Looking for something new to watch this weekend?
The Daily Mail’s TV experts have sifted through hundreds of programmes to bring you 20 of the best shows and films to stream on demand right now.
From a London thriller starring Robin Wright to a favourite comedy panel show’s return, there’s plenty to crack on with watching.
So sit back, grab the remote and prepare for a well-earned rest – and let us know in the comments if there’s anything else you’d recommend.
The Girlfriend
Robin Wright stars as a mother at odds with her son’s sultry new girlfriend in this gripping thriller
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
This delicious thriller stars Robin Wright as a mum who hates her son’s racy new girlfriend on sight. Daniel (Laurie Davidson) is besotted with Cherry Laine (Olivia Cooke), a woman with a name like someone from a Beatles song who turns up to meet his parents in a saucy red dress. Cherry and Daniel can’t keep their hands off each other that night and Laura (Wright) can’t keep her mind off the idea that something isn’t right with Cherry. So, the question of the show becomes, is Laura right, or is she just jealous of losing her son’s attention? Or could it be both?
No spoilers here, but the show is packed with details and lines that keep you guessing throughout, helped by the fact that we see all the events from both women’s perspectives: each of the moreish six episodes (which you’ll find yourself absolutely racing through) is split down the middle between Cherry and Laura, showing us the way each woman sees events in front of them. And the differences are fascinating.
Wright directed the first three episodes, and all her scenes with Cherry are electric. Both actresses pack a lot into a look in all of them, and this is a show full of looks that hint at what’s going on underneath. Long story short, this is a cracking thriller that should make you gasp more than once. (Six episodes)
The Rumour
Small town English mystery where rumours can kill
Year: 2025
Certificate: 12
When estate agent Joanna (All Creatures Great And Small’s Rachel Shenton) moves to a new town, the fictional Flinstead, she almost immediately sends house prices plummeting when she spreads the word that a child-killer has moved into the area under a new identity.
Feeding this salacious gossip to the gaggle of mums at the school gates is sure to get it circulating, and the book club hosted by Emily Atack’s queen bee Debbie quickly turns into amateur sleuth club. There’s more to Joanna’s story than just her being an old tattletale. She’s left her whole life behind in London, and husband Michael, who wants continued access to their son, wants to know why.
What’s nice about this gaggle of nosy women is that there are different generations muddled in together. That’s important because the child killer in question was only ten years old when the crime took place in the 1970s and would now be in her 60s. If the rumour is true, which of the older ladies might she be?
Joanna has her suspicions from the off, but this five-parter doesn’t reveal all its secrets at once. It’s a darkly intriguing premise in a good-looking and well-executed mystery. (Five episodes)
aka Charlie Sheen
The actor discusses his controversial life and career in a candid documentary mini-series
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
The poster boy for Hollywood excess and career-destroying behaviour, Charlie Sheen went from being the star of movies such as Hot Shots! and Wall Street, not to mention being one of the highest-paid actors in TV history for Two And A Half Men, to being the punchline in a thousand jokes about his out-of-control lifestyle.
This two-part documentary sees him deal with everything about his hell-raising sex, drugs and rock’n’roll days in a stunningly candid and frequently dark interview in which virtually none of the incidents from his tabloid-fodder life are out of bounds.
It’s a must-watch for anyone even tangentially aware of Sheen’s life, and comes complete with interviews with friends, colleagues, partners and enemies, including Denise Richards, Heidi Fleiss, Jon Cryer, Sean Penn, Ramon Estevez, Brooke Mueller and Chris Tucker. Sheen treads an impressively fine line throughout his confessions and insights here, and ends by relating how his wild years led him to experiment with sexual relations with men as well as women. (Two episodes)
Taskmaster
Award-winning offbeat comedy challenge show, now back for series 20
Year: 2015-
Certificate: 15
Over the years since this show first aired in 2015, its creator Alex Horne has been asked – again and again – who his dream contestant would be, and he’s always named Jack Dee. In the 18th series of this hit comedy panel show, Alex’s dream finally came true as Jack took his place alongside fellow comedians Babatunde Aleshe, Rosie Jones and Emma Sidi and The News Quiz’s Andy Zaltzman (who was also a massive cricket geek).
