From eerie crime dramas to the return of a classic, check out our critics’ picks of the best shows to watch On Demand right now. The experts have chosen their top ten programmes streaming this weekend, as well as reviewing new releases. Read on to find out what to watch this weekend…
Our picks of the week:
True Detective: Night Country
Jodie Foster stars in this eerie, Alaska-set outing for the HBO crime anthology
Year: 2024
Certificate: 18
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
The big draw of True Detective has always been the actors, and series four has one of the best you can get – Jodie Foster, playing Detective Liz Danvers in the town of Ennis, Alaska. That setting is the other big attraction. As with Louisiana back in series one, Alaska is a very particular place, especially during the state’s long sunless winter. That’s when Night Country is set, beginning with the disappearance of eight men at a remote research station where bold scientific truths were being sought, and unfolding in an environment where the barrier between our world and the next seems somewhat thin. And people seem just that little bit more prone to madness.
As such, there are moments when it all feels a little like The Thing or Sky’s Fortitude, but the series always keeps its feet on the ground, and Foster’s performance as Danvers – determined, cynical and manipulative with just a chink of vulnerability, very much a ‘true’ detective and with a very complicated and overlapping work/family life – is a big part of why. Foster is paired with Kali Reis as Detective Navarro, who is very convincing in a different way. Reis is also a world champion boxer, so keep that in mind during her instantly convincing fight sequences. Look out for Fiona Shaw and Christopher Eccleston in the cast, too, but this show is mostly and justifiably about Foster. (Six episodes)
No Hard Feelings
Jennifer Lawrence sets out to seduce a teenager in a raunchy comedy
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
Thirtysomething down-on-her-luck slacker Maddie (Jennifer Lawrence) is hired by a rich couple to ‘date’ their teenage son Percy before he heads off to college. She thinks it’ll be easy to seduce the kid, but Percy is an odd otherworldly 19-year-old who might just end up having a bigger effect on Maddie than she does on him.
The premise feels almost like something from another more cringey age of cinema but somehow it works, playing raunchy sex comedy set-ups off against some genuine moments of warm-hearted loveableness. It’s also a great showcase for Lawrence’s comedic talents as she indulges in everything from snappy dialogue and full-on innuendo to some bruisingly funny slapstick. (103 minutes)
Gladiators
The BBC’s hit resurrection of the combative physical contest
Year: 2024
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
‘Contenders, ready! Gladiators, ready!’ Fans of the original 1990s series will be pleased by this retro-feeling reboot in which brave members of the public take on 16 new, super-strength Gladiators in a series of physical challenges. Father and son Bradley and Barney Walsh host from the Sheffield Arena, where the excitable crowd cheer and boo during the combat.
You can see why they’re all so enthusiastic, with such an entertaining cast of heroes and villains, and it’s great fun to join in at home too. More than six million of us did just that on the night the first episode went out, which is a big audience by modern viewing standards. It’s nice when TV brings the nation together and, while resurrecting old shows is always a risk – look what happened with Survivor – the BBC has struck a great balance here. (One series)
Big Boys
Comedy about two mismatched boys who strike up an unlikely friendship when they’re thrown together at university
Year: 2022-
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Channel 4
From the title, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this comedy, set at university, will be all crass humour and testosterone-fuelled antics. Yes, there is sex and the pursuit of it, but the show is, in fact, rather tender and sweet, charting the floundering journey of two boys who are not yet men as they work out who they are and how to make their marks.
Jack (Derry Girls’ Dylan Llewellyn) is a shy, sensitive fresher who’s still struggling with the grief of losing his dad, and is tentatively emerging from the closet. He is assigned a room in a shed, instead of halls, with the more gregarious lad’s lad Danny (a BAFTA-nominated Jon Pointing), and although Danny seems confident, he’s got his own sadness weighing him down.
It’s written by Jack Rooke, a comic known for exploring grief and mental health in his work, and the balance between laughter and pathos, between poignancy and toilet humour, and between sex and real emotions, is perfectly executed.
The supporting cast includes Jack’s doting, glorious mum Peggy (Camille Coduri, who played Rose Tyler’s mum in Doctor Who) and Katy Wix, who is perfect as the annoyingly enthusiastic Student Union officer, Jules. (Two series)
Cristóbal Balenciaga
Lavish series about the rise of the Spanish fashion designer
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Disney+
Game Of Thrones’s Gemma Whelan is the familiar face in this six-part drama about the rise of Spanish designer Cristóbal Balenciaga, a man who went from humble beginnings as the son of a fisherman and a seamstress to become the ‘King of Fashion’. Whelan plays the real-life British journalist Prudence Glynn, who secures an interview with the enigmatic Balenciaga near the end of his life after buttonholing him at the funeral of Coco Chanel in 1971.
