It’s that bleak time of year when snuggling up in front of the TV can seem like the only reasonable course of action.
But what to watch? To make your decision easier, our critics have trawled through hundreds of the best TV shows and films to see on demand this weekend.
If you love to get hooked on spy dramas, the latest offering provides a slick blend of action and wry humour.
Then there’s the drama about a gay outsider trying to look cool on the surface but desperate for connection underneath. Can it really be Daniel Craig?
There’s plenty to watch, so sit back and enjoy our critics’ selections…
The Recruit
Slick spy thriller from the creator of The Rookie
Year: 2022-
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Netflix
There’s no doubting the pedigree of this spy series – it’s not only been created by the showrunner of hit US cop show The Rookie, but it’s also produced by Bourne Identity director Doug Liman, who calls the shots on the first two episodes of the first series. And you can really see all that pedigree in the slick blend of action and wry humour as the stories unfold in addictive fashion.
Black Adam’s Noah Centineo stars as Owen Hendricks, a young lawyer hired by the CIA to handle some basic legal research. He’s also a man who finds it very hard to sit still, though, and before long he manages to involve himself in an international conspiracy and finds himself dodging bullets, running from enemies and making one very big alliance – with the alluring but clearly dangerous ex-spook Max (British actress Laura Haddock). Series two opens in the wake of a big loss for Owen, and the bad news is compounded after he talks to his boss. Don’t count him out of action for long, though… (Two series)
Death In Paradise
Cosy Caribbean crime drama, now starring Don Gilet as the island investigator
Year: 2011-
Certificate: 12
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
It’s a running joke that this series is a holiday for those working on it, because they spend their time in the sunny Caribbean filming it. It’s not a bad gig if you can get it.
The long-running show has been on our screens since 2011 and features a lead actor taking a holiday – sorry, a job – as a British detective having an extended stay on the Caribbean island of Saint Marie. The location is a big part of the appeal, and the tone is light and breezy. If you like Midsomer Murders or Murder She Wrote, this is just the cosy crime drama for you.
The lead detective has been recast several times over the years, with each actor bringing their own unique set of quirks: Ben Miller’s eccentric, heat-hating Richard Poole, disorganised Humphrey Goodman (Kris Marshall), sweet, easy-to-underestimate Jack Mooney (Ardal O’Hanlon), and sensitive Neville Parker (Ralf Little).
The latest actor to join the Robinson Crusoe detectives is former EastEnder Don Gilet who debuted as Melvin Wilson in the 2024 Christmas special. The full series with Mervin kicks off with him very much a British fish out of water as he takes up permanent residency in Saint-Marie’s rather rustic police station, before stumbling upon a case to sink his teeth into. (14 series)
Brian And Maggie
Dramatisation of the 1989 interview between journalist Brian Walden and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, starring Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter
Year: 2025
Certificate: 12
Watch now on Channel 4
From Sherwood creator James Graham, no stranger to chronicling modern Britain (see also Coalition, Brexit: The Uncivil War and his stage play Dear England), comes an engaging and lively two-parter exploring the relationship between Margaret Thatcher (Harriet Walter: subtle, less of a caricature) and journalist Brian Walden (Steve Coogan: perfect mimicry).
The jumping-off point is the 1989 TV interview that took place just days after the explosive resignation of Chancellor Nigel Lawson and that, arguably, sealed Thatcher’s fate. Weeks later she faced the first challenge to her leadership.
First, we follow the decade-long lead-up to it, from Walden’s first glimpse of Thatcher in the Commons, when he was a sitting Labour MP in 1975, through their first and many more TV interviews on LWT’s Weekend World, and the respectful friendship that formed: Walden was a little smitten, Thatcher considered him her favourite.
There is another retread of the events that led to Mrs T’s brutal ousting, but this drama is more concerned with Walden’s efforts to reach the woman beneath the famously iron exterior. In a present-day era where politicians are prepped to be evasive for little more than five minutes of airtime, it’s also a fitting tribute to Walden and the conversations he made happen. (Two episodes)
You’re Cordially Invited
Raucous comedy starring Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Prime Video
Incredible as it may seem, Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon have never made a film together, despite being giants of movie comedy at about the same time. It’s taken until 2025, and a movie for Amazon about a double-booked wedding venue, to finally bring them together. It was worth the wait.
