Amazon Prime
The Man In The High Castle
While not quite the moreish classic it aspired to be, the opening season of Amazon’s sumptuous adaptation of Philip K Dick’s novel did enough to both earn a second series and create a healthy following eager to see it. Set in an alternate 1960s US after the Axis powers won the second world war, it follows the machinations at the top of the uneasy Nazi/Japanese alliance, as well as the grassroots freedom fighters seeking to rid their country of tyranny. Season two is now upon us, with Rufus Sewell again clearly relishing his role as ghoulish SS enforcer John Smith.
Available from Friday
Mozart In The Jungle
The New York classical music scene might not seem the obvious choice of subject matter for a series set in 2016 rather than 1916. And yet, this Amazon dramedy – based on a memoir by a former professional oboist – has bagged two Golden Globes to date with its portrayal of a thrilling, competitive, sex-and-drugs-fuelled underbelly, and the singular presence of rash conductor Rodrigo (Gael García Bernal). As it returns for a third run, he has a new challenge to overcome, in the form of conducting opera diva Alessandra (Monica Bellucci) in Venice.
Available now
BBC iPlayer
No Fixed Abode With Charlotte Church
The admirably iconoclastic career path of the child star-turned-pop belter-turned-political activist continues to intrigue. This iPlayer-only film sees Church exploring the considerable and shameful homelessness crisis that has arisen in the UK in the past few years. She’ll also be meeting some of the people who volunteer with rough sleepers and looking at the role that music can play in comforting and inspiring people in desperate situations.
Available now
Ackee & Saltfish
This independent web series written by Londoner Cecile Emeke – also of online doc series Strolling – arrived recently on the iPlayer as part of the Beeb’s Comedy Feeds initiative, which has previously led to larger-scale commissions for the likes of People Just Do Nothing. Friends Rachel and Olivia (Vanessa Babirye and Michelle Tiwo, pictured above) quarrel about whether or not cat Gertrude should be their newest housemate. But it’s not all about the (kidnapped) cat: Emeke shows black British friendship in the age of Instagram in a way that’s so rarely represented on screen without falling into boring stereotypes. Sparky and fun, it’s a transatlantic cousin to Issa Rae’s Insecure, which Emeke also worked on.
Available now
Netflix
Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency
Another small-screen outing for Douglas Adams’s eccentric “holistic detective”. This one stars Samuel Barnett as Dirk and Elijah Wood as his reluctant sidekick Todd Brotzman. The original books are, essentially, shaggy dog stories with the plotting designed to foreground Adams’s taste for tangential and arcane intellectual pursuits – such as pondering the interconnectedness of the universe. There’s an ever-present risk that this Gently might prove rather too hyperactive to truly let these ideas breathe. However, given that a second season has already been commissioned, it’s fair to say that this latest iteration will be given ample time to bed in and find a rhythm.
Available from Sunday
Podcast
Homecoming
Fiction podcasts have been gaining in status for a while and their attractiveness to big names is clear from this new mystery story from Eli Horowitz. Homecoming features David Schwimmer, Catherine Keener, David Cross and Amy Sedaris and tells the story of Heidi, a woman who worked in an experimental programme reacclimatising veteran soldiers into civilian life. The plot leaps back and forth across multiple timelines as the nature of Heidi’s work is revealed.
Available now
