MIKE WARD’S SMALL SCREEN
THE MORNING SHOW
(Apple TV+)
★★★
TODAY’S the day Apple launches its streaming service, its eventual aim being to give Netflix, etc, a run for their money.
And among the big-budget shows on which it is pinning its hopes is this melodramatic, media-themed saga, centred on the behind-the-scenes backstabbing at a daytime talk show.
It stars Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and ★★★★
Steve Carell. Apple TV+ is available across the company’s various devices for £4.99 a month (with a sevenday free trial) and online at tv.apple.com.
THE KING (15)
(Netflix Originals) ★★★★
WE’RE still a couple of weeks away from the return of The Crown, so here’s another meaty royal drama to sink your teeth into.
Timothée Chalamet stars as reluctant monarch Henry V, forced to accept a role in life that he’d been busting a gut to flee. It doesn’t help that his tyrannical father left things in such a state, both politically and war-wise.
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (U)
(4K Ultra HD & Blu-ray from Monday) ★★★★★
IT’S Christmas! OK, not quite, but it won’t be long until a big beardy geezer pops down your chimney.
So to get you in the mood, here’s the finest festive film ever made, starring the legendary James Stewart, out for the first time in this new format.
BROTHERS IN ARMS (15)
(Download and DVD from Monday)
★★
A BY-the-book cop puts family first when his volatile sibling gets arrested and banged up. Stars Jai Courtney and Nat Wolff.
RUNNING WITH THE DEVIL (15)
(Download from Monday)
★★
NICOLAS Cage and Laurence Fishburne play drug traffickers, hired by a cartel boss to investigate flaws in his supply chain.