Brett Goldstein co-writes and stars in a workplace romcom with Jennifer LopezYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on NetflixWhen Brett Goldstein started work on Ted Lasso did he suspect that, one day, he'd be starring in a romcom with Jennifer Lopez that he also co-wrote? Goldstein was already a familiar British face before Lasso, but the effect of Apple's football comedy on his career really has been stratospheric. Directed by Ol Parker, the man behind Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Office Romance finds Goldstein as lawyer Daniel Blanchflower, an awkward man who's taken with his new boss - airline tycoon Jackie Cruz, a woman who owns every rooms she stands in before she's even stood in it. Lopez is fantastic fun as the imperious Cruz, and Goldstein an immensely likeable underdog as Blanchflower - two characters with great names, it has to be said - in a film about a romance that crosses personal and professional boundaries and could end up costing Cruz, in particular, very dearly. You suspect it won't, but a little peril is part of the game in a romcom like this, and Goldstein's sharp ear for comedy makes sure that the 'com' lands as well as the 'rom'. Among the impressive supporting cast, look out for Jodie Whittaker as Daniel's jailbird sister, Betty Gilpin as Jackie's pregnant and perma-stressed assistant, along with Edward James Olmos (Miami Vice), Bradley Whitford (The West Wing), and Tony Hale (Arrested Development). (114 minutes) See our Inside Story on the film here. Clarkson's FarmThe fourth series following The Grand Tour presenter's attempt to run his own farm Year: 2021Certificate: 15Watch now on Prime VideoThe idea of the loud-mouthed petrolhead from Top Gear and The Grand Tour knuckling down to try to run a farm seems like a one-note joke, right? Prepare to be surprised. Yes, there are plenty of simple look-at-the-buffoon chortles to be found here as Jeremy Clarkson attempts - in his usual chaotic, horsepower-obsessed way - to manage the 1,000-acre spread he bought a few years ago, but there are tough, warm and poignant moments aplenty too. Farming isn't easy, and spending time among people who've been doing it all their lives - not least amiable, no-nonsense assistant Kaleb - teaches even Clarkson that there's a lot at stake here. As series three opens, things are not looking good at Diddly Squat. Bad weather is playing havoc with his crops and the council has closed the restaurant. Many more trials await and life on the farm is anything but rosy - but there are some pigs, so it's not all bad. In series four, Kaleb is away on tour and Clarkson attempts to become a pub landlord on top of everything else. The strain of all that is every evident at the start of the latest fifth series, in which Jeremy has suffered a health scare and been banned from manual labour for six weeks. Luckily, he has some labour-saving plans up his sleeve including 'easy care' sheep and robot tractors. Kaleb, needless to say, is sceptical. Meanwhile, Formula 1 fans should keep an eye out for a certain driver dropping into Diddly Squat... (Five series)Bring Me The Beauties: A Model CultThe astonishing story of Frederick von Mierers, who claimed to be an alien from ArcturusYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on HBO MaxIn the 1980s, Frederick von Mierers cut a bewitching figure. With a look that hovered between male model and Max Headroom, von Mierers ran a spiritual enlightenment society called Eternal Values and claimed to be an alien who had arrived from the planet Arcturus - stepping into a human body to help guide mankind through difficult times. Living in Manhattan at an extraordinarily gaudy apartment and partying at Studio 54, he was an intriguing figure to many and an intensely alluring one to the insecure. The murky story of von Mieres, and of the bizarre inner workings of Eternal Values, is told here by those who fell under their spell - primarily by the ex-model Hoyt Richards. It's not a straightforward tale and it's not particularly clearly told, but the sheer mesmerising presence of von Mieres in archive footage keeps you gripped, from one extraordinary interlude to the next. One can only imagine what it was like to actually be in a room with him. (Three episodes) The FortuneA mysterious inheritance turns Amanda's (Eleanor Tomlinson) world upside downYear: 2026Certificate: 12Watch now on 5 (Ch5)It's the sort of thing many cash-strapped Brits dream of: the sudden, unexpected inheritance of a life-changing amount of money. But for Eleanor Tomlinson's Amanda, it's the start of a nightmare.A married waitress with a young son, Amanda is quite content with her lot and has no idea why Martin Worrall (Denis Lawson), a wealthy businessman with a wife and son, would leave her his sizeable estate. Does her dementia-stricken mother (Paula Wilcox) know something? And why is the Worrall family lawyer (Nina Wadia) so keen to cut out the family he lived with?This four-part mystery gets increasingly tense and frightening as Amanda races around trying to tie together a tangled trail of secrets and make sense of it all. (Four episodes) Make That MovieOddball