Ferrell is less frantic than you might expect as doting dad Jim, a man who can do it all – even style his daughter’s hair for the big day. But, despite his sweet demeanour towards her, Jim’s ruthless streak becomes apparent when they arrive at the venue to find it’s been double-booked with Margot (Witherspoon), a woman who is equally determined that her sister’s wedding should be one to remember. It probably will be, too – but for all the wrong reasons.
Written and directed by Nicholas Stoller, whose Rose Byrne/Seth Rogen series Platonic was such a lot of fun on Apple TV+, You’re Cordially Invited feels like a throwback in the best sense. It’s the kind of film people don’t make too often for cinemas these days and, as comedies are often more fun to watch in groups, its arrival on Amazon feels like a good excuse to get a few people together for a viewing party. The scene with Ferrell wrestling an alligator is worth watching it for alone, and the two stars have a solid hate-hate chemistry that Witherspoon in particular seems to relish. (111 minutes)
Paradise (2025 TV series)
Gripping US thriller about the US President’s protection officer
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Disney+
The first ‘must-see’ drama of 2025 is a thriller, and it’s also one of those shows you should know as little as possible about before watching, so we’ll only give you basics. Sterling K Brown (This Is Us) stars as Xavier Collins, a Secret Service agent who protects the US President, a smooth-talking son-of-a-gun played by James Marsden – an actor so good-looking he barely needs to be digitally de-aged in the flashbacks.
And that’s one other thing we’ll tell you about this show – it’s full of flashbacks but they’re absolutely of the best kind, with each fleshing out both the characters and the story in ways that continually shift your understanding of what’s going on.
Julianne Nicholson (Mare Of Easttown) and Sarah Shahi (Sex/Life) also get to play great characters in an eight-parter that has everything from scale to detail, humour to tragedy, all driven by a murder mystery and a gripping, twisting plot that will leave you cursing the fact this isn’t a box set release.
While you’re waiting for the next episode, though, each instalment will feel a little different the second time you watch. It’s that kind of show, too. Expect to see it on a lot of ‘best of’ lists at the end of the year. (Eight episodes)
An Update On Our Family
Inside the world of family vlogging, particularly the Stauffer family and their adoption
Year: 2025
Watch now on NOW
People can earn a lot of money streaming their family lives on YouTube. It raises ethical questions about the children involved, especially the very small ones, who can hardly be said to have given informed consent about being broadcast to millions. This HBO three-parter digs into a particularly extreme American example – the Stauffers, who pulled in millions of viewers with their canny mix of authenticity and professional-looking videos, sharing everything from the moment mum Myka lost a baby to the birth of one.
When the Stauffers adopted Huxley, a boy with autism from China, viewers were gripped. Huxley became a main character on their videos and was very popular with viewers. Then, one day, he started to disappear from their feed and then in 2020, three years after he arrived into their lives, the Stauffers tearfully announced their now-five year boy had been ‘rehomed’.
Many fans turned on the family, wondering if the adoption had been done partly for attention and money. Whatever the actual truth of it all from the Stauffers’ point of view, the story this documentary tells will leave you profoundly concerned about the commodification of children online. (Three episodes)
The Castaways
Sheridan Smith and Celine Buckens star in a tropical thriller about a missing plane
Year: 2023
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Paramount+
Watch now on My5
‘A plane carrying 14 human beings vanishes into vapour – and it just happens to have no black box?’ Is there a conspiracy to unravel at the heart of this thriller about a missing airliner, or was it simply a tragic accident? And will the passengers ever be found, alive or dead? Such are the questions of this five-parter, which stars Sheridan Smith as the elder sister who caught the flight and Celine Buckens (Showtrial) as the younger, who will stop at nothing to find her missing sibling.
It’s based on the book by Lucy Clarke, whose No Escape was also adapted for Paramount+ – the streamer where this premiered before being given a berth on Ch5. And, while it makes a slightly bland start in episode one – Smith’s strong performance aside – it soon starts to reveal its hand in a steadily intriguing fashion. If you like airport thrillers, this is the easy-to-watch TV equivalent. (Five parts)
Yellowstone
Contemporary western starring Kevin Costner as a feared ranch owner, now available on Netflix
Year: 2018
Certificate: 18
Watch now on Paramount+
Watch now on Netflix
If you’re not watching Yellowstone, you should be. It is the US’s most popular scripted drama for a reason. It revolves around the Yellowstone ranch, the largest in the US, and the efforts of the powerful and feared family that own it to keep it intact.
