Pick of the week
The Bear
As the doors of The Original Beef swing open again, the joint is unusually and unnervingly quiet. But there’s a storm coming: the crew are preparing to dramatically reopen after the discovery of the money left by Mikey. Carmy (the superb Jeremy Allen White) has his eye on Michelin stars and he’s cajoled his colleagues into thinking similarly big. What follows is every bit as frenetic as season one but more winningly upbeat as the restaurant’s ramshackle gang begin to pursue an impossible deadline. The performances are note perfect, the writing is as sharp as a santoku knife and the tasting menu dimensions of the episodes means you’re always wanting more. Delicious.
Disney+, from Wednesday 19 July
***
Fifteen Love
Aidan Turner stars in this dark drama about the toxic relationship between tennis coach Glenn Lapthorn and his one-time protege Justine Pearce (impressive newcomer Ella Lily Hyland). When she was 17, Lapthorn coached Pearce to the verge of French Open glory. But injury ended her career – although suspicion lingered that there was more to her premature departure than that. When Pearce learns that Lapthorn is re-entering her life, a tale of alleged abuse unfolds. Both leads do a fine job of communicating the confusion and trauma of gaslighting and exploitation.
Prime Video, from Friday 21 July
***
Kohrra
This Indian thriller features a few tropes reasonably familiar to viewers of crime procedurals the world over: two cops with turbulent private lives and unorthodox methods must battle intransigent superiors to get to the bottom of a murder. The victim is a bridegroom, killed in the Punjab countryside just days before his wedding. A little digging reveals that he lived abroad and the marriage was arranged … This is far from a mould-breaking drama, but is a decent, if melodramatic, slice of mystery. Suvinder Vicky and Barun Sobti star.
Netflix, out now
***
Unknown: Cave of Bones
A documentary exploring what is believed to be the world’s oldest graveyard in South Africa. But the bones found are not human – which implies that, long before human beings established burial rituals, other ape-like creatures may have been doing something similar. Clearly, this discovery has huge implications for evolutionary theory and our understanding of animal behaviour. Paleoanthropologist Lee Berger does the digging, undertaking considerable physical discomfort to venture into a cave hardly ever penetrated by humans.
Netflix, from Monday 17 July
***
Dave
On the face of it, things have changed for Dave Burd, AKA Lil Dicky. Once he was just a fantasist, dreaming, ridiculously, of making it in the rap game. But as series three of this eccentric comedy arrives, he’s living the dream and touring the US. He’s still the same messed-up loser, though, and the show’s tension – and intrigue – thrives in the gap between Dave’s self-image and reality. The show overflows with gross-out humour but its critique of privilege feels increasingly pointed – Lil Dicky remains a goof who somehow gets what he wants.
Disney+, from Wednesday 19 July
***
Sweet Magnolias
Time to break out the margaritas as this cheerful, undemanding series about female friendship in smalltown America (it’s appropriately set in a place called Serenity) returns for a third season. We left the show on a double cliffhanger: a mysterious woman had arrived in town branding Dana Sue a “life-ruiner” and seemingly hellbent on revenge. We’re also waiting to find out what Helen is going to do about Ryan’s proposal, given her feelings for new squeeze Erik. Expect moral clarity and homespun wisdom to win the day.
Netflix, from Thursday 20 July
***
ITVX Kids
Just in time for the summer holidays, the ITV streaming platform is launching a children’s arm to its operation, offering a mixture of older shows (Teletubbies, Bob the Builder, Sooty) and new commissions. These include the freaky-sounding Lego Dreamzzz, in which a young boy builds plastic brick structures to defend the waking world against the creatures he meets in his nightmares, and The Gamers 2037, in which three friends find themselves trapped inside a virtual reality landscape and must beat the game to escape back to reality.
From Thursday 20 July
