If you’re looking for something to keep you entertained on TV this bank holiday weekend then look no further, as our critics have picked out the 20 must-watch shows on demand which you won’t want to miss.
For music lovers, there’s a documentary on a beloved US band, while reality TV fans will be thrilled about the return of a certain starry family, as well as a new property series.
A sci-fi adventure brings Jennifer Lopez back to our screens, too. And if you fancy a laugh, you won’t be disappointed by the comedies on offer, either.
Insomnia (2024 TV series)
Vicky McClure stars as an insomniac whose life slides out of control in this thriller
Year: 2024
Certificate: 18
Watch now on Paramount+
‘I’m fine. I’m just not sleeping great.’ When you don’t sleep, the world around you can seem alien and your actions within it uncertain, but you put on a convincing face and get on with life as best you can. This drama starring Vicky McClure really captures that sensation of unreality.
Its central character is Emma Averill (McClure), a wife, mother and high-flying lawyer who suddenly stops sleeping not long before her 40th birthday, and starts to feel everything spin slowly out of control. Lurking behind the ‘everything is fine’ veneer she pastes over her face at the start is the fear that she will turn into her mother, a violent insomniac who had a psychotic breakdown at exactly the same age, tormenting Emma and her sister – right after she stopped sleeping.
So, what is actually going on here? Is Emma doomed by genetics to repeat the past? Why is her sister suddenly trying to reconcile Emma with her mother? And what do the numbers her mother chants mean? The first episode of Insomnia sets up such questions nicely, and McClure carries the drama of it all very well indeed. (Six episodes)
The Beach Boys
Documentary looking at the story behind the iconic US band
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Disney+
From early hits that created the California dream of sunshine, surfboards and girls in bikinis to the groundbreaking complexity of albums such as Pet Sounds, the story of The Beach Boys is impressively laid out across six decades in this new look at the history of the band.
It’s a detailed documentary film that traces their story from the Wilson brothers singing three-part harmonies together as kids through to line-up changes, falling outs and rivalries with other bands (it suggests that the competition between them and The Beatles pushed each on to greater and greater heights) to their status among the greats of American music.
There are lashings of archive footage and performance clips, but it’s the all-new interviews with Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks and Bruce Johnston that really let you peek behind the curtain at what actually went on in the band. (113 minutes)
Atlas
Sci-fi action adventure starring Jennifer Lopez and Marvel’s Simu Liu
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Netflix
When the rogue artificial intelligence known as Harlan (Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings star Simu Liu) puts all of humanity under threat, data analyst Atlas Shepherd (Jennifer Lopez) – who has a deep mistrust of all things robotic – is included on the team assembled to stop him. When the mission goes badly wrong, though, Atlas finds herself alone, stuck inside an armoured combat suit and forced to trust Smith, the AI running it, if she’s to have any chance of stopping Harlan.
This smart and sharp sci-fi adventure deftly balances Lopez’s on-screen charisma (and gift for deadpan sarcasm) against some pretty impressive CGI action sequences to enjoyable effect. Backing up the whizzes and bangs are some neat performances, with Lopez and Liu joined by Mark Strong and – fresh off the back of his Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for American Fiction – Sterling K Brown. (118 minutes)
Trying (series 4)
Warm British comedy about a young couple who are struggling to have a baby
Year: 2020-
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Apple TV+
This warm, well-cast British romantic comedy stars Esther Smith and Rafe Spall as a happy couple who want children. Nikki and Jason (Smith and Spall) face numerous obstacles along the way, including the hilariously negative experiences of their parenting friends, and the hurdles that come from exploring adoption – with an adviser played by a scene-stealing Imelda Staunton.
If you’d like a pleasant show with nice scenery, easy-going jokes and a huge cast of familiar faces, including Darren Boyd, Cush Jumbo, Ophelia Lovibond, Phil Davis and Paula Wilcox, then this is a great choice. It’s basically one long romcom, and of the kind they don’t make too frequently for cinemas any more. (Four series)
Bridgerton (Series 3 Part 1)
More Regency romance in the third series of the racy high-society drama
Year: 2020-
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Netflix
After just two series, Bridgerton has already become shorthand for lavish period settings and steamy sexual chemistry. Series three does nothing to alter that winning formula. Series one focused on Daphne and Simon’s romance, while series two followed Anthony and Kate. This time, loveable wallflower Penelope Featherington (Derry Girls’s Nicola Coughlan) steps into the spotlight as her search for love in the high-society world of Regency England drives this third run.
