be.
Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart — 21 January
A documentary, and the month’s heaviest watch.
Films worth remembering
The RIP — 16 January
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, directed by Joe Carnahan. Miami police find a house full of cash, and then find out what it costs to keep quiet about it.
This was the biggest film Netflix put out in January and it was missing from the earlier version of this page. It is the one to go back for.
People We Meet on Vacation — 9 January
The Emily Henry adaptation. Two friends, ten summers, and the obvious problem between them.
His & Hers — 8 January
Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal in a limited series about a murder and two accounts of it that do not match.
Every Netflix UK release, January 2026
N marks a Netflix Original. Everything else was licensed in, which matters because licensed titles rotate out again — our guide to how long titles stay on Netflix explains the windows.
| Date | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 January | Stranger Things finale (1am GMT) N · Run Away N · Time Flies N · Love from 9 to 5 N · My Korean Boyfriend N · Dr. Seuss’s Red Fish, Blue Fish S2 N |
| 2 January | Land of Sin N |
| 7 January | Marcello Hernández: American Boy N · Unlocked: A Jail Experiment S2 N |
| 8 January | His & Hers N · Love Is Blind: Germany S2 N |
| 9 January | People We Meet on Vacation N · Alpha Males S4 N |
| 13 January | The Boyfriend S2 N |
| 14 January | The Queen of Flow S3 N |
| 15 January | Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials N · The Upshaws Part 7 N · Love Through a Prism N · To Love, To Lose N |
| 16 January | The RIP N · Can This Love Be Translated? N · No Tail to Tell N |
| 17 January | Star Search (live) N · WWE: Unreal S2 N |
| 21 January | Kidnapped: Elizabeth Smart N |
| 22 January | Finding Her Edge N · Cosmic Princess Kaguya! N |
| 23 January | Skyscraper Live N · The Big Fake N |
| 27 January | Mike Epps: Delusional N |
| 29 January | Bridgerton S4 Part 1 N |
| Date not fixed | The Life of Chuck · Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire · 100 Meters · Lisa Frankenstein · French Girl · Raging Bull · Hot Pursuit · The Good Doctor · The Amazing World of Gumball · Free Bert N · Your Turn to Kill · Who Killed Lin & Megan? · Timelesz Project -Real- |
Two titles that appeared on some January lists are not here, because we could not confirm either for the UK: WWE Monday Night Raw, whose Netflix rights are built around North America, and a James Bond collection, which does not appear on the UK schedule at all.
How January 2026 fits the bigger UK picture
A month with one tentpole ending and another starting is not an accident. Netflix is defending a position it has only just taken, and the UK market it is defending it in has stopped growing.
Ofcom’s Media Nations UK 2026 report, published in July 2026, put Netflix in 18.1 million UK households — 61% of them. Prime Video reaches 13.7 million (46%) and Disney+ 7.8 million (26%). 69% of UK homes have at least one of the three, and 20% have all three.
Two things in that report are worth putting together. Netflix accounted for 9% of all in-home video viewing in the UK. And for the first time, 26% of UK viewers said Netflix was where they look first for something to watch — just ahead of the BBC on 25%.
It overtook the BBC in the same year the market stopped expanding. Subscription streaming now reaches about 70% of UK homes, down from 73% in 2024 and 78% in 2022.
So the arms race in a month like January 2026 is a fight over households that already subscribe, rather than new ones. That is also why prices have moved so much since: our comparison of Netflix against Prime Video on value and our guide to UK streaming services compared both go through where that has landed.
If you wanted this month, not January
- This month’s full list — our October 2026 release list
- The guide we keep current all year — what’s new on Netflix UK
- What is on the way out — what’s leaving Netflix UK
- What everybody is actually watching — the Netflix UK Top 10
- Travelling? Downloading titles for offline viewing, including the limits on each plan
- The month after this one was the February 2026 line-up
Frequently asked questions
What came out on Netflix UK in January 2026?
The Stranger Things finale on 1 January, Run Away the same day, His & Hers on the 8th, People We Meet on Vacation on the 9th, Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials on the 15th, The RIP on the 16th and Bridgerton season 4 part 1 on the 29th. The full table above has everything.
What time did the Stranger Things season 5 finale air in the UK?
1am GMT on Thursday 1 January 2026. Netflix released it globally at 5pm Pacific on 31 December, which falls in the early hours of New Year’s Day in Britain.
When was Bridgerton season 4 released, and was it split?
Yes, it was split. Part 1 arrived on 29 January 2026 with four episodes, and part 2 followed on 26 February. We cover the part 2 release in detail separately.
Was Run Away on Netflix UK?
Yes, from 1 January 2026. It is a British Harlan Coben adaptation with James Nesbitt and Ruth Jones.
What was The RIP?
A heist film released on 16 January 2026, directed by Joe Carnahan, with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon. It was the biggest film Netflix released that month.
How many episodes is Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials?
Three. It arrived on 15 January 2026.
What is new on Netflix UK this month?
Our October 2026 list has the current month, and our rolling guide to what’s new on Netflix UK is updated through the year.
Why is Netflix UK different from Netflix US?
Licensed films and series are negotiated country by country, and Netflix commissions separately for each market. Our guide to how the UK and US catalogues differ explains it.
In short
January 2026 was the month Netflix UK closed Stranger Things and opened Bridgerton’s fourth season, with The RIP and a British Harlan Coben thriller in between. The finale went live at 1am GMT on New Year’s Day, and Bridgerton’s first four episodes arrived on the 29th.
For what is on now rather than what was on then, start with our October 2026 release list. And if you would rather browse than read a list, the homepage has everything we have published this week.
Last updated: 26 October 2026.
If you spot something wrong here, or you want us to change something, email us at support@ornapo.co.uk.
