Best 5 new shows: quick links
Best 5 new shows
The Rehearsal Season 2 – Max (21 April)
Series. If you’ve not seen Season 1 yet, the premise is slightly out there.
Writer, director and star Nathan Fielder plays a fictionalised version of himself in a documentary-comedy that sees him helping ordinary people with rehearsals for unpleasant future events in their lives, using actors and high-budget sets to mimic those real-life situations.
In Season 1, that involved working with a man who had to come clean to his friend about not having a postgraduate degree, and Fielder playing the role of co-parent with a mother-to be. In Season 2, who knows?
Starring Nathan Fielder, Journey Baker and Anna Lamadrid. Watch the trailer.
The Wives – AMC+ & Acorn TV (21 April)
Series. This one’s for the drama-mystery fans.
Last year, four sisters-in-law and their families escaped to their Maltese holiday apartments, as they’ve done every summer for 15 years. Sylvie was happily married, Natasha was swimming in wealth, and Beth and Annabelle were thick as thieves.
Now, Silvi’s single and loving life, Natasha’s hiding a desperate financial situation, Beth is barely keeping her life together and Annabelle is muerta.
With lies coming to light and evidence building, the women work together and against each other to unravel the mystery and bring the culprit to justice.
But with corrupt officials, drug cartels and career criminals closer to home than ever expected, have they bitten off more than they can chew?
Starring Tamzin Outhwaite, Angela Griffin, Jo Joyner and Christine Bottomley. Watch the trailer.
Andor Season 2 – Disney+ (23 April)
Series. The return of the Star Wars spin-off that puts other Star Wars spin-offs to shame. As Naja Later wrote for ScreenHub in 2022: ‘Believe the hype: the new Star Wars show Andor really is that good.’
Season 2 takes place as war draws near and Cassian becomes a key player in the Rebel Alliance. Everyone will be tested and, as the stakes rise, the betrayals, sacrifices and conflicting agendas will become profound.
Rife with political intrigue and danger, the series is a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which portrayed a heroic band of rebels who steal the plans to the Empire’s weapon of mass destruction – The Death Star – setting the stage for the events of the original 1977 film.
Andor sets the clock back five years from the events of Rogue One to tell the story of the film’s hero, Cassian Andor, and his transformation from disinterested, cynical nobody into a rebel hero on his way to an epic destiny.
Starring Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk and Kyle Soller. Watch the trailer.
ScreenHub: Andor, Disney+ review: believe the hype, it’s amazing
Étoile – Prime Video (24 April)
Series. Set in New York and Paris, this eight-episode comedy-drama series follows the dancers and artistic staff of two world-renowned ballet companies as they embark on an ambitious gambit to save their storied institutions by swapping their most talented stars.
This dramedy is the much-anticipated follow-up to creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino’s beloved comedy The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.
Starring Luke Kirby, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Lou de Laâge and Gideon Glick. Watch the trailer.
You Season 5 – Netflix (24 April)
Series. In the fifth and final season of this thriller, Joe Goldberg (a bookstore manager turned serial killer turned obsessive would-be lover) returns to New York from London to enjoy his happily ever after … until his perfect life is threatened by the ghosts of his past and his own dark desires.
The finale, say the creators, will be spectacular, so if you’ve not seen the first four seasons, and want to catch up, you better hurry!
Co-showrunners and executive producers Michael Foley and Justin W. Lo told Tudum recently: ‘It’s so rare that you’re afforded the opportunity to do five seasons of a show, let alone complete the story – while also bringing your character and the production back to where it all began. It was truly a unicorn experience and an absolute career highlight for both of us.’
Starring Penn Badgley, Charlotte Ritchie, Madeline Brewer and Anna Camp.
