From Love On The Spectrum to The Artful Dodger – the best new TV and films to stream next week
AS the long cold nights of January continue in the new year, binge watchers looking for something new to sink their teeth into are in luck.
Once again, The Sun’s TV Mag has compiled a great list of TV shows and films that you should add to your watch list for the next week.
NETFLIX
The Kitchen – Available from Friday
He’s already one of the brightest young actors in Hollywood and now Daniel Kaluuya has moved behind the camera, to co-direct this adrenaline-pumping sci-fi thriller.
Set in a near-future London, where social housing has been all but eradicated and the gap between rich and poor is immense, we meet Izi (Kane ‘Kano’ Robinson), who lives among the defiant high-rise community of The Kitchen, the last housing estate standing.
Desperate to find a better life for himself, Izi’s plans are derailed by the arrival of 12-year-old Benji (brilliant newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman), who needs his help.
Featuring an excellent cast – which even includes former England footballer Ian Wright – expect The Kitchen to be hot.
Love On The Spectrum – Available from Friday
Searching for love and that elusive happy-ever-after can be a long and heartbreaking business, and as fans of the first series of this entertaining and insightful reality show will know, it’s no different for folk on the autism spectrum.
Prepare for more heart-warming and different dating adventures as this second run follows the romantic highs and lows of a group of neurodivergent young people, and explores the unique challenges they face.
The second season introduces us to a new batch of singletons and, excitingly, catches up with some favourites from the first time around, including Dani, Abbey, Steve and James.
The Bequeathed – Available from Friday
Any series that kicks off with the lead character inheriting a burial ground is unlikely to be a light-hearted laughter-fest, is it?
So it should come as little surprise that this South Korean thriller ticks the tense, spooky and strange boxes.
When college lecturer Yoon Seo-ha (Kim Hyun-joo) learns that her long-forgotten uncle has died, she also finds out that she’s the sole heir to the family’s burial ground, triggering some painful memories about her past.
Worse still, some bizarre and brutal incidents at the burial ground attract the attention of the police, and Seo-ha finds herself caught up in a murky murder mystery. In South Korean, with subtitles.
DISNEY+
The Artful Dodger – Available from Wednesday
We’re off to 1850s Australia for this irreverent Oliver Twist sequel of sorts, which imagines what might have become of Charles Dickens’ famous child pickpocket, Jack Dawkins – also known as The Artful Dodger.
We find the grown up Dodger (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), a former Royal Navy surgeon, attempting to establish himself as a respected doctor Down Under.
But when his shady past comes back to haunt him, in the shape of one-time criminal boss Fagin (played with real relish by David Thewlis), not to mention a rather large gambling debt, it looks as if Dodger might be tempted back into a caper-filled life of crime. Also stars Tim Minchin.
The Creator – Available from Wednesday
Anyone worried about Artificial Intelligence one day taking over and doing away with us humans might want to give this sci-fi thriller the swerve.
Fifteen years after A.I. detonated a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, humans are still waging a war against the technology, in an effort to avoid being wiped out completely.
Central to the efforts is US army sergeant Joshua Taylor (John David Washington), a former Special Forces operative who’s persuaded to take on the task of finding and killing the so-called Creator, the mysterious figure behind the most alarming A.I. developments.
But will Joshua’s desire to also locate his missing wife, Maya (Gemma Chan), derail his efforts?
Armed with breath-taking CGI and solid performances, it’s a timely and tense futuristic treat.
Cristóbal Balenciaga – Available from Friday
A name that sits alongside the likes of Coco Chanel and Christian Dior, Cristóbal Balenciaga is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century fashion.
Now, the life and career of this legendary Spanish designer is the subject of a lavish six-part series, which follows Balenciaga (played by Alberto San Juan) as he tries to launch himself in Paris.
Fresh from dressing some of the most important people in his homeland, Balenciaga quickly learns that the rest of Europe, more used to demure designs, might not be ready for his unconventional and avant-garde ideas.
Featuring a cast from all over the continent – including Gemma Whelan as a British fashion journalist – it’s stylish, dramatic and very bingeable.
PRIME VIDEO
LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland – Available from Friday
The celebrity contestants on this six-part challenge show will all be hoping that comedy is no laughing matter… But what exactly do we mean by that?