A certain Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) may have agreed to help her find a suitable suitor, but is it possible that he’s developing feelings for her himself? Full of beautiful settings and equally beautiful people, this is just as swooningly romantic as previous series, with Coughlan’s step up from support to leading lady proving that there’s much more to her than perfect comic timing. (Four episodes, with four more to follow on June 13)
Buying London
Glossy property series set in the UK capital
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Netflix
Shows such as Selling Sunset, Dubai Hustle and Buying Beverly Hills have proven that viewers have an almost inexhaustible appetite for high-end property porn, as glamorous and good-looking estate agents spit and spat with each other as they compete to sell the most astounding-looking mansions to billionaires with more money than Midas.
Now it’s London’s turn to get in on the act as the cameras follow luxury estate agent Daniel Daggers and his team as they work to shift river-view penthouses and marble-packed mansions to the billionaire set. Daggers isn’t big on modesty and understatement (he bills himself as ‘Mr Super Prime, the best agent who has ever lived’) and his team aren’t far behind in the relentless self-promotion stakes, but it all makes for a hugely entertaining feast of overblown egos and jaw-dropping property. (Seven episodes)
A Small Light
The true story of the woman who tried to save Anne Frank
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Disney+
Watch now on UKTV Play
The tragic account of Anne Frank and her family’s attempt to hide from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam became famous after the young girl’s diaries survived, but just who helped the Frank family to hide out in an attic for more than two years?
This mini series tells the story of Miep Gies (Bel Powley), an employee and friend of Otto Frank (Liev Schreiber) who risked everything to keep him and his family safe for as long as she could. A powerful drama about courage and resistance against seemingly invincible foes, it’s a fascinating companion piece to Frank’s own diaries. (Eight episodes)
Bay Of Fires
Aussie comedy drama about a woman fleeing to a two-bit Tasmanian town rife with murder and mystery
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Watch now on ITVX
This Australian black comedy drama follows a high-flyer forced to flee her very nice life in Melbourne to a cesspit town in Tasmania with her two children. Anika (Marta Dusseldorp) is the CEO of a family investment company in Melbourne, who was doing rather well for herself until two men attempt to kill her in a supermarket.
A mysterious stranger (Foundation’s Rachel House) comes to her rescue, informs her of a plot to kill her and helps her escape – to Tasmania. At this stage, nobody’s motives are clear, least of all to Anika, whose new identity – Stella Heikkinen – ‘sounds like two beers’. By the end of episode one we are left with a lot of questions, such as what secrets the rather unwelcoming residents of Mystery Bay (or Misery Bay, as the town sign now reads) are harbouring.
What makes the series so watchable, even during its rather preposterous set-up, is the performance of Dusseldorp (Jack Irish, The Twelve). She manages to make being clueless both convincing and endearing. It’s a show that is clearly trying to do something a bit different with the on-the-run thriller, and Dusseldorp makes it worth the price of admission. (Eight episodes)
The Big Cigar
A movie producer helps the founder of the Black Panthers flee to Cuba in this heist-style real-life drama
Year: 2024
Watch now on Apple TV+
Huey P Newton was the founder of the Black Panther Party in the US and, in 1974, fled to Cuba to escape the FBI with the help of a film producer and a plan based around an entirely fake location shoot. Apple’s six-part drama takes that story and presents it like a heist movie made during the period, filling it with surprisingly subtle performances that swing between humour and seriousness, and a soundtrack that must have cost a fortune to licence.
André Holland (Moonlight) gives a fully rounded performance as Newton, while Alessandro Nivola (Black Narcissus) feels like a keen but uncertain ally as producer Bert Schneider who, in real life, was behind films like Easy Rider and Five Easy Pieces. ‘You’re the hotshot producer, man, you produce this,’ Newton tells Schneider about his escape attempt, as the story kicks into high gear near the end of episode one. The series that follows has that appealing ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ feel and, while it’s a slow-burn at times, it has a lot of style and crackle for most of its screen time – especially in the scenes between Holland and Nivola. And the title? That’s the codename they use in the plan for Cuba. (Six episodes)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3
The second sequel to Nia Vardalos’s 2002 romcom hit takes the family to Greece
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
The first My Big Fat Greek Wedding took cinemas by storm – way back in 2002 – with Nia Vardalos as Toula, the 30-year-old Chicagoan with a loud family and a lust for more in life. She finds it (spoiler alert) with a high-school English teacher called Ian, played by Sex And The City’s John Corbett, and a short-lived TV series followed, starring Vardalos (they re-cast Corbett). Then, more than a decade later, we picked up Ian and Toula’s story for 2016’s My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2.
