Don’t miss Jeff Goldblum’s Zeus in Netflix’s modern take on ancient Greek myth or the latest Lord Of The Rings prequel.Plus, there’s a documentary delving into the dark side of K-pop. And catch up on the TV tribute to former England football manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, who died this week.
Kaos
Jeff Goldblum stars as Zeus in this darkly imaginative twist on Greek mythology
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Jeff Goldblum is Zeus! That's the headline to a darkly comic and impressively imagined twist on Greek mythology from the pen of Charlie Covell (The End Of The F***ing World). It's set across three different worlds - Olympus (which looks like the home of a Mob boss), the underworld (bleak, bureaucratic and black and white) and the earthy human realm, which was styled partly after Baz Luhrmann's vibrant 1996 movie adaptation Romeo + Juliet.
As you may infer from all that, this is a series full of very specific production choices, all geared toward bringing the story of Zeus's paranoia and foretold downfall to life across those three worlds. Zeus is the biggest presence here - he's played by Goldblum, after all - but there are plenty of stories linked to him and the various prophecies that spider out through the show, chiefly that of Orpheus and Eurydice (or 'Riddy', here).
In this version of the myth, he's a famous musician and she's thinking about leaving him. Throw in David Thewlis as Hades, Janet McTeer as Hera and Eddie Izzard as one of the Fates, and you've got a compelling and twisty brew that should keep you intrigued to the end, although it's also a show that's clearly been imagined with a second series in mind. (Eight episodes)
Only Murders In The Building (Series 4)
The hit murder-mystery comedy returns for a fourth series
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
After cracking a trio of slayings in their apartment building, mismatched murder podcasters Mabel, Charles and Oliver (Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short) find themselves being courted by a movie studio keen to bring their adventures to the silver screen. Cue a trip out to Hollywood for the intrepid amateur detectives in this fourth series.
With its mix of warm friendships, genuine mysteries and serious wit, OMITB remains one of the most engaging shows around. The core trio are brilliant across these ten new episodes, but the guest cast continues to get starrier and starrier. Meryl Streep returns as Oliver's surprise love interest Loretta, but watch out too for Molly Shannon, Richard Kind, Kumail Nanjiani and Melissa McCarthy. Not to mention Eva Longoria, Eugene Levy and Zack Galifianakis, who all play themselves, cast to play Mabel, Charles and Oliver in the movie version of Only Murders... (Ten episodes)
Sherwood (Series 2)
Return of the atmospheric crime drama starring David Morrissey
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
'All that history. People get very emotional.'
We already know a lot about this community, one that has tradition and violence sown into the very ground it is built on, and the coal that was once mined from it.
Writer James Graham's second visit to the shire where he grew up is as strong, intriguing and complex as the first, with high-pitched strings, overcast skies, and skin-prickling tension from the off (and more garden tools as deadly weapons). The sense of place is a big part of it, but so too are the characters and there are new and familiar faces turning up for duty.
There's talk of a new coal pit and the community is galvanised, determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Ian St Clair (David Morrissey) is in civvies and staying 'annoying neutral' in his new role as head of a Violence Intervention Team.
But St Clair can't prevent a shocking murder in the first episode, and it's the fallout from it that we follow, drawing in the Sparrow family, headed by Lorraine Ashbourne's formidable Daphne, who will meet her match in newcomer Ann Branson (Monica Dolan). (Six episodes)
Sven
Documentary charting the life of former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
When the shocking news broke in early 2024 that Sven-Goran Eriksson was suffering from terminal cancer with at best a year to live, there was a great outpouring of affection for the former England and Manchester City boss.
This artful, sensitive and instantly captivating film embraces that as it charts Eriksson's career - from undistinguished playing days to a managerial CV crammed with some of the world's greatest club sides as well as no less than four international teams - and his often headline-grabbing private life, filled with stories of womanising and affairs (including a well-publicised fling with TV presenter Ulrika Jonsson).
It's a bittersweet watch, with fond reminiscences from England players including David Beckham and Wayne Rooney and warm insight from his children, intercut with the story of the cancer diagnosis and the quietly witty Eriksson's philosophical attitude towards what lay ahead of him. His death, at the age of 76, was announced just three days after this documentary's release. (107 minutes)
The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power (Series 2)
The Lord Of The Rings prequel returns with a second batch of fantasy action
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Series one of this Lord Of The Rings prequel set way back in the pre-history of JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth was lavish and clever and visually stunning and... well, just a bit frustrating. There was a ton of exposition to squeeze in as it set up the conflict between elvish warrior Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) and the forces of darkness, leaving the audience constantly guessing just which supporting character might really be Sauron in disguise.
