NETFLIX
The English Game
Not content with writing terrestrial TV’s big show of the week with Belgravia, Julian Fellowes is also behind this six-part drama series charting the origins of football.
Not content with writing terrestrial TV’s big show of the week with Belgravia, Julian Fellowes is also behind this six-part drama series charting the origins of football
The game and the Downton Abbey creator may seem unlikely bedfellows but this period drama focuses on the class divide at the heart of the nascent sport in 1870s England.
The plot follows Fergus Suter (Kevin Guthrie), a Glaswegian stonemason said to be the first professional footballer, and Arthur Kinnaird (Edward Holcroft), ‘the First Lord of Football’, who form a bond to bring the game to the masses in the face of firm resistance from the elite. From Friday
Shaun The Sheep: Adventures From Messy Bottom
Nick Park’s Aardman Animations – creators of Wallace And Gromit and Creature Comforts – are onto another winner with this fun children’s show that will bring a smile to adult faces too.
The loveable lamb is back in action, enjoying fun and games with his pals and loyal dog Bitzer down on the farm. Andy Nyman, Kate Harbour, John Sparkes and Marcus Brigstocke are among the vocal cast. From Tuesday
Tiger King
Anyone hoping for a cute Lion King spin-off will be disappointed to find that the streaming giant’s latest docu-series is a disturbing probe into the shady world of big-cat trading.
Tiger King, Netflix’s latest docu-series, is a disturbing probe into the shady world of big-cat trading and tells the story of the bizarrely named tiger-breeder Joe Exotic (above)
It tells the story of the bizarrely named tiger-breeder Joe Exotic (real name Joseph Maldonado-Passage), colourful proprietor of an Oklahoma animal park and one-time US presidential candidate (though he only won 962 votes).
In 2017 he hired an assassin to terminate his nemesis, the animal welfare activist Carole Baskin. But it was a set-up: the killer he hired was an FBI agent… From Friday
The Letter For The King
TV producers have spent the past few years trying to find a new Game Of Thrones. The latest attempt is a six-part adaptation of The Letter For The King, a young adult novel by Tonke Dragt that is hugely popular in its native Netherlands.
Set in a fictional medieval world, it follows the progress of Tiuri (played by His Dark Materials and The Secret Garden star Amir Wilson), a trainee knight entrusted with delivering the titular letter.
Along the way, Tiuri discovers that he may have a key role to play in a magical prophecy involving a threat to the kingdom. From Friday
Self Made: Inspired By The Life Of Madam CJ Walker
Sarah Breedlove, aka Madam CJ Walker, is a largely unknown figure in the UK, but this new series from Harriet director Kasi Lemmons should change that.
Walker (she took the surname of her third husband in 1906) blazed a trail for African-Americans and women alike during the early part of the 20th century. The daughter of former slaves, she created a range of haircare products whose astonishing success made her the US’s first female self-made millionaire.
Octavia Spencer (2012 Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress for The Help) plays her; the script is inspired by a biography written by Walker’s great-great-granddaughter, A’Lelia Bundles. From Friday
AMAZON
Wrong Man
Netflix may lead the way when it comes to crime documentaries, but StarzPlay has a winner with this series. The first run, shown in 2018, followed experts reinvestigating cases of three convicts who claimed they were innocent.
Experts, including Sue-Ann Robinson and Ira Todd (above), are back looking at cases including Kenneth Clair, who was sentenced to death for the torture and murder of a babysitter in 1984
After proving two were not guilty, the experts, including Sue-Ann Robinson and Ira Todd are back for another six-part run.
This time they’re looking at the convictions of Vonda Smith, who’s locked up for murdering her grandchild’s mother; Patricia Rorrer, who has spent 30 years behind bars for killing a mother and her baby son; and Kenneth Clair, who was sentenced to death for the torture and murder of a babysitter in 1984. Starzplay, from Thursday
The Jewish Enquirer
Paul (Tim Downie) is a luckless reporter working for The Jewish Enquirer – ‘the UK’s fourth- biggest Jewish publisher’ – which nobody reads, perhaps because it specialises in such hold-the-front-page scoops as ‘Chief rabbi shops at M&S – exclusive’.