Corbett returned for that sequel, but it was a low point – all about navigating life’s challenges. However, number three is more of a return to form as Toula, Ian and her boisterous clan travel to Greece for a family reunion. The beautiful scenery and the outlandish cast of characters are the main selling points here, so if you’re in the mood for something brisk to lift the spirits then do give it a whirl. (88 minutes)
The Kardashians
Glitzy, feud-filled follow-up to Keeping Up With The Kardashians
Year: 2022-
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Disney+
What is there to say about the return of the Kardashians other than get ready for more glitz, glamour and family feuding? Their fifth series since they moved from E! to Hulu in the US (Disney+ in the UK), it seems likely that this ten-part run could cover the somewhat surprising coupling of Kylie Jenner with movie star Timothée Chalamet, the acting exploits of Kim on American Horror Story, and the news of Kourtney and Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker’s pregnancy. And what about the continued fallout from Kim’s divorce from Kanye West, which was finalised towards the end of 2022?
But one thing is for certain – this latest series will continue to display the considerably bigger-budget approach that has been the hallmark of the shift from E! since the start. That hugely impressive opening drone shot that took us around the Kardashians’ empire, way back in the opening episode of series one, set the standard for what has followed since. (Five series)
Blue Beetle
Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña stars in a warm and funny superhero underdog action adventure
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
While not one of the most famous of the DC Comics superheroes, this movie does boast a cool, super-powered suit that will surely appeal to many teens. Its lucky owner here is the likeable college graduate Jaime Reyes, played by the likeable Xolo Maridueña – an actor who brings the same kind of engaging, underdog charm to his role as Blue Beetle as he did to the Netflix series Cobra Kai, and whose character has a warm family life that’s very much at the heart of the film.
Jaime is welded to the armoured suit by accident, and is then targeted by a ruthless industrialist (Susan Sarandon) who wants to use it to evil ends. The action scenes around that plot are a lot of fun but what really makes Blue Beetle work is how warm, real and funny the life of Jaime and his family feel, and how that makes you care about how it all plays out. If you liked 2018’s Bumblebee, this is that type of film. (127 minutes)
Rebus
Grisly reboot of Ian Rankin’s dark Scottish detective
Year: 2024
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
This gritty reboot of the Ian Rankin stories – previously adapted between 2000 and 2007 starring John Hannah then Ken Stott – reimagines the brooding Scottish detective as a younger officer, with Outlander’s Richard Rankin (no relation) in the lead role.
It’s hard to like rough DS John Rebus at first – he’s a hard-drinking, chaotic young divorcee with a messy love life who has no compunction about breaking the rules. He soon comes into his own, though, when investigating a violent stabbing in the streets of Edinburgh, alongside new detective Siobhan Clarke (Henpocalypse!’s Lucie Shorthouse), a fast-tracked detective whom Rebus treats with some disdain.
‘I think long-term fans will get a shock because they’re seeing young Rebus,’ says Rankin (the author). ‘They’re getting the quite macho Rebus from the early books but set in contemporary times.’
Be warned, there’s violence and swearing from the outset. (Six episodes)
Northern Lights
Soulful Irish drama about two grieving strangers who meet on a rainy night
Year: 2023
Watch now on MGM+
Two strangers meet on a rainy night in Dublin in this rightfully acclaimed six-part Irish drama. Lloyd (Kin’s Stephen Jones) sees Áine (Line Of Duty’s Elva Trill) standing on a bridge from the window in his flat and, worried she’s about to kill herself, he invites her in. The story unfolds steadily from there, jumping around in time between conversations as we learn that both of them are reeling from grief.
Jones also wrote Northern Lights, which is one of those shows you know you’re in safe hands with from the confident opening scenes. The show takes its time introducing the characters, trusting the dialogue rather than swamping everything in music, although using it well when it does – witness the Hozier track over the opening credits.
If you’re after a soulful, insightful and occasionally dryly funny piece of drama that feels like a really good night out at the theatre, settle in with this. (Six episodes)
5lbs Of Pressure
Luke Evans and Rory Culkin star in a gritty crime thriller about an ex-con
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Amazon Prime Video
After serving a 13-year stretch for killing a man, Adam (Luke Evans) returns to the New York streets he once ruled, determined to leave his old life behind and make a better future for himself and the son he left behind when he went to jail. It won’t be easy though – not only is the brother of the man he killed hovering vengefully in the background, but the neighbourhood’s violent new hoodlums (Alex Pettyfer and Rory Culkin) are just waiting for an excuse to slap Adam down.
