My Brilliant Friend
Elena Ferrante’s popular Neapolitan Novels finally get the sprawling TV adaptation they merit, with a HBO series exec-produced by Paolo Sorrentino. This first eight-parter whisks us back to 1950s Italy, where schoolfriends Elena and Lila try to find a way out of the violence and poverty of their Naples neighbourhood.
Monday 19 November, 9pm, Sky Atlantic
Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia
With the midterms over, the South African comic ventures out from behind the Daily Show desk for a wide-ranging standup show. On his radar is everything from tacos and camping to the immigrant experience – and naturally there’s some Trump, too.
From Tuesday 20 November, Netflix
The Interrogation of Tony Martin
Fresh from the success of the live episode of Inside No 9, Steve Pemberton takes on a very different dramatic task, portraying farmer Tony Martin, who shot and killed a burglar in 1999. Daniel Mays and Stuart Graham play the detectives picking away at Martin’s testimony.
Sunday 18 November, 9pm, Channel 4
The Final Table
Resembling Great British Menu but with a Netflix gloss, this cookery contest sees 12 teams made up of some of the world’s greatest chefs attempt to reach “the final table”. To do so they will have to impress food critics and “celebrity ambassadors” with their cuisine: among those judging them are Cat Deeley, Gary Lineker and the Observer’s Jay Rayner.
From Tuesday 20 November, Netflix
Tomorrow’s World Live: For One Night Only
A journey into the retro-future: the prognosticating BBC series returns for a special one-off, with former staffers Maggie Philbin and Howard Stableford on hosting duties. As well as considering new innovations, they’ll be looking at some of the changes predicted by the original series, and a few that didn’t make the cut – robot cows, anyone?
Thursday 22 November, 9pm, BBC Four
Blood
Split across five nights, this “drama event” stars Carolina Main (Unforgotten) as an outcast drawn back to her Irish family home after the death of her mother. Line of Duty’s Adrian Dunbar provides typically solid support as the father she suspects of doing the deed.
Monday 19 to Friday 23 November, 9pm, Channel 5
Chapo: Kingpin on Trial
Regarded as the world’s most powerful drug trafficker, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán is currently on trial in New York over his many alleged crimes. This new podcast from Vice News considers El Chapo’s global influence, beginning in Culiacán, the Mexican city that was the home of his notorious Sinaloa cartel.
Podcast
The Money Shot
On the heels of The Deuce comes another drama set in the porn industry, this one coming from France. It’s a less classy affair than David Simon’s series, but it makes up for that shortfall with sex, violence and moments of oddness as the Xanadu studio grapples with a changing industry. The series is added to All 4 after episode one airs.
Tuesday 20 November, 12.05am, Channel 4
The Hunt
Danish director Thomas Vinterberg returns to the themes of his first big success, Festen, in this disquieting drama. Mads Mikkelsen is Lucas, a newly divorced teacher in a small town, where he is wrongly accused of child abuse. He is innocent but trapped by a child’s random lie, as the community turns on him in both rage and disgust.
Saturday 17 November, 12.30am, BBC Two
Queen America
Catherine Zeta-Jones is the latest star to be lured into the world of streaming TV with a juicy role: this sharply written, dark comedy from Facebook sees her play a manipulative beauty pageant coach whose hopes of national success take a nosedive after her putative Miss Oklahoma becomes mired in scandal. Can she coach the no-hoper replacement to victory?
From Monday 19 November, Facebook Watch