For the uninitiated, Taskmaster began on Dave, quickly gaining a cult following and an armful of BAFTAs before switching to Channel 4. The emphasis is on the strange and surreal, with contestants asked to complete seemingly impossible challenges in the most original way possible. Taskmaster Greg Davies is best-described as dry-as-a-bone, and he goads sidekick ‘Little Alex Horne’, who clearly does the lion’s share of the heavy lifting, while presiding over an enjoyably anarchic game where the prize is a statue of his disembodied head.
The line-up for the latest 20th series features Ania Magliano, Maisie Adam, Phil Ellis, Reece Shearsmith and Sanjeev Bhaskar and, if you’ve got youngsters who want to join the fun, bleeped and PG-rated versions are also available. New episodes arrive on Channel 4 first. (20 series)
The Newsreader
Anna Torv and Sam Reid star in this 80s-set Australian TV news drama, now back for series three
Year: 2021-
Certificate: 12
It might be set in an Australian TV newsroom, but the stories here are global. This 1980s-drama follows the lives of the team at News At Six as they chase ratings and report on the big-hitting events of the day, from the Challenger space shuttle disaster through to a royal wedding (Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson) and the Chernobyl catastrophe.
Primarily, the show is about ambitious newsreader Helen Norville (Anna Torv) as she fights to be taken seriously in an era when casual sexism was still the norm. Her story is wrapped up in that of junior reporter Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) who becomes her confidant, producer and more. The balance of the personal and professional is well handled, with hectic scenes capturing the rush to get ‘packages’ ready in time, while the personal has you rooting for Helen and Dale to be a hit both in work and out of it. Series two opens in July 1987, after some staff and relationship changes, as the News At Six team prepare for six hours of unbroken airtime to cover the federal election.
Series three begins in 1989, with the Tiananmen Square protests and the Exxon Valdez oil tanker disaster among the big stories for the News At Six team to report on – the Lockerbie disaster crops up too, and is not handled with sensitivity – but it’s not just time that has moved on, the people have too. (Three series)
Nosferatu (2024 film)
Robert Eggers’ popular, BAFTA-nominated take on the Bram Stoker story, starring Lily-Rose Depp
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
‘This creature is a force more powerful than evil.’ And also quite powerful at the box office, as it turned out – director Robert Eggers’ follow-up to The Northman flew up the UK box office charts in its first week of release, proving the enduring appeal of Bram Stoker’s Dracula story at the cinema and giving Eggers his most financially successful film in the process. It doesn’t hurt that the movie picked up solid awards attention as well, with five BAFTA nominations to its name – albeit all of them on the less attention-grabbing production side.
Still, this is good going for a remake of a 1922 silent German film, which was itself based on Stoker’s book. Lily-Rose Depp scrubs the stench of HBO’s The Idol off her in the empowered role of Ellen, a woman connected to vampiric aristocrat Count Orlok (Bill Skarsgard), while Nicholas Hoult is the Jonathan Harker figure as Ellen’s new husband, and Willem Dafoe fills the Van Helsing role.
That’s a good cast but the real key to why it’s done so well is that, unlike the 1922 version, this is really quite fun to watch. If you were ever a fan of Hammer Horror, there’s some of that fun running through Nosferatu, while it also looks terrific (which the BAFTA nods reflect) and the centring of Depp’s character in the story makes it feel like something new, too. (132 minutes)
The Haggis Hunters – Our Lives
Delightful insight into the World Haggis Championship
Year: 2025
‘Fair fa yir honest, sonsie face/Great chieftain o the puddin-race!’ Anyone who’s been at a Burns Night supper will be familiar with the great Scottish poet’s Address To A Haggis, but who knew there was a World Haggis Championship? This delightful little documentary follows contestants from four families – Laura, Mark, Ariane and Stewart – as they compete for the trophy in the historic city of Perth. Some represent generations-old Scottish butchers, but one is – whisper it! – from England, daring to challenge tradition and take the prestigious title south of the border.