comedy from Taskmaster star Sam CampbellYear: 2026Watch now on Channel 4The Australian comedian Sam Campbell proved a big hit on Taskmaster (on Channel 4) and the most recent series of Last One Laughing (on Amazon Prime Video) and, as a result, he's been rewarded with his own sitcom. It's a bizarre affair, with Campbell as hotshot director Sam, who's scouring the country with his elite crew of filmmakers looking for ordinary people's ideas to turn into movies. In the first episode (of six), Sam and his team head to the fictional town of Sherbornedale, where Mick Hall has a great idea for a film - involving a detective and real snakes! (Six episodes) Cape Fear (2026 series)Javier Bardem takes the Robert De Niro role in this simmering tale of revengeYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on Apple TVMenace lurks in every scene of Cape Fear, a ten-part take on the story of revenge that's been made as a film twice before - in 1962 and 1991. The casting of Max Cady, the vengeful ex-con who stalks the married lawyers who put him behind bars, has always been crucial to making the story work. In 1962 it was Robert Mitchum, in 1991, Robert De Niro and in the 2026 series it's Javier Bardem. Bardem is electrifying to watch every time he steps on screen, taunting wife and mother Anna (Amy Adams) over whether he's really wreaking revenge on her family or if it's coming apart all on its own. Anna clearly has depths she's willing to sink to across the course of the series, and Adams is terrific at portraying that in a subtle way, giving us the feeling that she has just a little of the animalistic Cady lurking inside her. Anna is married to fellow lawyer Tom, who is played in vanilla style by Patrick Wilson - a bland, faintly frustrated man who feels like a suburban prop. Albeit, one with a gun. Cady, meanwhile, is taunted by visions of his dead family and around and around the story goes, swirling deeper and deeper until, you suspect, everyone will thoroughly regret ever having met each other. This includes Tom and Anna's children, Natalie and Zack - the latter of whom is played by Joe Anders, aka the son of Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes. (Ten episodes) The Four Seasons (Series 2)Tina Fey's lovely comedy about friends on holiday resumes with the scattering of ashesYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on NetflixIf you haven't seen series one of Tina Fey's easy-to-watch comedy about marriage and friends in midlife, then don't read any further than this and watch that first, because there's a big plot development before that ends. OK?So, after the death of Nick in series one - a twist that isn't in Alan Alda's original film - the couples assemble for four more holidays played out over eight episodes, in which we track the changes in their relationships in scenes that mix the hilarious with the poignant. The chief storyline at the start lays with Nick's widow Anne who is navigating how she feels about helping out with the baby of his girlfriend, Ginny - Ginny is, somewhat awkwardly, on holiday with them all, as they try to spread Nick's ashes. Elsewhere, Jack (Will Forte) and Kate (Fey) are burying things they should talk about, while the other big plot is also baby-related, but we won't spoil the details. The long-story-short of The Four Seasons is that it's a show filled with characters who are easy to like, going through things that are just relatable enough to feel real but just elevated enough to be funny, striking a balance of comedy and heart that never leaves you wanting. Nobody really has to worry about money, though, as the holidays themselves testify. (Eight episodes)Star CitySpin-off from For All Mankind that follows the Soviet side of the space raceYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on Apple TV'I take this step for my country, for my people, and for the Marxist-Leninist way of life, knowing that today is one small step on the journey that will someday take us all to the stars.' These are the words of the first cosmonaut on the Moon in an eight-part drama that imagines the Soviets were the first to land on Earth's satellite. It's a spin-off from For All Mankind - which focused on the US side of the same story with the Soviets one step ahead - and stars Rhys Ifans as the man in charge (known only as the Chief Designer) and Anna Maxwell Martin as Colonel Raskova, the remorseless eyes of the KGB in Star City, home to the space programme of the USSR. Like Chernobyl, the series has a keen eye for the brutality of Soviet bureaucracy and the lives of the people who are ground up inside it. Maxwell Martin is particularly excellent as the ice-cool KGB colonel, a woman whose eyes are always calculating, always judging what must be done next to keep things on an even keel - and never flinching when it has to be done. Yet she also seems to have hidden depths, not that we're likely to see them.If you're a fan of For All Mankind, you'll recognise some of the characters and, if you're not, it works just as well as standalone 'what if' drama. (Eight episodes) The WitnessThree-part drama about the impact of the murder of Rachel Nickell on her