Best new shows: quick view
Best new shows this week
Netflix: best new shows
Virgin River – Season 6 (19 Dec)
Series. New beginnings, uncovered secrets and second thoughts: as Mel and Jack prepare for the wedding, they learn more about each other – and their loved ones. Starring Alexandra Breckenridge, Martin Henderson and Tim Matheson. Watch the trailer.
BritBox: best new shows
Case Sensitive – Seasons 1 & 2 (16 Dec)
Series. In this crime thriller, a woman and her five-year-old daughter are discovered dead in the bathroom of their luxury home, a case that divides new DS Charlie Zailer and her DC Simon Waterhouse. Starring Olivia Williams, Darren Boyd and Peter Wight.
The Amazing Mrs Pritchard – Season 1 (17 Dec)
Series. A comedy-drama following Mrs Pritchard, supermarket manager, who decides to run for election. Starring Jane Horrocks, Steven Mackintosh and Jodhi May.
Sister Boniface Mysteries Christmas Special 2024 (18 Dec)
Special. Join everybody’s favourite nun and part-time forensic scientist, Sister Boniface (Lorna Watson) this holiday season for a festive episode of sleuthing. The Great Slaughter Amateur Dramatics Society (GSADS) are rehearsing for a production of Cinderella and with the appointment of a celebrity director, the pressure has never been higher to deliver on their biggest and best performance yet.
Starring Lorna Watson, Max Brown and Jerry Iwu.
Lighting Up Christmas (18 Dec)
Take a magical tour round Britain to meet the Christmas elves who are pulling out all the stops to create a picture-perfect Christmas.
The Limehouse Golem (19 Dec)
Film (2016). An unidentified serial killer is causing havoc in Victorian London, leaving crypical messages written in victims’ blood. Cue Scotland Yard and a famous inspector. Starring Douglas Booth, Olivia Cooke and Sam Reid. Watch the trailer.
In the Dark – Season 1 (20 Dec)
Series. In this police procedural, we meet Murphy, a drink-hard, live-hard woman in her twenties, who is also blind. Things take a considerable turn for the sinister when she comes across what she believes is the corpse of her closest friend outside her apartment. Starring Perry Mattfeld, Casey Deidrick and Morgan Krantz.
I Want My Wife Back – Season 1 (21 Dec)
Series. In this romantic-comedy, we follow nice-guy-by-all-accounts Murray, who struggles to comprehend (cos he’s a nice-guy-by-all-accounts) when his wife leaves him on her fortieth birthday. Can he find out what went wrong? And can he win her back? Starring Ben Miller, Caroline Catz and Kenneth Collard.
Silent Witness – Season 26 (22 Dec)
Series. We’re back yet again with a team of exceptional forensic pathologists and scientists who employ all their skills in tracking down people responsible for horrible crimes. Starring Emilia Fox, David Caves and William Gaminara.
AMC+ & Shudder: best new shows
The Chelsea Detective – 16 Dec (AMC+ & Acorn TV)
Christmas special. Chloe Carmichael, former pop star and one-time darling of the tabloids, is found dead in her Chelsea mansion flat in the days leading up to Christmas. They first suspect a drug overdose, but forensics soon establishes that Chloe had been drowned in the bath.
Max and the team must contend with a string of potential suspects, including her hard-bitten manager, a conniving journalist and a Tory MP. Each of them has a secret connecting them to Chloe, but who was it that killed her?
Stan: best new shows
A Fistful of Dollars (17 Dec)
Film (1964). A gunslinger sets two rival families at loggerheads in a town filled with greed, pride and revenge. Starring Clint Eastwood and Marianne Koch. Also streaming on 17 Dec: For a Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Evil Dead Rise (18 Dec)
Film (2023). The reunion of two sisters takes a turn for the worse with the arrival of flesh-possessing demons. Starring Mirabai Pease and Richard Crouchley.
Significant Others – Season 1 (19 Dec)
Series. A woman vanishes in the wake of destruction. Putting the pieces back together is going to tear her family apart, or rebuild them anew. Starring Rachael Blake and Alison Bell.
Interstellar (21 Dec)
Film (2014). When the world becomes uninhabitable, an ex-NASA pilot and farmer is given the task of flying a spacecraft alongside a team of researchers to find a new liveable planet.
ABC iview: best new shows
Forest (16 Dec)
The story of a brilliant ecologist with a plan to save the world by restoring the planet’s forests. His original work was hijacked by corporations and politicians with disastrous effect, so now he’s using science to fight back.
Hard Quiz Neighbours TV Cast Special (18 Dec)
Special. In this special episode, Stefan Dennis (Paul), Georgie Stone (Mackenzie), Alan Fletcher (Dr Karl) and Madeleine West (Dee) battle it out for Tom Gleeson’s Big Brass Mug.
The Yearly With Charlie Pickering (18 Dec)
Special. Charlie’s back to wrap up 2024 with Margaret Pomeranz, Roy & HG, Rhys Nicholson, Concetta Caristo and Andy Zaltzman. And if you can’t even recall what happened this year, don’t worry – The Yearly remembers all the news so that you don’t have to.
A (Very) Musical Christmas (20 Dec)
Special. Join Australia’s finest musical performers in A (Very) Musical Christmas, as they grace the stage with sounds of the festive season in a special television event supporting Beyond Blue.