A well-dressed tale unfolds from there in flashback, in which an initially reticent Balenciaga recalls his move to Paris to present a collection in 1937 and much more besides. If you’re interested in fashion, or just fancy a diverting trip into a surprising life story told with some pretty lavish production standards – there were 2,000 extras – give this a whirl. (Six episodes)
The Killing (US)
US remake of a hit Danish noir which follows the day-by-day investigation of a murder in rainy Seattle
Year: 2011-2014
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Channel 4
The American version of hit Danish series Forbrydelsen, or The Killing – the one that gave us Sofie Grabol’s detective Sarah Lund and her snazzy jumpers – travelled a bumpy road. It was cancelled by its original network AMC after series two before Netflix pitched in to make two more series. While this might suggest the show isn’t worth a watch and remakes aren’t always a good idea, this one has much to recommend it.
For starters, it’s not an identikit replica of the Danish show but is still a dark and murky crime thriller that follows the languid and queasy aftermath of a teenage girl’s murder – for both her family and the detectives on the case. Crucially, the killer and the motive of the first case, which are revealed over two series, are not the same as in the Danish show, so no spoilers if you’ve seen The Killing.
It’s now set in Seattle, a city almost as grey and wet as Copenhagen, and the detectives – Sarah Linden and Stephen Holder, evolutions of Lund and her partner Jan Meyer – are played by Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman. And while Linden may be marginally less interesting than Lund, Holder has much more to play with. (4 series)
June
A look at the life of country music great June Carter Cash – aka Mrs Johnny Cash
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Paramount+
Before the 2005 film Walk The Line saw Reese Witherspoon earn acclaim and a Best Actress Oscar for playing June Carter Cash, it’s fair to say that she was relatively little known by non-country music fans. Which is a pity as she was a hugely accomplished entertainer long before she married Johnny Cash in 1968.
Apart from prodigious musical talent (she won five Grammy awards), she was also a dancer, actress, comedian and author. Featuring archive interviews with June, alongside new material including chats with the likes of Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton and Witherspoon, this documentary looks to shine a light on a forgotten star. (98 minutes)
The Artful Dodger
Oliver Twist’s light-fingered friend returns for a grown-up adventure
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Disney+
Having escaped his life as the prince of pickpockets in Victorian London, the now-grown-up Artful Dodger aka Jack Dawkins (Love Actually’s Thomas Brodie-Sangster) is doing very nicely for himself as a surgeon in 1850s Australia. But then a certain old friend by the name of Fagin (David Thewlis) turns up and Jack is dragged back into a life of crime for one last job.
This cheery eight-part adventure owes as much to Indiana Jones as it does to Charles Dickens, as Jack and Fagin duck and dive their way out of perilous scrape after perilous scrape. Thewlis is a drawling scene-stealer as Fagin, while Brodie-Sangster makes certain that his matinee idol looks never completely hide the gleeful twinkle in his eyes. Can we have some more please. (Eight episodes)
Finders Keepers
Keen detectorists finds a hoard and unleash a nightmare in Somerset
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Watch now on My5
After recent hit BBC1 thriller Boat Story, about two people’s disastrous plan to steal a cache of drugs they found, comes Channel 5’s new thriller, in which a treasure trove leads to a similar nightmare for the men who find it.
The four-parter sees metal detectorist Martin (Neil Morrissey) unearthing a hoard of Saxon gold with son-in-law-to-be Ashley (The Inbetweeners’ James Buckley). Usually straight as a die, Martin’s having serious money troubles so is persuaded by Ashley to break the law by not declaring his find to the authorities and trying to sell it instead. ‘Martin makes one bad decision, then it all goes wrong,’ explains Men Behaving Badly star Neil, 61. ‘That’s how most things happen, which is why this story is so relatable – and such great fun to play.’
