Pick of the week
Squid Game: The Challenge
There’s no doubting this reality show’s commitment to the original South Korean drama’s concept – the contestants wear numbered green tracksuits and live in a massive dorm with identical bunk beds. But as hundreds of players scramble to win $4.56m (the largest prize in reality TV history), it’s clear that what landed perfectly as sharp anti-capitalist satire in the show often feels bleak and ruthless when acted out for real. That’s not to say this isn’t hugely watchable – as the strategising and alliance-making begins, it’s hard to take your eyes off the unfolding spectacle. But as the games take their toll (clearly no one dies but there are tears and panic attacks aplenty), you might feel a little grubby afterwards. PH
Netflix, from Wednesday 22 November
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Vinnie Jones: In the Country
The often surprising life of former footballer Vinnie Jones takes another turn in this reality show with a tragic subtext. In 2019, Jones’s wife Tanya died, six years after being diagnosed with skin cancer. This prompted Jones to leave Los Angeles, where he’d established a film career, and return to the UK. This series sees Jones and a team of builders attempt to transform a potentially beautiful but dilapidated farm in West Sussex into a sustainable home and business. The poignancy underpinning the endeavour makes Jones easy to root for. PH
Discovery+, from Monday 20 November
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The Velveteen Rabbit
Margery Williams’s celebrated children’s story about a toy rabbit brought to life by the love of its owner has, over the years, been adapted for the screen many times, in forms ranging from film to claymation. This latest version builds its fantastical world out of a mix of cartoon and live-action elements, starring Phoenix Laroche as William, the slightly wistful and melancholy boy whose dreams of friendship come true. It’s sugary sweet and unashamedly twee but, as a pre-Christmas confection, that’s essentially the whole point. PH
Apple TV+, from Wednesday 22 November
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The Psychopath Life Coach
There is a wild life story behind this documentary about Lewis Raymond Taylor – who overcame an abusive childhood to set up a life-coaching business worth $25m. It follows him through alcoholism, prison and a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder in a way that ends up feeling a little hagiographic. There’s 15 minutes of content on his love life, but concerns about how his business may use social media to cynically target vulnerable people get the briefest of mentions. An interesting, if often dark, tale that fails to ask enough questions. AD
Netflix, from Wednesday 22 November
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Hannah Waddingham: Home for Christmas
A very old-school Christmas special, utilising the ebullience and charisma of Ted Lasso and Eurovision star Hannah Waddingham to put on the kind of variety show that drew vast TV audiences in the 70s. Filmed at the London Coliseum, the show mixes comedy, dancing, balladeering and numerous special guests including Leslie Odom Jr, Sam Ryder, the London Gay Men’s Chorus and Waddingham’s Lasso co-star Nick Mohammed. With its multiple costume changes and periodic flurries of fake snow, it’s cheesy as hell and, in the end, pretty irresistible. PH
Apple TV+, from Wednesday 22 November
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One Trillion Dollars
John Fontanelli (Philip Froissant) is a twentysomething waster working as a courier. But that’s about to change as, in a far-fetched sequence of events, he emerges as the heir of $1tn. But there’s a catch: with the money comes a task. He’s charged with solving the climate crisis – creating new economic systems and changing the world, and alienating some of its most dangerous and powerful people in the process. Adapted from Andreas Eschbach’s novel, it’s a distractingly maximalist and melodramatic affair, though Froissant is a likable lead. PH
Paramount+, from Thursday 23 November
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One Night
A group of adult friends united and divided by a traumatic event in their teens? It’s a familiar premise but this Australian drama benefits from fine performances by Jodie Whittaker, Nicole Da Silva and Yael Stone as three middle-aged women who are a long way from the best pals they used to be but unable to draw a line under their past. To make matters worse, one of them has written a novel about the incident. When the trio return to their home town – struggling with mental health problems, alcoholism and elderly parents – barely healed wounds soon reopen. PH
Paramount+, from Friday 24 November
