TV
Crisis in Six Scenes (new episodes every Friday)
Woody Allen stars as Sidney J Munsinger, a predictably neurotic, egomaniacal writer in 1960s New York, who refuses to watch the news or go on anti-war marches, and whose cushty life goes to pot when a revolutionary on the run (played by Miley Cyrus) breaks into his house on the only night in 26 years that he forgot to set the burglar alarm.
Allen referred to his first ever TV show as a catastrophic mistake more than a year ago. Now, it’s finally time to see if he was right. Judging by early reviews, it may have been an accurate assessment. Crisis has been damned as clumsy, lazy, and Allen himself accused of excruciating acting, “like a theatrical grandparent telling jokes over Christmas dinner, or an octogenarian director being asked whether he’s past his prime.” Spend six weeks with Woody and Miley – if you can stomach it.
Ripper Street (available from 12 October)
The final series of the enjoyable bowler-hatted murder-em-up gets underway, and here, six episodes doesn’t seem long enough to tie up all the loose ends. Brutal, charming, and wearing its daftness like an incriminating splodge of blood on its sleeve, viewers yet to take to the pea-souped cobbles of Victorian London can now binge all past episodes, while committed Ripperites can soon see how it comes to a close.
Halt and Catch Fire (new episodes every Tuesday)
The excellent 80s computer drama created by AMC continues – and the move to the nascent Silicon Valley has not gone smoothly. There’s a mutiny at the tech startup Mutiny, and co-founders Donna and Cameron are at loggerheads (when they’re not building ham radios, or trying to complete the latest computer sensation – Super Mario Bros on the NES.) This is cracking stuff, and still sadly underwatched.
Plus
For postwar haute-couture chic, try The Collection, where the dark secrets are piling up by the week (new episodes every Friday).
For a feminist twist on Mad Men, try Good Girls Revolt. The pilot is available now, and there will be new episodes weekly from 28 October.
If you fancy a grim new family crime drama based on the bleak yet brilliant Australian film of the same name, try Animal Kingdom.
And don’t forget Mr Robot, which just finished its second run.
Oh, and if you haven’t started Transparent season three (or, indeed, season one) yet please get involved – it’s the best thing on TV right now.
Films
Shaun the Sheep the Movie (available now)
More fun from Aardman animation. Follow our woolly four-legged hero as he escapes from the farm.
The Perfect Storm (available 6 October)
George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and John C Reilly star in the 2000 disaster movie about a fishing boat and its crew who get caught in a huge storm with hurricane-force winds.
The Exorcist (available 13 October)
Relive the classic horror story of demon-child Regan and her head-twisting, crucifix-stabbing ways.
The Town (available 27 October)
Ben Affleck’s commanding blue-collar crime epic set on the mean streets of Boston.
