TV experts reveal the 20 best shows and films to stream this weekend - from a hilarious sex comedy to a scandal-hit movie that scarred the Hollywood actors who starred in it
Love On The Spectrum
US reality show following people with autism as they search for romance
Year: 2022-
Certificate: 12
Finding love in the modern world is never easy, but it's even harder for those on the autism spectrum. This show follows neurodiverse men and women across America as they dip their toes in the dating waters with various degrees of success.
Like its Australian predecessor, it takes a light and often soapy approach to the romantic encounters on display, but audiences swiftly become seriously engaged in the struggles and triumphs of its cast. The fact that many familiar faces from series one return in the second run alongside new romantic hopefuls will be welcome news for the show's fans. (Three series)
Dying For Sex
Michelle Williams stars in a based-on-truth comedy about a woman whose terminal cancer diagnosis sends her on a sexual journey
Year: 2025
The best jokes are usually grounded in truth, and there aren't many truer things than death. Such is the basis of Dying For Sex, an eight-part comedy about a woman whose terminal cancer diagnosis sends her away from her husband, and on to an enthusiastic journey of sexual and personal discovery - one that helps her find power in the face of powerlessness.
Based on the true story of Molly Kochan, who died in 2019 and documented her adventure on a podcast also called Dying For Sex, the series has a great star in Michelle Williams. One of the most emotionally sure-footed actresses of her generation, Williams threads the needle of a performance that finds her weak and vulnerable with doctors one minute, then altogether more... in control behind closed doors (and even some open ones) the next.
Packed with layers, the show also seesaws from moments of laugh-out-loud comedy to dark introspection, with half-hour episodes that help to make its heavy subject matter more digestible. Molly's friend in the series, Nikki (Jenny Slate), is based on Nikki Boyer, who hosted the podcast Molly told her story on. Look out too for Catastrophe's Rob Delaney as Molly's neighbour, a man with his own issues. (Eight episodes)
Austin
Ben Miller stars as the children author who learns he has a grown-up neurodivergent son down under
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
Australia fell in love with the straight-talking Michael Theo when he appeared on the TV dating show Love On The Spectrum, and it wasn't long before he was cast in this comedy. It's co-created by our very own Ben Miller, who also stars as Julian Hartswood, an English children's author who, while on an Australian book tour, finds himself unceremoniously cancelled after an ill-advised tweet. This developing career crisis is soon eclipsed by news that he has as a grown-up autistic son called Austin (Theo), the result of a youthful fling.
It's news for him, but also for his wife of 30 years, Ingrid (Sally Phillips) and their teenage daughter. There's some overlap with Ingrid's relationship with Julian, and his with Austin's mum Mel, so while cynical Julian and the refreshingly honest Austin start to bond, Ingrid embarks on her own shift in perspective.
The humour takes a broad approach to midlife and the crises that can unfold. Julian and Ingrid are archetypal self-indulgent middle-class Brits; Austin's mum and her father are classic down-to-earth Aussies. So far, so standard. It's down to Austin, then, to shake things up and make this into something different. Which he does in his own endearingly unique way. (One series)
The Child In Time
A powerful study of love and loss, based on the novel by Ian McEwan
Year: 2017
Certificate: 12
Benedict Cumberbatch and Kelly Macdonald star in this poignant feature-length adaptation of Ian McEwan's 1987 novel, exploring the almost impossibly painful consequences of a child going missing.
From its opening scene, it's clear that the story has lost none of its heartbreaking power in the decades since the novel was published and since this adaptation first aired in 2017. It begins with children's book author Stephen (Cumberbatch) taking his four-year-old daughter to the supermarket, only to find himself going home alone.
A lyrical and at times otherworldly study of the nature of love and loss, it is a nightmare for parents, but with powerful resonance for us all. (93 mins)
Pulse (2025 series)
Miami-set medical drama based around the staff of a hospital ER
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Personal and professional relationships bubble up among the staff of a Miami hospital's emergency room as Dr Danielle 'Danny' Simms (Willa Fitzgerald from Reacher series one) is unexpectedly promoted to the top job, after the old chief (her boyfriend) is suspended. And if the day-to-day run of saving lives under immense pressure isn't enough, there's always the possibility of a hurricane hitting the city to worry about...
Aimed squarely at fans of The Resident and Grey's Anatomy, this is a slick, exciting watch stuffed full of personal conflicts and medical derring-do, with a very talented young cast filling out the scrubs. In particular, look out for Endeavour's Jack Bannon as charming, smart-talking surgeon Tom Cole - he's a lot of fun to watch.
