If you are in search of something fresh to watch over the weekend, you have come to the right place. The Mail’s TV specialists have meticulously reviewed a plethora of shows and movies to present you with the 20 finest options available for streaming on demand right now.
Apple Cider Vinegar
Kaitlyn Dever stars in a drama based on the true story of wellness scammer Belle Gibson
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Netflix
Can a routine intake of apple cider vinegar and vigorous exercise truly be a remedy for cancer? This is the claim that wellness influencer Belle Gibson (portrayed by Kaitlyn Dever, known for her roles in Unbelievable and Booksmart) put forth in the early 2010s. Through her social media presence, a dedicated app, and even cookbooks, she propagated the idea that she had successfully eliminated her own malignant and terminal brain tumor by relying on ‘natural’ methods while also amassing a considerable fortune. However, there was a major flaw: Gibson had never been afflicted with cancer in the first place; it was all a fabrication.
Adapted from a true story, this six-episode Australian series offers a captivating exploration of opportunism and exploitation within the unregulated realm of online influencers. Dever delivers an exceptional performance in her portrayal of the charmingly unapologetic swindler Gibson. Dever’s portrayal is so compelling that she manages to evoke moments of sympathy for Gibson during her deceitful journey. The character of Gibson is depicted as an individual who endured a troubled upbringing (albeit with vague details) and yearns for acceptance, drawing a contrast with Milla Blake, a popular blogger who genuinely battles cancer and strives to overcome it through natural means.
Every so often, characters talk to the camera – partly to bring us further into the story and partly to tell us, flat out, that Gibson hasn’t been paid for the series. When you see the full extent of the con by the end, you’ll understand why the writers felt the need to tell us that. (Six episodes)
Amandaland
Motherland spin-off with Lucy Punch and Joanna Lumley
Year: 2025
Certificate: 12
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
Missing Motherland? This spin-off has the same pin-sharp writing and rapid-fire laughs and even though it focuses on just one of the mums from the original series, Lucy Punch’s Amanda is enough for anyone.
Relocating from leafy west London to the not-so-cosmopolitan suburb of South Harlesden – up and coming, but not there yet – Amanda has to start again. Making friends, making impressions and getting herself back on top. She is most put out not to be the centre of attention and makes a beeline for the cool mums, Siobhan McSweeney’s Della, chef at a local restaurant, and her wife Fi (Line Of Duty’s Rochenda Sandall). Let’s just say she doesn’t endear herself instantly.
Self-absorbed Amanda would be too much on her own but she contrasts nicely with Philippa Dunne who returns as the (mostly) sweet Anne as well as Joanna Lumley as Amanda’s mother Felicity, who reintroduces herself with the line, ‘Let me in before I get mugged’, and continues to cut her daughter down to size at very opportunity. All in all it’s a very welcome return to the delightfully chaotic world of modern parenting. (Six episodes)
Am I Being Unreasonable?
BAFTA-nominated comedy about a mum with a dark secret
Year: 2022
Certificate: 15
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
Nic is unhappily married and her life revolves around reality TV, hiding from the cleaner and moaning about stuck-up school mums. Only her hilariously mature child, Ollie (Lenny Rush), keeps her sane, until new mum in town Jen arrives on the scene. This wickedly funny thriller is written by and stars real-life best friends Daisy May Cooper (This Country) and Selin Hizli as Nic and Jen, who laugh through life’s lows – helped along by gin and Love Island jokes.
This is no traditional sitcom though – it often sweeps the rug from beneath our feet as we come to realise that Nic and Jen aren’t quite the people we first thought they were. Cooper and Rush received well-deserved BAFTA nominations for their brilliant performances as mother and son. The second series picks up right after the memorial service. (Two series)
David Mitchell’s Outsiders
Comedians take on madcap challenges in the countryside
Year: 2021-
Certificate: 15
Watch now on U (UKTV)
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
The concept of this show is that a bunch of comics fend for themselves in a post-apocalyptic countryside, trying to win challenge badges along the way, and all under the mischievous watch of David Mitchell.
