Welcome back to our weekly guide to the best new shows and movies! This page is the place for you if you’re looking for some top streaming inspiration. Here we’ve gathered together six shows and films from across all the best streaming services.
The Thursday Murder Club heads up our picks this week – a fun and lively slice of cosy crime that’s ideal for these late summer evenings. There’s also the long-awaited follow-up to the Chris Pratt-starring thriller The Terminal List on Amazon Prime Video, plus a new episode of one of the best new shows on TV right now – that’s Alien: Earth, in case you were wondering–and a twisty new Spanish-language mystery series.
So if you’re looking forward to spending a great night in front of the TV, check out our list below. And when you’re done here, why not check out our list of the best shows on Paramount Plus for more streaming inspiration?
The Thursday Murder Club
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Netflix
Richard Osman’s bestselling cosy crime series is brought to the screen via Netflix. Directed by Christopher Columbus, who previously helmed the first two Harry Potter movies, The Thursday Murder Club follows a group of elderly detectives living in a retirement home who band together to solve a brutal slaying. The leads – played by four acting titans in Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, Ben Kingsley, and Celia Imrie – come from a diverse range of backgrounds. While Imrie’s Joyce Meadowcroft is a retired nurse, Mirren’s Elizabeth Best used to be a spy!
It’s all very silly, but The Thursday Murder Club seems precision designed to be a comfort watching classic: witty, warm – and basically a Sunday teatime TV crime drama writ large and with a killer cast.
These are the best Netflix movies to watch right now.
The Terminal List: Dark Wolf
Available: UK/US
Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video
While the sequel to the original Terminal List is still a little way off, the prequel starts this week. Dark Wolf brings back both Taylor Kitsch as ex-Navy SEAL turned CIA operative Ben Edwards and Chris Pratt as tough SEAL James Reece. Fans of the original will know that the first season hid a pretty big twist, the ramifications of which will be explored here.
Although The Terminal List was adapted from novelist Jack Carr’s books, this is an all-new story. Fans shouldn’t worry too much, though – Carr remains a producer and writer on the series. And while prequels have a bit of a patchy track record, this looks like essential viewing for fans – and may even contain a few hints as to the future of the franchise.
Read our list of the best Amazon Prime shows for more recommendations.
The Friend
Available: US
Where to watch: Paramount Plus
Bill Murray and Naomi Watts star in this moving drama. Based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Sigrid Nunez, The Friend follows Iris (Watts), a woman who unexpectedly inherits a dog – an enormous Great Dane named Apollo – from her best friend Walter (Murray), following his death. As she comes to terms with Walter’s passing and the struggles of her everyday life (including facing eviction from her New York apartment), she begins to form an unexpected bond with Apollo that might just help her through a dark time.
Witty and warm, The Friend was well-received on its brief initial release last year. Now finding a proper home at Paramount Plus, this is a sad, but good-natured look at grief, the legacies that people leave behind, and the relationship between one woman and a very troublesome dog.
Two Graves
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Netflix
It’s a new week and that means another new show about a mysterious disappearance in a coastal town! Two Graves follows Isabel (Kiti Mánver), the grandmother of one of two girls who have vanished. After two years of waiting for the police to solve the mystery, however, Isabel decides to take the law into her own hands in order to discover what truly happened to the girls.
“Two Graves is a revenge story led by a character rarely seen at the heart of fiction… a grandmother willing to do whatever it takes to seek justice for the loss of her granddaughter,” creator Agustín Martínez told Netflix. The Spanish-language drama looks tense and gripping. All three episodes are available to watch on Netflix from August 29.
Discover the brilliant series that make up our list of the best Netflix shows.
Sisu
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Hulu
This Nazi-hunting revenge thriller has rapidly become a modern cult classic. Jorma Tommila stars as Aatami Korpi, a prospector in Lapland with a traumatic past. Things start to look up for Korpi when he strikes gold – but then he’s intercepted by a platoon of Waffen-SS. The Nazis try to rob him, but quickly discover that they’ve bitten off a lot more than they can chew…
Sisu is preposterously violent, in a slightly cartoonish way. Korpi is not immortal, but simply “refuses to die” as one character puts it. The same can’t be said for the hordes of baddies he encounters. If you’re in the mood for something action-packed with a pitch black sense of humor, this is one to watch when it drops on Hulu on August 29. A sequel titled Sisu: Road to Revenge is incoming later this year.
Our list of the best Hulu movies contains some more action classics.
Alien: Earth
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Hulu / Disney Plus
The sci-fi horror series reaches its halfway point. Last week’s episode took some time out from the action to help us get to know the “Lost Boys” – a group of children whose minds have been implanted into synthetic bodies. While Wendy (a phenomenal Sydney Chandler) has been reunited with her brother Joe (Alex Lawther), the rest of the group are starting to come apart at the seams. Meanwhile, the threat of the recovered aliens grows even stronger.
After a relentlessly-paced first two episodes, last week’s instalment and this one are really about turning the screws on the characters. Expect more hints about Wendy’s apparent connection to the Xenomorphs and further developments in the plot surrounding Slightly (Adarsh Gourav) and Morrow (Babou Ceesay). Alien: Earth remains a tense, well-acted, and beautifully made nightmare.
Find out more about this terrifying show with our Alien: Earth review.
Looking for something else to watch? Check out our list of the best movies on Disney Plus.
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