ant to hunker down in front of a screen but stuck for something to watch?
Here are the films, TV shows and special streaming events on our cultural radar right now, plus some of our favourites from recent weeks that you can catch up on…
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August 11, 2023
Heart of Stone
Everyone’s favourite Wonder Woman Gal Gadot hams it up as international spy Rachel Stone in Netflix’s new thriller. She’s been tasked with stopping a mysterious weapon named The Heart from landing in enemy hands (see what they did there?) and picks up a rag-tag team to help her.
We Are Newcastle United
Wrexham kicked football documentaries back into the spotlight. Prime Video’s take is narrated by club legend Alan Shearer, and takes us behind the scenes of the Magpies’ multimillion-pound acquisition by a Saudi company.
Ladies First
This major Netflix docuseries pays tribute to the often-overlooked women of hip-hop, working 50 years worth of history into four fascinating episodes. Featuring interviews with none other than Queen Latifah – as well as a slew of other artists – the show aims to lift up established names such as Saweetie and Cardi B, and pay tribute to overlooked ones from the past, such as producer Drew Dixon.
Only Murders in the Building Season 3
It’s back and more delightful than ever. Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short reprise their roles as podcasting amateurs-slash-crime sleuths Mabel, Charles and Oliver to solve yet another murder. This time around, the casualty is star actor Ben Glenroy (Paul Rudd).
August 4, 2023
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart
The icon that is Sigourney Weaver makes a rare TV appearance in Prime Video’s last TV offering. Adapted from the book of the same name and set in Australia, it stars Ripley (aka Weaver) as June Hart, the aunt of Alice, who takes her in after she’s orphaned. She owns a flower farm – very Insta-friendly – but she’s also hiding secrets.
Heartstopper Season 2
Slide into this wholesome TV series like a hot bath and let it warm the cockles of your heart. In season two, Charlie, Nick, Elle and Tao are back for more adventures in love: there’s a trip to Paris on the cards, new friends, the prospect of coming out to family members and the challenge of deciding their future.
Alone
Reality TV veterans have something new to binge this year: a Channel 4 reboot of the hit show Alone. The premise is simple. A selection of garden-variety Brits are dumped into the Canadian wilderness and forced to survive with only basic camping gear and their own wits to rely on. Oh, and there are bears.
Physical Season 3
The final series of this Apple TV+ comedy sees Rose Byrne return for one last time as Sheila Rubin. She’s come a long way – after therapy, she’s finally silenced the critical voice inside her head – and she’s hard at work converting the masses to aerobics. Until she gets sucked into an Anchorman-style rivalry with fitness rival Kelly Kilmartin.
July 28, 2023
Laura Whitmore Investigates
Laura Whitmore Investigates ITVX – Rough Sex
Incels, rough sex, cyber-stalking… Laura Whitmore’s new TV show is not an easy watch. But it’s still fascinating: over the course of three episodes, Whitmore takes a deep dive into some of the most troubling issues plaguing society today, and what (if anything) can be done to fix them.
Drag Me to Dinner
Drag queens cooking dinner: what could possibly go wrong? This Disney+ show combines the best of Ru Paul’s Drag Race with Come Dine With Me. With judges including Neil Patrick Harris and Bianca del Rio, queens will be going head-to-head in a series of dinner party related challenges. Flawless.
Good Omens Season 2
The end of the world beckons once more. David Tennant and Michael Sheen reprise their roles as partners in crime (and, perhaps, romance?) Crowley and Aziraphale in this delightfully bonkers sequel. This time around, the Archangel Gabriel (Jon Hamm) has lost his memory… which is unfortunate, as he also has valuable information about how to prevent the Apocalypse.
The Witcher Season 3 Part 2
Don those leather trousers (complete with a leather jacket) and take up your silver sword, for Henry Cavill is back one final time as Geralt of Rivia. In the final three episodes of this season, danger abounds. Ciri (Freya Allan) still has a bounty on her head, and as her quasi-parent it’s only right that Geralt set out to kill the people on her trail.
July 21, 2023
The Bear Season 2
Savour the perfection of a show at the top of its game. The Bear season one was a word-of-mouth Disney+ hit about a team running a Chicago sandwich shop; season two picks up with Carmy and the team attempting to completely renovate their joint and turn it into a fine dining restaurant. It’s as high-stress as ever, but the performances (and plot) are delicious.
Fifteen-Love
Tennis is finally getting its MeToo moment in this Prime Video series. An astonishingly good Ella Lily Hyland plays Justine, a star player whose career was cut short by injury. Five years later, she makes waves when she accuses her former coach Glenn (Aidan Turner) of sexual assault.