As we’re introduced to the contestants in the third series, Man Like Mobeen’s Guz Khan confesses, ‘The skills I bring to the table are minimal.’ But none of them are exactly filled with confidence about their outdoor abilities. Which is good, because no one watches a skills-based comedy contest on Dave to see genius in action.
The skills they do bring to the table include the random facts that Alan Davies picked up on QI, and Judy Love knows a lot about cartoons. Not so helpful in the great outdoors, but great for campfire chat. It’s immensely silly and you’ve probably never seen the usually deadpan Mitchell quite as excitable as this. (Three series on U, two on BBC iPlayer)
Hacks
Bittersweet story of a washed-up comedian and a young writer
Year: 2022
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Prime Video
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
Great roles for older actresses don’t come along too often, and Jean Smart really grabbed this sharp US comedy with both hands. Her husband actually died during filming, but she carried on anyway in the role of veteran Las Vegas comedian Deborah Vance, a woman in danger of falling victim to cancel culture after an insensitive tweet.
She finds a fresh perspective in young writer Ava (Hannah Einbinder), but Hacks isn’t a story of hugs and learning. The two hate each other on sight from the start, and it’s their vicious sparring that fuels this show, along with the emotional vulnerability that sits way beneath the surface of these two formidable women. And, crucially, Hacks remembers to get right what so many shows about comedy get wrong – it’s very funny.
The first two series are on Prime Video and Sky/Now, and the latter also has the third season – when Deborah and Ava start to forge their own paths. (Three series)
Miss Austen
Stylish drama that explores why Cassandra Austen destroyed her sister Jane’s letters
Year: 2025
Certificate: 12
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
This four-part series is an adaptation of Gill Hornby’s 2020 bestseller, which brings beloved author Jane Austen back to life through the deep bond she shared with her elder sister Cassandra, more affectionately known as Cassy. It’s a fictional story exploring why Cassandra destroyed many of Jane’s letters, and is very much in the spirit of Austen herself – full of wit, romance, plotting and pathos.
It’s 1830, more than a decade after Jane’s death and Cassandra (Keeley Hawes) returns to Kintbury, the Berkshire rectory with a special place in her heart, to help Isabella Fowle (Rose Leslie) find a new home after the death of her father. She seeks out Jane’s many letters and, as she reads them, we flash back to the sisters’ youth – vibrant and bright but marked by loss as well as love.
Speculatively but still convincingly, the story gives us a new perspective on Cassandra who has been cast as a villain by some for burning Jane’s letters, but who clearly adored her sister and did all she could to support and empower her. (Four episodes)
Sweet Magnolias
Series about powerful female friendships set in South Carolina
Year: 2020-
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Netflix
This South Carolina series, based on the novels by Sherryl Woods, shouldn’t be as watchable as it is. There are no big bangs or twisty turns, but it’s perhaps the homespun soapy normality that makes Sweet Magnolias so absorbing.
It starts with the humiliation of Maddie Townsend (JoAnna Garcia Swisher) when her doctor husband falls for his rather dim but young nurse. She’s comforted by friends Helen, a career woman who wants kids, and chef Dana Sue, who struggles with being a boss and a mum.
The strength of the four-series show is the magical warmth of their friendship as they support each other through thick and thin. If you liked Netflix’s Firefly Lane, this feels like an even rosier version of that. (Four series)
Mussolini: Son Of The Century
Riveting eight-part drama about the rise of the Italian leader
Year: 2024
Certificate: 18
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
Strongman leaders are certainly something we’re familiar with in today’s world, and history has no shortage of them either. They tend to make good subjects for drama, though, and this high-end, subtitled eight-parter from Joe Wright (Darkest Hour) tackles Benito Mussolini a man who, like Hitler, harnessed the dissatisfaction of his people and rode it to power. He retained it for more than 20 years, too, until the Italians killed him in 1945.
Wright’s drama starts in 1919, with an already magnetic Mussolini running a newspaper and looking for the next rung up. ‘Follow me, you’ll love me too. You’ll become fascists too,’ he tells us, speaking right into the camera. This is something Wright’s Mussolini does a lot, rather like Francis Urquhart in House Of Cards.
