SKY, AMAZON, APPLE TV+ & NETFLIX
The Nevers
HBO has been searching for its new Game Of Thrones and this exuberant fantasy series ticks a lot of the boxes. Large cast of colourful characters? Check. Richly plotted and repaying repeated viewings? Check. Spectacular and inventive set-pieces? Check.
There are also rug-pulling revelations that a rewatch reveals to have been cleverly signalled. It’s set in London, 1899. Amalia True (Laura Donnelly) and her friend Penance Adair (Ann Skelly) run a home for ‘the Touched’, women and girls left with superhero powers (their ‘turns’) after a mysterious incident three years earlier.
Amalia True (Laura Donnelly) and her friend Penance Adair (Ann Skelly) run a home for ‘the Touched’. Also stars James Norton (above) and Rochelle Neil
But the Touched have enemies in high places and low. Also stars James Norton and Rochelle Neil. Sky/NOW, from Monday
P!NK: All I Know So Far
The award-winning singer P!nk (above), filmed on her 2019 Beautiful Trauma world tour. Mixing footage from the road, behind-the-scenes interviews and personal material
The award-winning singer P!nk, filmed on her 2019 Beautiful Trauma world tour. Mixing footage from the road, behind-the-scenes interviews and personal material, director Michael Gracey (The Greatest Showman) gives fans a glimpse behind P!nk’s extraordinary life. Amazon, from Friday
Sensitive Skin
Based on Hugo Blick’s BBC series with Joanna Lumley, this Canadian black comedy stars Kim Cattrall as fifty-something Davina, a once-noted beauty who worries her looks are fading.
Based on Hugo Blick’s BBC series with Joanna Lumley, this Canadian black comedy stars Kim Cattrall (above) as fifty-something Davina
She and her neurotic husband Al (Don McKellar) have just moved from the suburbs to Toronto, and her life is about to undergo some major upheavals. Acorn TV, from Monday
Army Of The Dead
Dave Bautista takes the lead role of former war hero Scott Ward, who is offered a new mission – to lead a ragtag bunch of mercenaries into zombie-infested Las Vegas.
Once there, the team must steal a stash of $200 million hidden in a vault beneath the Strip. A prequel and a spin-off animated series are currently in production. Netflix, from Friday
Trying
Nikki (Esther Smith) and Jason (Rafe Spall) were trying for a baby until the doctors told them it was unlikely. So they decided to adopt, but in the eight-episode second season they’re still navigating the process.
Smith and Spall have great chemistry and this is a charming comedy about a serious subject. It’s Apple TV+’s first British scripted original and is written by Andy Wolton, whose adoption as a child was the inspiration for it. Apple TV+, from Friday
Your Honor
The ‘distressing’ content warning at the start of the first episode of this gripping drama refers to the very graphic scene in which a young man dies after a road accident.
But you might also find yourself becoming distressed by every appearance of the spectacularly irritating Adam Desiato (Hunter Doohan), the privileged, selfish teen who caused the accident and then fled.
You might also find yourself becoming distressed by every appearance of the spectacularly irritating Adam Desiato (Hunter Doohan, above), the privileged, selfish teen
When his father, Michael (Bryan Cranston), a judge, realises that Adam’s victim is the son of a vicious organised-crime boss, he sets about trying to cover up the mess. It does not go well. Sky/NOW, available now
Solos
The impressive cast for this sci-fi anthology series includes Oscar-winners Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway and Helen Mirren (above)
The impressive cast for this sci-fi anthology series includes Oscar-winners Morgan Freeman, Anne Hathaway and Helen Mirren. Each episode apart from one features just a single performer, and Amazon says the series ‘explores the deeper meaning of human connection…’ Amazon, from Friday
THE TEN HOTTEST SHOWS TO WATCH ON DISNEY+/STAR
1 Lost
Yes, the ending was a let-down but the journey was more important than the destination in a gripping sci-fi mystery about survivors of a plane crash who wake up on a very strange island.
2 WandaVision
Off-the-wall Marvel superhero series featuring Wanda and Vision (Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany) and paying tribute to classic sitcoms of the past such as I Love Lucy.
3 The Right Stuff
Fictionalised account of the first astronauts – Alan Shepard, John Glenn et al – their race to reach space and the friction between them. Inspired by Tom Wolfe’s book.
The life of agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland, above)
4 24
Febrile action show in which each 24-episode series covers 24 hours in the life of agent Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), who is always battling to prevent a terrorist atrocity.
5 Grey’s Anatomy
Long-running, much-loved medical drama about young doctors in training at a major hospital. There are more than 350 episodes.
