THE HOT LIST
THE BEST OF TV AND STREAMING THIS WEEK
AWKWARD ALAN THIS TIME WITH ALAN PARTRIDGE Friday, April 30, BBC One, 9.30pm
HE’S only gone and got a second series. For a long time Steve Coogan seemed to want to shake off the shackles of his most famous comedy creation but in recent years he’s embraced the endless possibilities of Alan Partridge being awkward and inappropriate in different situations. Now he’s back for a second run of This Time, a One Show-style magazine show in which he clashes with guests and co-presenter Jennie Gresham (Susannah Fielding) while trying to be slick and charming. Hilarious and excruciating in equal measures.
ON THE ROAD NOMADLAND Disney+ from Friday April 30
FRESH from winning three Oscars, Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland comes to our TV screens this Friday. Frances McDormand stars as Fern, one of a growing number of Americans living nomadic lifestyles for various reasons
but mostly because of economic hardship, travelling across the country to find seasonal work and finding themselves detached from the rest of society. A study of modern life on the margins that uses a mostly non-professional cast apart from McDormand, Zhao’s film is an intimate, compelling look at the ‘New West’. On
Disney+ before a big-screen release when cinemas re-open.
ON THE RUN MOSQUITO COAST, April 30
Apple TV, from Friday, JUSTIN Theroux stars in this seven-part series based on the bestselling novel by his uncle Paul (father of Louis) and adapted for the small screen by Luther creator Neil Cross. Theroux is Allie Fox, an inventor and anti-consumerist who goes on the run from the US government, uprooting his family and fleeing to Mexico. Melissa George co-stars in this tense drama.
MAD TIMES BEFORE WE WAS WE: MADNESS BY MADNESS Saturday, May 1, AMC (via BT), 9pm
THIS three-part series looks at the story of the most enduring pop band of that golden era of British pop, the 1980s, tracing their journey from the laddish group that emerged with the ska revival in the late 1970s to the national treasures that can get any crowd dancing at a festival. In the opening episode, singer Graham ‘Suggs’ McPherson recalls how he was thrown out of the band for not taking it seriously enough in the early days.
USE THE FORCE STAR WARS: THE BAD BATCH Disney+, Tuesday, May 4
MAY the fourth be with you as Disney+ launches this new animated series on Star Wars Day. This new series debuts with a special 70-minute premiere followed by new episodes every Friday, starting on May 7. The Bad Batch follows a group of clones with their own unique set of skills as they try to find their place in a rapidly changing galaxy. If you want to make the most of Star Wars Day, there’s more than 180 hours of content available on Disney+ from the Skywalker saga through to two series of the excellent The Mandalorian.