By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Published: | Updated:
The voice of Gene Wilder guides contenders towards a ‘life-changing prize’ in this grand contest
Year: 2026
Certificate: pg
Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl estate back in 2021, and this fully fledged contest based on his Charlie And The Chocolate Factory story is by far the biggest thing to come out of that deal so far. Wonka’s The Golden Ticket follows the same principle as Dahl’s story, with 12 contenders (and their partners of choice) invited into a vast chocolate factory to complete a series of fiendish challenges, in the hope of winning not the factory itself but an unspecified ‘life-changing prize’.
In line with the book, these challenges aren’t just physical or mental, but moral, too, and that’s where the most intriguing moments come from for us at home, as the contenders weigh how much they’re willing to sacrifice for the grand prize.
The story is known all over the world, so this show has a lot of potential to become a family favourite. In an unsettling touch that does rather suit the dark tone of the story, the voice of the late Gene Wilder – who played Willy Wonka in the 1971 film Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory – has been re-created to guide the contenders through the factory.
That may be too much for some people, but at least they didn’t go the whole hog and turn him into a video. An actual, in-person attendance from the film is Rusty Goffe, who played one of the Oompa-Loompas. Let the madness commence… (Seven episodes on 23 September, with a two-part finale on 30 September)
