The return of cult favourites like What We Do In The Shadows and Dexter make for an appropriately dark, post-Halloween small screen schedule. Here’s your TV and streaming guide for Nov 2-8, 2021.
What We Do In The Shadows, Season 3
Spun-off from the feature-length mockumentary of the same name, Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clements’ serialised What We Do In The Shadows returns to British TV this week for a third helping. If you’ve not had the pleasure, the fly-on-wall show follows a group of dysfunctional vampire roommates in a cramped and creepy New York home as they struggle to navigate life in the 21st Century. Pitch-perfect Transylvanian comedy accents, a loveable human fanboy servant, and small-town bar owner (and women’s volleyball coach) Jackie Daytona have propelled What We Do In The Shadows to beloved status on both sides of the Atlantic. Continuing that trend, Season 3 premiered to near-universal acclaim in the US.
Tuesdays at 10:05 PM, BBC2 from Nov 2, and available for streaming on iPlayer thereafter.
Dickinson, Season 3
Also entering its third – and sadly, final – season this week is another smartly-written comedy, Dickinson. Based extremely loosely on the life of esteemed American poet, Emily Dickinson, the Hailee Steinfeld-starring series takes some very liberal creative licence with the historical figure – about whom we know incredibly little. Dickinson’s time period is repainted using modern sensibilities: raucous partying, nowadays slang and progressive ideas about a woman’s place in society, emphasising its titular heroine as a woman ahead of her time. After finding its stride in Season 2, it’s a shame this Apple TV+ gem will soon be put out to pasture. (Anything with the legendary Jane Krakowski in it is also worth the price of admission alone.)
Episodes 1-3 stream on Apple TV+ Friday, Nov 5.
Worzel Gummidge, Season 2
Though later than intended, the rebooted version of Worzel Gummidge‘s return to the TV this week is actually ideally timed considering Bonfire Night is nearly upon us. This is Mackenzie Crook’s take on British literature’s most famous scarecrow, which was first brought to television in the late 70s starring Doctor Who‘s John Pertwee. Three episodes aired across 2019 and 2020 as part of a revival mini-series and were well received by a nostalgic public. Eager for more fantastical scare-man antics, the newer, less raggedy Worzel Gummidge is coming back for a second triple helping, with Bill Bailey and Paul Kaye guest-starring alongside Crook and Toby Jones this time around.
Likely to air across consecutive days again from Fri 5 Nov at 5.45pm, BBC One, and available on iPlayer thereafter.
Close To Me, Channel 4
Another week, another gritty Channel 4 crime drama – and another former Doctor, in fact. Connie Neilson stars alongside Christopher Eccleston, Susun Lynch and Leanne Best in Close To Me, a psychological drama of Nordic origin, based on the novel of the same name by Amanda Reynolds. Told in six instalments, each an hour long, this gritty story follows Nielson’s character, Jo Harding, who tries to recover a year’s worth of memories she lost following an accident. This turns out to be the gritty prelude to her ‘perfect’ family life also falling apart around her, with a terrible, gritty secret nestled at the centre of it all. If you can’t get enough of Scandi-made drama (or grit), this might be another to feed that addiction.
Sundays at 9pm on Channel 4 from 7 Nov, and available for streaming on 4OD thereafter.
Dexter: New Blood
Having successfully hacked and slashed his way through eight seasons already, you’d think the former Bay Harbour Butcher would be ready for a quiet, off-telly retirement. Think again! Michael C. Hall’s Dexter Morgan is back for a 10-episode limited series, Dexter: New Blood. Set a decade after the end of Season 8, New Blood finds Dex’ settled into a normie, non-killing existence in a backwater New York town. Until, of course, dark dealings rekindle his urge to return to his old ways once more. Shameless ratings grab for Showtime’s most popular series to date? Perhaps, but with Clyde Phillips also returning to steer the ship – the showrunner for Seasons 1-4 – perhaps fans are in for a return to form, too, for the hit-and-miss crime thriller.
Mondays at 10pm on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV, starting 8 Nov.
words HANNAH COLLINS
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