With that sorted out now, series two hits the ground running. Magical rings are finally crafted, the Dark Lord makes his move and we see much more of wizardly stranger (Daniel Weyman) now that he's recovered his memory. The show also gives us new realms never mentioned in the books and introduces a favourite race from Tolkien's writing as walking trees the Ents take their small-screen bow. (Eight episodes)
K-Pop Idols
Documentary looking inside the world of the Korean pop music phenomenon
Year: 2024
On the surface, there is nothing brighter and more joyous in the sphere of chart music than the bubblegum pop that's emerged from Korea over the last decade. Creating it, however, can require little short of torment sometimes.
This six-part documentary series heads backstage into the dressing rooms and practice spaces to reveal the sheer amount of hard work and dedication that goes into the effortlessly sharp and synchronised performances.
Female artist Jessi, girl group Blackswan and nine-member boy band Cravity are among those who invite the cameras to follow them as they practise song-and-dance routines again and again until their joints ache and their feet bleed.
It's a fascinating series that opens a window into a little-seen and fiercely competitive world where there's always a new band waiting to take your place in the public's affections if you let your standards slip even slightly. (Six episodes)
Ally McBeal
Quirky and iconic US legal comedy about love and trials
Year: 1997-2002
Certificate: 15
A chance to relive and binge a classic 1990s legal comedy drama with oodles of sex and sass, and a mix of bold, beautiful and quirky characters. Calista Flockhart stars as title character Ally, the young lawyer joining Cage & Fish in Boston. It's a typically slick legal operation (an identikit US TV set-up, see also Suits, Boston Legal, The Good Wife/Fight etc), where her now-married ex Billy Thomas (Gil Bellows) also works.
The show was ahead of its time, one of the first to blend comedy and drama. It helped give birth to the term 'dramedy', going all out with sex and sexual politics in the workplace - and had a lead character who was more than a little neurotic. Ally was a very 1990s woman, a successful professional who wore short skirts, high heels and had casual sex, but also wanted to find a man, settle down and have a family, an aspiration she found repeatedly hard to fulfil.
Around her, the neuroses of her colleagues ranged from partner Richard Fish's egomania (Greg Germann) to social anxiety (Peter MacNicol's John Cage) and attention-seeking (Jane Krakowski's secretary, Elaine Vassal), but was offset with an offbeat, occasionally surreal tone that, among other things, gave rise to one of the internet's first memes, the once-ubiquitous 'dancing baby'. (Five series)
The Commandant's Shadow
The son of the Auschwitz commandant meets a survivor of the camp in this powerful one-off documentary
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
The double Oscar-winning film The Zone Of Interest dramatised the real life of Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, and his family, who lived in a relative domestic idyll just over the wall from the camp and seemingly merrily got on with their lives while so many were put to death such a short distance away. This documentary meets Hans-Jürgen Höss, the now elderly son of Rudolf, and brings him face to face with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch - a cellist who played in the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz, and who credits that role with her surviving the camp at all. She now lives in London, and spent many years not talking about her experiences of the camp.
Höss doesn't seem to remember much about it, but is that just the passage of time or is he protecting himself from the memories? Such are the questions that occur to you while watching this extraordinarily powerful film, which steadily builds a picture of both people before bringing them together - after Höss has also visited Auschwitz itself. (99 minutes)
The Deliverance
Andra Day and Glenn Close star in a horror movie about supernatural possession
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Shades of The Exorcist in this US horror from Precious director Lee Daniels as supernatural forces target a bunch of children. When struggling single mother Ebony Jackson (Andra Day) moves into a new home, she hopes it'll represent a new start for her family. It does, but not in a good way. Soon her children begin behaving weirdly and signs of strange forces at work threaten to tear the family apart.
Can anyone help save her and her children? Atmospheric and chilling, this is an effective old-school horror movie that trades on issues of faith and damnation as it pumps out jumpy scares. The cast is scarily good too, packed with Oscar winners and nominees - as well as Day, look out for Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Mo'Nique and the great Glenn Close. (112 minutes)
Rob & Romesh Vs
Comedians are well and truly out of their comfort zone
Year: 2019-
Certificate: 18
Watching a pair of comedians thrown in at the deep end has been a rich source of laughs for Sky's challenge show, although it wouldn't work nearly as well as it does were it not for the chemistry of the comics in question. Rob Beckett and Romesh Ranganathan have been friends for years and, as they haplessly try their hands at worlds as varied as art, the Olympics and Disney on Ice, will mercilessly wind each other up when one proves just slightly less useless at an activity than the other.
