RT Streaming Guide week 16

YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE TO

WASPISH

Edited by FRANCES TAYLOR

DOCUMENTARY

Madu 111

SOCIETY SWANS

Watts, Molly Ringwald, Calista Flockhart, Diane Lane and Demi Moore play elite New Yorkers

Available now

q This uplifting fly-on-thewall film tells the story of a working-class Nigerian boy who dreams of being a ballet dancer. In 2020, 11-year-old Anthony Madu became an internet sensation when his dance teacher posted a video of him pirouetting in the rain.

COMEDY DRAMA

HISTORICAL DRAMA

Feud: Capote vs the Swans

All 8 episodes available from Wednesday on Disney+

Tom Hollander makes for a formidable Truman Capote — mannered and monstrous, without tipping over into unbelievable caricature — in a corkingly gossipy drama based on real events. We hop between various timelines to tell the story of the fabled writer befriending a group of female socialites in the 1960s, only to destroy the relationship in the 1970s by transparently basing a novel on their secrets and heartbreaks. The portrait of a bygone elite, riven with drugs, booze, betrayal and insecurity, is delicious and the cast is indulgently stellar: Diane Lane, Demi Moore, Chloë Sevigny and Naomi Watts all dial up the vicious glam. JACK SEALE See feature: page 18

Birmingham’s Elmhurst Ballet School offered Madu a scholarship, and we follow him as he embarks on his new life, where his passion for dance shines through.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande 1111 j

Available now

DAVE GOLDER

q Emma Thompson gives a typically nuanced performance here as a widow who decides to hire a young sex worker in a bid to finally explore her sexual desires. Director Sophie Hyde makes a virtue of the hotel-room setting to emphasise Thompson’s nervousness in the face of the charming hunk of the film’s title, played by Daryl McCormack (Peaky Blinders). The serious moments in Katy Brand’s script are leavened by its warm sense of humour and generosity to both characters.

AMBER WILKINSON

PERIOD DRAMA Shogun

Episode 9 available from Tuesday If at times the intricacies of honour and sacrifice in 17th-century Japan have made this drama a little impenetrable, they certainly don’t this week: the penultimate episode is an absolute heart-stopper. Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai) takes what could be her final stand against the nefarious, power-hungry Lord Ishido (Takehiro Hira), pitching her immovable loyalty and Catholic faith against her impulse to stay alive for her loved ones. As her bravery takes her into more and more danger, you’ll be desperately hoping she can pull off a political coup and survive. JS

DRAMA

Scoop 11 j Available now

q

This drama tells the story behind the infamous Prince Andrew interview that was broadcast on Newsnight in 2019. Billie Piper plays Newsnight’s booker Sam McAlister, who faces animosity from both her colleagues and representatives from Buckingham Palace as she attempts to set it all up. The film’s centrepiece is a word-for-word re-enactment of the most memorable portions of the interview, which feels rather pointless when the real thing is readily available to watch. While Gillian Anderson impresses as journalist Emily Maitlis, the prince is played as a comedy buffoon by Rufus Sewell, which feels at odds with the serious subject matter. PATRICK CREMONA

NATURE

Our Living World

All 4 eps available from Wednesday

Almost no animals live in true isolation, and the natural world’s interconnectedness is the theme of a handsomely filmed documentary series, narrated by Cate Blanchett. It travels the world looking at how the living creatures within different ecosystems rely on each other’s existence to survive — and shows that sometimes those networks spread more widely than you think. Its other main point is that almost every such system is affected by the actions of one animal in particular — us. JS

DOCUMENTARY Homicide: New York

All 5 eps available now

Producer Dick Wolf has TV’s Midas touch and this latest project has already powered its way up the Netflix charts. It hews close to his biggest cash cow, Law & Order, in that screen time is divided up between detectives and prosecutors — only this time, their stories are true-life ones and cover such grisly cases as an evisceration in Central Park and a shooting above the famous Carnegie Deli. The mystery element is as gritty and compelling as you’d expect, but the contributors’ New York accents deliver an extra smack of authenticity.

DAVID BROWN

Clockwise from top left: Chloë Sevigny, Naomi

Tom Hollander plays writer Truman Capote

Now Cinema

ROMANTIC DRAMA

Spoiler Alert 111 j

Available from Sunday

q

This life-affirming romantic drama follows writer Michael Ausiello (The Big Bang Theory’s Jim Parsons) as he deals with the fallout of his partner Kit’s cancer diagnosis. After Kit (Ben Aldridge) discovers he has a rare form of the disease, he and Michael determine to make the most of their time together, with support from Kit’s parents (played by Bill Irwin and a scene-stealing Sally Field). Director Michael Showalter nimbly avoids mawkishness in much the same way he did with The Big Sick, and the result is both tongue-in-cheek and touching.