As the competition day nears, we meet the butchers and their families, get a glimpse of life on farms, and learn just how haggis is made – although the finer details of each competitors’ recipe remain a closely guarded secret. Funny, heart-warming and full of flavour, this film is a story about food, family and friendly rivalry. You’ll never look at a haggis in the same light again. It’s part of the wider Our Lives series. (29 minutes)
Stacey & Joe
Warm show following the lives of Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash, now back for series two
Year: 2025
Stacey & Joe follows the daily lives of Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash, the very likeable couple who met on the set on I’m A Celebrity… back in 2010. It’s a very relatable watch that tracks everyday relationship troubles, struggles with the work-life balance, parenting and mental health.
There are plenty of sweet moments, not only between Stacey and Joe, but also in their relationships with their five children – three of their own and two sons from Stacey’s previous relationships. The couple certainly aren’t afraid to show us imperfect parts of their lives either, whether it’s stressful family events or just the messy routine of a normal day, and its these imperfections that really make the show so appealing.
Plenty of humorous moments pop up, too – such as when Joe let the children eat baked beans on the sofa, something Stacey would never do – and the show has a cosy feeling that lends itself naturally to a box-set watch partly because, under all the chaos, the family clearly care so much about each other. That’s a refreshing change of gear in the often conflict-heavy world of real-life shows.
In the latest second series,
Only Murders In The Building (Series 5)
Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez return for a fifth series
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
After at least one killing in each of the first four series, living in the upscale Arconia apartment building in New York is almost as dangerous as moving to one of the Midsomer villages. And there’s no rest for its trio of in-house crime crackers as series five begins.
The discovery of the bloody corpse of beloved doorman Lester in the courtyard fountain sets Charles, Oliver and Mabel (Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez) on an investigation that takes them into the world of New York’s mafia and the new breed of criminals edging them out…
As brilliantly funny and quirky as ever, the show continues to cram in surprises and guest stars in almost equal amounts. Look out this season for Keegan-Michael Key, Christoph Waltz, Renée Zellweger, Bobby Cannavale, Téa Leoni and Dianne Wiest to name but a few. (Ten episodes)
Task
Mark Ruffalo stars in a seven-part HBO crime drama from the creator of Mare Of Easttown
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Brad Ingelsby was the man behind Mare Of Easttown, a seven-part HBO drama about an emotionally broken woman finding redemption through cracking a case in down-at-heel America. Now he’s back with Task, a seven-part HBO drama about an emotionally broken man finding redemption through cracking a case in down-at-heel America.
Cheeky comparisons aside, Task is a similarly strong piece of work that will slowly draw you in by the end of its first episode, which runs the gamut from light moments of banter to potential infanticide. Mark Ruffalo is the star, and he cuts an appealingly avuncular figure as FBI agent Tom Brandis, a man on leave while he reels from trauma.
That leave is cut short by his boss (Martha Plimpton), who needs Tom to head up a task force to stop a stint of brutal robberies being conducted by a kind-looking family man. Why is someone with nearly as nice a face as Tom robbing people? And can Tom stop him?
Comparing the character of these two men is the real business of Task, a show that’s slow-burning in the best sense of that phrase. (Seven episodes)
Catching The Tinder Predator
Documentary about the battle to bring a dating app criminal to justice
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
When they first encountered him on the dating app Tinder, women found Christopher Harkins charming and charismatic. It was only later that his darker side revealed itself.