If you're after a couple of highlights to sample, we'd recommend the episode in which they're coached by tennis great Andy Murray (series three, episode four) and the duo's disastrous foray into the world of restaurants (series four, episodes three and four), in which it's genuinely lucky that no one died.
In the more recent goings on, series five opens with another corker, as Penn and Teller try to school Rob and Romesh in the ways of magic. Rob turns out to be so, so awful at it that Teller - usually a strictly silent man - is forced to speak in order to help him. Forays into K-pop, Crufts and classical music follow in that series, while the most recent, seventh run opens with the duo trying their hilariously hapless hands at Hollywood stunts. They meet Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling on the set of The Fall Guy along the way. (Seven series)
Madame Web
B-movie style Marvel adventure about a trio of teenage girls
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
When it sputtered at the box office in early 2024, Madame Web became a byword for the shortcomings of superhero movies, and it's fair to say that it's far from perfect. Dakota Johnson is a curiously blank presence at the centre of the story as Cassandra Webb, a psychic who can see different versions of Spider-Man across the multiverse - and there's a lot in here about spiders in the rainforests of Peru, and the related machinations of a bad guy, that really doesn't work. Where it becomes interesting is in the three teenage girls that Webb strives to protect - played by Isabela Merced, Celeste O'Connor and, somewhat amazingly, Sydney Sweeney.
The scenes where the girls are together, ignoring the advice of mother-figure Cassandra and getting themselves into trouble, work really well. The scenes of Cassandra at her job as a paramedic in Manhattan (one of her colleagues is played by Adam Scott) do too, so adjust your expectations to fit that, and you should get a half decent time out of it. See the spiders in Peru side of the film as the fun, underdeveloped B-movie plot that they are. (116 minutes)
Love Is Blind: UK
Matchmaking show where couples 'date' and get engaged without meeting
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Running in the US (and various other countries around the world) since 2020, this dating show format is intriguingly simple. Fifteen men and 15 women spend ten days chatting to each other from inside purpose-built 'pods', without ever seeing who it is they're talking to.
It's only when they decide to propose to one of the disembodied romance-seekers that they get to see if the voice-to-voice connection they've forged can survive face-to-face contact. If it does, then subsequent dates might just lead to a wedding at the end of the series.
Real-life husband and wife Emma and Matt Willis (she from shows such as Big Brother and he from the band Busted) take on the hosting duties on a smart and addictive reality romance show that's been quite a hit, and shown us several intriguing couplings - chiefly Sabrina and Steven. It ends with a reunion special so we can see how everyone, including Sabrina and Steven, fared as a result of the experience. There will be a second series. (12 episodes)
The Personal History Of David Copperfield
Comedy-drama reinvention of the Charles Dickens classic, starring Dev Patel
Year: 2019
Certificate: pg
A splendid adaptation of the Dickens classic, this casts the best actors for the roles, regardless of their skin colour. It's a gamble that pays off, especially with Dev Patel, who is perfect as David, the big-hearted young man who rides life's rollercoaster full of hope, whether on the way up or on the way down. The supporting cast is also a joy, and includes Hugh Laurie as eccentric Mr Dick, Ben Whishaw as weaselly Uriah Heep and Peter Capaldi as optimist Mr Micawber. (119 mins)
Strictly Amy: Cancer And Me
Strictly dancer Amy Dowden shares her cancer journey
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
Amy Dowden, a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing since 2017, was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2023, at the age of 32. It was the day before her honeymoon when she discovered a lump, and shortly after, her fears were confirmed.
This powerfully candid documentary follows Amy just six days after she heard the news. She made the decision to share her story, whatever the outcome, so that she could control what was and wasn't in the public domain, especially at a time when she had little power over her own health.
The overwhelming support from the public and her Strictly family encourages Amy to keep sharing her journey online but the downside is hurtful, particularly when she receives negative comments when she was at her lowest - even in her hospital bed. It beggars belief.
As Amy's husband, Ben, and her family rally around her, she undergoes a mastectomy, chemotherapy and fertility treatment to keep alive the hope of ever having children. It's a deeply personal, moving film, but also one full of life and hope - and there won't be a dry eye in the house when you see Amy return to the Strictly dancefloor for the live final, where she performed in a group routine with a broken foot! A 10 out of 10 performance. (60 mins)
Official Secrets
Keira Knightley stars as the real-life whistleblower Katharine Gun
Year: 2019
Certificate: 15
Keira Knightley plays it mousy and subdued as the principled GCHQ translator Katharine Gun, who turned whistleblower and faced charges in the lead-up to the Iraq War in 2003. Matt Smith and Rhys Ifans are the journalists breaking the story, despite concerted efforts by the government to discredit it.