Special Ops: Lioness
You can’t get much more star-studded than this Paramount+ show: Zoe Saldaña, Morgan Freeman and Nicole Kidman get suited and booted to tell the story of a real-life US Military programme. Saldaña plays Joe, a highly trained operative trying to balance her personal life with her professional life as a soldier in the war against terror.
World on Fire Season 2
Return to a time when Spitfires streak through the skies and people across Europe are doing their best to survive. Season one was praised for depicting the lives of ordinary people during a time of war; season two picks up the baton, reintroducing old faces (Lesley Manville) and bringing on board new ones (Mark Bonnar).
July 14, 2023
The Afterparty Season Two
The first season of this show combined a high-concept murder mystery with episodes that nodded to every screen genre under the sun. The Apple TV+ series has now returned for another murder investigation, which is as twisty as ever and the cast is still top notch. It’s fresh and fun, and worth a look.
The Secrets of Hillsong
In 2021, America was rocked by shocking revelations in Vanity Fair about celebrity pastors Carl and Laura Lentz. The article explored the rise and fall of the Hillsong megachurch they worked at, and that church’s history of covering up misconduct to protect itself. Now that story has been made into a Disney+ documentary.
Quantum Leap
Raymond Lee as Dr. Ben Song, Caitlin Bassett as Addison
/ Ron Batzdorff/NBCFor young viewers in the Nineties, Quantum Leap was a must watch, with Scott Bakula leaping into different lives to right various wrongs. It has now been rebooted three decades on with a new scientist stepping into the Quantum Leap accelerator in the form of Raymond Lee’s Ben Song, below. Oh boy.
The Horror of Dolores Roach
This blood-soaked Prime Video series is not for the faint of heart. Very loosely adapted from the Sweeney Todd myth (and based on the hit audio series of the same name), The Horror follows Dolores Roach, an ex-crim who sets up a massage parlour underneath an empanada shop. And things take a grisly turn.
July 7, 2023
Blind Spot
Bad boy of TV Ross Kemp is back after a stonking 15-year break from acting. Instead of investigating gangs, he’s playing a police officer (a nice change of pace) in this new Channel 5 show. He’s playing Police Detective Tony Warden, who is called into investigate when a young woman witnesses a brutal copycat killing happen on her estate… in the only area without CCTV camera coverage. Dun dun dun.
Then You Run
Vivian Oparah’s star continues to rise: months after starring in hit film Rye Lane, she’s back for Sky caper Then You Run. Oparah plays Stink, part of a group of four gal pals who find themselves in deep trouble when a trip to Europe goes very wrong. How wrong? Well, there are drugs, there are gangsters and there are several panicky car chases. Delicious.
The Effects of Lying
There’s already a bit of BAFTA buzz around this British indie film – and for good reason. Ace Bhatti is Naveen, a dutiful father who has the day from hell when he discovers various members of his family in crisis. With his life imploding, Naveen has to decide who he really is and learn to take responsibility for his own happiness. Will it be heartwarming? Yes. Will it be teary? Probably. Will it be good? Definitely.
A Thin Line
When environmental protests go wrong… Paramount+’s latest thriller is all about eco-hacktivist sisters Anna and Benni Krohn. They run an anonymous platform exposing crimes against the planet, but when they’re exposed, both go on the run – and while Anna ends up joining the feds, Benni joins a terrorist organisation. And you thought you didn’t get on with your siblings.
June 30, 2023
Hijack
Idris Elba is back and he’s foiling crime once more! No, not as Luther – this time around, he’s playing the blandly-named Sam Nelson, a business negotiator who finds himself negotiating with actual terrorists when the plane he’s on is (wait for it) hijacked. It’s supremely daft, but that’s part of the fun: sit back and sink in.
The Witcher Season 3
Let Henry Cavill’s smoulder set fire to your TV screen once more. He’s reprising his role (for the last time) as monster-hunter Geralt, the perpetually grumpy hero tasked with foiling the forces of darkness. Reunited with surrogate daughter Ciri (Freya Allan) and sorceress Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), the trio are on the run from the many, many forces who want Ciri’s powers.
Nimona
How quirky do you like your Netflix films? If the answer is ‘very’, then you’ll love this off-the-wall sci-fi fantasy show, because it kind of defies categorisation. Based on a hit graphic novel, it follows Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz), a shapeshifting teen who falls in with a disgraced knight on a quest to redeem himself. It’s queer as heck, it’s colourful and it’s bags of fun; don’t miss it.
Jack Ryan Season 4
He’s hard as nails and he’s back for one final round of shooting, bursting dramatically through windows and foiling international conspiracies. John Krasinski takes the reins as the titular Jack Ryan in his last outing: this time around, he finds himself tracking a drug cartel as it forges an alliance with a terrorist organisation.