This is a much more violent story than the classic British political thriller, though, and Mussolini a good deal less charming – Luca Marinelli plays him rather like a brutish vampire, a fundamentally unattractive opportunist whose utter certainty in his destiny makes him strangely compelling to watch. The production that surrounds that performance is clearly not short on cash, and conjures the period with aplomb. (Eight episodes)
The Bikeriders
Tom Hardy and Jodie Comer star in the 1960s US biker gang drama
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
A terrific cast powers this gritty drama about 1960s biker gangs in the US. Tom Hardy, Austin Butler and Jodie Comer are the leading three, playing the formidable leader of the Vandals – a gang caught up in changing times – a new member from the Midwest, and the woman who is drawn to him, respectively. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols (Take Shelter), The Bikeriders is narrated by Comer as Kathy – who marries Benny (Butler) within five weeks of meeting him – in the form of interviews to a journalist.
Benny is seen as the successor to Johnny (Hardy) who, while terrifyingly macho in some ways, is a man with more vulnerability than you might suspect. Hardy is essentially performing as Marlon Brando here (his character decided to form the Vandals after watching Brando), and in a film so American it’s surprising that two of the main leads are actually British – although there’s plenty of American talent elsewhere in the cast, notably Boyd Holbrook and frequent Nichols collaborator Michael Shannon. Overall it’s a gripping and thoroughly entertaining portrait of a changing time, and the fact that it’s based on the true story of the Chicago Outlaws gives the tale added kick, too. (116 minutes)
Accused
Bold US crime dramas about defendants’ brushes with the law
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Paramount+
In 2010, Jimmy McGovern wrote and produced a series of standalone dramas, each chronicling a seemingly ordinary person’s brush with the legal system. This US anthology show takes its inspiration from that idea, with each standalone episode telling a different story in flashback, explaining how small ripples in a character’s life unexpectedly combined into a disastrous tsunami that sweeps them into court.
Touching on everything from assault and murder to school shootings and white supremacist terrorism, it offers up some bold mini dramas that allow an ever-changing cast that includes Michael Chiklis, Rhea Perlman and Abigail Breslin plenty of opportunities to shine. The first half of the second series is available, and features such great acting talent as real-life husband and wife Felicity Huffman and William H Macy. (Two series)
Cassandra
German sci-fi thriller series about a psychotic smart home
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Netflix
Created in the 1970s, but long-since shut down, a vintage smart home is booted back up when a new family moves in. At first everything is great, with the old-school systems swiftly making the family feel welcome.
It doesn’t last, though, and soon mum Samira (Mina Tander) begins to have dark suspicions about the house’s robot helper Cassandra (Lavinia Wilson) and the way she’s inserting herself into the family’s life. Is this computerised servant much more dangerous than she first appears? And just why was the house left empty for so long anyway?
This chillingly dark six-part German thriller takes the vintage visuals of classic tech paranoia films such as Colossus: The Forbin Project and funnels it through the more modern aesthetic of shows such as Black Mirror to create a terrifying up-to-date sci-fi thriller that taps into 21st-century fears about AI. (Six episodes)
The Åre Murders
Scandi noir detective series about murders in an isolated Swedish ski resort
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Netflix
When her big-city life implodes and she finds herself dumped by her partner and under investigation by the Stockholm force, police officer Hanna Ahlander (Carla Sehn) decides to take advantage of her suspension from duty and heads to her sister’s vacation home in the remote ski resort of Åre. She’s barely arrived there, however, when a young woman goes missing. Deciding to step in to help the understaffed local police department – whether they want her to or not – Ahlander soon realises that the case is darker and more dangerous than anyone suspects.
