CUNK ON EARTH (NETFLIX)
Move over Simon Schama and Brian Cox, there’s a new British presenter aiming to entertain and enlighten audiences as to human history and how our home has changed over many millions of years.
Over five half-hour episodes, Philomena Cunk (if she looks familiar, that because she’s portrayed by Motherland star Diane Morgan) aims to tell “the incredible story of how humankind transformed our world – from a load of pointless nature to a load of modern things”.
Filmed in every corner of the globe “money and pandemic restrictions allowed”, the show promises to highlight our species’ most stunning achievements, while Cunk asks “academics, clever naughts and expertists” insightful and challenging questions like “how is it a mystery how the pyramids were built when it’s obviously just big bricks in a triangle?”
If you haven’t already picked it up, Cunk on Earth is a mockumentary, one played magnificently straight by a brilliantly deadpan Morgan. Fans of the comedic stylings of our own Leigh Hart and Jeremy Wells’ noughties satire Eating Media Lunch will absolutely adore her attempts to “break” a string of earnest and serious interviewees with left-field and outrageous queries.
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Poker Face and Cunk on Earth are among the great shows available to stream this weekend.
EXTRAORDINARY (DISNEY+)
With its edgy humour, eclectic soundtrack, plethora of Emerald Isle accents, bittersweet narrative and colourful characters, it’s hard not to compare this eight-part series – set in a world where everyone over the age of 18 has a superpower (everyone that is – except 25-year-old Jen) – to another crowd-pleasing coming-of-age comedy – Derry Girls.
Sure the content skews a little bit older and there’s not the same nostalgic appeal as that ‘90s-set series, but the jokes come thick and fast, the actors delivering the one-liners with aplomb.
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Pedro Pascal stars in The Last of Us
THE LAST OF US (NEON)
Could one of the most acclaimed video games of all-time have spawned one of the best film and television adaptations?
While the bar is admittedly pretty low (the multiple Hitman, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil efforts are among the many disappointments), this certainly has a solid team behind it and shows plenty of promise in its first few episodes.
Created by the original hit 2013 game’s helmer Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin (whose last outing was the series that caught the world’s attention in 2019 – Chernobyl), feels like a cross between last year’s Station Eleven (there are eerie similarities between how the two pandemics start), War of the Worlds and those early exciting episodes of The Walking Dead that gave the viewer a real sense of space and place and left you feeling unnerved about what was going to happen next.
LOCKWOOD & CO. (NETFLIX)
Based on Jonathan Stroud’s popular series of young adult (YA) supernatural thrillers, this eight-part detective show revolves around a trio of London-based talented teenage ghost hunters.
While their rivals are more like corporate agencies, the eponymous company is operated by two teenage boys and psychically gifted girl – a renegade trio free of financial motives, adult supervision and seemingly destined to unravel a mystery that threatens to change the course of history.
“This latest in a long line of YA supernatural sagas from Netflix is a cut above, thanks to smart choices from showrunner Joe Cornish and a sparky young cast,” wrote Empire magazine’s Boyd Hilton, “Forget the YA label; this is an addictive, sophisticated supernatural thriller which will keep cynical old duffers entertained throughout.”
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Cameron Chapman plays Anthony Lockwood in Lockwood & Co.
MADOFF: THE MONSTER OF WALL STREET (NETFLIX)
Four-part docu-series that follows the rise and fall of financier Bernie Madoff, who orchestrated one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in American history.
As specialist true-crime helmer Joe Berlinger’s (Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile) story details, starting his career in penny stock trades, Madoff built a lucrative side business as an adviser, attracting clients with impressive returns.
“The series is at its most compelling when it places Madoff’s monstrousness within the context of the systemic self-interest and greed that allowed him to flourish,” wrote Financial Times’ Dan Einav.
POKER FACE (TVNZ+)
Having established his credentials as the master of the modern-day, cinematic Hollywood whodunit via Knives Out and Glass Onion, Rian Johnson now turns his attention to the small screen and a series of “howcatchems”.
Yes, in this 10-part comedic crime drama, viewers find out the perpetrators of each “crime-of-the-week” fairly early on, the show’s true delights coming from watching how our seriously flawed, wildly eccentric, caustically acerbic, but keenly observant protagonist points the finger at the right person each time.
The secret of Charlie Cale’s (Natasha Lyonne, channelling the same mix of unpredictableness and wit that made Netflix’s Russian Doll such addictive viewing) crime-solving success? An innate ability to tell if someone is intentionally lying
From the opening titles to the soundtrack choices and witty apropos episode monikers, Poker Face really feels like a throwback to the detective shows from around half-a-century ago like Columbo and The Rockford Files – but with a contemporary spin.
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Katherine Ryan and Romesh Ranganathan joined forces for Romantic Getaway.
ROMANTIC GETAWAY (NEON)
Katherine Ryan and Romesh Ranganathan team up for this six-part UK comedy about a couple who go to desperate lengths to try and keep their “baby dream alive”.
Having run out of money to fund their IVF treatment, they decide to steal a large sum from their boss Alfie (Johnny Vegas). However, he has criminal contacts of his own who are far more dangerous.
“As the tension rises, so too does the daftness. It is best when it is silliest, and Vegas, Ranganathan and Ryan make a surprisingly killer trio,” wrote The Guardian’s Rebecca Nicholson.
SUPER LEAGUE: THE WAR FOR FOOTBALL (APPLE TV+)
“Football is the most important of all the unimportant things in life.”
It doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it as former Liverpool manager Bill Shankley’s comparison of “the beautiful game” to life and death, but, as an opening quote for this new, four-part look at the three days that rocked the game in April 2021, it sums up the sport’s place in society nicely.
Clearly designed for American audiences (who will be shocked to learn that European club football’s annual showpiece the Champion’s League Final generates three times the viewership of their beloved Super Bowl), Super League: The War for Football is an excellent primer on the shocking events that transpired when a group of powerful European clubs (including six English Premier League teams) attempted to form a breakaway league that could have potentially left hundreds of others facing financial ruin.