The plan goes awry when Ashley involves some dodgy characters he knows . . . and a local cop (Rakhee Thakrar) gets wind of it. Meanwhile, Martin has kept his wife Anne (Fay Ripley) in the dark about the dodgy plan until it’s too late. Neil says he was flattered that his role was written specifically for him by Dan Sefton, the man behind ITV drama The Good Karma Hospital in which Neil starred. (One series)
The Creator
Sci-fi adventure about a soldier and a robot child on the run
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Disney+
With artificial intelligence an ever-growing concern, this sci-fi flick feels very timely. Set in a future where mankind and machines have gone to war, it follows a crack squad of human soldiers as they set off on a mission to destroy a new AI that could obliterate everyone. When the new machine turns out to be an android in the shape of a little girl, though, soldier Joshua (John David Washington) decides instead to save her and the pair try to escape from the forces of both sides.
Rogue One director Gareth Edwards creates a striking and bittersweet grown-up sci-fi film that offers a visually stunning vision of the future that will live long in the memory. (133 minutes)
New this week:
Olivia Attwood’s The Price Of Perfection
The reality star investigates the extreme end of cosmetic procedures
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
ITVX
You don’t have to be in the market for perfection yourself to take a look at the Love Island and Towie reality star’s docuseries on cosmetic procedures. It’s as much about lifting the veil on what really goes on at the more extreme end of the beauty industry as debating whether the risks and expense are actually worth it. Even if you already know the answer, it’s no less jaw-dropping seeing what people are prepared to put themselves through.
Driven by Kim Kardashian’s famous behind, the BBL, or Brazilian Bum Lift, is in high demand, but has a reputation for being the most dangerous invasive procedure going. Olivia observes a safer version before taking the plunge into other rather niche areas.
There are procedures featured here that go beyond the pale even for Olivia, who’s already a convert to so-called ‘tweakments’. No body part is left uncovered in a series which explores the latest innovations, not just for the bum, but face, boobs and other unmentionables too.
LOL: Last One Laughing Ireland
Graham Norton hosts as 10 Irish comedians battle to bag a fortune for charity
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Prime Video
Dreamt up in Japan, the Last One Laughing format is genius: a group of comedians are put together in a Big Brother-style living-room set, crammed with cameras. They’re then challenged to make each other laugh. The comic who manages to stifle his or her guffaws the longest takes home €50,000 for their charity of choice.
With typical sarcastic brilliance, Graham Norton hosts this six-episode Irish version, with star names such as Aisling Bea, Catherine Bohart, Deirdre O’Kane and Jason Byrne among the stand-ups trying to crack the stony-faced resolve of their foes by whatever means necessary. (Six episodes)
Zola
Take a crazy wild ride in this energetic crime comedy for the digital age
Year: 2020
Certificate: 18
Watch now on Channel 4
Strictly for those viewers who are wise to the digital age, this comedy is bold, brash and more than a little nasty. It charts a wild, supposedly true story that was effectively live-tweeted in 2015 and went viral. In some ways, this is a seedier version of Jennifer Lopez’s slick fact-based comedy Hustlers – but with added danger.
We follow pole dancer Zola (newcomer Taylour Paige) as she goes on a road trip with a woman she’s only just met. Stefani (Riley Keough) is a force of nature who promises big money stripping for rich clients in Florida, but whose true colours are more than a little psychotic. The road trip is further complicated for Zola by the presence of Stefani’s wimpy boyfriend Derrek (yes, it’s lanky Nicholas Braun, aka Greg from Succession) plus a deeply creepy dude who is most likely a pimp. (86 mins)
Love On The Spectrum
US reality show following people with autism as they search for romance
Year: 2022-
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Netflix
Finding love in the modern world is never easy, but it’s even harder for those on the autism spectrum. This show follows neurodiverse men and women across America as they dip their toes in the dating waters with various degrees of success.
Like its Australian predecessor, it takes a light and often soapy approach to the romantic encounters on display, but audiences swiftly become seriously engaged in the struggles and triumphs of its cast. The fact that many familiar faces from series one return in the second run alongside new romantic hopefuls will be welcome news for the show’s fans. (Two series)
Mean Girls
Cult classic American teen comedy starring Lindsay Lohan as the new girl in a school full of scary cliques
Year: 2004
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Channel 4
A viciously good high-school comedy written by Tina Fey (30 Rock), who also appears as a teacher. Lindsay Lohan is the girl getting sucked into a storm within her new school’s cliques. Yes, it’s a teen comedy, but this has the sort of razor-sharp wit that grown-ups will love, too.