6 Desperate Housewives
Campy comedy drama revolving around the ladies of Wisteria Lane, a picturesque street of fancy houses hiding dark secrets. Starring Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria and Felicity Huffman.
7 The X-Files
Influential sci-fi series about FBI agents Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson), investigating unexplained incidents.
8 The Mandalorian
Immersive Star Wars spin-off that manages to recapture the thrills and exhilaration provided by the first films in the franchise. The Mandalorian, a bounty hunter, and ‘The Child’ (aka Baby Yoda) are on the run in a galaxy far, far away.
9 Criminal Minds
An FBI unit of behavioural analysts uses profiling techniques to identify and apprehend serial killers in this tense crime drama.
10 Glee
The members of a high-school show choir deal with the issues all teenagers face in a musical comedy that revived interest in several songs, including Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’.
ALL4 & BBC iPLAYER
Fargo
The fourth series of the quirky comedy crime drama, a spin-off from the Coen brothers’ 1996 film of the same name which starred Frances McDormand. This time we’re in Kansas City in 1950 with two organised crime gangs battling for control of the city.
Loy Cannon (Chris Rock) runs an outfit comprised of African-Americans who have fled the Jim Crow south. Also featuring Irish actress Jessie Buckley (above) and Britain’s Ben Whishaw
Loy Cannon (Chris Rock) runs an outfit comprised of African-Americans who have fled the Jim Crow south and are trying to usurp the Fadda family, headed by Josto Fadda (Jason Schwartzman).
Also featuring Irish actress Jessie Buckley and Britain’s Ben Whishaw. All4, available now
The Killing
The Copenhagen-set crime drama spawned the whole ‘Nordic noir’ genre on-screen, created a cult heroine in the jumper-wearing detective Sarah Lund and made an international star of Sofie Grabol.
The Copenhagen-set crime drama spawned the whole ‘Nordic noir’ genre on-screen and made an international star of Sofie Grabol (above, with Kim Bodnia and Klaus Tange)
The three series were celebrated for their twisty, gritty plots and their focus on the way the impact of crime ripples out across society. The brooding cinematography is terrific, as is Grabol’s portrayal of a dogged, driven cop whose obsessive nature and emotional distance sometimes frustrates her colleagues. BBC iPlayer, available now
Norma Percy Collection
Norma Percy is an award-winning film-maker whose brilliant documentaries about politics are years in the making. Among those available are The Iraq War, plus Putin, Russia And The West and Inside Obama’s White House. BBC iPlayer, available now
Time Is A Killer
Eight-part crime drama starring Mathilde Seigner as Clotilde, the only survivor of an accident in which her brother and parents were killed. Twenty-five years later, Mathilde returns to her Corsican home town, ready to make a fresh start with her husband and daughter – although her efforts to lay to rest ghosts from her past look set to be ruined by a letter that appears to be from her long-dead mother…
Ex-Bond girl Caterina Murino and former Spiral and Mr Selfridge star Gregory Fitoussi also appear. Walter Presents/All4, available now
Love Life
Ten-part series about the romantic ups and downs – mostly downs, to be honest – of Darby Carter (Anna Kendrick, above), a young woman living in New York
Ten-part series about the romantic ups and downs – mostly downs, to be honest – of Darby Carter (Anna Kendrick), a young woman living in New York. Each episode tells the story of a different relationship as Darby begins to lose hope that she’ll ever meet the right person.
Kendrick is always good value and this is a light and enjoyable watch. BBC iPlayer, available now
Why is there such a buzz about..?
Starstruck (BBC iPlayer)
When Jessie (Rose Matafeo) wakes up next to a stranger after a drunken New Year’s Eve, she’s delighted to see that he’s very handsome. Result! But then things get complicated when she discovers that she’s only gone and pulled Tom Kapoor (Nikesh Patel), a celebrated film star.
Jessie (Rose Matafeo, above) wakes up next to a stranger after a drunken night
Jessie has, by her own estimation and that of her friends, punched well above her weight. As her incredulous flatmate Kate (Emma Sidi) tells her, ‘He’s a famous actor and you’re a little rat nobody!’
It doesn’t really matter, though, because Jessie doesn’t imagine she’ll ever see Tom again and goes back to her millennial life, working in a couple of jobs, hanging out with her daft friends.
But Tom is really keen on her and seeks her out. And this becomes a charming, funny, will-they-won’t-they? romcom.
There are six short episodes, each packed with great gags and excellent physical comedy. Viewers have binged the lot, lapping up the feelgood factor.
Some compare it to Fleabag, because it’s created by, and stars, a brilliant young female talent: Matafeo is a 29-year-old comic from New Zealand. It will be fascinating to see where she takes Jessie next.
Neil Armstrong