Pick of the week
Harlan Coben’s Shelter
A fairly faithful adaptation of Harlan Coben’s YA series about Mickey Bolitar, a traumatised teenager who moves to live with his aunt in a New Jersey suburb after his father is killed in a car accident. What unfolds is initially a textbook US high school drama – Mickey falls in with the goths and the geeks and finds himself set against the jock with the racist cop dad. But there’s a supernatural element, too, as Mickey starts to suspect that a creepy old house could hold secrets connected to his father’s life and death. Also, his girlfriend Ashley has unaccountably disappeared. It’s a well realised if slightly familiar genre piece, elevated by the understated charisma of Jaden Michael’s lead performance.
Prime Video, from Friday 18 August
***
Eye of the Storm
Are we ready for this yet? A deadly virus outbreak causing many deaths? Agonised phone calls between health professionals and their loved ones? This Korean drama series is set inside a single hospital that, on the face of it, has got on top of the virus just in time. But as the doors are locked and those inside are left to their fate, how is it for them? As rumours begin of extraction lists, what are the ethics of leaving a building full of people to their fate? It’s never particularly subtle but recent events lend Eye of the Storm a certain resonance.
Netflix, from Tuesday 15 August
***
At Home With the Furys
“Boxing is the only thing that gives me purpose,” says Tyson Fury. It’s an ominous statement to hear at the start of a doc supposedly tracking the aftermath of the boxer’s retirement from the sport – and sure enough, he’s since returned to the ring. It gives this series an odd tone; jaunty but undercut with volatility. Fury’s mental health issues are never far from the surface – at one point, he abruptly leaves a family gathering on the pretext of needing to walk his dog. There’s evidently warmth in the Fury family but this series doesn’t shy away from the turbulence.
Netflix, from Wednesday 16 August
***
The Chosen One
He might be the Messiah but Jodie is also a very naughty boy. When the 12-year-old discovers he has divine powers, his first thoughts revolve round impressing girls and getting his own back on bullies. However, there’s other stuff he could be doing, perhaps connected to the salvation of humanity. This adaptation of Mark Millar’s American Jesus series seems a little more glossy and unambiguous than its source material – but look out for a dark twist that sends the story in an unexpected direction. Bobby Luhnow stars as the pre-pubescent son of God.
Netflix, from Wednesday 16 August
***
Sanditon
This drama began life as an extension of an unfinished Jane Austen manuscript and now enters its final season as a simulacrum of a classic period drama. It follows a formula – grand ancestral piles, dowager aunts, longed-for inheritances – but lacks the depth of Austen’s most resonant work. Still, Sanditon continues to deliver zippy, gossipy fun: as we return, the resort is the place to be seen and Georgiana (Crystal Clarke) is preparing for her 21st birthday. But here comes her old friend Charlotte (Rose Williams) with her disappointing fiance Ralph in tow. Will this ill-matched pair upset the apple cart?
ITVX, from Thursday 17 August
***
Guns & Gulaabs
The credits of this 90s-set Indian gangster yarn have more than a hint of Pulp Fiction about them. And generally, everything about Guns & Gulaabs – from the stylised violence to the genre-hopping soundtrack – feels indebted to the irony-infused, slightly blase aesthetic of Quentin Tarantino. The story itself involves a mechanic Paana Tipu (Rajkummar Rao) who is reluctantly dragged into organised crime. However, Tipu turns out to be a fast learner and before long he’s killing people with spanners and generally giving as good as he gets.
Netflix, from Friday 18 August
***
Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie
Apple’s new Peanuts specials seem finely calibrated to have enough updated appeal to grab the attention of the kids and enough old-school familiarity to activate the nostalgia impulse in adults of a certain age. Charles M Schulz’s cartoon world was simple but sturdily enough built to make minor character exposition possible: this new show focuses on Peppermint Patty’s self-effacing best bud Marcie whose capacity for finding solutions to other people’s problems leads to her becoming class president – a role in which she’s far from comfortable.
Apple TV+, from Friday 18 August
