THE HOT LIST
BEST OF TV AND STREAMING
FAMILY MATTERS HERE WE GO BBC One, Friday, April 29, 8.30pm
■ THE phrase ‘family sitcom’ doesn’t always inspire excitement and anticipation but Tom Basden’s affectionately observed comedy is something a little different from the the usual canned laughter offerings we’re used to. Here We Go follows the everyday ups and downs of the Jessop family in lockdown as they try to navigate what life throws at them along the way. It’s all captured through youngest son Sam videoing what they do which in the opening episode sees them going on a family day out to Jungle World that, of course, does not go smoothly at all. Katherine Parkinson, Jim Hawick and Alison Steadman head the cast.
SURVIVOR SERIES SHINING GIRLS AppleTV+ from Friday, April 22
■ ELISABETH Moss stars as Kirby Mazrachi, the victim of a traumatising attack in this tense eight-part thriller. She’s trying to rebuild her life when a brutal murder is linked to the assault on her and she starts to think she might be the survivor of a serial killer attack. She teams up up with veteran reporter Dan Velazquez (Wagner Moura) to try to uncover the truth about what is happening and, as the story jumps across shifting timelines and realities, Kirby becomes increasingly disturbed.
POWER AND CORRUPTION GASLIT StarPlayz on Amazon Prime
■ AS Anatomy Of A Scandal on Netflix looks at (fictionalised) murky goings on in the British political system, Gaslit takes a similarly withering look at power, corruption and lies in the US ruling elite. Dan Stevens plays John Dean, a Republican aide turned prosecution witness as morally dubious political manoeuvring is exposed in this eight-part series. The story centres on a scandal involving corrupt attorney general John Mitchell (Sean Penn) whose wife Martha (Julia Roberts) has blown the whistle on him and faces some dire consequences.
PARADISE FOUND EXPLORER: THE LAST TEPUI Disney+
■ RELEASED on Earth Day last week, this inspiring documentary follows the attempt by Alex Honnold (Free Solo) and a team of top climbers to trek through the Amazon jungle in Guyana before climbing a tepui, a towering rock stack on top of which it is believed a unique eco-system may exist. You feel every slippery, sweat-drenched footstep as the team cross the jungle with veteran biologist Bruce Means struggling with conditions but as they leave him behind on the ground and begin to ascend the tepui, the promise of discovering new species becomes a startling reality as they near this ‘island in the clouds’. Inspiring and englightening stuff.
SPECIAL AGENTS
TEN PERCENT Amazon Prime, from Thursday, April 28
■ THIS British remake of the hit French Netflix show has been written by Twenty Twelve and W1A creator John Morton and he’s adjusted the comic emphasis accordingly. The series takes place at a
London talent agency where the agents under Jack Davenport’s beleagured Jonathan Nightingale are trying to keep their clients happy and the business afloat after the founder dies. Quiet desperation and
growing exasperation are the name of the game amid celebrity cameos from the likes of Helena Bonham Carter, Kelly Macdonald and David Oyelowo.