A FEAST OF ENTERTAINMENT
Now that 2024 is officially upon us, Tymon Smith takes a look at the productions that will be lighting up your screens at home and in theatres in the coming months
SHOWMAX True Detective Night Country
Jodie Foster stars in this fourth outing for the HBO noir series. This time, strange things are happening in a small Alaskan town close to the Arctic, where in the long, dark winter days long-held secrets and resentments come to the surface after the disappearance of a group of scientists from a remote research station. This sparks an investigation which uncovers a dark plot that swallows up the lives of everyone involved.
Dr Death Season 2
Edgar Ramirez stars in the second season of this true-story medical malpractice drama based on the popular podcast. Ramirez plays Dr Paolo Macchiarini, a worldrenowned surgeon dubbed “The Miracle Man”, whose trachea surgeries using stemcell research wow the medical world and seem to give to new life to his patients. When Benita Alexander (Mandy Moore) profiles the doctor for a television documentary, she soon finds herself falling for him, after having been drawn into his web of deception, but then becomes determined to expose him.
Ted
Everyone’s favourite trash-talking teddy gets the sitcom treatment in this spin-off of the popular films. The series shows us the trials and tribulations of the teenage life of John and his best furry friend in the 1990s. The series is produced by Seth Macfarlane, who once again takes up Ted voice duties, and written by Modern Family creators Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh.
House of the Dragon Season 2
It’s time for war in House Targaryen as Emma D’Arcy and Matt Smith, along with plenty of fire-breathing dragons, return for the second season of this Game of Thrones prequel, due for release later this year.
Catch me a Killer
The memoirs of South African criminal profiler Micki Pistorius come to screen in this dramatic series, co-produced by Showmax and Germany’s Night Train Media and starring Charlotte Hope as Pistorius, who helps to track down some of South Africa’s most notorious killers in the 1990s including the Station Strangler, the Cleveland Killer and Stuart “Boetie Boer” Wilken.
DISNEY PLUS
Echo
The Marvel Comic Universe continues its Phase 5 rollout with this series that delves into the origins of Native American überfighter Maya Lopez/Echo and her battle with Kingpin.
Starring Alaqua Cox and
Vincent D’Onofrio.
Shogun
Based on the blockbusting 1975 novel by James Clavell, this historical drama series follows the adventures of a shipwrecked British sailor who finds himself drawn into the world of the shogun in 17th-century Japan as he witnesses the ruthless rise of powerful daimyo Lord Toranaga.
Feud: Capote vs The Swans
Ryan Murphy returns to camp up history in his own indomitable style in this second instalment of the anthology series. This time the battle is between legendary writer and social butterfly Truman Capote and his one-time circle of New York socialite female friends after Capote very publicly and spectacularly betrays their trust.
Rivals
“Queen of the Bonkbuster” Jilly Cooper gets the lavish TV series treatment in this adaptation of her bestseller about a bitter feud between a polo-playing aristocrat and his 1980s corporate power-player nemesis. Starring David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Alex Hassell and Katherine Parkinson, it’s been billed as a “joyously mischievous rollercoaster ride, steamy in its love stories, and packed with larger-than-life characters” that “brings a 2020s lens to the 1980s”.
Renegade Nell
Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright turns her attention to the past in this historical drama about a woman who, after she’s framed for murder, becomes a highway robber in 18th-century England. She soon gains notoriety as the country’s most feared highwaywoman, and is guided by the hand of a magical spirit named Billy Blind. Starring Louisa Harland, Nick Mohammed and Joely Richardson.
Shardlake
Based on the bestselling Tudor-era mystery series by CJ Sansom, this four-part drama stars Arthur Hughes as Matthew Shardlake, a 16th-century investigator sent by Thomas Cromwell to uncover the truth after the death of a commissioner in the small town of Scarnsea.
Cristóbal Balenciaga
This Spanish-language drama series tells the true story of the founder of the legendary fashion house, who was born the son of a seamstress and a fisherman and defied his social status to become one of the most important designers of the 20th century.