Now, it can hard to make journalism riveting on screen - All The President's Men and Spotlight are the exceptions, rather than the rule - so this film succeeds as a drama by shifting its focus to the devastating impact of it all on Gun and her loved ones, including the threats made to her Turkish husband. Ultimately, Gun stands by her principles, not to mention her country, and emerges as a heroic figure. (111 minutes)
Adam Sandler: Love You
The comedian's second stand-up special for Netflix
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Adam Sandler may not be everyone's cup of tea, but he's a hugely popular comedian - especially on Netflix. This is his second comedy special for the streamer, and it sees the Happy Gilmore star take to the stage with his guitar for a set that involves music, plenty of positivity, a reflection on addiction and oodles of audience interaction.
Sandler often seems at his best in the latter - his laidback, on-stage persona is perfectly suited to the unpredictability of it - and this special has a nice loose feel, to the extent that a dog wanders the auditorium at one point.
You don't get such looseness without professionalism behind the camera, though, and Love You is directed by Josh Safdie, who directed Sandler in the incredibly tense film Uncut Gems. You can find that on Netflix along with Sandler's previous special from 2018, the rather cheekily titled (but also Emmy-nominated) 100% Fresh. (74 minutes)
Pachinko
Epic saga chronicles the hopes and dreams of a Korean immigrant family in America
Year: 2022
Certificate: 15
This sweeping and sublime story of an American-Korean family, based on the bestselling book by Min Jin Lee takes us into a world most of us know little about, and is beautifully filmed and acted. Told over two timelines and in three different languages - English, Japanese and Korean - it concurrently focuses on the story of Sunja, brought up in Japanese-occupied Korea in the 1930s, and her grandson Solomon whose father made a fortune with slot machines and who has a privileged life in the West but doesn't fit in anywhere.
Series two keeps up the high standard set by the first and, if you're after something that's both different and of very high quality, Pachinko should hit the mark. (Two series)
Worst Ex Ever
True crime US documentary series about dangerous and violent breakups
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Don't let the almost-jokey title fool you - this four-part US series tells some quite horrifying stories of domestic abuse, stalking, coercion, violence and even attempted murder as it recounts just what can happen when relationships end badly.
Created by the team behind the equally gruelling Worst Roommate Ever, the quartet of 60-minute episodes in this series uses interviews with the men and women who survived the horror, alongside testimony from police and emergency services, to tell the tales of what happened. Instead of reconstructions using actors, they employ bleak and atmospheric animated sequences to bring the darker moments to life. The end result is a series that chillingly contrasts romantic relationship beginnings with endings that feature everything from terrified 911 calls to officers encountering rooms splattered with blood. (Four episodes)
Terminator Zero
The evil future cyborgs are back in this animated series
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
In the years since James Cameron's original 1984 film, the Terminator sci-fi franchise has racked up half a dozen movies - some great, some distinctly not so great - as well as one excellent short-lived live-action TV series.
This animated series slots in among the very best efforts. Once again, one of the cyborg killing machines known as a Terminator is dispatched to the past by evil AI Skynet. Its mission this time? To prevent a scientist from developing a rival sentient computer system that might - just might - prevent Skynet from carrying out its plans to eliminate humankind.
Told through stark and stylish anime-style animation, this is a thrilling eight-episode US-Japanese series with an excellent voice cast: Rosario Dawson, Sonoya Mizuno and André Holland all feature, while Timothy Olyphant steps into Arnold Schwarzenegger's sizeable boots as the voice of the implacable Terminator. (Eight episodes)
We Might Regret This
Tetraplegic artist Freya asks her chaotic best friend to be her carer
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Freya is a Canadian artist who moves to the UK to be with her much older boyfriend Abe (The Outlaws' Darren Boyd). This sitcom follows her and the large group of friends and family surrounding the couple.
Freya (like Kyla Harris, who plays her) uses a wheelchair and we get some pretty raw and realistic insights into what that's like for her, including literal toilet humour. But the show doesn't focus only on the disability angle; it's also an alternative, joyfully confrontational and bold look at relationships and friendships.
Freya certainly doesn't let her disability get in the way of her life, despite how much society - and the availability of accessible toilets - are pitted against her. And while her relationship with Abe drives much of the plot, the real core of the show is her close friendship with chaotic Jo (Elena Saurel). They have an easy, uninhibited closeness yet there's a hint of something more complex underpinning it all.
Combined with the presence of Sally Phillips (Smack The Pony) as Abe's ex-wife and Edward Bluemel (Killing Eve) as his grown-up son, this has the feel of a rounded and involving ensemble comedy, that also happens to show the realities, and frustrations, of being disabled, too. (Six episodes)
