Amazon Prime
One Mississippi
Tig Notaro’s semi-autobiographical show comes with the advance notice of being one of the bleakest sitcoms of all time. In it, the standup comedian faces a cancer diagnosis and deals with the death of her mother; a period that has proved as fertile creatively as it was presumably traumatic in personal terms. Amazingly, the laughs do indeed come thick and fast, although the humour is overwhelmingly of the dark variety. It’s executive produced by Louis CK, who knows a thing or two about finessing misery into comedy.
Available now
Channel Awesome
Shark Jumping
This thoroughly entertaining web series on the Channel Awesome platform explores all manner of amusing TV trivia. Journalist hosts Beth and Tim are impressively strong on what can be found in the odder corners of telly’s extensive junkyard. Particular kudos goes to their evisceration of barely believable 1990s “at home with the Hitlers” sitcom pilot Heil Honey I’m Home, and there’s also an amusing look at the failed NBC attempt to remake The IT Crowd for the US market. Available now
Sky Box Sets
The Walking Dead
Feel like there’s simply too much joy in your life? Well, the planet-conquering necrotic bite-’em-up has landed on Sky Box Sets in full, providing an entirely natural antidote to all of those pesky laughter lines. With season seven kicking off in October, and the fate of Andrew Lincoln’s ragtag gaggle of survivors-but-for-how-long left teetering in the balance, it’s a perfect opportunity to catch up or finally see what all the fuss is about. Bleak as a Megabus odyssey, stressful, but still reliably excellent.Available from Monday
BBC3
Cleverman
Intriguing import set in a near-future version of Australia. In it, an ancient species known as Hairypeople (pictured) are persecuted and exploited by the dominant human majority. Provocatively, the Hairies are played, seemingly exclusively, by indigenous Australians. But, actually, that looks like being merely one strand of a drama that promises a critique of the media, a touch of the supernatural and even a little body horror. Very promising.
Available from Sunday
BBC Store
Poldark
With Aidan Turner flexing his threshing muscles in readiness for the new series of Poldark (which begins on BBC1 on Sunday), now is a good time to revisit the original, which was a huge hit back in 1975 and starred Robin Ellis as the titular hero smouldering charismatically through tough rural times.
Available now
Podcast
Harry Shearer: Le Show
He has been at the heart of two of the funniest cultural phenomena of the last 50 years – The Simpsons and This Is Spinal Tap – but Harry Shearer’s podcast doesn’t prioritise humour (although he’s still wonderfully wry). Instead, this is an off-centre ramble through hot-button issues such as cholera in Haiti, burqas in Europe and, inevitably, Trump in the United States. He may be the voice of C Montgomery Burns, but Shearer’s liberal credentials appear unimpeachable.
Available now
