TV: The Fear
A talent hunt with a side order of Gogglebox-style watching the watchers, this BBC3 series hosted by Matthew Giffen is a neat idea. Volunteers are treated to a night of horror shorts from new directors and have to rate them for scares. In turn, we get to watch as they react. There’s a £20,000 bounty on offer for the winner, which will be chosen by The Blair Witch Project co-director Eduardo Sánchez. But the real victory is the exposure; the standard is high and there are some names to keep an eye on here.
TV: Marvel’s Jessica Jones
This latest Netflix original is an impressive take on the Marvel Comics character, starring the excellent Krysten Ritter and a villainous David Tennant. It’s self-consciously noirish – there’s barely a scene that doesn’t take place amid dystopian gloom – and it sustains its mood of approaching menace superbly. The titular Jones is a lapsed superhero with a few remaining special powers and a bad case of PTSD. She’s drinking too much, shagging random bartenders and working as a private dick. What caused her trauma? And will it leave her in peace? Don’t bank on it.
Netflix
TV: The Man In The High Castle
Imagine if the Axis powers had won the war. It’s a fairly well-worn concept, but this new adaptation of Philip K Dick’s novel offers a reasonably fresh spin. Set in a 1962 America partitioned between Germany and Japan, it’s a tale of small-scale intrigue and widescreen geopolitics as the resistance to totalitarian rule rumbles on and the ruling powers conduct what could be an increasingly trigger-happy cold war. Far-fetched but good fun.
Amazon Video
Audio: Comedians Telling Stuff
London-based Danish comic Sofie Hagen has put together an excellent series of podcasts documenting stories from her uniquely demanding trade. What’s the worst thing a heckler has ever said to you? How does it feel to completely die onstage? Hagen has it covered and she’s reeled in some top-quality guests, too – Arthur Smith, Andy Zaltzman, Paul Sinha and plenty of others.
TV: Peep Show web exclusives
Ever wanted to know what the balcony at the back of Mark and Jez’s flat looks like, or what the challenges of filming a first-person masturbation scene are? To celebrate Peep Show’s final series, Channel 4 has made some behind-the scenes docs, including Matt King having a rummage around the El Dude brothers’ flat and the cast answering questions about why their characters are such utter pillocks.