It's hard to believe but this is actually the first ever English language medical drama Netflix has commissioned but, on this polished and exciting evidence, it's unlikely to be the last. If they could sharpen up the CGI weather a little for series two though, that would be much appreciated... (Ten episodes)
Don't Worry Darling
Florence Pugh and Harry Styles headline a psychological romantic thriller
Year: 2022
Certificate: 15
Welcome to Victory, California, an idyllic company town in the middle of the desert where the white-picket-fenced values of 1950s America are alive and well. At first, new wife Alice (Florence Pugh) couldn't be happier, living a life of idle luxury while her husband Jack (Harry Styles) disappears off to work for the corporation run by the mysterious Frank (Chris Pine). Slowly though, she begins to have doubts about the reality of the life she's living and wonders if this perfect town harbours a dark secret.
Pugh gives a fantastic performance of tension and terror in a film that beautifully echoes the classic suburban horror of movies such as The Stepford Wives - and Styles does perfectly well, too. When it was released, the movie's reputation suffered for all the gossip surrounding his relationship with the director, Olivia Wilde, and rumours of tumult on set with Pugh, so it's good that it can be appreciated free of all that now. (123 minutes)
Despicable Me 4
Will Ferrell joins the voice cast for a sequel that sees Gru in witness protection
Year: 2024
Certificate: u
When the first Despicable Me movie arrived in 2010, its success spawned a whole family animation franchise that even included spin-off movies for the hilarious Minions. What's been remarkable about that franchise is how fun it's remained, even in this third sequel to the original movie which finds Steve Carell's Gru, now very much a good guy, being forced to relocate with his family after the reignition of an old feud.
There's a lot of fun to be had in what follows as Gru - who is still anything but ordinary - tries to go unnoticed in a sleepy town, an ambition complicated by the fact that the snotty child next door is an aspiring villain and knows exactly who he is.
With some fun voice cast additions including Will Ferrell and Modern Family's Sofía Vergara, a script co-written by The White Lotus's Mike White and a hilarious sub-plot in which the Minions are given misfiring superpowers, this is a sequel packed with fun that manages not to outstay its welcome. Some of that fun may feel like empty calories to some but there's no doubt that it's there, and in spades. (95 minutes)
Banger
Vincent Cassel headlines a French comedy thriller about a washed-up DJ
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Ageing DJ Scorpex (Vincent Cassel) is so far past his peak that he can barely even see it in the rear-view mirror, but then an unexpected opportunity drops into his lap.
Nabbed by the French security services, he's asked to befriend Vestax (Mister V), a rising star in the music world, and use his new buddy's contacts to infiltrate the operation of a Russian mobster. Scorpex has no choice but to say yes... especially once he realises that he could use the whole set-up to his own advantage and engineer a return to his musical glory days.
This is a bright and entertaining French comic thriller, anchored with twinkle-eyed brilliance by Cassel as Scorpex, a monstrously likeable egomaniac who refuses to believe that his days in the spotlight are permanently over. (90 minutes)
Wonderland: Science Fiction In The Atomic Age
Four-part series exploring the science fiction that followed the Second World War
Year: 2025
'I told you so, you damned fools.' So went the desired epitaph of HG Wells, just one of the many sci-fi authors whose writing held an uncomfortable mirror up to the technological developments that followed the Second World War. This documentary series takes an unashamedly high-minded but still accessible tour of the work of such authors, including Mary Shelley, Kurt Vonnegut, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke and Margaret Atwood.
Its four episodes aren't just full of cautionary tales, though - along with pondering the doom promised by the atomic bomb, such fiction also reflected the hope that came from such great leaps as the Moon landing in 1969. Clips of films like Dr. Strangelove and Fail Safe are interspersed with thoughtful reflections from writers, and the viewing journey it takes you on makes you wonder what the world would have looked like had these books not been written. Would it still be here? (Four episodes)
I'll Be Right There
Family comedy drama starring Edie Falco as the mother of a brood of grown-up kids
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
Life is far from simple for Wanda (Nurse Jackie's Edie Falco). Her heavily pregnant daughter wants a normal wedding, her off-the-rails son wants to be anything but normal, while her mum thought she had cancer but turns out 'just' to have leukaemia. Wanda's romantic life is no easier, as she juggles both a dull boyfriend and a new girlfriend, but really isn't that keen on either of them.