His attempts to shift his career up a few gears are hindered by his foul-mouthed sister Naomi (Lucy Montgomery) and his useless friend Simon (Josh Howie).
This six-episode sitcom is bursting at the seams with eye-wateringly un-PC gags about, among other things, sex, dwarfs, vegans, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Available now
Why is there such a buzz about..?
Outlander (Amazon Prime)
Outlander is a stirring period drama with a wee dash of fantasy
No show has fans more passionate or active on the internet. Outlander, newly returned for its fifth season, is endlessly discussed in minute detail in online communities, whose members organise themselves to vote for it in awards polls.
They also back the various charities supported by the show’s two stars, Caitriona Balfe (one branch of her fans calls itself the ‘Caitrionation’), and Sam Heughan (‘Heughligans’).
What’s it about? It’s a stirring period drama with a wee dash of fantasy. A 20th-century nurse, Claire, travels back in time to 18th-century Scotland, where she falls in love with a rugged highlander, Jamie.
Adventure ensues – and sex, a lot of sex. Although Claire and Jamie are currently in North Carolina, in colonial America, the show is still filmed in Scotland and the early seasons were largely set there; featured locations saw tourist numbers almost double.
Missed those seasons? Dinna fash, Sassenach, they’re all on Amazon Prime.
Neil Armstrong
SKY, NOW TV & BRITBOX
Mrs Fletcher
A seven-part HBO comedy that chronicles the personal and sexual journeys of an empty-nest mother, Eve (Kathryn Hahn), and her son Brendan (Jackson White).
A seven-part HBO comedy, Mrs Fletcher chronicles the personal and sexual journeys of an empty-nest mother, Eve (Kathryn Hahn, above), and her son Brendan (Jackson White)
Eve, a divorcée and care-home director in her mid-40s, drops Brendan off at college and returns to her lonely suburban house.
After her friend teasingly calls her a ‘skinny MILF goddess’, she logs on and finds herself developing an obsession with internet pornography. NOW TV, available now
Mike Judge: Tales From The Tour Bus
He’s best known for creating Beavis And Butt-Head and King Of The Hill, but Mike Judge also spent time as a pro musician before turning to film-making.
Both worlds collide in this animated documentary series, which profiles various music stars via anecdotes from their friends and families.
The first season focuses on Jerry Lee Lewis, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Billy Joe Shaver, Waylon Jennings and Blaze Foley. Sky On Demand, from Sunday
The Shield
Are the police more dangerous than the criminals they’re meant to catch? In the world of The Shield the answer is a resounding yes. Across seven series, viewers saw Detective Vic Mackey and his colleagues use decidedly underhand methods to coerce information out of informants.
The star, Michael Chiklis (above), and tense storylines won The Shield numerous awards. Now all seven seasons are available – it would be a crime to miss them
They’re also not averse to profiting from drug busts or dishing out their own brand of justice. And that’s part of what makes this drama so watchable.
The star, Michael Chiklis, and tense storylines also won it numerous awards. Now all seven seasons are available – it would be a crime to miss them. Sky On Demand, from Friday
Shetland
The scenery featured in this crime drama inspired by Ann Cleeves’ novels may be picturesque yet the storylines are anything but. DI Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall) deals with some of the ugliest events ever to take place on the islands. The fifth series, shown last year on BBC1, sees him investigate a severed hand on a beach. BritBox, from Friday
BBC iPLAYER & ALL 4
Spooks
For ten series viewers were hooked on this spy drama about MI5’s counter-terrorism division, and with good reason. Fast-paced, gritty and stylish, each episode passed by in the blink of an eye but left everyone with plenty to talk about at the watercooler the next day.
