What To Watch This Week 21.04.26

Unchosen, Netflix

Dark, insular and quietly unsettling, Unchosen taps into the current appetite for cult-set thrillers. Molly Windsor (Three Girls, The Runaway) plays Rosie, a woman living within a rigid, patriarchal community overseen by the imposing Mr Phillips (Christopher Eccleston, Doctor Who, The Leftovers). When an enigmatic outsider arrives (Fra Fee, Les Misérables, Hawkeye), her instinct to help begins to unsettle the group’s carefully maintained order – not least for her husband, played by Asa Butterfield (Sex Education, Hugo). 

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Criminal Record, Season 2, Apple TV+

Understated but gripping, Criminal Record returns without much fanfare — but it’s worth your attention. Cush Jumbo (The Good Fight, Deadwater Fell) is back as DS June Lenker, once again drawn into uncomfortable territory opposite Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, The Thick of It)’s elusive DCI Hegarty. This time, a politically charged protest provides the backdrop, but it’s the internal tensions – and the suggestion of buried truths – that give the series its edge. 

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Operation Orangutan, Disney+

If your watchlist could use something softer, this visually rich documentary follows a young orangutan finding her footing in the wild. Set across Borneo and Sumatra, it tracks Indah’s early encounters with the realities of jungle life. Narrated by Josh Gad (Frozen, Beauty and the Beast), the tone is lighter – at times almost playful – which won’t be for everyone. Still, the footage itself does most of the work, offering plenty of charming and striking moments.

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Half Man, BBC iPlayer

Following the breakout success of Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd returns with a darker, more expansive story. Half Man follows two estranged ‘brothers’, Niall and Ruben – played by Jamie Bell and Gadd – whose volatile relationship spans decades. The series opens with Ruben’s unexpected arrival at Niall’s wedding, triggering a violent confrontation that sends the story back through their shared past, from troubled teenage years in 1980s Glasgow to adulthood. Across six episodes, it charts the push-pull dynamic between the two: part loyalty, part dependency, part something more destructive. Neve McIntosh and Marianne McIvor co-star as their mothers, with younger versions of the pair played by Mitchell Robertson and Stuart Campbell.

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Stranger Things: Tales from ’85, Netflix

Netflix isn’t quite ready to leave Hawkins behind. This animated spin-off of Stranger Things slots neatly between seasons two and three, following the group as they briefly attempt to return to normal life. A new arrival, Nikki, quickly finds herself caught up in yet another supernatural mystery, as fresh threats begin to surface. The animated format gives the franchise a slightly different feel, but the core elements – friendship, nostalgia and otherworldly danger – are all still in place.

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Running Point, Netflix

Still leaning into its glossy, feel-good setup, Running Point returns with Kate Hudson (Almost Famous, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days) firmly at the centre as Isla Gordon, president of a struggling basketball franchise. Between financial setbacks, leadership gaps and the reappearance of her unpredictable brother, there’s plenty going on – even if the series never quite pushes beyond familiar territory. 

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Rose Of Nevada

Directed by Mark Jenkin, Rose of Nevada is a haunting, slow-burn sci-fi drama set in a remote Cornish fishing village. The story begins when a trawler lost at sea 30 years earlier suddenly reappears in the harbour, intact and unexplained. Hoping it might revive the town’s fortunes, a new crew is assembled – including Nick and Liam, played by George MacKay and Callum Turner. After setting sail, the men return to shore to find everything subtly altered: they’ve slipped back in time to the early 1990s, mistaken for the boat’s original crew. What follows is less a conventional narrative than an eerie, time-bending exploration of memory, identity and place, as the two men grapple with lives that are no longer – or perhaps never were – their own. 

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Mother Mary

Starring Anne Hathaway, Mother Mary centres on a globally famous pop star whose carefully constructed persona begins to fracture when she reconnects with a key figure from her past. As their relationship deepens, the film explores the tension between public image and private identity, set against a stylised, music-led backdrop – with original music by Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff. The cast is stacked, with big names like Michaela Coel, Hunter Schafer, Atheena Frizzell, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown Findlay, Isaura Barbé-Brown, Alba Baptista, Sian Clifford and FKA Twigs. 

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