Well, the idea behind the series is that the 10 contestants – Irish comedians Aisling Bea, Jason Byrne, Amy Huberman, Catherine Bohart, Tony Cantwell, Emma Doran, Deirdre O’Kane, David McSavage, Paul Tylak and Martin Angolo – are put in a room together and then try to make each other laugh.
Should any of them even so much as titter, they’ll be eliminated from the competition.
And the one comedian that can outlast the others by not laughing once will win €50,000 for the charity of their choice. Graham Norton is in charge of all the unfunny funny business.
The Marsh King’s Daughter – Available from Monday
When Helena (Daisy Ridley) discovers that her father, Jacob (Ben Mendelsohn), has escaped from prison after being locked up for keeping her and her mother captive for many years, she becomes convinced that he’ll come to find her.
Desperate to protect herself, and her own young daughter, from the most dangerous and relentless man she’s ever met, Helena must find the strength to face the demons of her past and stay one step ahead of her dad.
A visually arresting, slow-burning and tense thriller that also stars Garrett Hedlund as Helena’s husband Stephen.
Drag Den with Manila Luzon Season Two: Retribution – Available from Thursday
Strap yourself in because hit Filipino drag competition Drag Den is about to explode back on to our screens once again for a bigger, brighter and even more magnificent second series.
This time, there are more queens, new challenges, a new Den and even some new judges.
Joining fabulous host ‘Drag Lord’ Manila Luzon are Nicole Cordoves as the show’s ‘Drag Dealer’ and Sassa Gurl as ‘Drag Runner’, while the 10 new queens are a typically spectacular bunch, including Margaux Rita, Jean Vogue, Russia Fox, Feyvah Fatalé and Mrs. Tan.
But who will be crowned the new Drag Supreme? All will be revealed.
PARAMOUNT+
June – Available from Wednesday
There was so much more to country-music legend June Carter Cash than simply being the wife of Johnny Cash.
A five-time Grammy Award winning musician who co-wrote the instantly recognisable song Ring Of Fire, June was also a comedian, actor and author who opened for Elvis and appeared alongside a host of stars including Jane Seymour and Robert Duvall.
This feature-length documentary takes a deep dive into her incredible career and complex life, as well as investigating the long and colourful history of country music – and the mark she and husband Johnny left on the genre.
ITVX
Kid Sister – Available from Thursday
We’re spoilt for choice when it comes to comedies that follow the everyday disasters of young female protagonists: hello Starstruck, This Way Up, Alma’s Not Normal, Fleabag and more.
But the first series of New Zealand comedy Kid Sister, which centres on the misadventures of Lulu (Simone Nathan), stood out from a crowded field by throwing the demands of a religious family into the mix.
That first season saw Jewish Lulu reaping the whirlwind when she begins a relationship with a non-Jewish man, Ollie (Paul Williams), much to the horror of her traditional Jewish parents, capping it all by falling pregnant.
In the second series, Lulu’s struggles balancing family and love continue – but this time there’s the added complication of a child to look after.
ACORN TV
Dead Lucky – Available from Monday
Rachel Griffiths stars as troubled police detective DS Grace Gibbs in a smart and pulsating crime thriller from Down Under.
Still blaming herself for the death of a junior colleague at the hands of a brutal cop killer, Grace is spurred into action when it becomes clear that the killer is back and as dangerous as ever.
Joined by new trainee Charlie (Yoson An) – who also thinks Grace was to blame for the young police officer’s death – the unlikely duo set out to catch the murderer and gain justice for their colleague.
With just four episodes in the series, this is an easy and enjoyable binge.
DISCOVERY+
Opal Outback Hunters – Available from Monday
The harshest regions of the Australian outback provide the backdrop for another season of the series that follows crews of fearless opal miners hoping to strike it rich.
And it’s an eventful start for the Blacklighters, who have a new claim to investigate in the opal capital of the world, Coober Pedy, south Australia.
The job should be easier this time, as they have a 25-tonne bulldozer to help move the earth.
But disaster strikes when they somehow flip Mark’s wife’s car – their only means of transport – into a huge trench. Whoops.
Meanwhile, in Grawin, the Bushmen hope that a new team member, 28-year-old Sam, will help transform their bad luck.