Hermione Norris and Antonia Campbell-Hughes are among the notable cast members who appeared in the ten series of fast-paced, gritty, spy drama Spooks
It grabbed headlines almost from the off (who can forget the second episode in which Lisa Faulkner’s character met the grisliest death ever depicted on the small screen?) and is still missed by fans.
Matthew Macfadyen, Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Rupert Penry-Jones, Nicola Walker, Hermione Norris and Antonia Campbell-Hughes are among its notable cast members.
A film, subtitled The Greater Good, was released in 2015, but the series is far superior. BBC iPlayer, from Thursday
Hilary Mantel: Return To Wolf Hall
The double Booker prize-winning historical novelist explains, in her precise, measured voice, how she went from a working-class childhood in Derbyshire, breathing ‘in stories as I breathed in air’ to her modern status as Tudor England’s greatest chronicler.
Describing herself as ‘ferociously ambitious’ yet prone to tears, she explains her method of writing, how inspiration for the execution of Thomas Cromwell came to her when she was shopping in Sainsbury’s and reveals the terrible family secret that helped fire her fertile imagination.
She also sets the scene for the final novel in the Wolf Hall trilogy, The Mirror And The Light. BBC iPlayer, available now
The Teacher
Get ready to be kept on the edge of your seat during eight hours of gripping TV. The drama’s first run won best fictional series at the Polish Film Awards and broke records in its native country.
In the eagerly awaited second series, Maciej Stuhr returns as teacher Paweł Zawadzk, who is blackmailed into taking a new post at a prestigious school.
But as it’s a rather bleak place where the sun never shines, it’s obvious from the start that the institution’s walls are hiding something very nasty indeed… All 4, from Friday
Hometown: A Killing
Journalist Mobeen Azhar caused a stir last year with his six-part BBC documentary series, which initially investigated the death of a young man but soon turned into a wide-ranging exploration of violent crime and drugs in his home town of Huddersfield.
Nominated for Best Documentary at the upcoming Royal Television Society Awards, the series returns to the West Yorkshire town with a two-part update on turf wars, police informers and a new frontline on the war on drugs.
Azhar’s original series was met with praise and anger in equal measure, and here he faces down his critics on the mean streets of Huddersfield. BBC iPlayer, from Wednesday
FILM
Knives Out
The wait to see Daniel Craig in No Time To Die is eased with this whodunnit, in which the 007 star adopts a thick Deep South accent to play eccentric detective Benoit Blanc in a tribute to Agatha Christie by writer/director Rian Johnson.
Blanc is called to the estate of crime novelist Harlan Thrombey when he is found dead after his 85th birthday.
From Thrombey’s dysfunctional family to his devoted staff, Blanc sifts a tangled mess of half-baked leads and little white lies to uncover the truth behind the untimely death. Sky Store, available to buy from Monday; Rakuten, from Saturday
Frozen II
Long-suffering parents hoping to have heard Let It Go for the last time will welcome the new adventures of Elsa the Snow Queen, her sister Princess Anna and Kristoff the ice harvester. Not to mention Olaf, the carrot-nosed snowman: it’s a Disney film, after all.
Three years on from Elsa’s coronation a strange voice draws her into the Enchanted Forest in search of a secret from the past in Frozen II
Three years on from Elsa’s coronation a strange voice draws her into the Enchanted Forest in search of a secret from the past. Sprinkled with a hefty dollop of fairydust, and with an Oscar-nominated song (Into The Unknown), Frozen II is catnip for kids: prepare to enter a new Ice Age… Sky Store & Rakuten, available to buy from Monday
Harriet
After civil rights activist Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman is perhaps America’s most famous black heroine.
The escaped slave, who in the 1840s returned from freedom in the north to run the Underground Railroad, by which slaves could escape from bondage in the antebellum Southern states, is here played with a grim tenacity yet also a wide-eyed other-worldliness by Oscar-nominated Cynthia Erivo (Widows).
Joe Alwyn (The Favourite, Mary Queen Of Scots) plays her evil former owner, who pursues Harriet like a double-crossed gangster out for payback. Sky Store, available to buy from Monday