It was a massive cult success, a stage musical version debuted in 2017, and to celebrate 20 years since the release of the original film, a new troupe of Mean Girls hits cinemas in 2024, in an adaptation of that musical. (97 minutes)
Black Earth Rising
A legal investigator who survived the Rwandan genocide confronts her past when she takes on war crimes cases
Year: 2018
Certificate: 15
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
Written, produced and directed by BAFTA-winner Hugo Blick, this powerful eight-part thriller stars Harriet Walter as Eve Ashby, a leading human rights lawyer whose adopted daughter Kate (I May Destroy You’s Michaela Coel) survived the horrors of the Rwandan genocide as a child.
Kate is now working as a legal investigator in the same chambers as her mother, run by Michael Ennis (John Goodman, who’s rather good playing against type). But when Eve agrees to prosecute an African militia leader once regarded as a hero for fighting the genocide, the mother-daughter relationship is strained to breaking point.
Dark, intelligent and totally gripping, this is the kind of thriller that really keeps you on your toes, regularly pulling the rug from beneath your feet. Blick (along with Line Of Duty’s Jed Mercurio) is one of our greatest current screenwriters, producing dense, complex stories that confidently blend the personal and the political. Blick’s other dramas include The Honourable Woman and The English . (Eight episodes)
American Nightmare
Series investigating whether a US couple faked a headline-grabbing kidnapping
Year: 2024
Certificate: 18
Watch now on Netflix
In 2015, Aaron Quinn told US police that an armed man in a wetsuit had broken in, tied him up and kidnapped his girlfriend Denise Huskins. Just a few days later, though, Denise turned up, with no ransom having been paid, claiming her kidnappers had simply released her.
The sceptical local cops immediately assumed that the couple had faked the kidnapping and began investigating them instead of looking for the alleged kidnappers, as the press likened the whole case to the book and film Gone Girl.
This twisty and intriguing series from the makers of The Tinder Swindler documentary asks if the police were too quick to rush to judgment. Could Aaron and Denise actually have been telling the truth? (Three episodes)
The Marsh King’s Daughter
Daisy Ridley stars as a mother determined to protect her daughter in an atmospheric thriller
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Prime Video
Living the life of a contented rural mum, Helena (Daisy Ridley) is dragged back into a past she wanted to forget when her violent criminal father escapes from prison. Is he coming to steal her daughter away from her? Not if she can help it as she puts to use every inch of the hunting, tracking and killing wilderness skills he taught her in order to stop him.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens actress Ridley makes an accomplished action lead in this tense and bleakly stylish thriller. The plot builds towards a compelling game of cat and mouse with the great Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline) as the estranged (and strange) father. (109 minutes)
Murdoch Mysteries
Cosy, funny Canadian detective drama that starts in the Victorian age
Year: 2008-
Certificate: 15
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
This cosy Canadian series opens in Toronto in 1895 and introduces us to the methods of Detective Murdoch, a fastidious man of science who taps into the emerging techniques of the time to crack crime. The show is based on the novels by Maureen Jennings, and combines decent mysteries with a neat sense of humour and a colourful cast of characters who evolve as the show rolls onwards, out of the 19th and into the early 20th century.
It’s a bit like a soap in that respect and Murdoch’s boss, Inspector Brackenreid, is actually played by an ex-Coronation Street star – Thomas Craig. Murdoch’s other close associates include fellow scientist (and love interest) Dr Julia Ogden and the wonderful Constable George Crabtree, who goes on quite the journey over the show’s many episodes. He starts out looking like an absolute idiot but later becomes an author and even rises up the ranks at the police department.
Look out for various real-life figures across the show’s 17 series, too, including Mark Twain (William Shatner) and Winston Churchill (Downton’s Thomas Howes). The most recent series opens on an Agatha Christie-style mystery, with Murdoch and Dr Ogden on the run, and Crabtree surprised to find himself in charge. (17 series)
Book Club: The Next Chapter
Diane Keaton and co head to Italy for a jolly film sequel
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
The original 2018 feel-good comedy drama saw four women (Mary Steenburgen, Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton and Candice Bergen) re-evaluating their lives after reading 50 Shades Of Grey at their book group. For the sequel, the quartet continue to expand their horizons by holidaying in Italy, only for various comic mishaps to land them in legal and romantic difficulties as they visit Rome and Venice.
It’s light and life-affirming stuff, given a lift by its fantastic female cast, all of whom are clearly having a great time. Don Johnson and Andy Garcia seem to be having a decent time of it in the male supporting cast, too, and that’s the point of movies like this – they’re fun. No one’s in danger of winning any Oscars for them, but that’s immaterial. (107 minutes)