son and partnerYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on NetflixNetflix's drama digs into the murder of Rachel Nickell, who was killed on Wimbledon Common in 1992 with her two-year-old son as the only eyewitness. Rachel's death left her partner Andre as lone parent to Alex, and it's the two of them who are the main focus of The Witness, a three-parter that jumps between the time right after the crime to when Alex was a teenager, showing both the immediate and the lingering impact of not just the murder but of Andre's efforts to shield Alex from the effects of it all - efforts that included leaving the country. The other reason for the time jump is the split nature of the case itself. The drama skips fairly quickly through the 'honeytrap' operation that led to the arrest of the innocent Colin Stagg, before moving onto the successful prosecution of Robert Napper, which was only concluded 16 years after Rachel's death.Essentially more of a father-son drama than it is anything else, The Witness is generally sensitively handled stuff, although the casting of Kevin Eldon and Jon Pointing - both skilled comedy actors - as part of the investigative force does make some of the early scenes feel clownish. (Three episodes) The Murder Of Rachel NickellDocumentary that hears the story of the Wimbledon murder from Rachel's partner AndreYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on NetflixRachel Nickell's two-year-old son Alex witnessed his mother's murder on Wimbledon Common in 1992, but the police didn't find the killer until 2008. This haunting, feature-length documentary, which packs more of a punch than The Witness - Netflix's accompanying three-part drama about the same case - hears the story directly from Alex's father Andre. Andre tells his story directly into the camera, which is an emotional way to deliver it and hard to ignore. Other contributors give us a bit of distance from this necessary but uncomfortable emotional intensity, including Jean Harris-Hendriks (the child psychiatrist who talked to Alex), and Paul Britton (the forensic psychologist who tried to understand the motive), while we also hear from the detectives involved in the long, long investigation that eventually led to the apprehension of Robert Napper. There is also some exclusive archive footage. If you do watch The Witness, this documentary also serves as an intriguing opportunity to see what the actual people involved look like. (95 minutes) Dead Man's WireGritty hostage thriller based on the real-life story of a 63-hour stand-off Year: 2025Certificate: 15Watch now on NOWWatch now on SkyThe 1970s feel all too real in a hostage thriller directed by Gus Van Sant (Elephant) that has shades of Falling Down. It stars Bill Skarsgard as real-life figure Tony Kiritsis, who, in 1977, after falling behind on his mortgage payments on land he wanted to develop, took the son of his broker hostage. Kiritsis wired a shotgun to his head and a 63-hour stand-off ensued.Skarsgard has the kind of face that does menace well - he played Pennywise the Clown in the IT movies, after all - while Stranger Things' Dacre Montgomery simmers as the hostage under the gun as the story unfolds in pastel colours, piano tinkling in the background.The rest of the cast is rich with good faces, from Al Pacino as the hostage's dad to Colman Domingo as the DJ who talks to Kiritsis and Industry's Myha'la as a reporter who picks up the scent of the story. All told it's a solid slice of gritty crime thriller, one that feels all too real because it very much is. (104 minutes) Dear EnglandDrama about manager Gareth Southgate rebuilding England's confidence, identity, and unityYear: 2026Certificate: 12Watch now on BBC iPlayerEven if you have never watched a single game, there's no denying that football is a big part of British life. From school to workplace, family members to strangers in the pub, you cannot exclude yourself from the background hum of the national game. James Graham's four-part drama, based on his Olivier-winning stage play, is about football but can be heartily recommended to even non-fans. Insightful, funny and uplifting, there is something here that we can all get behind.It starts by presenting its hero Gareth Southgate (Jospeh Fiennes) as the classic British underdog, the last decent man in football who, after taking over as England caretaker manager in 2016, pushes for 'careful but quite radical change' to a team that has been swallowed up by ego and crippling expectation. With a new squad of younger players, empowering locker-room speeches, and with psychologist Pippa (Jodie Whittaker) at his side, the 2018 World Cup brought renewed hope that football could in fact, one day, be 'coming home'.There's something of the dizzy highs and crushing lows of watching England actually play in the rhythm of the show and Fiennes is fantastic as Gareth - you really believe it's him. But there are bigger ideas at play than match-day tactics. The football happens as England struggles with its identity, giving us a picture of a nation once proud, now uncertain. Southgate is presented as a storyteller, wanting to move on from the past and versions