Maniac
Emma Stone, Jonah Hill and Justin Theroux star in this new Netflix original, a dark comedy that sounds like Black Mirror with a few more laughs. A pair of troubled mental patients risk everything for a cure as they act as guinea pigs for a new experimental drug. But will it prove to be a magic bullet or put them out of commission for good?
Available from Friday 21 September, Netflix
Killing Eve
Phoebe Waller-Bridge warms up for the second season of Fleabag with a witty, stylish spy thriller. It stars Sandra Oh as Eve Polastri, a desk-bound MI5 operative who yearns for a bit more action and soon ends up getting more than she bargained for.
Saturday 15 September, 9.15pm, BBC One
Monkman & Seagull’s Genius Guide to Britain
They were rivals on University Challenge but the two most memorable eggheads in the show’s recent history join forces here for a tour of Britain. They’ll be road-tripping in search of hidden gems of British technological ingenuity, beginning in Blackpool.
Monday 17 September, 8pm, BBC Two
The Circle
Peculiar-sounding new reality show in which contestants are isolated in separate apartments and can only communicate via a specially designed social media platform. It sounds mildly baffling but there’s 50 grand up for grabs for the person who gets the hang of it quickest. Alice Levine and Maya Jama are your guides to this odd spectacle.
Tuesday 18 September, 9.15pm, Channel 4
The Chess Players
The great Indian director Satyajit Ray employs chess as a (slightly obvious) metaphor for political chicanery in this sumptuous 1977 film. In 1856 India, a king and his wealthy subjects neglect their duties – state and marital – in favour of arts and culture, while the British colonial powers manoeuvre their way into taking over entirely.
Monday 17 September, 1.55am, Channel 4
Hyundai Mercury Prize
Annie Mac helms this year’s ceremony. As usual, there have been grumbles about this year’s selection, although nominees such as Nadine Shah, Sons of Kemet and Novelist have all made strong statements. Expect to hear from most of the contenders and prepare for surprises; the judges have been surprisingly capricious recently.
Thursday 20 September, 9pm, BBC Four
Serial
No murder mysteries in this new season of the crime podcast; just solid, fascinating documentary storytelling. This time, Sarah Koenig focuses her attention on Cleveland’s criminal justice system and, after a year inside the system, turns up all manner of dysfunction.
Podcast
On Chesil Beach
Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle star in Dominic Cooke’s acclaimed Ian McEwan adaptation. Howle is working-class history graduate Edward: shy, studious and madly in love with Ronan’s violinist Florence. The pair marry but are ill-prepared for what awaits them. A sensitive and poignant study of love and sex in pre-60s Britain.
Available from Monday 17 September, Sky Store
On a Knife Edge
This powerful, if gloomy, film is helmed by Josh Osbourne (pictured) who was affiliated with a gang in south London by the age of 16. Osbourne is now a community activist and takes us into his neighbourhood to provide candid and informed insights into the capital’s knife crime crisis. What effects do these desperate postcode wars have on London’s youngsters?
Available from Thursday 20 September, Vice TV
Michael Palin in North Korea
Something of a coup for Channel 5 as it manages to sneak the most amiable Python into the most secretive dictatorship on Earth. But what will the Nicest Man in Showbiz make of the land of Kim Jong-un – and what will the Koreans make of him?
Thursday 20 September, 9pm, Channel 5
