Screen savers: The best TV shows to watch this season
Margaret Qualley (daughter of actress Andie MacDowell) brings star power to Maid, a devastating series which is as moving as the book
Nothing heralds the return of Autumn like Strictly Come Dancing. The stars aren’t quite as shiny as in previous years, the crowd looking suitably sparse thanks to Covid-19, but nothing beats the glamour of live ballroom dancing, the glitter, the live band and those fabulous costumes. Judges Craig Revel-Horwood, Oti Mabuse, Shirley Ballas have shaken up the previous judges lineup and new to the panel ,former Strictly pro Anton Du Beke replaces fan favourite Bruno Tonioli who didn’t join this year thanks to pandemic-related travel issues. Changes aside, it still has a hell of a lot of sparkle.
Inspired by the New York Times best-selling memoir, Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive by Stephanie Land, MAID follows the story of Alex, a single mother who turns to housecleaning to — barely — make ends meet as she escapes an abusive relationship and overcomes homelessness to create a better life for her daughter, Maddy. Margaret Qualley (daughter of actress Andie MacDowell) brings star power to this devastating series which is as moving as the book.
The darkly funny Succession returns as the Roy family as each member attempts to make their way to the top of the family’s global media company, Waystar Royco. Ambushed by his rebellious son Kendall, Logan Roy begins this season in a perilous position, scrambling to secure familial, political, and financial alliances. Tensions rise as a bitter corporate battle threatens to turn into civil war. Returning cast includes Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Nicholas Braun, Matthew Macfadyen and Hope Davis.
Fresh from her tenure as Queen Elizabeth on The Crown, Olivia Colman returns to TV to play Susan Edwards in Landscapers who, along with her husband Christopher (David Thewlis) murdered her parents in 1998. The drama follows the shocking true story, from the couple’s shooting of Patricia and William Wycherley on May Day bank holiday to their eventual capture by the police some 15 years later. Colman, who showcased her dark side as Queen Anne in Oscar-winning The Favourite, is said to be mesmerising in the role.
Adapted from Ingmar Bergman’s 1973 Swedish classic and starring Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. Scenes from a Marriage re-examines the original’s iconic depiction of love, hatred, desire, monogamy, marriage, and divorce through the lens of a contemporary American couple. Initially, you don’t expect these actors to quite gel as a couple, however, a certain viral red carpet moment quickly proved us wrong. Beautifully shot, wonderfully acted, it’s a superb, timely depiction of love when it just feels a bit too claustrophobic.
From co-creators Ava DuVernay and Colin Kaepernick comes Colin in Black & White, a new limited series that chronicles Kaepernick’s coming of age story, tackling the obstacles of race, class, and culture as the Black adopted child of a white family. The series stars Jaden Michael as Young Colin before reaching the highest levels of American football as an NFL quarterback and becoming a cultural icon and activist.
Paul Rudd and Will Ferrell’s new true crime series The Shrink Next Door sees The Anchorman stars reunite for something a little different. Popular podcast adaptations tend not to set the TV landscape on fire, but can Apple buck the trend with its darkly comic new show about a creepy psychiatrist? Certainly, pre-release hype says yes. Rudd will play Dr. Isaac “Ike” Herschkopf and Ferrell will play opposite him as his longtime patient Martin “Marty” Markowit. The crux of the series revolves around the strange and unorthodox relationship between doctor and patient.
Hidden Assets is about family, power and the corrosive effects of boundless greed - a story set in Co Clare, small town Ireland and the world’s diamond capital, Antwerp. A routine raid sees the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) expose a link between a wealthy Irish family, a stash of rough diamonds and a series of deadly bombings in Belgium. But nothing is as it seems, as by the book Belgian Chief Inspector Christian De Jong and unexpected CAB Detective Emer Berry are thrown together in a race to halt a further horrifying terror attack in Antwerp. Angeline Ball, Cathy Belton, Wouter Hendrickx and Michael Ironside star.
