Best 5: quick view
Best 5 new shows to stream
1) Missing You – 1 Jan (Netflix)
Series. When Detective Kat Donovan matches on a dating app with the fiancé who disappeared years before, she learns that some secrets are best left in the past.
Starring Rosalind Eleazar, Ashley Walters, Jessica Plummer, Richard Armitage and Sir Lenny Henry.
2) The Control Room – 1 Jan (BritBox)
Series. The three-part drama tells the story of Gabe, an ordinary man who works as an emergency call handler for the Strathclyde Ambulance Service in Glasgow. His world is turned upside down when he receives a desperate life-and-death call from a woman who appears to know him.
With Gabe under pressure to work out who she is, he makes a decision that threatens to have devastating consequences.
Starring Iain De Caestecker, Joanna Vanderham, Daniel Hill, Sharon Rooney and Daniel Portman.
3) Black Snow, Season 2 – 1 Jan (Stan)
Series. What happened to Zoe Jacobs? In this returning season, cold case Detective Cormack (Travis Fimmel) tackles two separate missing persons cases. One is professional, as he investigates the disappearance of Zoe Jacobs (Jana McKinnon), who hasn’t been seen since her own 21st birthday party in 2003.
And the other is personal, as Cormack searches desperately for his own younger brother, who went missing when they were children. Watch the Stan trailer.
From ScreenHub’s four-star review of Black Snow Season 2:
‘The real meat, at least early on, is in the flashbacks to 2003. Zoe’s life hanging out with the young Sam Kahlil – that’s right, the cop investigating her disappearance now was her best friend back then – and fellow radio DJ Cody all seems relaxed at first, what with going to Iraq War protests and wearing Magic Dirt T-shirts. But soon the dark side makes itself known.
‘There are work dramas and conflict at home, turmoil amongst her friends, a drug-peddling uncle, and a mysterious new love interest who has ‘murder suspect’ written all over him – which everyone after her disappearance picked up on, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t do it (or does it?). As Zoe’s life starts to fall apart, it doesn’t take long for the pieces of a solid whodunnit to fall into place.
‘Australia’s served up its fair share of regional mysteries in recent years, and most of the virtues here are par for the course. The story doesn’t drag its heels, there’s a strong supporting cast, and plenty of nice shots of the Glass House mountains where much of the series was filmed. But the big strength of Black Snow is that it knows what it’s got in Fimmel.’
4) The Rig, Season 2 – 2 Jan (Prime Video)
Series. Helicopters have taken the surviving crew of the Kinloch Bravo to a new secret offshore facility called the Stac, nestled deep in the extraordinary and deadly landscapes of the Arctic Circle.
Here, the trapped crew must deal with the emotional and physical fallout of the devastating tsunami that destroyed the Bravo, and contend with swirling conspiracies, corporate conflicts, and new threats from the dark depths of the world’s ocean.
Starring Iain Glen, Martin Compston, Emily Hampshire and Rochenda Sandall.
5) Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, Season 1 – 2 Jan (Binge)
On December 21, 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, killing everyone on board and 11 locals. With his daughter among the dead, Dr Jim Swire (Colin Firth), becomes spokesperson for the UK victims’ families demanding answers.
Travelling across continents and political divides, Jim embarks on a relentless journey for truth and justice. Watch the trailer.
