ON DEMAND HIGHLIGHTS

CLAUDIA CONNELL’S ultimate insight into the week’s soaps

AMAZON PRIME

DRAMA American Gods (All three seasons) ★★★ There won’t be another season of this stylish adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s fantasy novel, but it may return for a TV movie. The best reason to watch is Ian McShane as Mr Wednesday, a con artist who is secretly the Norse god Odin, and is forever preparing for war.

MOVIE Knight And Day (2010) 12 u ★★★ Tom Cruise plays Roy, an unfailingly polite superspy who whirls into the life of a mechanic (Cameron Diaz) in an old-school action rollercoaster packed with set pieces.

MOVIE Tropic Thunder (2008) 15 u ★★★ Wildly politically incorrect comedy about self-involved actors filming a Vietnam War movie that turns out to be all too real. Robert Downey Jr was Oscar-nominated for his bold turn as Kirk Lazarus, a Russell Crowe-style actor who goes way too deep on one particular role.

MOVIE Chick Fight (2020) 15 u ★★ ‘You don’t even hit like a girl, you hit like a cat.’ Alec Baldwin has fun as the boxing coach to Anna (Malin Akerman), a broke, clueless woman who winds up in an all-female fight club. It’s not a patch on Netflix’s Glow, but the cast has charm. From Friday.

NETFLIX

MOVIE Stowaway (2021) 12 u ★★★

There are four people on board a spacecraft bound for Mars – and only enough oxygen for three – in a tense thriller that has a good cast, including Anna Kendrick and Toni Collette. From Thursday.

NEW! Izzy’s Koala World (Season 2) ★★★★ Izzy lives a life that will be the envy of plenty of children, rescuing and cuddling koalas with her family on Magnetic Island in Australia. The Bee family look after the hapless eucalyptus munchers until they’re strong enough to return to the wild. From Tuesday.

MOVIE Smallfoot (2018) PG ● ★★★ James Corden, Zendaya, Channing Tatum and Danny DeVito are among the starry cast for this musical animation, which follows the adventures of lovable yetis (above) who find humans do exist. From Tuesday.

Soaps have done their best to reflect real life during the pandemic. Characters wear masks, there are advice posters on display, and vaccinations get discussed. Understandably, they had to ignore the most recent closure of pubs since residents spend 90 per cent of their lives in one.

Another area where they’re reflecting real life is with job losses. Karen has been axed from the launderette in EastEnders and, this week, Emmerdale’s Matty becomes surplus to requirements at The Woolpack.

But the real wonder is that anyone employs them in the first place. They’re the worst workers ever! Staff at Underworld in Corrie seem to spend the whole working day going on ‘cake runs’, while family members drop in for chats – and arguments. As for the Slaters’ cleaning company in Walford, is it me or does Jean just dust the same section of bar at The Vic over and over again?

If they’re not being lazy they’ll end up bonking the boss, as we saw recently with Belle and then Gabby in Emmerdale, both bedding Jamie Tate. ‘I’m going on my break,’ is the catchphrase of every soap worker.

Jaci Stephen is away