The Artful Dodger
Thomas Brodie-Sangster stars as Jack
Sunday Times
Dawkins, aka the Artful Dodger, in this sequel to Dickens’s beloved novel Oliver Twist, in which the former London pickpocket has reinvented himself as a doctor in Australia, only to have his past come back to haunt him when he receives a visit from his old friend Fagin (David Thewlis), who isn’t about to let him get comfortable in his new life of respectability.
We Were The Lucky Ones
Based on the bestselling novel by Georgia Hunter, this limited series tells the emotional story of a Jewish family in the wake of the horrors of World War 2 and their determination to survive and reunite.
Interior Chinatown
Comedian Jimmy O Yang stars in this adaptation of the National Book Awardwinning novel by Charles Yu about a background actor struggling to fight against stereotypes, both on and off set, as he finds himself trapped in a police procedural and struggling to get a part in the larger story.
Star Wars: The Acolyte
Another year and another extension of the Star Wars universe in this twisty series starring Dafne Keen, Amandla Stenberg and Jodie Turner-Smith that delves into the dark secrets and power struggles in the last days of the High Republic.
BRITBOX
Crime Season Two
Dougray Scott returns as troubled Edinburgh detective Ray Lennox in this second season of the drama based on the novel by Irvine Welsh. A new series of grisly murders forces Lennox to confront his demons as he searches for answers and justice.
Better
Leila Fazzard and Andrew Buchan star in this acclaimed police drama in which a
compromised police detective’s longstanding relationship with a local crime lord is tested after her son nearly loses his life. As she attempts to right 20 years of wrongdoing, she finds herself only making things far worse than she could ever have imagined.
Three Little Birds
Sir Lenny Henry tells the deeply personal story of his own family’s history as Windrush immigrants to post-war England in this touching and gently comic series that spotlights the story of Henry’s mother and the sacrifices she made and challenges she faced as a black immigrant in an often hostile and unwelcoming environment.
NETFLIX
Griselda
The Narcos universe expands with this instalment starring Sofia Vergara as infamous drug lord Griselda Blanco, aka the “Black Widow” and the “Cocaine Godmother”, who ruled the Miami cocaine trade for decades from the 1970s onwards and presided over one of its bloodiest periods during the infamous Cocaine Wars of the 1980s.
The Kitchen
UK grime star turned actor Kano leads the cast in this dystopian sci-fi drama co-directed by Oscar-winner Daniel Kuluuya and architect turned filmmaker Kibwe Tavares. In a London of the future, where social housing has been eliminated, a pair of residents of The Kitchen, a community that refuses to leave their homes, must fight for their survival in a hostile world.
Boy Swallows Universe
Travis Fimmell stars in this adaptation of the bestselling semi-autobiographical novel by Australian author Trent Dalton about the trials and tribulations of a young man in Brisbane who is forced to become involved with the city’s underworld to ensure the survival of his mother.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
The much-anticipated live-action adaptation of the animated series will be available for streaming in February under the stewardship of showrunner Albert Kim.
PRIME VIDEO
Mr and Mrs Smith
Created by Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane, and inspired by the 2005 film starring Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, this series stars Glover and Maya Erskine as spies impersonating a married couple.
Fallout
The popular video-game series gets a blockbusting adaptation in this sci-fi series set in a postapocalyptic Los Angeles where, after a nuclear attack, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation and the many dangers that lurk in the wastelands above.
APPLE TV
Masters of the Air
Austin Butler, Callum Turner and Anthony Boyle star in this handsome period drama produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. It continues telling the stories of World War 2 veterans explored in Band of Brothers and The Pacific. This time it’s the men of the US Air Force and their struggles that are the subject of this rousing and sometimes heartbreaking drama inspired by true events.