That would be the Duttons. There’s John Dutton (Kevin Costner), the patriarch, and his offspring Jamie (Wes Bentley), a Harvard-educated lawyer; Kayce (Luke Grimes), a former Navy seal; and the complicated Beth, excellently played by Londoner Kelly Reilly, who describes her character as a ‘fearless thunderstorm of a woman’ and ‘a once-in-a-lifetime role’.
Yellowstone is, effectively, a contemporary western, and this West is still pretty wild. It’s thrilling, violent and completely compelling, and series 1-4 were recently added to Netflix – so the audience for all that is now a lot wider. (Five series)
Critical Incident
When a police officer pursues a suspect, both their lives are thrown into turmoil
Year: 2024
Certificate: 12
Watch now on ITVX
This n crime drama keeps you on your toes, flip-flopping back and forth to the before and after of a shocking event. Senior Constable Zil Ahmed (British actor Akshay Khanna, The Doll Factory) is a good cop who’s about to have his life and career blown apart.
During the pursuit of a suspect, an innocent bystander is seriously injured, and while Ahmed struggles with his guilt he also has to deal with the investigation into his conduct – interviews that are a smidge reminiscent of Line Of Duty.
The suspect Dalia Tun (Zoe Boe) – proved innocent – is also sucked into the fallout of the event, though for her it’s dangerous for entirely different reasons.
You might start it to see how the critical incident itself plays out; you’ll stick around to follow its impact on the two leads, Ahmed and Dalia. (Six episodes)
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth headline a Mad Max prequel
Year: 2024
Certificate: 15
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
When Mad Max: Fury Road came out in 2015, audiences were drawn to Charlize Theron’s one-armed shaven-headed avenging angel Furiosa as much as they were to Tom Hardy’s version of Max Rockatansky. Deadly, uncompromising and passionate, she was a character crying out for more backstory explaining just how she came to be the killing machine that Theron portrayed, as well as solving the mystery of whatever happened to her lost limb.
Thankfully that’s just what this visually stunning and action-crammed prequel offers. The only Mad Max movie without Max himself, it tells the life story of Furiosa (played for most of the film by Anya Taylor-Joy) as she transforms from an innocent little girl to a woman on a mission of vengeance across the wastelands against biker gang warlord Dementus (played with ravening relish by Chris Hemsworth). (148 minutes)
Sound Of Metal
Challenging story of a deaf musician, starring Riz Ahmed
Year: 2019
Certificate: 15
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
Watch now on Prime Video
What happens when a man who lives only to make music loses his hearing? That’s the compelling, driving question at the heart of this drama, and the answers it offers up are rich and surprising. Riz Ahmed is superb as Ruben, the bitter drummer railing against his loss of hearing as he struggles with life in a special rural camp for deaf addicts (he’s also a former drug addict). Will any solace he finds there be enough?
Olivia Cooke (Slow Horses) and Paul Raci (Sing Sing) co-star, and the movie received not only great critical acclaim but also awards recognition, picking up two Oscars (for sound and editing, understandably) out of six nominations. (113 minutes)
Queer
Daniel Craig as you’ve never seen him before, playing a gay outsider in 1950s Mexico City
Year: 2024
Certificate: 18
Watch now on Mubi
Dignity is a precious commodity in Luca Guadagnino’s drama set in 1950s Mexico City, based on a book by William S Burroughs and starring Daniel Craig as a gay outsider trying to look cool on the surface but desperate for connection underneath. His gaze falls on one younger man in particular, and obsession follows shortly after. It doesn’t feel like it will end anywhere good, but will it?
