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9 hours ago
5
Pick of the week
Sirens
From Maid creator Molly Smith Metzler, this darkly comic drama is the story of another scrappy underdog. Devon (Meghann Fahy) is struggling to keep her head above water, barely holding down a job while looking after a father with dementia. She could do with some help from her sister Simone (Milly Alcock) who has fallen under the spell of Julianne Moore’s peculiar socialite Michaela (“I get to call her Kiki, which is a really special honour”). Devon pays an uninvited visit to her sibling and what she finds looks more like a cult than a place of work. Can she save Simone – and does she even want to be saved? Not every element of Sirens quite gels but it’s creepy and nicely unpredictable.
Netflix, from Thursday 22 May
Nine Perfect Strangers
In what feels like a very modern basis for a drama, there’s no setback that can’t be overcome if you’re shameless enough. After season one’s chaos, Nicole Kidman’s weird wellness guru Masha has simply moved continents and started again. She’s now in the Austrian Alps and another nine individuals (Mark Strong, Murray Bartlett, Henry Golding and Christine Baranski are among the new cast members) have been invited into her new lair. Can she “cleanse their brains”? Or will she push them over the edge? Think The White Lotus without the laughs and you’re somewhere near.
Prime Video, from Thursday 22 May
Welcome to Wrexham
The Hollywood-powered rise of Wrexham FC, which was celebrated as a triumph against the odds, is becoming less romantic. As season four begins, the team are in English football’s third tier. Is another promotion possible? Supporters already know the answer but it’s still an enjoyable journey, and it’s easier for neutrals to root for the side now they’re rubbing shoulders with the bigger boys rather than financially overpowering small teams. Even if it doesn’t gladden the hearts of purists, it would be churlish to decry the entertainment value.
Disney+, out now
Tucci in Italy
“The best way to understand a country is through its food,” says Stanley Tucci. On the basis of this sustained barrage of food porn, Italy looks heavenly. Of course, there’s pizza and a million different varieties of pasta. But there’s also cheese, wine, seafood and barbecues and, as Tucci ventures off the beaten track, he starts to appreciate the tiny regional variations that give the food its character. This sometimes feels less like a documentary series and more like a communique from the Italian tourist board but, even so, it’s mightily effective.
Disney+, from Monday 19 May
She the People
It’s debatable whether people nowadays are in the mood for a knockabout comedy set in the world of US politics but here is one all the same. The series is the handiwork of Tyler Perry – a creator not best known for his subtlety – and follows Antoinette Dunkerson (Terri J Vaughan), a Black woman who is elected lieutenant governor of Mississippi. In the current climate this stretches credibility – but the main thrust of the narrative sadly does not. As she navigates a broken system, Dunkerson is belittled, patronised and undermined at every turn.
Netflix, from Thursday 22 May
Clarkson’s Farm
Is Diddly Squat farm becoming a victim of its own success – or, at least, the success of one of its most famous figures? Breakout star Kaleb Cooper is off on tour and Jeremy Clarkson is left in the lurch. His reaction to this extra stress is to add some more to the load: he’s decided to buy a pub. How much resemblance any aspect of this show bears to the actual experience of running a farm remains to be seen but it is a perfectly calibrated delivery mechanism for the personality of its central figure – who recently hinted that this might be the last series.
Prime Video, from Friday 23 May