Wistful and funny, with a neat line in self-deprecating wit, this is a wholeheartedly enjoyable indie comedy drama about a woman learning about what she wants from the world. Falco is dry and exasperatedly funny as Wanda with fine support from a cast that includes Atypical's Michael Rapaport and The West Wing's Bradley Whitford. (98 minutes)
Macbeth (2024 David Tennant production)
David Tennant and Cush Jumbo star in this innovative and powerful Donmar Warehouse production
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
London theatre can be a pricey experience, and this Donmar Warehouse production of Macbeth was right up there. A lot of that was down to the star names on the banner - David Tennant and Cush Jumbo.
Tennant, whose Hamlet was the toast of the town way back in 2008, is as good as you'd expect as Macbeth here, his emotions washing around under the surface of his face like waves, occasionally cresting out across the stage and right onto us when he delivers monologues to camera.
Jumbo is also a treat, seemingly so utterly at home as Lady Macbeth - both in the character and in the rhythm of the lines - that you just simply don't see the acting. It's like Lady Macbeth is just walking around on stage.
The production that surrounds them is full of technical wizardry, with the audience given headphones that allowed for whispers to reach way up into the gods, while clear screens around the stage show us absent characters in a spectral light.
The moment after the murder, when Jatinder Singh Randhawa's hilarious Porter comes out and chats to the audience off the cuff is a very neat break in what can be a very intense play - don't miss the moment when he mocks the headphone-wearing audience for paying so much to 'come and watch a radio drama' - and that levity makes the back half hit all the harder. (114 minutes)
Babes
Indie comedy about pregnancy, motherhood and friendship
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
When a one-night stand leaves her pregnant, thirtysomething Eden (Broad City's Ilana Glazer) decides to have the baby, confident that she'll always have her best friend Dawn (Michelle Buteau) to lean on. But with a new baby of her own to deal with, not to mention a hellish toddler, Dawn has problems of her own. Can their friendship survive it all? Can Eden really handle the stress of pregnancy? And just how will they cope when a sewage pipe explodes?
A New York-set movie about female friendships, motherhood and pregnancy, this sparky indie comedy directed by first-time helmer Pamela Adlon (known as an actress for Better Things and Californication) delivers from start to finish. Glazer and Buteau are spiky and endearingly convincing as the BFFs suddenly finding themselves at odds with each other and watching them battle to put their relationship to rights is both charming and hilarious. (104 minutes)
Devious Maids
Four Latina maids navigate life working in Beverly Hills
Year: 2013-2016
Certificate: 15
Produced by Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria and that show's creator Marc Cherry, Devious Maids centres around a quartet of Latina women - Ana Ortiz, Dania Ramirez, Fantasy Island's Roselyn Sánchez and Scrubs' Judy Reyes - all working as maids in wealthy households in Los Angeles. While there they have a window into the secrets and lies of their rich employers as well as having a chance to pursue some of their own agendas.
Spanning everything from crime and romance to murder and showbiz ambition, Devious Maids runs for four very enjoyable series of heightened drama, occasional comedy and passionate female friendship. It's a thinner show than Desperate Housewives, but if you loved that, give this a try. (Four series)
A Real Pain
Jesse Eisenberg's film about Jewish cousins on a road trip
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Jesse Eisenberg writes, directs and stars in this finely crafted gem of a movie about two Jewish American cousins on a tour of Poland to learn more about their late grandmother. On first impressions from the trailer, the film looks like a buddy road comedy, with Eisenberg's uptight David sparking off Kieran Culkin's free-wheeling Benji.
There is a lot more going on here, though. Eisenberg was clearly determined to make a film for the ages and that's just what he's done, as these very different men come together to understand what's made them grow apart, comprehend their family and history, and finally grieve for everything that's happened. His BAFTA-winning script is a perfect mix of comedy and tragedy, which is a tricky balance to strike when it comes to any film, but particularly one that tackles the Holocaust.
Intriguingly, Eisenberg was originally going to play the Benji role; but then he remembered meeting Culkin in the past and, despite never having seen him acting in anything (even Succession) cast him purely on 'his essence'. That decision certainly paid off - Culkin won an Oscar and a BAFTA as a result of it - and, long story short, this is one of those films that makes your life better. (90 minutes)
The Hunt For The Zodiac Killer
Experts attempt to codebreak the mystery of the infamous serial killer
Year: 2017
Certificate: 12
This five-part docuseries from 2017 explores the still unsolved case of the Zodiac Killer, a serial murderer who claimed to have 37 victims in a letter sent in 1974 and who taunted the authorities with countless letters and coded ciphers, one of which he claimed contained the key to his identity.