The New Look
Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche star in this lavish period drama that tells the story of fashion designers Christian Dior and Coco Chanel, the challenges they endured during World War 2, and the ways their experiences shaped their dedication to changing the face of fashion in the post-war period.
ON CIRCUIT
Poor Things
Greek mischief-maker Yorgos Lanthimos directs this much-acclaimed and Oscarbuzzy adaptation of the novel by Scottish author Alasdair Gray about the sexual evolution of a young woman brought back to life by a brilliant scientist. A great cast includes Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe and Ramy Youssef.
The Color Purple
Ghanaian multi-hyphenate creator Blitz Bazawule helms this Oprah Winfrey-produced film of the stage musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s seminal novel. Starring Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P Henson, Colman Domingo and Danielle Brooks.
Zone of Interest
Jonathan Glazer’s loose adaptation of the novel by Martin Amis stars Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller as Auschwitz commander Rudolf Höss and his wife, Hedwig, who strove to build a home for their family in the shadow of the horrors taking place just beyond the border of their picturesque garden.
The Holdovers
Director Alexander Payne reunites with his Sideways star Paul Giamatti for this dysfunctional black retro-set comedy about a grumpy New England prep school teacher who is forced to remain on campus during the Christmas break to babysit the “holdovers ”— the handful of students who have nowhere to go for the holidays.
All of Us Strangers
Andrew Scott and Paul Mescal star in this drama from director Andrew Haigh as neighbours who find themselves drawn to each other in a relationship that will force them to confront their personal demons and quietly change their lives. Also starring
Claire Foy and Jamie Bell.
Bob Marley One Love
Kingsley Ben-Adair stars in Reinaldo Marcus-Greene’s biopic of the life, times and legacy of the legendary reggae star, whose life was cut tragically short by cancer at the age of 36 in 1981.
Dune: Part Two
Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet and the rest of the cast of Denis Villeneuve’s ambitious world-building adaptation of the novel by Frank Herbert make a long-awaited return in this second chapter of the saga of Paul Atreides, the Frenner desert people of Arrakis and their battle against the House of Harkonnen.
The Book of Clarence
The Harder They Fall director Jeymes Samuel directs this biblical comedy adventure in which LaKeith Stanfield stars as Clarence, a down-on-his-luck Jerusalemite in AD29 who sees an opportunity to capitalise on the rise in the popularity of Jesus by claiming to be a new Messiah.
The Iron Claw
Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson buff up to star in this sports drama based on the true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the cutthroat world of competitive professional wrestling in the 1980s.
Mickey 17
Parasite director Bong Joon-ho returns to screens with this dystopian sci-fi thriller starring Robert Pattinson and adapted from the novel “Mickey7” by Edward Ashton that follows the story of a disposable employee or “expendable” Mickey 17 on an expedition sent to establish a colony on the ice world of Niflheim.
Challengers
Luca Guadagnino’s much-awaited, but delayed by strike action, drama stars
Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist as three competitive tennis players whose teenage pasts collide when they reunite on the pro circuit. They must ask themselves just how far they’re willing to go to ensure victory.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth star in George Miller’s action adventure that traces the origins story of the fearless female renegade Furiosa before the events that led to her teaming up with Mad Max in 2015’s much acclaimed Mad Max: Fury Road.
Beetlejuice 2
Tim Burton goes back to the world of his classic 1988 horror comedy in this sequel starring Jenna Ortega and original cast members Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.
Joker: Folie á Deux
Director Todd Phillips again teams up with Joaquin Phoenix in this musical sequel to the dark 2019 origins story of Gotham’s most notorious villain. Lady Gaga stars as Harley Quinn. Robert de Niro and Brendan Gleason are also part of the cast.
Gladiator 2
Ridley Scott and writer David Scarpa return to the Roman Empire for this eagerly anticipated sequel to the 2000 Oscarwinning epic. Paul Mescal stars as Lucius, son of Russell Crowe’s deceased hero Maximus and Connie Nielsen’s Lucilla, in a continuation of the saga. The film features appearances from Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal.