• e-mail

DISNEY+, NETFLIX, SKY/NOW, AMAZON & BRITBOX 

Dopesick

In the space of two decades, some half a million people in the US have died from an opioid overdose. 

This eight-part series, based on a non-fiction bestseller, is a dramatisation of the prescription drugs addiction crisis and follows the overlapping stories of several characters – doctors, big pharma employees, lawyers, patients – affected by the epidemic.

Dopesick is beautifully made and has a host of big names such as Michael Keaton (above, middle) and Rosario Dawson (above, far right) as a DEA agent

It’s beautifully made and has a host of big names such as Michael Keaton as a country doctor, and Rosario Dawson as a DEA agent. However, while no one would expect a series about such a serious topic to be laugh-a-minute, it is unrelentingly downbeat and, at times, harrowing. 

Also, the narrative jumps around in time in a way that makes it difficult to keep track of what’s going on. Disney+, from Friday

Red Notice 

Ryan Reynolds teams up with Dwayne Johnson in a crime caper that sees Reynolds playing a notorious art thief and Johnson an FBI profiler hot on his trail.

Expect rapid-fire banter, fighting and endless chases in a film that does at least allow Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot (above) to show off her comedy chops 

Expect rapid-fire banter, fighting and endless chases in a film that does at least allow Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot to show off her comedy chops. Netflix, from Friday

Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings

The latest Marvel Comics adaptation stars Simu Liu as Shang-Chi, a martial-arts master who has to use all his skills to help his father and sister take part in a dangerous search for a mythical village. Along the way he’s forced to confront ghosts from his past. Disney+, from Friday 

Roadkill 

David Hare’s Covid monologue Beat The Devil is on Sky Arts this week, but there’s also a chance to see an earlier offering, with Helen McCrory’s final performance.

In the four-part thriller she plays a prime minister whose tenure is under threat, not least from Hugh Laurie’s MP. But he’s hiding a secret… BritBox, from Thursday

Passing

Passing refers to the practice of pale-skinned black women choosing to ‘pass’ as white. The story begins when two former childhood friends – Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Ruth Negga) – meet by chance in Prohibition-era New York. 

Negga and Thompson are both fabulously good in an exquisite film that turns out to be about a lot more than race. Netflix, from Wednesday

The Defeated

Gripping, violent crime drama with an unusual setting. In 1946, the bombed-out city of Berlin is divided into zones run by the victorious Allies. 

The streets – or what’s left of them – are lawless and chaotic, and now a serial killer is at work. Taylor Kitsch, Nina Hoss, Tuppence Middleton and Michael C. Hall star. Netflix, now

Curse Of The Chippendales

Back in the 1980s, the Chippendales were everywhere, making millions go weak at the knees with one flex of their perfectly honed pecs.  

Back in the 1980s, the Chippendales were everywhere... however, as this documentary series reveals, it wasn’t as glamorous as it appeared

Members of the dance troupe (like Michael Rapp) seemed to have it all – good looks, money and the adoration of fans. However, as this documentary series reveals, it wasn’t as glamorous as it appeared. Amazon, from Friday

The Colour Room

Making her big-screen debut, Phoebe Dynevor (who played Daphne in Netflix’s hit period drama Bridgerton) portrays Clarice Cliff in this biopic about the celebrated ceramicist whose very distinctive style of pottery became hugely popular in the 1920s and 1930s and is now much sought after by collectors.

Phoebe Dynevor (above, who played Daphne in Netflix’s hit period drama Bridgerton) portrays Clarice Cliff in this biopic about the celebrated ceramicist

The film traces the rise of the working-class Cliff from young factory worker to feted designer and head of a Staffordshire factory’s artistic department. Also stars David Morrissey, Matthew Goode and Kerry Fox. Sky/NOW, from Friday

TOP TEN BEST DRAMAS ON APPLE TV+ TO WATCH THIS WEEK

1. Coda

As a Coda (child of deaf adults), 17-year-old Ruby discovers a talent for singing, and must choose between family and her dreams.

2. Defending Jacob

Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery play the parents of a 14-year-old boy who becomes the prime suspect in a murder case.

3. Physical

Sheila Rubin (Rose Byrne) is a downtrodden 1980s housewife with an eating disorder who turns her life around when she gets into aerobics.

4. Foundation

Reimagining of Isaac Asimov’s sci-fi classics about a crumbling empire and plans to build back better.

Reese Witherspoon (above) stars in The Morning Show with Jennifer Aniston

5. The Morning Show

Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carell star in a compelling, soapy drama about the shenanigans at a morning TV show.

6. Tehran

A thrilling spy story about a female Mossad agent in the Iranian capital on her first mission.

7. Servant

Spooky black-humour-infused drama about a well-to-do couple who hire an enigmatic, creepy nanny.

8. For All Mankind

Brilliant alternative history of the space race in which the US is playing catch-up after the Russians land a man – and a woman! – on the Moon.

9. See

In the future, people are blind after a virus. When seeing children are born, the power balance shifts.

10. Greyhound

Tom Hanks plays a US Navy commander facing deadly U-boats in a pacy war film.

Advertisement

BBC iPLAYER, ALL4 & UKTV PLAY

The 80s: Greatest Music Decade?

Love it or hate it, the pop decade that brought us, variously, Wham!, Bananarama, Annie Lennox, Morrissey, Michael Jackson, S’Express and, er, Joe Dolce certainly had variety. 

Love it or hate it, the 80's is the pop decade that brought us, variously, Wham!, Bananarama, Annie Lennox (above), Morrissey, Michael Jackson, S’Express and, er, Joe Dolce

Dylan Jones is in the driving seat for this authoritative four-part look back. No stone (rose) remains unturned, as he revisits the New Romantics, hip-hop, indie jangle, synth-pop and club culture. Not to mention Culture Club… BBC iPlayer, now 

Bump  

Frank, funny and fearless, Australian comedy drama Bump tells the story of Oly (Nathalie Morris, above), a straight-A student

Frank, funny and fearless, this Australian comedy drama tells the story of Oly (Nathalie Morris), a straight-A student whose ambitions are put on hold after she has a baby. BBC iPlayer, now 

In My Skin

Charting the fortunes of gay Welsh teenager Bethan, who remains keen to keep her difficult home life a secret from her friends. BBC iPlayer, from Sunday 

The Cleaner

Every episode of Greg Davies’s comedy is available to stream. He plays Wicky, a crime-scene cleaner whose job often takes unexpected turns. Helena Bonham Carter, David Mitchell and Stephanie Cole guest star. BBC iPlayer, now 

Witch Hunt

Gripping new eight-part Norwegian drama. Law firm employee Ida uncovers evidence that her bosses are attempting to launder money for one of their biggest clients, a billionaire businessman. She’s blackmailed into keeping quiet – but will her conscience get the better of her? All4, from Friday

Just Good Friends

Only Fools And Horses writer John Sullivan struck gold with this take on the idea of a couple meeting five years after he jilted her at the altar. Dancing With The Captain singer Paul Nicholas and Jan Francis star. Series 1-3, UKTV Play, from Friday

Industry

A group of ambitious graduates compete to be kept on at a prestigious bank in London, starring Harry Lawtey (above) and Myha'la Herrold

A group of ambitious graduates compete to be kept on at a prestigious bank in London. It’s a high-powered environment and there is a lot of workplace bullying and backstabbing, to say nothing of the drugs, drink and sex. Stars Harry Lawtey and Myha’la Herrold as an American hopeful who has lied to get in. BBC iPlayer, now

Why is there such a buzz about..?

Reservation Dogs (Disney+)

An offbeat comedy about four disaffected teenagers determined to escape the bleak home town they hate? 

That doesn’t sound so unusual, but what makes this show, co-created by Taika Waititi, unlike anything else around is that the kids in question – Bear, Elora Danan (played by Devery Jacobs), Willie Jack and Cheese – are Native Americans and their home is a reservation in rural Oklahoma. 

The cast and crew are predominantly indigenous Americans – the showrunner Sterlin Harjo is a member of the Seminole and Muscogee Nations – and the series makes affectionate fun of native culture (you’ll have to google why an owl’s eyes are pixellated in episode three) and sends up stereotypes we’re familiar with from westerns.

Devery Jacobs (above) plays Elora Danan in Reservation Dogs

So, for example, Bear is visited by a tiresome ancestral spirit guide, a bare-chested brave who was at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and who dispenses unhelpful advice.

The eight-part series – episodes are less than 30 minutes long – is crammed with pop culture nods. There’s an obvious Tarantino reference in the title, a hint of Stand By Me in the action, and hat-tips to Platoon and Willow.

Harjo has said in an interview that he was influenced by the comedy in The Office, finding it similar to Native American humour. 

Reservation Dogs is funny, charming, strange and, as the series progresses and we learn more about the characters and about the death of a friend of theirs, moving. Refreshingly different.

Neil Armstrong

Advertisement