Pick of the week
The Witcher
A second season for the supernatural epic starring Henry Cavill as Geralt of Rivia – a being with special powers and the kind of physique and bone structure that, in fantasy fiction world, can only indicate either great nobility or great evil. As we rejoin this sensitive monster-slayer, he’s in near exile after battle. But this allows world-building opportunities – tonight, we meet Geralt’s old friend Nivellen (Kristofer Hivju), a man cursed to live in a monster’s skin. The show does its best to explore these ideas as existential quandaries as well as adventure narratives. What does being a monster mean and what does it mean to kill them? Spectacular and portentous to the point of absurdity. PH
Netflix, from Friday 17 December
***
The Grand Tour: Carnage a Trois
Making a snarky special about the minutiae of French motoring without leaving Blighty feels like one of the most defiantly old-school Top Gear moves imaginable. Although, to be fair to Clarkson, May and Hammond, there was the small matter of the pandemic standing in the way of foreign travel. The trio still manage plenty of their trademark irreverence and gratuitous destruction in the Welsh hills where this was filmed – in fact, once you’ve seen them drop a car from 500ft to test its suspension, you’ll understand that it’s business as usual. As ever, a TV phenomenon that implicitly smirks and sniggers at rational analysis. PH
Amazon Prime Video, from Friday 17 December
***
The Future Diary
“Would I still grow to love you, even if I know how it ends?” There’s scripted reality and then there’s this. Arguably, it’s the opposite: unscripted unreality but still an attempt to carve a real-life narrative out of a deliberately artificial scenario. Two people who have never previously met are cast to live/act out a romantic storyline by enacting the events of a pre-written diary. Cue cute bonding scenarios – pushing a broken-down car, an idyllic day at the beach – and an eventual “breakup”. But will genuine infatuation take over? Bewildering and intriguing. PH
Netflix, from Tuesday 14 December
***
The Beaker Girls
“The story of the Beaker girls is just beginning … ” For millennials who grew up learning about life through Jacqueline Wilson books, the promising exit line of this year’s Tracey Beaker reboot was a welcome one. Following a now grownup Tracey and her “mini Beaker” daughter Jess, it scratched a nostalgic itch while continuing to beautifully explore the care system, with plenty of silly moments in between. Expect more of this in the Christmas special, which sees them deal with a storm and an unexpected arrival. HR
BBC iPlayer, daily from Monday 13 December
***
Selling Tampa
Much like the Real Housewives TV dynasty before it, this aspirational Netflix semi-reality hatewatch behemoth is beginning to spread its wings and launch into other regions. After all, is there anywhere that wouldn’t benefit from the sudden arrival of dozens of uber-glamorous realtors tramping its picturesque streets? While we await the arrival of Selling Tottenham, we’ll have to make do with this: a brokerage based in Tampa, Florida, centring on the formidable Sharelle Rosado. “Get ready to make some money, bitches!” PH
Netflix, from Wednesday 15 December
***
With Love
Messy, cheerful, slightly cheesy comedy-drama exploring the tangled personal lives of multiple generations of the Diaz family as they negotiate the joys and pitfalls of romance. At the heart of the story are siblings Lily (Emeraude Toubia) and Jorge (Mark Indelicato) but expect to hear from parents and children, too. The narrative is framed by those emotionally overheated family occasions when getting up close and personal with your nearest and dearest is unavoidable – the holidays, the birthdays, the weddings and the funerals. PH
Amazon Prime Video, from Friday 17 December
***
Uninterrupted’s Top Class
A second season of the basketball documentary series that combines hoop dreams with the hard-knock realities of growing up (and particularly growing up Black) in the United States. The pandemic has hit the Trailblazers hard – after 12 months with no competitive games, the team are looking to reboot. The players have become used to being a powerhouse but, in reality, they’re drawn from a comparatively small school and have always punched above their weight. With problems affecting several of the prime movers, can standards be maintained? PH
IMDb TV, from Friday 17 December