MARK WILLIAMS

DRAMA BlackBerry 1111 j

Available from Friday

q

The rapid rise and fall of mobile-phone manufacturer BlackBerry is compellingly chronicled in this true-life drama.

In mid-1990s Canada, Mike Lazaridis (Jay Baruchel) and Doug Fregin (director and co-writer Matt Johnson) are struggling to gain investment for their portable phone prototypes. When fearsome executive Jim Balsillie (Glenn Howerton) comes on board, BlackBerry is soon the toast of the tech world — but for how long? With a tone that’s more akin to The Big Short than The Social Network this is a cautionary tale told with a satirical edge. MAX COPEMAN

HISTORICAL DRAMA Franklin

Episode 4 available from Friday

After a slow start, this historical drama now has its manoeuvrings and double-crossings buzzing nicely. With a raging Britain struggling to contain the American revolution, the question for the French is how much to capitalise: should it risk an all-out war?

Michael Douglas continues to play the nascent United States’ man in Paris, Benjamin Franklin, with a smooth smugness — but he’s outshone by Daniel Mays as the tremulous quisling Edward Bancroft, who is now squeezed painfully from both sides.

JACK SEALE

HISTORICAL DRAMA Manhunt

BIOGRAPHICAL DRAMA Oppenheimer 5 j

Available from 12 April

The physicist who oversaw America’s race to develop the atom bomb before the Nazis is the beating heart of director Christopher Nolan’s spectacular, Oscar-winning depiction of world-changing history. Cillian Murphy gives a stunning performance as J Robert Oppenheimer, dubbed “the father of the atomic bomb”, and he’s supported by an awesome array of talent, including Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon and Casey Affleck. The three-hour running time and scientific jargon demand patience, but Nolan’s marriage of visuals and sound design is dazzling. JEREMY ASPINALL

DOCUMENTARY

Girls State 111 Available now

The follow-up to 2020’s Emmy-winning Boys State (which is also available to watch on Apple TV+), this absorbing documentary follows a group of teenage girls from Missouri as they undertake a week-long political experiment to form a government from the ground up.

DRAMA Sugar

Episode 4 available from Friday

Episode 7 available from Friday

SERIES FINALE

Running in parallel to the pursuit has been the story of Mary Simms (Lovie Simone), the formerly enslaved woman who is now set to testify at the trial of the conspirators in this heated courtroom-based finale. As we know, she encountered John Wilkes Booth and was also mistreated by Dr Samuel Mudd, one of the men accused of being involved in the assassination plot. Politician Edwin Stanton is attempting to coach Mary ahead of her taking the stand, but there’s no guarantee she’ll even be permitted to speak. DAVID BROWN

John Sugar (Colin Farrell) is learning that the Siegel family exemplify the tarnishing of Tinseltown. Davy’s seamier side, for instance, is an example of what can happen to those with a surfeit of wealth but a deficit of morals. As for Sugar, his frames of reference expand from hardboiled crime to horror. First, it was Bogart, now it’s The Thing Might his subconscious be troubled by the monsters in his midst? DB

Co-directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine fail to get under the skin of all the participants, but several of the girls fall into sharp focus, including the hyper-ambitious Emily, who plans to be running for president by 2040.

JAMES MOTTRAM

ADVENTURE Jane

Series 2 episodes 1—5 available Friday

One of the most wholesome programmes on television returns for a second season of imaginative animal adventures for kids, “inspired by the mission of Dr Jane Goodall”.

Jane (Ava Louise Murchison) continues to use her vivid mind and curious brain to liven up life in her ordinary apartment, with her first new quest being to reunite a lost baby panda with its mother. Once that’s sorted out, there’s a quick lesson on pandas’ real lives, and how we can better look after them. It’s a neat way to teach older primaryschoolers about conservation and climate change. JS

COMEDY Loot

Episode 4 available from Wednesday

It’s not a must-see by any means and some of the modish American cultural references can be a bit alienating, but this comedy about a bored and unpredictable billionaire is frivolous and fun, the more so this week thanks to a cheeky guest role for Benjamin Bratt. He plays himself: the handsome actor is paired up with Molly (Maya Rudolph) at a yoga retreat, with intensely erotic results. Bratt, mildly satirising himself, is a game foil for Rudolph, who gurns

TRIBUTE

Stand By for Action!/ Century 21, Slough

Available from Sunday

Two treats for supermarionation buffs. Stand By for Action! is a concert staged in 2022 at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall featuring music from throughout Gerry Anderson’s TV career. The 2018 documentary Century 21, Slough, meanwhile, visits the film studios where Thunderbirds, Stingray and the rest were brought to life, with many people who worked on Anderson’s shows there to say goodbye on the eve of the building’s demolition.