That diabolically complex cipher, named Z340, which has since been solved, baffled cryptologists for more than 50 years and for this investigation teams of experts once again try to crack it, this time with the aid of a supercomputer as well as data from files supplied by the FBI. It's fascinating to watch, but don't expect any big revelations. (Five episodes)
Ultimatum (2022)
Gritty action thriller about a Czech policeman facing the hostage negotiation of his life
Year: 2022
Certificate: 15
This is a tough and grimy action thriller from Slovakia and Czechia, about a troubled police negotiator who stands up to political corruption as a hostage situation plays out.
Dano Andrik (Jan Kolenik) is already on borrowed time when the crisis at a local hospital unfolds and, with his pregnant girlfriend among the hostages, Dano isn't about to let the concerns of his superiors stand in his way.
The perpetrator, a man named Kornan (Milan Bahul), might in fact be more of a victim than a villain and it's up to Dano to unpick the facts from the lies the politicians have been spinning. (Eight episodes)
Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer
Documentary series investigating the hunt for the murderer of multiple young women
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
The May 2010 disappearance of escort Shannan Gilbert eventually led to a police search along a stretch of road near Gilgo Beach in Long Island in the US. What they discovered there was shocking: the remains of multiple women, most of whom worked in the sex industry, some of whom had gone missing as far back as the 1990s.
The bodies were identified as the work of a single serial killer, but it would be 13 years before anyone would be arrested for the murders - a delay that many attributed to the fact law enforcement placed a low priority on solving the deaths of a group of sex workers. This gritty three-part documentary series digs into the crimes, but is always careful to depict the victims as human beings with a life and history beyond their profession. (Three episodes)
The Bondsman
Kevin Bacon plays a bounty hunter who gets a second chance - hunting demons for the Devil
Year: 2025
Certificate: 18
This is a violent and funny supernatural action show with one of the most charming and evergreen American stars in showbusiness - Kevin Bacon. The Footloose star plays a bounty hunter who winds up dead when a job goes wrong, then comes back with a new boss - the Devil. The horned one has given him a second chance on Earth hunting demons, but the moment he fails a job he'll get sent right down where the sun don't shine.
Produced by American horror specialists Blumhouse and executed with a wry southern charm and a strong soundtrack, this is elevated B-movie fare through and through. Bacon's Hub Halloran takes his new job in his stride, as does his mother, who insists on accompanying him for his first job when she learns that the target is her pastor. In fact, what most troubles her is why the son she tried so hard to raise well was destined for hell in the first place and their unusual double act gives this an extra edge, along with a sideline in country music... (Eight episodes)
MobLand
Tom Hardy, Helen Mirren and Pierce Brosnan star in Guy Ritchie's gangster drama series
Year: 2025
Certificate: 18
With Pierce Brosnan as a merciless old-school Irish mob boss, Helen Mirren as his conniving Lady Macbeth-esque wife and Tom Hardy getting his hands bloody as their no-nonsense fixer, you'd watch this new British mobster series for the lead trio alone.
The fact that it's also created (with a few episodes directed) by Snatch and The Gentlemen's Guy Ritchie and boasts a wider cast that includes House Of The Dragon's Paddy Considine, Sherlock's Lara Pulver and Downton Abbey's Joanne Froggatt turns it into pretty much essential viewing.
This series offers everything you'd expect from a Guy Ritchie show, from knife-sharp dialogue to lashings of over-the-top violence, as the Harrigan family headed by Brosnan, Mirren and Hardy faces a threat to its London crime empire from a tough new upstart gang. (Ten episodes)
Masters Of Sex
Period drama exploring the world of 1950s sex researchers in America
Year: 2013-2016
Certificate: 15
There's sex in the title and the subject is sex, but there will be no juvenile sniggering at the back watching this accomplished drama that spins a heavily fictionalised series out of the real-life story of American sex researchers Masters and Johnson.
Like Alfred Kinsey before them in the 1940s, William H Masters and Virginia E Johnson (Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan) sought, in the 1950s and beyond, to apply rigorous scientific methodology to the study of sex. It was groundbreaking to observe this kind of human behaviour in laboratory settings, but laboratory sex is not the least bit sexy, and if that was all this show was about, it would get tired pretty quickly. Instead, the series focuses on Masters and Johnson themselves, on their working relationship and their family lives. (Four series)