Based on the hit novels by Viveca Sten, this Swedish thriller series is a fantastic slice of Scandi noir, full of twists and turns set against the ice-cold and snow-covered countryside. Sehn is excellent as the obsessive, troubled copper, with enjoyable support from Kardo Razzazi as the local policeman reluctantly accepting her help. (Five episodes)
Boyzone: No Matter What
Eye-opening, three-part history of the band, told by the group themselves and Louis Walsh
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
The 1990s were a blur of pop, and the ‘Irish version of Take That’ were a big part of that. More than 30 years later, Ronan Keating, Shane Lynch, Keith Duffy and the lesser-spotted Michael ‘Mikey’ Graham sit down (separately… at least until the very end) to talk about how Boyzone felt from the inside, as does the pop svengali behind them, Louis Walsh, who says one astonishingly frank thing after another. ‘I prefer ordinary people because they work harder and they do whatever you want at the start,’ he says. Walsh also talks plainly about the nuts and bolts of feeding stories to the press: ‘I’d make them up sometimes, but that’s fine,’ he recalls, most notably one about a plane crash in Australia. (In that particular case, he says he forgot to warn the families ahead of time.)
As well as all the madness that came from being in the crucible of pop, tragic streaks emerge in the story – Graham went from feeling very musically confident when he joined the band to the opposite later on, and we also hear about the pressures on the late Stephen Gately of keeping his homosexuality secret, and the unpleasantness of the way it came out in the press. And then there’s the fallout from the band breaking up and the varying strengths of their solo careers.
As a three-parter this is a strong mix of entertainment and insight – a story told by the people you’d want to tell it, and one that serves as a strong cautionary example of the Faustian pact of fame. Keating, in particular, seems to be a man with regrets; Walsh, not so much… (Three episodes)
Black Box Diaries
Japanese journalist Shiori Ito’s brave investigation of her own sexual assault
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
This is the story of Japan’s MeToo movement, sparked by Japanese journalist Shiori Ito, who narrates her story in this powerful Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated feature documentary. One of the reasons it’s so successful is that it pairs Ito’s own very personal and painful journey with a shift in the social and legal landscape in Japan, as antiquated rape laws and attitudes towards victims are challenged.
Ito’s case, of a sexual assault by a man in power, was precisely what the MeToo movement was all about – women speaking out about situations they no longer wanted to accept as normal. But what was so remarkable about Ito was that speaking out went against the norm in Japanese culture. Victims brought shame on themselves, or so they were told. Not only that, but rape by lack of consent didn’t exist in Japanese law.
In the face of personal attacks and criticism – even her sister urged her not to go public – Ito persisted and, when the police shut down the criminal investigation, gathered evidence herself and fought a civil case. It wasn’t easy for her, and we are right there during the most distressing times, as well as the more triumphant ones. Ultimately, Shiori Ito and her allies not only break the taboo over rape in Japan, but bury it, too. (89 minutes)
Clean Slate
US comedy about a transgender woman returning to her smalltown home
Year: 2025
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Prime Video
Alabama carwash owner Harry (George Wallace) couldn’t be happier than when he hears his estranged son is returning to live with him after years away. But then his offspring actually returns and Harry has to face up to the fact that his child is now a woman named Desiree (transgender actress Laverne Cox, of Orange Is The New Black fame), determined to put to bed all the traumas of her past and patch up her relationship with her dad.
The last show from legendary US TV producer Norman Lear – who died in December 2023 at the age of 101 after being the force behind more than 100 shows, Diff’rent Strokes being just one – this provides all the laughs you’d expect. Wallace and Cox are both on fine form in that respect, alongside some more bittersweet moments about soul-searching and the ways the pair struggle to find places in each other’s lives. (Eight episodes)
Go Back To Where You Came From
Controversial reality show in which six Brits travel refugee routes
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Channel 4
There are some very strong opinions and hard truths to swallow in this reality series which aims to spark debate on illegal immigration from an entirely new direction. Instead of emotive footage of boats in the Channel, over four episodes we follow six (very sweary) Brits from each side of the debate – ‘we are full!’ vs ‘you’re all racists!’ – as they travel the most perilous of the refugee routes.
Three start their journey in Mogadishu, Somalia, the other three in Raqqa in Syria. These are two of the most dangerous cities in the world and it’s an immediate wake-up call for all concerned. ‘It’s like a zombie apocalypse,’ says Nathan, from Barnsley, as he’s driven out of Mogadishu in the safety of an armoured car.