JACK SEALE

COMEDY Charade 5 g

Paramount+ ITVX

Available now

q This rollicking romantic thriller was the first of three collaborations between director Stanley Donen and composer Henry Mancini, both of whom would have turned 100 this week. The plot sees Audrey Hepburn’s ordinary American in Paris thrown into a mystery that spirals through myriad twists and turns, most of which involve her suave and elusive new acquaintance (Cary Grant). The stars’ effortless charisma is easily matched

Amazon Prime Video

DRAMA Anatomy of a Fall 1111 j

Available now

qAn ambiguous tension plays throughout this meticulous courtroom drama from director Justine Triet. Sandra Hüller plays writer Sandra, whose husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) is found dead from a fall in the snow by his young, visually impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado-Graner). Whether his death was an accident, suicide or murder hangs over the rest of the film. As Sandra faces a court case, we see that her guilt or innocence is merely one facet of her problems. The film offers no easy answers as the momentum slowly builds towards the verdict.

ANIMATION

Ark: the Animated Series

Episodes 1—6 available from Friday

Yet another TV show based on a video game, this one a cartoon for older animation fans adapted from Ark: Survival Evolved. Madeleine Madden voices Helena, a bereaved palaeontologist who is mysteriously transported to a land where dinosaurs roam. The puzzle becomes more complex when she encounters friends and enemies from various centuries. Among those providing voices for these characters are David Tennant, Michelle Yeoh, Gerard Butler and Jeffrey Wright. JS

SCI-FI

Star Trek: Discovery

Series 5 episode 4 available Thursday

There’s a bug in the system. It’s metallic and crawling over bulkheads and — uh-oh! — into the computers. Before a 32nd-century exterminator can be called, Burnham and Rayner (Sonequa Martin-Green, above, and Callum Keith Rennie) head off on a head-spinning adventure. What follows makes for the most entertaining episode of this season. Thanks to its strong sci-fi concept and emphasis on crew camaraderie, it feels like “proper” Star Trek, which is something that can’t always be said of this series.

DAVID BROWN

PERIOD DRAMA

A Gentleman in Moscow

Episode 4 available from Friday

Readers of the Amor Towles novel on which this series is based will spot a key event looming as resourceful, hotel-bound aristocrat Alexander (Ewan McGregor) continues to navigate the politics of Stalinist Russia and the relationships of the staff and guests at the Metropole Hotel. Before a surprise visitor changes everything, everyone wants a piece of Count Rostov: the scenes where he schools the brutish Osip (Johnny Harris) on classic literature are among many tasty treats offered by another fine episode. JS

AMBER WILKINSON

To

COMEDY DRAMA

Wicked Little Letters

111 j

Available now as a home premiere Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley team up for this mixed bag of a period comedy, loosely based on real events. In 1920s Littlehampton, residents begin receiving anonymous missives filled with foul-mouthed tirades. Blame is soon pointed at Irish immigrant Rose (Buckley), with her neighbour Edith (Colman) leading the accusations. Director Thea Sharrock (Me before You) fails to nail down the tone of a film that swings between black humour, farce and nods to more serious issues. However, Colman and Buckley are good value in this entertaining, if erratic, work.

JAMES MOTTRAM

PERIOD DRAMA Shoshana 111

j

Available now

qBased on a true story, this drama is set in Tel Aviv in 1938, where British official Tom (Douglas Booth) falls for Jewish journalist Shoshana (Irina Starshenbaum). Their budding relationship is tested when Tom is teamed with a brutal police officer (Harry Melling) to dismantle Zionist organisation Irgun, who are fighting the British. This is a typically rigorous, if unwieldy, tale of love and conflict from director Michael Winterbottom (of Welcome to Sarajevo). Melling projects a smooth menace and Starshenbaum brings keen intelligence to the complex Shoshana. KEVIN HARLEY

ROMANTIC COMEDY

What Happens Later 11 j

Available now

Meg Ryan’s second film as a director, after 2015’s Ithaca, finds her returning to familiar romantic comedy territory. She also co-stars here, with David Duchovny, as former lovers who find themselves stranded in a snowbound airport. As night wears on, the onetime sweethearts pick over their shared past, flitting between light-hearted banter and bitter recriminations. While the two actors share sparky chemistry, the film’s single location feels uncinematic, betraying the fact that it’s an adaptation of a 2008 stage play, Shooting Star TERRY STAUNTON

HOW & WHERE TO STREAM TV & FILM

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES FREE TO VIEW NETFLIX

BBC iPLAYER

bbc.co.uk/iplayer

As long as you have a TV licence, you can register for free and enjoy a slew of BBC shows on demand and BBC channels to stream live.

