The watch list! 6 unmissable TV shows hitting screens this week
Chloë Sevigny and Javier Bardem play monstrous parents, Lucien Laviscount has ditched Emily for another woman and the cringiest Royal scandal EVER.
PICK OF THE WEEK
Playing Nice, ITVX, Thu 19 Sep
Looking for a new psychological thriller to sink your teeth into? Enter Playing Nice which depicts any parent’s waking nightmare. Based on JP Delany’s bestseller which tells the story of two couples who learn that their toddlers were switched at birth (yikes). Forcing them into a terrifying dilemma, do they keep the child they have been raising, or reclaim the child which is biologically theirs? Playing the doting parents are Niamh Algar, James McArdle, Jessica Brown Findlay and no stranger to a tense drama Happy Valley‘s James Norton. Unbelievably good.
A Very Royal Scandal, Prime Video, Thu 19 Sep
No matter how many times we watch the shocking interview between Emily Maitlis and Prince Andrew, dramatisation or not, the cringe factor is still through the roof. Yet, like a car crash, you can’t not watch it which is why we’re tuning in to the latest retelling of the whole saga with Ruth Wilson turning her hand at Maitlis and Michael Sheen taking on the role of Andrew. Unlike the Netflix version, Scoop, released earlier in the year, A Very Royal Scandal focuses more on Maitlis’ point of view. Glossy, tense and still so, so scandalous.
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, Netflix, Thu 19 Sep
Your weekly dose of true crime drama comes in the form of The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, with a little help from Chloë Sevigny and Javier Bardem. It unravels the story of the two brothers who murdered their parents after years of abuse, begging the question, who were the real monsters? Created by Ryan Murphy, whose previous creds include Ratched, The Watcher and the terrifying Dahmer, so you know this is going to be all kinds of tense, shocking, and twisted. Keep that cushion on standby.
His Three Daughters, Netflix, Fri 20 Sep
Who said three’s a crowd? Natasha Lyonne, Elizabeth Olsen and Carrie Coon are absolutely spellbinding in this Azazel Jacobs movie. They play estranged sisters who reunite to care for their ailing father during his final days. Trapped and cramped together in a NYC apartment, it isn’t long before past issues and buried trauma come home to roost. Yep you’ll need to keep a tissue handy but there are some laugh out loud moments and plenty of all too relatable exchanges (families, right?). His Three Daughters is in a word sublime no wonder there’s already Oscar buzz.
This Time Next Year, Netflix, Fri 20 Sep
Did someone say Lucien Laviscount? That’s right the Emily in Paris heartthrob is hotting up your screens again in another will-they-won’t-they fluffy rom com. He plays Quinn to Sophie Cookson’s Minnie, both were born at the same hospital, minutes apart, but despite this similar beginning, their lives have taken very different paths. Thirty years later they are reunited at a New Year’s bash – gotta love that fate – cue lots of flirting, bickering, misunderstandings, wild swimming and and in true rom-com style, they might just end up together This Time Next Year. An easy breezy if a bit cheesy comfort watch (although it’s nice to see Golda Rosheuvel without her BIG Bridgerton hair).
La Maison, Apple TV+, Fri 20 Sep
With The New Look and Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, 2024 has certainly been the year of the fashion (television) show. Next up, La Maison a slick and scintillating French language drama taking viewers behind the scenes of a family run fashion house with all the drama, ego, scandal and back-stabbing that comes with it. Starring Lambert Wilson, Amira Casar, Zita Hanrot and Carole Bouquet. Stilettos and sass at the ready.