of England which are no longer match-fit. The result is a patriotic love letter to Southgate's quiet hero, to the beautiful game, and to England itself, from its green fields to its towns and cities, and every stadium in between. (Four episodes)A Good Girl's Guide To MurderThe schoolgirl detective investigates heinous crimes in an English villageYear: 2024Certificate: 12Watch now on BBC iPlayerWatch now on NetflixBased on the bestseller for young adults by Holly Jackson, this mystery series might be aimed at teens but that doesn't mean it's basic or lacking in sophistication. The cast are excellent and the story will have you hooked in an instant.Sixth-former Pip (Emma Myers) wants to solve the Andie Bell case, a disappearance and suicide that rocked the leafy village Pip calls home five years previously. The assumption is that Andie was killed by her boyfriend Sal who then took his own life, while Andie has never been found. Pip doesn't believe that's what happened and sets out to find the truth.Pip is a polite and bookish girl (the sort to have a crush on Nikola Tesla) who comes from a loving home (Anna Maxwell Martin and Gary Beadle play her parents). She's no misfit loner, though, having a close-knit group of friends. She is also a tenacious 'nosy parker', repeatedly failing to heed warnings to be more sensitive around the families affected by the tragedy. Being pushy and persistent might be essential qualities in the detectives we know from book and screen, but they are not ones that are celebrated in a teenage girl, and a responsible good girl at that. It's a cracking mystery and worth watching for that alone, but the coming-of-age elements add a lot to the story. Pip has some growing up to do, to rein in her more childish impulses, and what better way to do that than to solve a mystery along the way? For the second series, the sixth-former is in a reflective mood, looking for a way to move on to a new chapter: 'No more murders,' she declares to her podcast listeners. But trouble has a way of finding her, and Pip soon faces a race against time to rescue a friend and secure justice for the dead, as well as the wrongly accused. (Two series)Off CampusRacy college romance based on the Elle Kennedy booksYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on Prime VideoA racy US college romance based on the books by Elle Kennedy and starring Malory Towers' Ella Bright as one half of a couple that starts out as fake - but becomes very real. Bright plays Hannah, a smart music student who strikes a bargain with Garrett (Belmont Cameli), a less smart, college hockey star with a ladies' man reputation. He'll pretend to be her boyfriend to make someone jealous if she tutors him to help with his grades. However - and it's not a spoiler to say this - the agreement leads to more than either of them expect. With a couple of charming leads, some bruising, Heated Rivalry-style ice hockey action and an atmosphere that strives to capture the 'magic that is the college experience' (in the words of show creator Louisa Levy) Off Campus has a decent shot at entering the pantheon of modern teen romances, and the initial release makes it particularly well-timed to capture those looking to graduate from My Life With The Walter Boys and The Summer I Turned Pretty. Such viewers should also be aware though, that it's considerably more graphic than either of those shows right from the start, and has some dark turns later on that puts it closer to We Were Liars territory.It should also prove to be a good calling card for American-born, London-raised Bright who, rather handily for an actress, holds dual US-UK citizenship. She already has BAFTA and Emmy nominations under her belt for playing the angry Darrell Rivers on Malory Towers, and a second series of Off Campus will definitely follow this. (Eight episodes)KylieIntimate three-part profile of the Aussie pop superstarYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on NetflixThe list of stars known only by their first name is short, and Kylie is undoubtedly one of them. The diminutive Australian singer was one of a number of soap stars to make the move into pop in the 1980s but her success, initially tied to Neighbours love-interest Jason Donovan, dwarfed that of her contemporaries - both then, and since. This prestige, three-part documentary from Emmy-winner Michael Harte (Beckham, Still: A Michael J Fox Story) puts it all into context, featuring new interviews with the Grammy-winning Locomotion singer herself, along with her sister Dannii Minogue, Jason Donovan, her friend and collaborator Nick Cave and pop svengali Pete Waterman, a key part of her 1980s launch under the hitmaking banner of Stock Aitken Waterman. There's plenty of behind-the-scenes footage from across her career to flesh out the story, but what really gives this depth is when Kylie talks about the challenges she faced, from feeling pigeon-holed as a performer when she knew she was capable of so much more to her diagnosis with breast cancer in 2005, aged just 36. The profile is a well-rounded example of its kind, just like its subject. (Three episodes) Two Weeks In AugustUnsettling White