It’s gritty and violent stuff, but Evans grounds it with a typically powerful turn as the battered but hopeful former crook prepared to do anything to make amends for his old sins. (109 minutes)
Tires
American workplace comedy about the staff of a car-repair garage starring Shane Gillis
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Netflix
When Will (Steven Gerben) takes over his father’s auto repair chain, he’s determined to modernise it and create a business fit for the 21st century. Trouble is, the resolutely old-fashioned staff like it just the way it is and dig their heels firmly in. Especially his cousin and now employee, Shane (Shane Gillis), who struggles to get his sexist and non-PC brain around even the simplest of Will’s reforms.
Following the long-established tradition of workplace sitcoms such as The Office and Superstore, this six-episode series pulls together a fine ensemble cast to poke cheery fun at life in the American workforce. Gerben is likeably earnest as the ineffectual Will, but it’s stand-up-turned-actor Gillis (who co-created the show) who steals the most scenes as the brash and unrepentantly old-school Shane. (Six episodes)
Illusions For Sale: The Rise And Fall Of Generation Zoe
Crime documentary examining one of the largest pyramid schemes in Argentinian history
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Netflix
Generation Zoe seemed to herald a revolution in personal finance for the people of Argentina. Swiftly growing from an online coaching aid to become a financial business which claimed to generate huge returns for its subscribers from mining, car sales, health, real estate and professional football, it was dealing in millions of dollars every day. It even spawned its own church and its own burger franchise.
Trouble is, it was all a scam. Its founder Leonardo Cositorto had set up a huge Ponzi scheme that relied on new investors pouring in cash in order to keep paying money to the old investors. This fascinating documentary examines the charismatic Cositorto and his elaborate scam, and follows the officers who set out to track him down from country to country when he fled Argentina in the wake of Generation Zoe’s inevitable collapse. (107 minutes)
MK Ultra
Anson Mount stars in a tense 1960s-set thriller about the CIA’s experiments with LSD
Year: 2022
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Paramount+
In the early 1960s, experimental psychologist Dr Ford Strauss (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds star Anson Mount) is struggling to get his plans for medical testing of the effects of the psychotropic drug LSD approved. However, when a mysterious CIA agent (Jason Patric) suddenly offers to fund his experiments, Strauss finds himself tumbling down a grey rabbit hole of moral uncertainty.
Based on the US government’s real-life dabbling with drugs and mind control, this tense and quietly powerful psychological thriller asks telling questions about the lines people are prepared to cross in pursuit of their goals. Mount is subtle and understated as the determined Strauss, while Patric relishes his turn as the Machiavellian CIA man, nudging and prodding Strauss down a dark and winding road until he can no longer find his way back to the light. (98 minutes)
The Delinquents
Slow-burning Argentine drama about a banking clerk who walks out of work with $650,000
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Mubi
Some films feel like you’re just watching somebody else’s life go by. Making that kind of movie takes more skill than you may think, and they can often surprise you with the depth they find in the apparently ordinary – Japanese Oscar nominee Perfect Days is a good example of this.
The Delinquents has a lot in common with that kind of film, as we’re introduced to the life of unassuming Buenos Aires banker Morán (Daniel Elías). One day, Morán walks out of his bank with $650,000 and flatly explains his plan to split the money with his friend, then confess and serve the prison time so both of them can retire happily.
‘I want a modest life. I don’t want to work any more,’ he explains, which is something we’ve all probably thought at some point or another. And what follows makes you wonder what you might do in either of their positions. It’s a long movie and won’t be for everyone, but there’s real art and humanity to enjoy here if you’ve got the patience. Treating it as a three-part TV drama may make it more digestible but, either way, there’s a lot more here than you may think at first glance. (180 minutes)
Colony
American sci-fi drama set in a Los Angeles invaded by outside forces
Year: 2016-2018
Certificate: 12
Watch now on ITVX
This is one of those US sci-fi shows that offers an intriguing set-up that hooks you in (think Lost, Under The Dome, Manifest) and then adds in a mystery-of-the-week format while keeping up with the domestic dramas of the core characters.
It’s set in a Los Angeles that has been cut off from the rest of the world by invaders (or ‘Hosts’) who have established a ruling class of collaborating humans and sealed everyone else behind huge walls. The people in the colonies have their movements strictly monitored and curtailed by the ‘Transitional Authority’. It was conceived as a metaphor for the Nazi occupation of Paris, and the show gives you a very real sense of how that might play out in contemporary times.
Our main protagonist Will Bowman (Lost veteran Josh Holloway) is a married father and an FBI man before the ‘arrival’. His unique set of skills gets him assigned to the Red Hats, the human military enforcers for the Hosts. He didn’t have a choice because they threatened his family, and it’s how Will balances his official duties with protecting his family that drives the show, as well as the ways he helps the Resistance, of which his wife is secretly a member. (Three series)
