It’s hard to look at TV commentary at the moment without seeing some spicy takes on former Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Matt Hancock, who has controversially swapped the back benches of Parliament for the ITV Aussie jungle of I’m A Celeb – a move that has earned the broadcaster over 1,000 Ofcom complaints and even an aerial protest. If you’re sick to the back teeth of the media circus around it all, Hannah Collins and Emma Way are here to remind you that, as November goes, there are some pretty great TV alternatives to switch over to instead…
THE PACT, SEASON 2
Anthology series The Pact follows a different group of people each season; its last one, for instance, had a murder mystery arc featuring a fragile pact of silence among a group of loyal, caregiving friends. Back with Season 2, this brand new Pact storyline now stars BAFTA-award-winning Rakie Ayola in a twisted tale of secrets among family members and strangers alike with a grief-stricken mother and her children at the centre. Set against the backdrop of the beautiful Welsh coast, the six-parter series by screenwriter Pete McTighe, also known for writing Doctor Who and A Discovery of Witches, is as gripping and shocking as ever.
The Pact is streaming on BBC iPlayer.
EMMA WAY
THE BEAR
If you’ve seen and loved the fantastic, single-shot film Boiling Point, starring national trinket Stephen Graham, The Bear will tide you over until the reported TV spinoff comes to fruition. Jeremy Allen White – of ‘Lip’ fame on the US Shameless – stars as Carmen ‘Carmy’ Berzatto, a talented chef who steps down to run his recently deceased brother’s Brooklyn sandwich shop, an ailing, chaotic business that enjoys local cult status. Determined to turn it around while battling his own demons, Carmy also has to contend with his hot-headed cousin, played with frenetic relish by Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and fangirling sous chef Sydney Adamu (Big Mouth’s Ayo Edebiri) who is hungry to prove herself but definitely out of her depth. Inspired editing, incredible performances and a playlist-worthy soundtrack make this a strong contender for one of the year’s best newcomers.
The Bear is streaming on Disney+.
HANNAH COLLINS
CABINET OF CURIOSITIES
Scary stories exist in everywhere – something Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities communicates through eight gripping, spinetingling episodes on Netflix. From the more psychological type of haunts known to grievers in The Murmuring to the shapeshifting of body image and self-love in The Outside, each episode’s noteworthy director crafts their short stories at the perfect length to keep things interesting. The Autopsy is one of the creepiest slow burners I’ve watched in a minute, while Pickman’s Model conjures horrors as old as time that feel nostalgic yet state of the art at once.
Cabinet of Curiosities is streaming on Netflix.
EMMA WAY
DRAG RACE UK, SERIES 4
Four seasons in and the UK edition of RuPaul’s Drag Race continues to be a standard-bearer for the reality competition franchise (yes, we’re biased, what of it?) Standouts from this year’s competition include alien queen Cheddar Gorgeous, the long-legged Black Peppa, Liverpudlian gender-bender Danny Beard, Drag Race UK’s first-ever trans woman contestant Dakota Schiffer, and fashionista Sminty Drop. For longtime fans, this is comfort viewing with little deviation from Drag Race’s standardised template, but there’s still nowhere else on TV that you’ll see a half-woman, half-bird musical solo or Queen Elizabeth I resurrected to make dick jokes.
Drag Race UK, Series 4 is streaming on BBC iPlayer.
HANNAH COLLINS
THE HANDMAID’S TALE, SEASON 5
The TV retelling of the renowned Margaret Atwood novel returns with Season 5 this winter. A dystopian yet devastatingly current series, The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in Gilead, a totalitarian society, starring the white-hooded Elizabeth Moss and tight-lipped wife Yvonne Strahovski during the aftermath of the Second American Civil War, in which fertile women like Moss’ June are subjected to child-bearing slavery and enslavement. First airing in 2017 on American network Hulu, the show has more recently been talked about in the same breath as Texas’ recent anti-abortion legislation and, on a wider level, the overturning of Roe V Wade, effectively rendering Texan women’s reproductive rights virtually nonexistent.
The Handmaid’s Tale Season 5 is now streaming on Channel 4.
EMMA WAY
KILLER SALLY
One of the latest in Netflix’s slew of unusual true crime docs, Killer Sally’s salacious title and hook – a bodybuilding couple whose love soured to murder – might be offputting. However, what unfolds across the miniseries isn’t a tawdry tabloid tale but a multidimensional story of gender biases and cyclical violence. The titular Sally McNeil was a rising star in the relatively new female offshoot of male bodybuilding in the 80s, whose marriage to Mr. Olympia contender Ray ended in tragedy on Valentine’s Day 1995 when Sally fatally shot him in front of her two children, claiming it was self-defence. The question of Sally’s guilt is irrelevant but was Ray’s murder justifiable? Interviews with Sally, her kids and friends and family of the couple paint a complicated picture where there are no clear heroes or villains, just hurt people hurting people.
Killer Sally is streaming on Netflix.
HANNAH COLLINS
THE ENGLISH
The sweet taste of revenge is shared by two strangers in this 1890-set series starring Chaske Spencer and Emily Blunt. A stylishly modern western, the story follows the former Pawnee native and ex-army scout Eli Whipp as he looks to claim his birthright. Meanwhile, the latter, Kansas newbie Lady Cornelia Locke, searches for the man responsible for her son’s death. The British-American co-production from Hugo Blick dives deep into race, love and power, with both leads on top form.
The English is streaming on BBC iPlayer and Amazon Prime.
EMMA WAY
ANDOR
Compared to The Mandalorian, Boba Fett and Obi-Wan, the hype from audiences around the newest live-action Star Wars series has been subdued – and it’s a real shame. Serving as a prequel to Rogue One (film four-and-a-half in the main series chronology), Andor was perhaps never going to be able to compete with the starrier and more Force-powered shows that came before but has something really different to offer: Much like the film it precedes, this is the space saga at its most grounded, following protagonist Cassian Andor’s early years forming an underground resistance movement to oppose the Empire. As such, it’s less about pew-pew space battles and laser tag and more old-school espionage, helmed by the likes of Stellan Skarsgard, Fiona Shaw, Adria Arjona and, of course, dreamy Diego Luna in the title role.
Andor is streaming on Disney+.
HANNAH COLLINS
RAYMOND LEWIS: L.A. LEGEND
Documentary Raymond Lewis: L.A. Legend tells the story of the titular Californian basketball phenomenon, from the picturesque but rocky Watts neighbourhood, who was drafted in the first round of the 1973 National Basketball Association Draft yet never played a single game due to a bad contract. Many of the interviews within the documentary discuss Lewis being blackballed, with the athlete never returning to his professional career since. It’s just another example of the exploitation of student-athletes within the National Collegiate Athletic Association in America, and a truly soul-destroying story.
Raymond Lewis: L.A. Legend is streaming on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
EMMA WAY
ZEN – GROGU AND THE DUST BUNNIES
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum to Andor, Zen – Grogu And The Dust Bunnies is an adorable, hand-drawn short from Studio Ghibli, featuring Mando’s ‘Baby Yoda’ testing his Force powers while encountering Ghibli’s playful soot sprites. This surprise collaboration between Japan’s world-famous animation house and LucasFilm is a landmark one that follows in the footsteps of animated anthology Star Wars: Visions, a collection of individual stories set in the Star Wars world crafted by renowned anime creators. With Disney recently acquiring streaming rights to shonen hot property Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, the streamer seems to be keen on pushing further into Netflix’s userbase, for which anime has been a big numbers driver.
Zen – Grogu And The Dust Bunnies is streaming on Disney+.
HANNAH COLLINS