Unlike real refugees, they wear bullet-proof vests and have security escorts and that’s fair enough – no one should risk their lives for the sake of a TV show. But you can’t escape the feeling that they have it far easier than real refugees and also, that there are no easy answers. (Four episodes)
Celebrity Bear Hunt
Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls host a celebrity survival challenge
Year: 2025
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Netflix
Can a bunch of celebrities handle being dropped into the jungle of Costa Rica and then hunted down by one of the world’s most experienced survival experts? That’s the premise behind this eight-part celeb challenge show hosted by Holly Willoughby and Bear Grylls. Each episode sees the 12 participants being put through various wilderness survival training drills. Those who do well will be safe; those who do badly will face the ‘Bear Hunt’, during which they have to evade capture in a game of cat and mouse with Mr Grylls himself.
Picture I’m A Celebrity but with added jungle-stalking peril and you’re getting close to the mark as the likes of Spice Girl Mel B, tennis legend Boris Becker, retired rugby player Danny Cipriani, Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas, interior designer Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Strictly judge Shirley Ballas flex their survival skills. (Eight episodes)
The Capture
Holliday Grainger and Callum Turner star in this tricksy thriller
Year: 2019-
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Netflix
This tricksy BBC thriller wants you to question everything you see, and goes to great pains to sow the seeds of doubt. Fast-tracked DI Rachel Carey (Holliday Grainger) has something to prove when she is promoted after success with the counter-terrorism unit. Her first big case involves soldier Shaun (Callum Turner), recently acquitted of murder after a comrade’s bodycam footage is discredited. On the very night he celebrates being a free man, Shaun is caught on CCTV assaulting and abducting his defence barrister. But can this evidence be trusted?
In series two, Grainger’s ambitious DCI Carey is now working for the covert team who, even if it means doctoring footage, turn ‘surveillance into evidence’. The thrilling opener introduces us to Security Minister Isaac Turner (Paapa Essiedu), who is preparing a report on whether to award a Chinese firm a national security contract. The stakes are high and the manipulation, when it happens, is mind-blowing… (Two series)
Minx
Raunchy comedy-drama set in the world of 1970s erotic magazines
Year: 2022
Certificate: 18
Watch now on ITVX
Ophelia Lovibond plays the editor of an erotic magazine for women in this risqué comedy. It’s 1970s America and earnest young Joyce (Lovibond) is having little luck pitching her idea for a feminist magazine until porn publisher Doug (Jake Johnson) offers to back her – as long as the mag includes naked men. It’s not exactly what she had in mind but Joyce accepts, and soon finds herself on quite the ride. Lovibond radiates charm, Johnson has irresistible charisma and this is a terrific, smart series that is laugh-out-loud funny. Oh, and it’s also absolutely filthy – you have been warned.
The second series had a rocky ride to our screens after HBO cancelled it in the US as it was finishing filming, but luckily the show was picked up by rival Starz, and it opens with Joyce riding very high indeed. (Two series)
Lola (2024 film)
Nicola Peltz Beckham writes, directs and stars in a movie about an impoverished stripper
Year: 2024
Certificate: 18
Watch now on Paramount+
Authenticity in movie-making is important, because it’s hard to connect with what actors, directors and writers are saying if you don’t believe where they’re coming from. Such is the problem that dogs Lola, a movie about an impoverished stripper with a boozy mum that not only stars but is also directed and written by billionaire’s daughter Nicola Peltz Beckham.
Technically, the movie looks fine. The camera lingers on its star’s face and body as Lola pinballs from one trauma to the next and, if you like ‘poverty porn’, this is certainly above TV-movie grade in production terms for that. Virginia Madsen (a fine actress) plays the mum and it’s also more interesting to watch because of who’s behind and in front of the camera than it would be as a simple ‘slice of life’ movie (Peltz Beckham’s words), because ‘simple’ really is the operative word for what you’re left with after watching all that trauma. Is that the wider philosophical point she’s making here? Possibly. It’s hard to tell.
Leaving aside whether what Lola shows us is socially responsible or artistically cohesive, this is certainly superficially entertaining in a ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ kind of way once you know its origins, so it checks one box at least – and it is short. It’ll be interesting to see what Peltz Beckham turns her eye to next. (83 minutes)
