IT’S A Bank Holiday weekend but if you’d rather be on the sofa than out at yet another barbeque, there's plenty to watch on the telly.
In fact, The Sun's TV Mag has got a whole host of options for you to enjoy over the next seven days.
NETFLIX
The Days – Available from Thursday
When a massive earthquake struck Japan on 11 March 2011, it caused a huge tsunami, sending waves that towered as high as 14m over the Japanese coastline. Those waves quickly engulfed the defences at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant, leading to a power failure and three catastrophic meltdowns.
The area was swiftly evacuated but the damage was already done, with devastating amounts of radioactive material pouring into the air and the Pacific ocean.
Now, the story of the Fukushima disaster and its immediate aftermath is told in this nail-biting new Netflix series from Japan, which looks at the incident from three different perspectives – that of the government, corporate organisations and those who risked their lives on the frontline.
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Obviously, comparisons will be drawn with HBO’s brilliant Chernobyl – expect a similarly emotionally-draining watch. In Japanese with subtitles.
Siren: Survive The Island – Available from Tuesday
The boys can sit this one out. This 10-part survival show takes 24 super-tough women, sorts them into teams based on their job – we’re talking police officers, athletes, firefighters, bodyguards, stuntwomen and soldiers – whisks them off to a remote island and pits them against each other in a series of back-breakingly tough challenges.
By the end, only one team will be left standing: the team that can handle both the physical side of the challenges <and> the mental strain of being isolated on a remote island.
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It’s brutal stuff and perhaps it should come as no surprise that the show comes from the home of Squid Game, South Korea.
McGregor Forever – Available now
Fans of mixed martial arts superstar Conor McGregor will know that 2021 really wasn’t his year. Not only did he suffer the first knockout loss of his career – against Dustin Poirier in January – but six months later he lost again to the same man, suffering a broken shinbone in the process.
This four-part docuseries follows McGregor as he recovers from that career-jeopardising injury and gears up to make a return to the ring.
Along the way, the Irishman reflects on his glorious career and lets the cameras capture personal moments with his fiancée and family. A surprising and inspiring portrait of a modern sporting great.
PRIME VIDEO
The Ride – Available from Tuesday
Name any sport and there’s almost certainly a docuseries about it out there somewhere for you to watch. “What about professional bull riding?” you ask. Well, funny you should mention it because new eight-part series The Ride takes a deep-dive into the dramatic, colourful world of professional bull riders in the USA.
Along the way we meet many of the skilled athletes and cowboys who compete against each other in this rather niche sport, including the fearless Ezekiel Mitchell.
As you might expect, riding a huge, powerful and generally hacked-off animal is very risky, which makes for an intense environment and many heart-in-your-mouth moments. So saddle up and hold tight for a wild ride.
With Love – Available from Friday
If you like your comedy-dramas warm, inclusive and romantic, you need to check out With Love.
After a critically-acclaimed first season, the show – which follows the highs and lows of siblings Lily (Emeraude Toubia) and Jorge Diaz (Mark Indelicato) and their endlessly supportive family – has returned for a second run.
Inevitably, life for the pair is as complicated as before, with Lily trying to decide whether Santiago or Nick is the man for her, all the while running her make-up styling business.
Jorge, meanwhile, is wondering whether his relationship with Henry is working – will meeting Henry's parents help him make up his mind?
Deadloch – Available from Friday
Welcome to a sleepy seaside town in Australia where everyone knows each other’s business.
That business is rarely exciting until a local man turns up dead on the beach and senior sergeant Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) begins her investigations.
Swiftly, it’s decided that some outside help will be needed – enter brash, ballsy city cop Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami), who immediately rubs everyone up the wrong way.
Can Dulcie and Kate find a way to work together and find the killer? Smart, pacy and funny, it’s a series that wrings a heap of black comedy from the usual crime-thriller cliches.
Medellin – Available from Friday
Take a generous helping of The A-Team, stir in some Breaking Bad-style black humour and persuade a world-famous former boxer – hello, Mike Tyson – to join the cast and you’ve got Medellin, an explosive action comedy created by and starring French actor Franck Gastambide.
When his younger brother is taken hostage by a brutal drugs cartel in the Colombian city of Medellin, Reda (Ramzy Bedia) forms a plan to get him home.
