PICK OF PAY TV AND MOVIES

NETFLIX NEW! SNOWPIERCER

(Episodes 9 & 10) HHHH Melanie (Jennifer Connelly) is by far the most interesting character on the train, and she’s walking a fine line in the double bill finale to this sci-fi thriller, which brings some big changes. From Monday.

NEW!

(Season 1) HHH Netflix’s new adventure series is based on a comic book, and is essentially an origin story for the Lady of the Lake. Katherine Langford (13 Reasons Why) plays Nimue, who teams up with a young mercenary called Arthur and seeks a boozy magician named Merlin. Among her many enemies is a warrior played by Peter Mullan. From Friday.

NEW! SON FATHER SOLDIER

HHH Thirdgeneration US soldier

Sgt Eisch was wounded in Afghanistan, and this documentary is all about how that changed both him and his relationship with his sons. You can see the pain under the bravado on both sides in this simple, moving film. From Friday.

MOVIE CURSED FATAL AFFAIR

(2020) 15 HHH Fatal Attraction-style thriller starring Nia Long as a lawyer who becomes involved with an unstable old friend. From Thursday.

uAMAZON PRIME DRAMA THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE

(All four seasons) HHH This week, new series The Plot Against America (Tuesday, 9pm, Sky Atlantic) imagines a Second World War-era US where fascism is on the rise. This similar drama imagines what would have happened if the Axis had won that war, and stars Rufus Sewell as a Nazi commander in a conquered US.

NEW! ABSENTIA

(Season 3) HHH Castle’s Stana Katic produces this returning thriller, in which she also delivers a rounded performance as an FBI agent who is abducted for six years, then returns to find her family has moved on. From Friday.

DRAMA NEW! UNRAVELING ATHENA

HHHH Unique film about what it takes to become a women’s tennis champion, from kid to adult, with very personal contributions from Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova and Caroline Wozniacki (left). From Monday.

ALIAS

(All five seasons) HHHH J.J. Abrams is the Steven Spielberg of his generation, and the first show he solely created was this espionage thriller starring Jennifer Garner. It goes crazy by the end, but is great fun along the way, and Garner gives it dramatic weight.

See more amazing animals and capable vets in a new series of CBBC’S The Pets Factor on iplayer

● u

SKY ON DEMAND/ NOW TV DRAMA

HHHH Kim Cattrall (right) plays a woman who lives with a team of acrobats in Sky’s magical silent comedy. Cariad Lloyd and Mike Wozniak are her disapproving relations.

COMEDY HELL

HHH Rude but funny tennis mockumentary with

Andy Samberg as a hotheaded John Mcenroe-style figure. His rival is pleasant

British star Charles (Kit Harington), and the seven days of the title refers to a week-long match they played at Wimbledon in 2001.

DRAMA

(Seasons 1-2) HHHHH This US drama about the rowing heirs to a media baron (a snarling Brian Cox) is terrific TV. Succession is often said to have been inspired by the Murdochs, and some of the show’s style is cheekily echoed by this week’s The Rise Of The Murdoch Dynasty (Tuesday, 9pm, BBC2).

MOVIE RUBY ROBINSON SEVEN DAYS IN SUCCESSION SUPER 8

(2011) 12 HHH

A group of film-making friends witness a rail crash in this 1979-set alien tale from J.J. Abrams, the creator of the TV series Lost. s Particularly

uBEST OF THE REST NEW! FALSE HOPE? ALTERNATIVE CANCER CURES

(BBC3 via iplayer) HHH When Sean was 20, he was told that his cancer had returned; he then refused chemotherapy and pursued alternative treatment, which, his family believed, killed him. This one-off looks at what happened. From Wednesday, 6am.

PAY MOVIES ABOVE SUSPICION

(2019) 15 (BT TV Store, Virgin) HHH In a based-on-truth thriller, Game Of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke excels as a self-destructive redneck involved in an affair with an FBI agent

(Jack Huston) who visits her small Kentucky town. Clarke is the best reason to watch.

BLUMHOUSE’S FANTASY ISLAND

(2020) 15 (BT TV Store, Sky Store, Virgin)

The TV series is reimagined as a glossy horror on an island where dreams become nightmares. It looks good, but otherwise is only for completists. Both from Monday.

HNEW!

(Starzplay via Amazon & Virgin) HHH The offbeat DC superhero drama about four ‘superzeroes’ returns for season two. See page 55 for details. From Thursday.

uDOOM PATROL

u