June 23, 2023
And Just Like That… Season 2
I couldn’t help but wonder… what if Sex and City’s spinoff show returned for another series? Well, rest easy, AJLK fans, Carrie and the gang are back for more shenanigans. The tone from series one has been carried over and turned up to eleven – there are no more Peloton deaths, but there are some howlingly awkward moments, and a cameo from Kim Cattrall’s Samantha.
Secret Invasion
An alien invasion is threatening Earth: just another day at the intergalactic office for Nick Fury. Samuel L Jackson returns as an older, grizzled Fury in this Disney+ series, trying to thwart an army of shapeshifting aliens as they attempt to bring about nuclear Armageddon. Nothing ground-breaking, but if you like Marvel, you’ll like this.
I’m A Virgo
How do you make a heart-warming comedy about superheroes, giant teenagers and politics work? Boots Riley may just have done it. His newest Prime Video show follows the bizarrely-named Cootie (a superb Jharrel Jerome): a 13-foot teen who is determined to live a normal life.
Significant Other
The prize for the ‘least romantic’ romantic comedy goes to this ITVX show. It begins with Sam (Youssef Kerkour) attempting suicide, only to be interrupted by Katherine Parkinson’s Anna. She’s having a heart attack and needs to be driven to hospital. It’s the least auspicious of meet-cutes, but over the season they slowly forge a connection.
June 16, 2023
Our Planet II
Sit back and let David Attenborough’s voice soothe you as scenes of the Arctic drift by – except, oh no! The oceans are swimming with plastic, the ice caps are melting and animals are dying because of human interference. This latest Netflix show is a harrowing but necessary watch, as drone shots of the natural world is woven in with footage of the damage we have done to it.
Stan Lee
During his lifetime, Stan Lee did perhaps more than anyone else to popularise the superhero genre: he helped create Spider-Man, for one thing, as well as the Hulk, Thor, the X-Men, Black Widow and many more. Now, this new documentary from Disney+ sets out to examine his life and legacy.
Count Abdulla
A very unlucky junior doctor gets bitten by a vampire. What follows is six episodes of chaos, as the Muslim community finally gets their teeth into the vampire trope. This ITVX show is deftly written, funny and completely bonkers…
Black Mirror Season 6
Charlie Brooker’s twisted mind has been hard at work conjuring more futurist, dystopian fantasies to haunt our waking nightmares. The latest season of the Netflix hit show boasts an all-star cast and stories that run the gamut from 1970s Yorkshire (featuring a demon) to a Netflix spoof so edgy you wonder how it got green-lit.
June 9, 2023
Mad About the Boy
Noel Coward is synonymous with a very particular type of Englishness: erudite, witty, sophisticated. But as this new documentary shows, he came from humble beginnings before establishing himself as one of our most-loved playwrights. Featuring narration by Alan Cumming and with Rupert Everett voicing Coward, it pulls together archive material, clips from personal videos and interviews to create a nuanced portrait of the great man himself.
Mad About the Boy – The Noël Coward Story is available to watch on demand now from altitude.film and other digital platforms, and in select UK & Irish cinemas
Arnold
The original man of steel is getting his own Netflix series! Over the course of three episodes, Arnold delves into the history of an extraordinary public figure, charting his rise from elite bodybuilder, to politician, to one of the highest-paid actors in the world. Featuring interviews with Arnie himself, it’s not to be missed. Just do it! Do it now!
Davina McCall’s Pill Revolution
Davina McCall is on a mission to change the way that women use the pill. This hard-hitting Channel 4 documentary follows her as she chats to charities, gynaecologists and even an MP in her quest to bust taboos and address misinformation around contraception. Prepare to scrape your jaw from the floor – and leave feeling rather disheartened about the state of the NHS.
Flamin’ Hot
Eva Longoria directs this heart-warming and bizarre Disney+ feature film… about the origins of the Flamin’ Hot Cheeto. Jesse Garcia is a lowly janitor who ends up being the brains behind this culinary revolution: defying the odds, he convinces his bosses that a Mexican-inspired flavour explosion is just what the masses are craving. And what do you know: fifty years later, they still are.
June 2, 2023
The Gallows Pole
Leave it to cult film director Shane Meadows to produce a BBC historical drama with a difference. Based on the story of the Cragg Vale Coiners, this is the story of one of the biggest forging operations in British history, set all the way back in the 1700s. It’s weird, it’s hilarious and Swedish psychedelic rock group Goat are in charge of the music. Beautifully bonkers.
Never Have I Ever: Season 4
Mindy Kaling’s teen romance is back for the fourth and final time on Netflix. In it, Devi’s story (and very convoluted love life) is finally set to come to an end as she and her friends get ready to graduate from high school. Not that there won’t be drama: Devi has now slept with enemy-turned-lover Ben, but former flame Paxton is back on the scene.
Changing Ends
Alan Carr explores his own past in this bizarre, breezy ITV sitcom. In it, Oliver Savell plays young Carr, a lad growing up in Eighties Northampton. Featuring rather meta appearances from the Chatty Man himself (who also co-wrote the script), it shirks sadness for laughs and is, all things considered, a very wholesome watch.
Medellin
An action-comedy? Featuring Mike Tyson? Sign us up! Set in Colombia, it follows the story of Reda (Ramzy Bedia), who decides to carry off the heist of a lifetime to save his younger brother from a dangerous cartel. Off course, things go off the rails, none more so than when Reda kidnaps the cartel leader’s own son for a hostage swap…
May 26, 2023
Succession
Does it even need saying? Tune into Sky Atlantic at 2am on Monday morning to catch the final-ever episode of Succession and watch the Roy kids battle it out once and for all for control of Waystar Royco. Will Kendall manage to claim the spoils? Will Shiv swoop in and undercut him? It’s all to play for – and it’s set to be must-watch television.
Fubar
Arnie is back! Schwarzenegger makes the jump to the small screen – and of course, it’s an action thriller. He plays Luke, a CIA operative who has spent his life lying to daughter Emma (Monica Barbaro) about his job – not realising that she has exactly the same job, and has been doing exactly the same to him. The term Fubar stands for Fucked Up Beyond All Repair/Recognition – which should give you some indication of how things go from there.
American-Born Chinese
The cast of mega-hit indie film Everything Everywhere All At Once reunite for a Disney+ show with a twist. Ben Wang stars as Jin Wang, a high-school kid who gets sucked into an epic battle between figures of Chinese mythology – two of whom are played by Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu. With Ke Huy Quan bringing up the rear as the mortal Freddy Wong, it promises to be an absolute hoot. Yes please!
To Catch A Killer
Shailene Woodley continues her streak of playing troubled, gun-wielding heroines in this latest Sky film. She is Eleanor Falco, a talented officer in the Baltimore Police Department who is hired by the FBI to help profile and track down a sniper who is attacking civilians at random. Naturally, Eleanor, with her tortured psyche, is the only person who can peer into the killer’s twisted mind…
May 19, 2023
No Escape
Fancy a holiday? You won’t be wanting one like this. Paramount+’s latest TV series – a UK original – follows Lana and Kitty, two best friends who think they’ve found the perfect adventure sailing through Asia on yacht The Blue. Naturally, not all on board are as they seem, and things soon become dangerous.
UNTOLD: The Secret World of Boy Racers
One to make the jaw drop – or the blood boil. Channel 4’s latest documentary focuses on the fascinating (and very illegal) world of boy racers. Gathering in the dead of night, they zoom down the country’s motorways at speeds that sometimes hit 170mph. It’s driving at its most extreme, dangerous and thrilling – and it’s out on Monday.
Primo
When Michael Schur (the brains behind The Good Place and Parks and Recreation) produces a TV series, you know it has to be good – and so it proves here. Inspired by screenwriter Shea Serrano’s life, the story is billed as a coming-of-age comedy following Rafa Gonzales, a 16-year-old being raised by his mother and five uncles. Are helicopter uncles a thing? After this they will be.
XO, Kitty
To All The Boys I Loved Before was a smash-hit when it arrived on Netflix in 2018 – so naturally, what could be more appealing than a spin-off series focussing on Lara Jean Covey’s younger sister Kitty? Anna Cathcart reprises her role as an older Kitty, who moves halfway across the world to Korea to reconnect with her long-distance boyfriend. Why not: it’s perfect for a lazy weekend.
May 12, 2023
City on Fire
AppleTV+’s hot streak of adapting acclaimed novels continues – hot on the heels of Silo comes City on Fire, a gritty New York-based thriller about music and (what else) murder. In 2003, a student is shot dead in Central Park; as the investigation into her death unfolds, a sprawling web of connections builds between the city’s music scene, a series of mysterious fires and one family’s secrets.
Steeltown Murders
Wales is in the spotlight in this latest offering from the BBC. Billed as a ‘factual drama’, the action is split across two different timelines – 1973 and the early 2000s – as Port Talbot police try and catch a killer more than thirty years after it happened, using pioneering DNA evidence.
The Muppets Mayhem
Everybody’s favourite sentient stuffed toys are back to cause more carnage in this joyous Disney+ series. In it, YouTube star Lilly Singh, a junior executive at a recording label who suddenly finds herself with rather a lot on her plate when Muppet rock group (yes, it’s a thing) Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem roll into town.
Queer Eye Season 7
The wholesomeness cannot be denied. The boys are back and they’re coming to change the lives of more deserving but underappreciated Americans with food, styling tips, a new house interior and good old talking therapy. Bring your tissues and a tub of ice-cream: it’s perfect for binge watching and a cathartic cry.