THE HOT LIST
THE BEST OF TV AND STREAMING THIS WEEK
LOVE ON THE ROCKS
AMMONITE Various streaming services from Friday, March 26
■ DIRECTOR Francis Lee follows up his debut feature film, the acclaimed God’s Own Country, with this look at the life of Victorian fossil hunter Mary Anning played by Kate Winslet. Set in the 1840s, Anning is well known for her amazing fossil finds in and around Lyme Regis but has become a rather overlooked figure who never got the credit she deserved for her contributions to palaeontology. When she strikes up an intense relationship with Charlotte Murchison (Saoirse Ronan), a young woman sent to the sea to convalesce, her life is changed forever.
THE GAME’S AFOOT
IRREGULARS Netflix
■ THE game’s afoot yet again as another show based (loosely) on the world of Sherlock Holmes, created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, comes to our screens. This eight-part Netflix series follows the adventures of the Baker Street Irregulars, ‘street urchins’ who featured occasionally in Conan Doyle’s stories, but this time they’re centre stage in increasingly strange and supernatural goings-on in Victorian London. We follow this gang of troubled teens as they solve crimes for Doctor Watson and his mysterious business partner, Sherlock Holmes, and slowly begin to realise that darker forces are at work.
PUNK POET
CROCK OF GOLD: A FEW ROUNDS WITH SHANE MACGOWAN BBC iPlayer
■ JULIEN Temple has carved out a niche for himself as a documentary maker like no other, bringing to the screen the life and times of rock stars in his vivid, collage style. His films about the defining artists of the last 50 years have made him a kind of cultural historian but he’s up against a tricky subject with the former The Pogues’ frontman, Shane MacGowan, whose wild life he tries to chart with the man himself as well as his circle of friends. Fascinating stuff but sometimes difficult viewing.
RETURNING HEROES
ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE Sky Cinema and Now TV
■ WHEN DC’s answer to Marvel’s Avengers had their team-up for the big screen in 2017 it was considered a commercial and critical failure with Joss Whedon taking control after a family tragedy stopped original director Zack Snyder completing his project. Four years on, after a campaign by fans and with new material filmed, Snyder has assembled the version of Justice League he wanted, a four-hour epic that is premiering on the small screen. After Superman made the ultimate sacrifice in Batman vs Superman, the Caped Crusader (Ben Affleck) assembles a group of super-powered beings to take on an existential threat to the planet.
ICONIC MOVIES
ICON FILM CHANNEL Amazon Prime
■ A BRAND new movie channel is now part of the Amazon Prime streaming service, a showcase of more than 150 films by distributor Icon featuring a host of awardwinning movies. Amongst a vast and varied selection are Gosford Park, Malcolm X, La Vie En Rose, Enigma, The Mummy, Buried, The Passion Of The Christ and Apocalypto. With work from directors such as Kenneth Branagh, Robert Altman, Spike Lee, Wolfgang Petersen, Mel Gibson, Stephen Fry, Lars Von Trier, Nicolas Winding Refn and Ken Loach there’s certainly all sorts of films on offer and this is the only place in the UK where you can stream them.