In common with Guadagnino’s previous projects (Challengers, for instance), this is a film with a keen idea of the erotic and the physical, and it isn’t afraid of tackling either. The drama here is mostly psychological, though, and Craig’s performance, surrounded by the heat of the city and counterpointed by a more modern soundtrack (featuring Nirvana’s Come As You Are, among others) is what keeps you watching. Look out for an absolutely extraordinary performance from Mum’s Lesley Manville in the second half – you won’t see it coming, even though we’ve already told you about it. (137 minutes)
The Last Musician Of Auschwitz
Powerful testimony of the music that accompanied the horror of the camps
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
As incongruous as it sounds, 15 orchestras were formed across the network of Nazi concentration camps during the Second World War. They played as the trains rolled into Auschwitz and as slave-workers walked to and from the factories. They played at the whim of SS officers who believed themselves cultured above all other races for their appreciation of music (Mozart and Beethoven, not Mahler or Mendelssohn).
The focal point of this stunning feature-length film is Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who at 99 years of age is the last surviving member of the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz, and she speaks sharply and candidly about her time playing cello in the orchestra at the camp. Of playing Schumann’s Traumerei for ‘Angel of Death’ Josef Mengele she says she did so ‘as fast as possible’.
We also hear from surviving family of other musicians and composers who made music in the ‘murder mill’, alongside the music itself. Petra Gelbart, a Roma musicologist, sings a song passed down through her family, from a grandfather who survived Auschwitz. She always asks people not to clap, saying, ‘It is not a performance, this is a testimony.’ Hers is one of many haunting musical testimonies featured in this immensely powerful and moving film. (89 minutes)
Six Nations: Full Contact (Series 2)
The return of the Drive To Survive-style show for rugby, focusing on the 2024 Championship
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Netflix
The fierce rivalries and crunching tackles of the annual Six Nations rugby tournament provide ample opportunity for the team behind Formula 1: Drive To Survive, Break Point and Full Swing to work their magic on yet another sport in this returning show about on- and off-pitch dramas.
The eight-part second series takes us behind the scenes on the 2024 Championship. It features plenty of thrilling footage, of course, but what really draws you in are the singular characters and fascinating dynamics at play in this most physically demanding of sports. We see players at the outset of their careers learning to deal with the unique pressures of international rugby – French scrum-half Nolann Le Garrec and England winger Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, both 21 – as well as those looking to the challenges of the future as they reach the end of their time at the pinnacle of the sport, such as Wales’s George North, England’s Joe Marler and Ireland’s Peter O’Mahony. Then, there are the friends and teammates competing for the same position, such as England fly halves Marcus Smith and George Ford, and we even see some sibling rivalry as we follow Italian brothers Niccolo and Lorenzo Cannone. (Eight episodes)
This Is Gaza
Stark portrait of life inside Gaza during the attacks, filmed by Yousef Hammash
Year: 2025
Watch now on Channel 4
This stark portrait of the human consequences of conflict comes from the Palestinian journalist Yousef Hammash, who presents an account of what it was like to live inside Gaza before the event of 7 October, 2023 and throughout the Israeli attacks on the territory that resulted. The contrast between before and after is shocking, as is the sheer awful reality of the day-to-day existence there during the assault.
There is, of course, plenty of upsetting footage here – but it’s very far from sensationalist filmmaking. Hammash looks back on his experiences with a professional eye, only occasionally allowing the horror of it all to clearly register on his face. He even manages to find humour in some moments, reflecting on the hairier footage of himself that he’d ‘wished he had a barber’. It was, as he reflects, a time when many Gazans were essentially sent ‘back to the Stone Age’.
The film gives us a strong and very human lesson in the collateral damage of conflict and, given the restricted access foreign journalists have had to Gaza, the immediacy of its perspective makes it all the more important. (50 minutes)
Vietnam: The War That Changed America
Documentary series about the conflict, narrated by Ethan Hawke
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Apple TV+
Fought from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, the war between North and South Vietnam was one of the most significant conflicts of the 20th century. As America’s involvement on the side of South Vietnam increased through the 1960s, opposition at home and around the globe became more and more intense as the nightly TV news brought images of the conflict into people’s homes. Geopolitically, economically and socially, the country would never be quite the same again.