SBS On Demand: best new shows
The Night Manager (18 Dec)
Series. A contemporary adaption of John Le Carre’s best-selling 1993 spy novel of the same name. In Cairo, at the height of the Arab Spring, hotel night manager Jonathan Pine receives a plea for help from Sophie, the mistress of the powerful but dangerous hotel owner.
Sophie has evidence of an arms deal that could help crush the popular uprising. Starring Tom Hiddleston, Olivia Coleman, Hugh Laurie, Elizabeth Debicki and Tom Hollander.
Daddy Issues (19 Dec)
Series. A coming-of-age story for all ages. The show follows Gemma, who lives for the weekend when she can get plastered and party hard in Stockport, Manchester. But after joining the mile-high club with a random hook-up on her way back from a holiday to Portugal, she falls pregnant, and it couldn’t come at a worse time.
She has no other option but to seek support from her crisis-stricken father, Malcolm, and move in together. Starring Aimee Lou Wood and David Morrissey. Watch the trailer.
Wham!: Last Christmas Unwrapped (18 Dec)
Documentary. This nostalgic Christmas special tells the story of how George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley’s WHAM! turned one song into a cultural phenomenon. Brimming with memories, the film reunites a cast of characters from the song’s illustrious history. As prominent music artists, producers and industry experts delve into the compelling inside story of Last Christmas’ creation and its enduring appeal.
Miss Fallaci (19 Dec)
Series – Italian with English subtitles. Based on the story of Italian journalist and writer Oriana Fallaci, who started her career with cinema and lifestyle columns and ended up becoming the most influential and controversial female journalist of the 20th Century.
Fallaci is a young reporter assigned to write about films, but her ambition is to cover politics. Amongst a team of men, she feels pigeon-holed into her role. When the opportunity to write a series of articles on the Hollywood star system comes up, she is hungry to prove herself and pitches the impossible: an exclusive interview with Marilyn Monroe. Starring Miriam Leone and Jonathan Silvestri.
Lust on Earth (20 Dec)
Documentary. This candid exploration of love and infidelity around the world delves into the norms, laws and taboos that influence the most private parts of our personal lives.
Exploring love and adultery across 40 countries around the world, Lust on Earth traces the different stages of relationships and investigates the reasons that people are unfaithful – taking in socioeconomic status, education level, machismo, religion, and general trustworthiness.
Christmas at Longleat (21 Dec)
Special. Step inside one of Britain’s grandest estates and witness its transformation into a Christmas wonderland. Meet Lord and Lady Bath, and their team as they prepare for not only the ‘Most Wonderful Time of The Year’ but the busiest.
Decorating this incredible Elizabethan house takes time and precision, but the festivities don’t stop there. Find out what it takes to make this Christmas extravaganza come to life as the estate hosts one of Europe’s largest lantern festivals.
Prime Video: best new shows
Your Christmas or Mine? (available now)
Film (2022). Students Hayley and James are young and in love. After saying goodbye for Christmas at a London train station, they both make the same mad split-second decision to swap trains and surprise each other. Passing each other in the station, they are completely unaware that they have just swapped Christmases.
Starring Asa Butterfield, Cora Kirk, Jim O’Hanlon. Watch the trailer.
Your Christmas or Mine 2 is also streaming now on Prime Video.
Something from Tiffany’s (available now)
Film (2022). Rachel and Gary are happy enough but not quite ready for that big commitment. Ethan and Vanessa, meanwhile, are just about to make it official. When a simple mix-up of gifts causes all of their paths to cross, it sets off a series of twists and unexpected discoveries that lead them where they’re truly meant to be. Starring Zoey Deutch, Kendrick Smith Sampson and Ray Nicholson.
Binge: best new shows
Laid – Season 1 (19 Dec)
Series. When her former lovers start dying in unusual circumstances, Ruby (Stephanie Hsu, Everything Everywhere All At Once) must go back through her sex timeline, with the help of her best friend, and confront her past in order to move forward.
This rom-com with a twist is based on the 2011 Australian series of the same name. Zosia Mamet also stars. Watch the trailer.
Apple TV+: best new shows
The Secret Lives of Animals (18 Dec)
Documentary series. Inspiring and delighting viewers with its vibrant exploration of extraordinary animal behaviours, many captured on film for the first time. Each episode delves into pivotal moments in the life cycles of various animals – from birth and leaving home to raising a family, and from finding food to growing old – showcasing their striking intelligence and adaptability.
Hosted by Hugh Bonneville, the series highlights include an orb-weaving spider constructing a deceptive ‘self-portrait’ puppet to deter predators; the first-ever recorded vocalisations between olive ridley turtle hatchlings while still inside their eggs; and an unexpected relationship between a reticulated humming frog and a burrowing tarantula. Watch the trailer.
Disney+: best new shows
The Simpsons: O C’mon All Ye Faithful (17 Dec)
Special of the season 36 episode of The Simpsons.
Ilana Glazer: Human Magic (20 Dec)
Special. A brand-new stand-up comedy special from Ilana Glazer of Broad City fame. Watch the trailer.
What If…? Season 3 (22 Dec)
Series. Marvel’s animated series returns in Season 3 for its culminating adventure through the multiverse. Watch as classic characters make unexpected choices that will mutate their worlds into spectacular alternate versions of the MCU.
The Watcher (voice of Jeffrey Wright) will guide viewers as the series traverses new genres, bigger spectacles, and incredible new characters.
