PICK OF PAY TV AND MOVIES

NETFLIX

NEW! FATE: THE WINX SAGA

(Season 1) HHH Young fairies figure out emotions and powers in an angsty new series set at a magical boarding school, and based on the Nickelodeon cartoon Winx Club. The fairies’ powers work on different things – earth, water, fire, air, the mind – and the drama of their lives plays like a youngadult version of The Worst Witch, with Eve Best and Downton’s Robert James-collier among the teaching faculty. From Friday. RIVERDALE

NEW! (Season 5, Episode 1) HHH The dark US teen drama set in the world of the Archie comics opens its new season on the prom. Anew episode arrives every Thursday. NEW! CALL MY AGENT! (Season 4) HHHH

The welcome return of this brisk, glamorous and cheerily cynical French comedy set at top Paris agency for acting talent. From Thursday. THE WHITE TIGER

MOVIE (2021) 15 u HHH Piercingly dark underdog tale of a poor country man who’ll take any chance to flee India’s caste system. He finds one with a glamorous couple, one half of whom is played by Priyanka Chopra. From Friday.

AMAZON PRIME

NEW! AMERICAN GODS

(Season 3, Part 2) HHH The Queen of Sheba’s power is looking shaky as the stylish show continues. A new episode arrives every Monday. THE RENTAL

MOVIE (2020) 15 u HHH Downton’s Dan Stevens and Mad Men’s Alison Brie play one of two couples at the core of this mix of relationship drama and slasher movie. The city foursome decamp to a seaside retreat where bad things occur in a movie that sets up its characters and situations well, although the payoff isn’t quite what you’d hope for. From Friday. NEW! STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS

(Season 1) HHH Star Trek shows usually follow the heroes, but not Lower Decks. This animated comedy is devoted to the underlings (left) who spend their days worrying about admin and shift patterns, and view the bridge officers as glory-hogging blowhards. It’s a fun perspective for a Star Trek show, although the humour is skin-deep. From Friday. MOVIE FORTE

(2020) 12 u HHH An overweight accountant signs up for pole dancing lessons to assert her femininity in this big French comedy, which is more charming than it sounds. From Wednesday.

SKY / NOW TV

MOVIE BLITHE SPIRIT (2020) 12 HHH u

Sky’s new version of the Noel Coward classic provides a welcome jolt of energy for January. Judi Dench has a lot of fun as fraudulent medium

Madame Arcati, who holds a seance with consequences for a blocked writer (Dan Stevens).

The 1945 version is on Britbox.

DRAMA MILDRED PIERCE (All five parts) HHHHH Perfectly played adaptation of James M.

Cain’s novel, with Kate Winslet as motherof-two Mildred, who must find her way in 1930s California after her husband leaves.

DISNEY+

NEW! PIXAR POPCORN

(All eight episodes) HHH Characters from Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Cars and Soul – Pixar’s big Christmas movie – populate this fun new series of short cartoons. From Friday.

NEW! WILD UGANDA HHH Disney’s on demand service is mostly known for its family movies, but there are quite a lot of wildlife documentaries on there, too, under the National Geographic banner. This example is a tale of survival, of how Uganda’s national parks have recovered from the horrors of poaching. From Friday.

BEST OF THE REST

NEW! LOSING ALICE

(Apple TV+) HHHH In a tense, complex and satisfying thriller from Israel, Alice (Ayelet Zurer, left) is a 48-year-old film director who fears irrelevance, and becomes obsessed with writer Sophie after a chance encounter on a train. There’s an ambition to this show that’s often missing on UK TV. From Friday. NEW! THE MISSING FILE

(Acorn TV) HHH A terrorist attack distracts the Israeli security service from an important missing persons case in a tough eight-part drama. From Monday.

PAY MOVIES

RELIC

(2020) 15 u (BT TV Store, Sky Store, Virgin) HHHH This is one of those horror films that are all the scarier for being rooted in real human emotions. Emily Mortimer stars as Kay, whose mother is becoming lost in Alzheimer’s and doesn’t want to leave her remote and very creepy home. ARCHIVE

(2020) 15 u (BT TV Store,

Sky Store, Virgin) HHH Familiar but slickly done sci-fi tale, with Theo James as scientist who has a hidden purpose when he creates a walking, talking, human-equivalent AI. Both from Monday.