Pure
The sort of original, provocative fare that Channel 4 does better than just about anybody (and arguably no longer does enough of), this comedy-drama stars Charly Clive as Marnie, whose rare form of OCD causes her to be besieged by explicit thoughts. After witnessing an imagined orgy at her parents’ anniversary party, she flees to London to figure things out.
Wednesday 30 January, 10pm, Channel 4
9 Months With Courteney Cox
While Jen has headed to Apple, her Friends co-star opts for another new media upstart, producing and narrating a sensitive docuseries that follows a diverse range of expectant mums through their pregnancies.
Tuesday 29 & Wednesday 30 January, Facebook Watch
Ride Upon the Storm
A welcome break from the ceaseless conveyor belt of Scandi-crime, this drama from Borgen creator Adam Price explores a family dynasty within the Danish Lutheran Church. It sounds a bit impenetrable on paper but soon proves strangely compelling.
Sunday 27 January, 11pm, Channel 4
Velvet Buzzsaw
Going by its joyously camp trailer alone, this straight-to-Netflix splatterfest is likely to be one of the year’s best B-movies. It sees Nightcrawler director Dan Gilroy reunite with Jake Gyllenhaal, who plays a pseudy art collector whose purchases come murderously to life. Zawe Ashton, Rene Russo, Toni Collette and John Malkovich round out the cast.
From Friday 1 February, Netflix
Russian Doll
It’s my party and I’ll die if I want to: Orange Is the New Black’s Natasha Lyonne stars as a rambunctious New York thirtysomething who keeps carking it at her birthday bash in this series co-created by Amy Poehler. Inevitably, comparisons with Groundhog Day will be made but there are also hints of the NYC of Master of None and the seductive neo-noir of Jonathan Ames’s Bored to Death in this tricksy, likable comedy.
From Friday 1 February, Netflix
Camping
Julia Davis’s work doesn’t exactly scream glossy American remake but, remarkably, here we are: Jennifer Garner, David Tennant and Juliette Lewis star in the twisted tale of some truly terrible people on a camping jaunt gone grotesquely awry.
Thursday 29 January, 10pm, Sky Atlantic
Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
The title is a bit of a fib: talkshow host O’Brien has one of the most stuffed Filofaxes in Hollywood and here he hosts long-form interviews with major names such as Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler and Wanda Sykes. The tone is intimate and the pace zippy, with O’Brien proving a natural as confessional podcast host.
Podcast
Inside Europe: 10 Years of Turmoil
It would be understandable if viewers wanted to run a mile from anything Brexit-related just now, but those who tune into this three-parter on the EU’s recent tumult will be rewarded with great insight. First up it’s the UK referendum, while later episodes will tackle the Greece problem and the rise of populism.
Monday 28 January, 9pm, BBC Two
Son of Saul
Hungarian director László Nemes’s harrowing debut is an unflinching account of the horrors of Auschwitz. The camera focuses tightly on the face of its witness, Saul (Géza Röhrig), one of the prisoners made to assist in the mass killings, who hangs on to a vestige of humanity by trying to arrange the burial of a victim who he believes to be his son.
Saturday 27 January, 9pm, BBC Four
Shipwrecked
Seven years after it floated off our screens, the former T4 staple is revived for 2019 as nine castaways are left to fend for themselves on a desert island. Purists will no doubt be furious that a camp has already been assembled for the contestants – no shonky bamboo-based shelters here – while a post-watershed start should make for some blue moments.
Monday 28 January to Friday 1 February, 9pm, E4