That plan? To assemble a ragtag team and try to kidnap the cartel leader’s son in order to exchange him for his brother. What could possibly go wrong? A daft but entertaining romp. In French with subtitles.
PARAMOUNT+
iCarly – Available from Friday
The rebooted, grown-up version of the Noughties young adult comedy is on to its third season, promising more chaos and madcap capers for heroine Carly (Miranda Cosgrove). Top of the agenda this time round is sure to be the state of Carly’s relationship with Freddie (Nathan Kress). How will the two friends move forward after Freddie’s girlfriend Pearl accused them of being in love with each other at the end of the second series? Will they finally see what everyone else sees? We really hope so.
Meanwhile, expect more silliness from Spencer (Jerry Trainor) and Harper (Laci Mosley). A welcome return.
Son Of A Critch – Available from Tuesday
It won’t be the most high-profile semi-autobiographical comedy of the week – that award goes to Alan Carr’s Changing Ends – but there’s still lots to enjoy about this show, which is based on the childhood of Canadian comic Mark Critch.
The first series of Son Of A Critch was a hit on the other side of the Pond, now here comes the second season, transporting us once again back to the 80s, where the 11-year-old Mark (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) continues to tiptoe his way through the minefields that are starting junior high, puberty and young love.
As season two starts, Mark’s heartbroken to learn that Fox (Sophia Powers) found herself a cool new boyfriend during the summer. Oh dear.
George Michael: A Different Story – Available from Wednesday
In 2004, with his career back on a high after some very public scandals, George Michael opened up about his life, successes and struggles in intimate documentary A Different Story.
Featuring contributions from friends including Sir Elton John, Sting, Andrew Ridgeley and Mariah Carey, the star addressed his childhood, sexuality and his arrest for reportedly performing a lewd act in a public toilet in 1998 – not to mention his meteoric rise with Wham!.
Now, the no-holds-barred documentary is coming to Paramount+ – and while watching it armed with the knowledge of George’s 2016 passing provides real poignancy, it’s still a fascinating snapshot of the singer’s life at that point.
DISNEY+
Single Drunk Female – Available from Wednesday
Originally scheduled to launch back in April, the second series of this irreverent comedy-drama finally arrives.
Now a year-and-a-half sober, twentysomething alcoholic Samantha (Sofia Black-D’Elia) feels that life is on the up – at long, long last – because she has a new job and a potential love interest. But there’d be no need for a new season if it was all going to be a walk in the park, would there?
Cue life throwing Sam some unpleasant and very much unwanted curveballs. Armed with a top turn from Ally Sheedy as Sam’s mum Carol, this is a very watchable, world-weary black comedy.
Good Trouble – Available from Wednesday
The young adult drama returns for a fifth series, with life and love proving as challenging as ever for Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) and her gang of twenty-something friends communally living in Los Angeles.
If you’re a long-term fan, you’ll know that during the last series, Mariana’s sister Callie (Maia Mitchell) left the show. Well, guess what? As the new season kicks off, she’s back, at least for a bit, to help support Mariana as she tries to make a success of her professional life at Spekulate.
Meanwhile, the friends’ romantic lives are complicated, with Mariana attempting to navigate her relationship with Evan, and Dennis and Daria struggling to find time for each other. Oh, the drama.
LIONSGATE+
Nacho – Available from Friday
Prepare to enter the colourful world of the early days of the Spanish porn industry.
This daring comedy drama tells the real and larger-than-life story of legendary porn star Nacho Vidal (played by Martino Rivas), a notoriously well-endowed young Spaniard who overcame insecurity, disapproval and inhibition to find international fame and fortune in the 1990s thanks to his manhood.
Inevitably, this eight-part series won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but get past the risqué subject matter and there’s genuine warmth, humour and humanity rubbing shoulders with the shock value. In Spanish with subtitles.
ACORN TV
Rosamunde Pilcher’s Winter Solstice – Available from Monday
While not a new adaptation of the popular Rosamunde Pilcher novel – this mini-series originally appeared way back in 2003 – it’s a chance for fans of the writer to indulge themselves with some gentle and emotional storytelling.
When Elfrida (Sinead Cusack) moves into a new home, following the death of her husband, she befriends her neighbour Oscar (Jan Niklas) and his family.
When tragedy strikes him, Elfrida agrees to go with him to Scotland for Christmas, to avoid painful memories of the past. But will the season of goodwill deliver some unexpected joy and warmth to this grieving pair?
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