Lotus-style thriller set on a Greek island, starring Jessica Raine and Damien MolonyYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on BBC iPlayerIn this unsettling thriller that's been described as a British White Lotus, a group of old friends head off together on one of those holidays you just know is going to go badly wrong. Call The Midwife's Jessica Raine is one of the party, playing teacher Zoe, who's married to depressed husband Dan (Bergerac's Damien Molony), a man with a secret. Unfolding on a remote Greek island over two weeks of what's supposed to be fun and frolics, the gripping eight-parter from Catherine Shepherd (Peep Show) tracks a paradise escape that turns into the holiday from hell after an illicit kiss sets off a chain of events that will change them all for ever. For Raine's Zoe in particular, it leads her to discover a side to herself that she never knew existed. (Eight episodes) Maximum Pleasure GuaranteedDarkly comic thriller about a mother in an extreme situationYear: 2026Certificate: 15Watch now on Apple TVMaximum Pleasure Guaranteed is a darkly comic, ten-part US thriller with a bracingly pacy and unpredictable edge. It stars Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law) as Paula, a newly divorced mother who's trying to navigate a fresh start alone in the city and has been spending money to find intimacy with a man online. Then, one day events take a dramatic turn and Paula finds herself caught in a maelstrom of potential disaster, all while trying to balance spending time with her daughter and dealing with her ex (Jake Johnson). Maslany is a fantastic actress and gets the different dimensions of Paula across very well, from the single woman looking for connection to the mother after the best for her daughter to, fundamentally, a woman who is anything but morally black and white, but refuses to be a victim for who she is. The show goes off like a rocket from the start and, while you'll need a bit of stamina to stay the exhilarating course that Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed charts, Maslany's performance gives it a very easy heart to hold onto. (Ten episodes) Richard Madeley: Inside The World's Mega PrisonRichard Madeley swaps the daytime sofa for an extreme prison in El SalvadorYear: 2026Certificate: 12Watch now on 5 (Ch5)In 2022, El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele unleashed an unprecedented crackdown on gang violence, incarcerating tens of thousands of men in mega prisons like CECOT, aka the Centre for the Confinement of Terrorism, never to be released. Bukele sees it not as locking up roughly two percent of the population but liberating millions of law-abiding citizens from the terror of gang violence that made El Salvador the murder capital of the world. Murder rates plummeted and El Salvador is now even safer, statistically, than the US.And which intrepid British journalist has been granted access to CECOT, the first western crew to be allowed to film there? None other than Richard Madeley, better known as a cosy daytime TV presenter with wife Judy Finnigan. If Madeley comes across as a fish out of water it's because anyone would faced with the reality of life inside CECOT. Scenes of prisoners, 300 to a cell, sleeping on tiered bunk beds with no mattresses, with only cold water to wash and the same three meals of beans and rice day-in, day-out, would make any free man feel out of place. Madeley is shocked by what he sees, but is even more shocked when he's shown footage of the kinds of sadistic acts these gang members have committed.Ultimately, we are only shown that Bukele's crackdown works, no doubt because the filmmakers were only shown what the government wanted them to see. Madeley tries to be a tough journalist but the film fails to engage with the bigger moral and ethical questions of this extremist approach to law and order. (90 minutes)World War II With Tom HanksMammoth 20-part take on the conflict, narrated by the Saving Private Ryan starYear: 2026Certificate: uWatch now on NOWWatch now on SkyTom Hanks is the narrator of this mammoth 20-part documentary take on the Second World War - one that, from a British point of view, may feel like it's minimising elements of the conflict. Dunkirk and the Blitz are dealt with in just one episode (two), after all, although Bletchley Park does at least get a whole instalment (nine) to itself. Still, it was a World War and this documentary certainly treats it as such, with Hanks's narration and the insight of historians guiding us through the chronology step-by-step, moving clearly between countries and dates and puncturing some myths along the way - including the idea that the Polish resistance to Hitler's mechanised hordes was limited to charging the Nazi tanks on horses. Dan Snow, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Tessa Dunlop, Guy Walters, Saul David and Sir Antony Beevor are among the British voices explaining the conflict as it goes on. There have been plenty of documentaries on the Second World War over the years, but our perspective on history is always evolving and this is a strong snapshot of where it stands in 2026. (20 episodes)