This true crime documentary series charts the way Harkins preyed on women through the app for more than a decade, committing crimes ranging from fraud through to rape. It reveals how society and the legal system treated his activities with bland indifference until a group of women affected by his actions banded together to fight for justice.
It’s a mini-series that is both depressing in its depiction of the way female victims’ voices are often ignored, and incredibly cheering for the determination those self-same women displayed as their campaign to be taken seriously resulted in Harkins eventually being tried and sentenced. (88 minutes)
Death Of A Showjumper
Documentary series about the death of a Northern Irish sportswoman
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Was the death of Katie Simpson in 2020 a case of suicide? That was certainly what the police seemed to think at first. It took months before they began to believe that the 21-year-old showjumper had actually been killed, and turned their attention to her sister’s partner, Jonathan Creswell.
This in-depth three-part true-crime documentary charts how a local journalist was among the first to detect something wrong with the suicide story about Simpson’s death, remembering an old case that had odd echoes of this one. What emerges here is a story of domestic violence and coercive control within a small and tightly-knit sporting community. The series unpicks that and charts how the investigation unfolded, leading to Creswell’s arrest and a shocking conclusion to his trial for Simpson’s murder. (Three episodes)
Laura Whitmore On Britain’s Killer Teens
Probing devastating cases of teen murder in the UK
Year: 2025
In recent years, the number of British teenagers committing murder has risen by an alarming amount – why? Laura Whitmore digs into this grim topic for a six-part series, tackling a different case in each episode.
One highlights the sad fate of 15-year-old Holly Newton, who was killed by 16-year-old Logan MacPhail. Logan had learning difficulties, a traumatic childhood and an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis and was Holly’s ex-boyfriend. He had displayed coercive controlling behaviour when they were together and, when she broke up with him, began to stalk Holly and ultimately lured her into an alleyway and stabbed her to death. Holly’s mum and stepdad are among those reflecting to Whitmore on the case.
Other cases include that of 18-year-old Brian, who killed his own parents and then took himself off on a luxury holiday. (Six episodes)
The Speedway Murders
Gripping documentary of a twisted unsolved crime
Year: 2023
Certificate: 12
This feature-length true-crime documentary revisits a horrific quadruple murder from 1978 when, in Speedway, Indiana, four teenage workers disappeared while working the night shift at the Burger Chef fast food joint. The following day, the bodies of Jayne, Mark, Ruth and Danny were found in a wooded area some 30 miles from the restaurant.
Confounding the investigation, police had not collected evidence when they were called to reports that the workers were missing. They found the restaurant abandoned, lights on, door open, tills empty, and assumed the employees had run off with the money. The restaurant was cleaned, removing the opportunity to find any trace evidence and piece together what happened.
Now, more than four decades later, multiple theories are explored. Can new light be shed on this baffling and shocking case? (101 minutes)
Thailand: The Dark Side Of Paradise
The former Love Islander explores a country of stark contrasts
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Zara McDermott wants to know why young Britons are flocking to Thailand in record numbers – either for hedonistic holidays or in search of a better life.
She’s not just there for a sunshine jolly, though – there are some darker aspects to travelling and living in this part of the world that she wants to investigate. With Bangkok as her base, she dives into the capital’s party lifestyle, meeting young Brits who party hard, making the most of the cheap accommodation, food, drink and entertainment. And by entertainment, we mean massage parlours and their infamous ‘happy endings’, as well as easy access to sex workers and cannabis. Both of which are illegal but tolerated in the city’s bustling strips.
All this comes at a cost, though, with tourists at risk of scams and blackmail, as well as threats of violence, corruption and harsh prison sentences if you step on the wrong side of the law. (Three episodes)
Accused (2010 UK series)
Jimmy McGovern’s powerful two-series drama of standalone stories
Year: 2010-2012
Certificate: 15
A strong series from the reliable powerhouse that is Jimmy McGovern, Accused was first shown on the BBC in 2010. Mining a similar seam to his previous series The Street, we have an ensemble cast, each of whom is the focus of a standalone drama in which their character winds up accused of committing a crime.
