TV
Outlander, season two (available 10 April)
Claire and Jamie’s love affair continues in the sexy timetravel romp that’s been hailed a “feminist Game of Thrones”. This season, the action moves from the Scottish highlands of the 1700s to pre-revolutionary Paris.
Fear the Walking Dead, season one (available now)
Let’s go back to the start of the zombie outbreak that swept the globe. Instead of Rick, Daryl, Carol et al, we centre on Nick – one of the first people to see a zombie feasting on a woman’s corpse. Except it happened while he was in a heroin haze, so his family won’t believe that the end of the world is coming, flesh-eater style. It’s more of a subtle slowburn than its sister show, but just as satisfying. Binge on all six episodes before the new series drops on 11 April.
Hap and Leonard (finale airs on 8 April)
It’s the return of Omar from The Wire! And Joan from Mad Men! Hap (James Purefoy) and Leonard (Michael K Williams) are ex-con best buds who work in a field in the deep South picking roses to make ends meet. When Hap’s ex-wife Trudy (Christina Hendricks) turns up and tells them about a treasure hunt to track down a hidden car stuffed with cash, the trio set off. They’re all eminently watchable, plus Leonard and Trudy loathe each other – so there shouldn’t be a dull moment.
Film
Frozen (available now)
If Disney’s record-smasher has somehow passed you by, it’s time to catch up with the enchanting tale of fearless Princess Anna battling to release her sister Queen Elsa from an icy spell.
Sunset Song (available 4 April)
Terence Davies’ lyrical adaptation of Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s celebrated Scottish novel about a hard-up family just before and during the first world war. Ex-model Agyness Deyn stars as Chris Guthrie, who has to fight off her wannabe rapist father and violent husband.
Dial M for Murder (available 7 April)
Hitchcock orchestrates Ray Milland’s attempts to murder his unfaithful wife Grace Kelly with customary suspense. Will he get away with murder? Often imitated but never bettered, this is a classic.
The Science Of Sleep (available 7 April)
Michel Gondry brings his magical style to this story of a shy graphic designer (Gael Garcia Bernal) who moves to France after his father’s death. There he starts to manufacture his own dreams, together with Charlotte Gainsbourg, until reality and fantasy merge.
Honey, I Shrunk The Kids (available 8 April)
Classic 90s fare and an all-American Borrowers. Rick Moranis is the nutty inventor who accidentally downsizes his children and the young next-door neighbours then throws them out with the trash and into the back garden. Who could forget them riding an ant and discovering a giant Oreo cookie as they battle to get home?
Magnolia (available 14 April)
Paul Thomas Anderson directs a galaxy of stars – Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H Macy, Julianne Moore, John C Reilly – in this LA-set story of three incredible coincidences and their impact on each character’s life. Massively critically acclaimed.
Contagion (available 27 April)
Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon and Kate Winslet star in Steven Soderbergh’s disaster thriller about a virus that’s set to engulf the globe.
Pleasantville (available 28 April)
Two bickering teen siblings (Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon) find themselves zapped into an innocent 1950s family sitcom – but they soon bring a little colour to the hidebound world.
You’ve Got Mail (available 28 April)
Nora Ephron’s classic romcom about a struggling independent bookshop owner (Meg Ryan) hooking up with a rival chain bookstore owner (Tom Hanks) online. It’s an update of 1940s screwball comedy The Shop Around the Corner, and it’s just as sweet.
