The fourth season of Industry is almost here and ahead of its return, the new episodes have received near-universal acclaim.

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Season four will consist of eight episodes, each airing weekly until its conclusion in early March. The series airs exclusively on the BBC in the UK.

The new season has brought numerous additions to the cast, including Kal Penn, whose character Jay Jonah Atterbury is the “CEO and founder of payment processor Tender.” Other Stranger Things star Charlie Heaton is also a new arrival, playing Jim Dycker, “a finance journalist.”

Kiernan Shipka (Twisters, The Last Showgirl), Jack Farthing (Towards Zero, Rain Dogs) Toheeb Jimoh (Ted Lasso, The Power) and Amy James-Kelly (Three Families, Coronation Street), all of whom were announced in March, will also be joining Industry for season four.

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Industry season four got a five-star review from The Guardian, who noted that after the show “hit its stride” in its third season, “season four is even better, truly top-tier television that’s surely destined for end-of-year lists, a serious feat when we’re barely a week into January.”

Variety was similarly positive, writing: “Season 3 was the culmination of several years of pent-up tension. Season 4 is building something, if not entirely new, then without much of the scaffolding that once gave Industry a consistent structure. It’s an effort so commendable in principle and enjoyable in practice that a little leeway is the least Industry can ask.”

Meanwhile, Mashable praised a “jaw-dropping” season that’s “just as ambitious as the young traders at Industry‘s core”, lauding its thematic and technical evolution.

The Standard, however, was more critical, describing it as “almost perfect apart from the politics”. Though its review had a four-star rating, it noted that “a Labour party storyline introduces a political element to the season that feels superfluous, worthy and oddly unsexy for Industry. Trimming this fat would have helped to streamline the series, although by episode six it becomes impossible to separate the two plots”.

Season three of Industry saw the addition of Kit Harington, and the show was praised by fans as some of the “best ever” episodes of television. The finale was also hailed as “one of the greatest season finales I’ve ever watched”, “momentous” and “insanely good” by fans.