The first episode throws us straight into the melee that is plumber Willy Houlihan’s (Christopher Eccleston) out-of-control life; Willy is shouty, aggressive, and so tense that you wonder what on Earth his wife of 25 years (Pooky Quesnel) is still doing with him. But Willy is a man under the cosh, and is soon making a bad decision forged of desperation…
Later in the series we meet thuggish and unpleasant best buddies Frankie and Peter (Ben Smith and Ben Batt), who sign up and are sent to Afghanistan, where psychopathic Lance Corporal Buckley (Mackenzie Crook) wastes no time in making their lives a misery. Before long, your heart will be going out to Frankie and Peter in a disturbing story that makes us question the notion of guilt as cut and dried.
The second series came along in 2012. The first defendant is English teacher Simon, played by Sean Bean, who leads a supposedly secret double life as his alter ego – Tracie Tremarco – looking exactly like Sean Bean in drag. One evening, while trawling the bars of Manchester looking for love, he is befriended by Tony (Stephen Graham), who is married but ‘curious’. The improbable story that unfolds is marred by a tendency to sentimentality and melodrama, but Bean’s performance is remarkable. (Two series)
Slade In Flame
The rock group play a fictional band in this 1970s cult classic
Year: 1975
Certificate: 12
In the 1970s, the rock group Slade starred in a musical about the rise and fall of the fictional band Flame. It’s become a cult classic in the years since, partly because of how smart it is – this is much more of a grounded, kitchen-sink-style piece of work than it is a superficial glam rock musical.
Noddy Holder, Dave Hill, Jim Lea and Don Powell – the classic Slade line-up – are the core cast, but their characters aren’t together at the start. No, the members of Flame start out in two rival bands, and only come together after a night in the slammer.
From there the quartet are on a swift path to success, and it’s in the manner of that success that the film’s appeal really becomes apparent. As their upward curve begins we meet a cynical marketing man (Tom Conti), who feels he knows how to turn Flame into a success. ‘Do you actually like what we do?’ asks one of the band, to which Robert (Conti) responds: ‘I don’t smoke cigarettes, but I manage to sell a few.’
It’s a chilling turning point in this story about the collision between the rock and roll dream and hard commercial reality, an element of the story that just builds and builds until the band’s collapse. (91 minutes)
Playing Gracie Darling
Australian mystery drama starring Harriet Walter about the disappearance of a young girl
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
In the late 1990s, a group of young girls gather in a shack in the woods to hold a seance. The events of that night leave their mark on them all, especially since one of their number – Gracie Darling – vanishes after the seance, never to be seen again.
Decades later one of the girls, Joni (Morgana O’Reilly), is working as a child psychologist, but finds herself forced to return to her small-town home when she hears that another girl has vanished from the same shack in the woods.
Atmospheric and with hints of the supernatural, this six-part Australian thriller pulls no spooky punches as Joni digs into the events of the past and the present, determined to find the truth. It’s excellent stuff with some impressive supporting performances, not least from the great Harriet Walter as Joni’s mum. (Six episodes)
Call My Agent! Berlin
The German version of the self-deprecating comedy set at an acting agency in crisis
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
The original French version of Call My Agent! was a hit and, crucially, funny even if you had no idea who the French actors spoofing themselves actually were. The hotly anticipated British version had a lot of familiar faces but just wasn’t funny enough – it was axed and we haven’t seen much of the franchise on UK screens since… until this German version.
Call My Agent! Berlin carries an enjoyable level of tension and has more on-screen edge than the British version as it takes us into the lives of stressed employees at an acting agency driven into crisis by the sudden death of its founder. The German acting stars playing spoof versions of themselves include Emilia Schüle (Marie Antoinette) and Iris Berben (Triangle Of Sadness). You’re unlikely to recognise most of them but, well, that never held the French version back. (Ten episodes)
