Banking drama Industry is back for its fourth season on the BBC, meaning cortisol levels across the country are ready to be spiked.
However, after Pierpoint’s merger and the main characters’ exits, there’s less focus on the trading and a bigger shift to politics – of business, marriage, and government.
Still, it remains stressful, but in darker, more sinister ways.
Harper Stern (Myha’la), originally an analyst on the trading floor, is now running an operation which specialises in short selling (not the Bart Simpson type).
Meanwhile, Yasmin Kara-Hanani (Marisa Abela), having chosen the life of a Lady (Lady Muck, no less), is left to grapple with the Lord (Kit Harrington).
As the protagonists’ lives have developed, their problems are grander, and the consequences of their actions are much greater.
Industry season 4: Key details
When is Industry season 4 being released?
Industry season four premieres on Monday January 12.
The first episode is available to stream on BBC iPlayer, and will air on BBC One tonight at 10.40pm.
New episodes will then air on BBC One every Monday at the same time.
How many episodes are there in season 4?
There are eight episodes in the new season.
This is the same number of episodes that have been in each season.
Who’s in the cast?
The cast of Industry season four includes Myha’la, Marisa Abela, Kit Harington, Max Minghella, Ken Leung, Miriam Petche, Sagar Radia, Kiernan Shipka and Charlie Heaton, as well as many more.
What’s the fourth season about?
The BBC’s official synopsis of Industry season four reads: ‘At the top of their game and living the lives they set out to have as Pierpoint grads, Harper (Myha’la) and Yasmin (Marisa Abela) are drawn into a high stakes, globetrotting cat-and-mouse game when a splashy fintech darling bursts onto the London scene.
‘As Yasmin navigates her relationship with tech founder Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington) and Harper is pulled into the orbit of enigmatic executive Whitney Halberstram (Max Minghella), their twisted friendship begins to warp and ignite under the pressure of money, power, and the desire to be on top.’
Harper’s misbooking with a six-figure loss in season one feels small-fry in comparison to what’s at stake now.
Alongside Eric (Ken Leung), Sweetpea (Miriam Petche), and new recruit Kwabena (Toheeb Jimoh), Harper’s team doubles as short sellers and investigators who are trying to get to the bottom of a potentially ruinous fact-finding mission.
As for Yasmin, her descent into an even darker reality eerily unfolds as the season progresses.
If this doesn’t sound light, it isn’t.
Although Sweetpea and Kwabena come with a slightly brighter energy, we’re missing the kindness and depth of characters like Rob (Harry Lawtey).
For all his flaws, the somewhat charming grad, who was mocked for ‘sounding like a miner’, brought a level of humanity and warmth to a show that at times felt cold.
Rob and Yas were also the Ross and Rachel/Connell and Marianne of the series, and the writers would have done well to keep that tension in for another season. TikTok, with its fan edits of the pair, will certainly miss them.
Not only that, but he was also flying the flag for state-educated bankers with regional accents – it was great to see that representation on screen.
Aside from Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton as financial journalist Jim Dycker, I felt that the characters originating north of Watford lacked some nuance and were portrayed rather simplistically.
Jennifer Bevan (Amy James-Kelly) is a do-good, Labour politician from the North who gets herself in a spot of trouble, but I found her naivety unrealistic.
Industry creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay, who lived the reality of the investment banking world before taking to script-writing, told Variety that they’re ‘constantly making it up as we go along’ and ‘writing what we think is interesting at the time’.
This is evident in season four, which tackles an online safety bill, how platforms like OnlyFans operate, and even conjures up a figure that draws parallels with Ghislaine Maxwell by the end.
If that’s not hitting the news cycle bingo card with a very topical dabber, then I don’t know what is.
Nonetheless, the show still manages to tackle evergreen topics with sophistication.
The eternal complexities of female friendship are an unlikely point-scorer for them in this department.
Yasmin and Harper’s relationship is messier and more complicated than ever, but their connection runs even deeper.
However, just when you think the pair have reached a state of mutual respect, one does something to throw the other’s life off track.
The scene at the end of episode seven is a perfect homage to their intense bond, which is the through-line of the whole series.
They go back to their partying roots with a drug-infused club night, which sees them crashing out in the smoking area, leaning into their high.
‘We’re here forever, even if we can’t be,’ says Yasmin as the music plays and their eyes roll back.
The club unites characters in Industry as a place where everyone goes, regardless of status, money and profession.
Verdict on Industry season 4
The more success the characters in Industry experience, the more harrowing the series has become.
Four seasons into the show, I’m still none the wiser about the investment banking industry, yet the drama manages to make me gasp.
There’s not much light to balance out the darkness permeating this latest batch of episodes, but I remain fully engrossed.
Without the boardrooms and workplaces that they used to hide behind, we see the raw state of two young girls, who are just chasing a good time.
Scenes like this provide some light relief in a show that has become more harrowing, the higher the characters have climbed.
will you be watching Industry sesaon 4?
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Yes - I can't wait!
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No, I need to catch-up!
Yasmin’s husband, Sir Henry Muck, is struggling with an addiction that leads to one of the most brutal scenes on the show (there have been a few), and the circles they swim in stray further away from any moral standpoint.
Regardless, I was still left gasping at the whiplashing twists the drama brings, and I remain fully immersed in a jargon-filled world that four seasons later, I’m still none the wiser about.
Hats off to Down and Kay, who can capture the attention of a mostly financially illiterate audience, with an emotionally literate show – even if it does leave you feeling depressed.
Industry season 4 premieres on Monday 12th January 2026 on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
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