This intense and powerful six-part documentary narrated by actor Ethan Hawke revisits the conflict half a century later to restate its importance in American history. Not only does it tell the story of the conflict through archive footage, it also tracks down soldiers and civilians on both sides and brings them together, many for the first time. The expert mix of their testimony with the archive creates an impression of the frontline experience that is hard to forget – if you’ve seen Ken Burns’s ten-part opus The Vietnam War, it’s more cinematic than that. (Six episodes)
The Fall Of Diddy
A four-part dive into the allegations against Sean Combs
Year: 2025
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Discovery+
From the company that brought us Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids’ TV comes a four-part dive into the allegations of sexual assault against music mogul Sean Combs, aka Diddy, that led to his arrest in 2024 – and which he denies. The series features an array of previously unseen archive footage but the real draw here is the fresh reporting (a partnership with Rolling Stone) and new interviews with those who are all too close to the situation.
There are more than 30 interviews across the four episodes, including talks with his accusers – such as journalist Danyel Smith, ex-Combs producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones and Thalia Graves, who claims that Combs raped her in the summer of 2001. We also hear from Diddy’s former personal chef Jourdan Cha’Taun, his bodyguard of nine years Roger Bonds and Dr LaJoyce Brookshire – who was Combs’ first publicist, way back in 1995. If you like this kind of thing, it’s a good overall perspective on the situation with some fresh insights. But don’t expect to walk away from it feeling unsullied. (Four episodes)
The Cockfields
Hilarious Isle of Wight comedy with a great British cast
Year: 2019-2021
Certificate: 15
Watch now on NOW
Watch now on Sky
Watch now on BBC iPlayer
Originally shown on pay channel GOLD, Joe Wilkinson and David Earl’s Isle of Wight comedy is a gem. Wilkinson stars as Simon, a man turning 40 who visits his mum and stepdad (Sue Johnston and Bobby Ball) on the Isle of Wight to celebrate. He takes his girlfriend, Donna (Diane Morgan), along to meet them and, while she’s been prepared by Simon for their eccentricities, she still finds it rather hard to cope. Why is a bread knife kept in the loo? Can Ray (Ball) ask a question without being passive aggressive? Will Sue (Johnston) ever allow Donna to make her own food? And will Simon’s biological dad (Nigel Havers) remember his birthday, or is he more interested in his glamorous girlfriend, Melissa (Sarah Parish)?
It’s worth watching if you like grounded, well-observed comedy that doesn’t outstay its welcome – all of the characters’ weird behavioral tics are explained by revealing what’s bothering them by the end of the first series. They aren’t just weird for the sake of a punchline, and it’s that balance of heart and wit that makes this show satisfying. In series two Donna (Morgan) is replaced by Joe’s fiancée, Esther (Susannah Fielding) who does her best to fit in. Gregor Fisher takes over the role of stepdad Ray in series two, following the sad death of Bobby Ball. (Two series)
Mythic Quest
Workplace comedy set in the offices of a successful video game design studio
Year: 2020
Certificate: 15
Watch now on Apple TV+
This very knowing workplace sitcom is one of Apple TV+’s best comedies. Mythic Quest is the name of a hugely popular fantasy game produced by the fictional video game studio at the heart of the show, which revolves around the ups and downs of the coders, testers and managers working in an intense creative environment.
At the end of series two, the game’s creator Ian Grimm (Rob McElhenny – now better known as one of the co-owners of Wrexham AFC) and chief engineer Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao) walked away from the company to start a new one (‘Grimpop’). The third series begins with the pair seeking financial backing for their new game, while the long-awaited fourth series – which arrived after a gap of more than two years – finds the show on its best form so far as a workplace comedy that anyone can enjoy. (Four series)
Eldorado (1992 soap)
The BBC’s famously disastrous 1990s Spanish soap, now available to stream
Year: 1992-1993
Watch now on U (UKTV)
This primetime soap launched in 1992 to not the warmest of receptions and while ratings did improve, it was cancelled after a year. Set in sunny Spain, among the ex-pat community of the fictional town of Los Barcos, it was considered a frivolous project for the BBC, but its biggest problem was a largely inexperienced cast who had not acted before, or since. Perhaps now, in an era of scripted reality shows, we might be more forgiving of the unprofessional yet glamorous cast? Give it a whirl now and see what you think, and one highlight remains Jesse Birdsall’s smiling bad boy, Marcus Tandy – the JR Ewing of the piece. (156 episodes)