ITVX itv.com

This free service is the place to stream ITV content. An ad-free version called Premium costs £5.99 a month or £59.99 a year, and also includes BritBox shows.

CHANNEL 4

channel4.com

No longer called All 4, Channel 4’s streaming service has more than 1,500 shows from C4, E4, More4, Film4 and Walter Presents. Watching without ads costs £3.99 per month. MY5 channel5.com

Channel 5 content and channels 5 USA, 5 Star and 5 Select can be streamed live with a free online account.

UKTV PLAY uktvplay.uktv.co.uk

Catch up with shows on Dave, Drama, W and Yesterday. There’s also an extensive library of crime drama, comedy and entertainment box sets available to stream.

FREEVEE amazon.co.uk/freevee

You can sign up free for an Amazon account and then watch — with adverts — shows including Neighbours cop drama Bosch: Legacy and the comedy Sprung, plus other TV shows and films.

DRAMA Memory 1111 j

Available now

q Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard shine in this tough tale of trauma from Mexican director Michel Franco (New Order). When recovering alcoholic Sylvia (Chastain) runs into Saul (Sarsgaard) at their high-school reunion, she recalls being abused by him years before.

Saul’s early-onset dementia means he can’t remember what happened, but when Sylvia is hired as his carer, there’s an opportunity for her to gain closure. Taking the story on an unusual path, Franco offers a saccharine-free look at the way memory works and how sometimes we bury the truth to survive. JM

ACORN TV acorn.tv

Price: £4.99/month

Gentle crime dramas are this service’s speciality.

AMAZON

PRIME VIDEO

amazon.co.uk/video

Price: £8.99/month

For original shows such as Expats, 007: Road to a Million and live sport.

APPLE TV+ apple.com/uk/ apple-tv-plus

Price: £8.99/month

For films and series such as Slow Horses and Masters of the Air.

BFI PLAYER

bfi.org.uk/player

Price: £4.99/month

Classic and cult films.

BRITBOX

britbox.co.uk

Price: £5.99/month

Get

Shows from the BBC, ITV, C4 and Channel 5, plus BritBox originals.

DISCOVERY+

discoveryplus.co.uk

Price: £3.99/month or £6.99/month to include Sport

For Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet and others, plus original shows and live sport from TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport).

DISNEY+

disneyplus.com

Price: £4.99/month (with ads), £7.99/ month (no ads) or £10.99/month (Ultra HD)

New Marvel and Star Wars series, plus shows like Shogun and Disney film releases.

MUBI mubi.com

Price: £11.99/month

World cinema and arthouse films.

netflix.com

Price: plans range from £4.99/month (with ads) to £17.99/ month (Ultra HD)

Films and series like The Gentlemen, One Day and Ripley

NOW nowtv.com

Price: £9.99/month for Entertainment and £9.99/month for Cinema membership

PARAMOUNT+ paramountplus.com

Price: £6.99/month

Films and series like A Gentleman in Moscow, Star Trek: Discovery and The Curse

SKY GO

Price: included with Sky TV subscription

The place to watch Sky and HBO shows without a Sky box or dish. Streaming service Peacock is included with Entertainment membership.

sky.com/watch/sky-go

Sky customers can stream live and catch-up TV via an app on a laptop, phone or tablet.

PREMIUM SERVICES

Many recent films are available to digitally rent or buy at a one-off cost. Priced anywhere from around £5 to £16 for new releases, they are available on platforms including Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, Chili, Google Play, Microsoft, Rakuten, Sky Store, Virgin and YouTube. Similarly, film platforms BFI Player and Curzon Home Cinema offer a more curated selection of indie, arthouse and world cinema titles.

Make friendship and support your legacy

One in every 13 older people in the UK is often lonely. Many go weeks, sometimes months, without speaking to anyone. As vital services move online and out of reach, some older people are becoming even more disconnected from a fast-changing world.

With the number of isolated older people set to rise, Age UK’s friendship services will always be vital.

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To find out how you can create a legacy of friendship and leave a world less lonely, order a free gifts in wills guide today.

Your free guide contains stories of how gifts to Age UK have changed lives. It also includes practical information on how to make or amend your will and a helpful Will Planner to prepare you for meeting with your solicitor.