What To Watch Online This January

Euphoria, Now TV 

Bridging the gap between the first and second series – which was postponed due to the pandemic –Euphoria returns to Now TV this month for its second special episode. Directed by creator Sam Levinson, this bonus episode shows us Jules Vaughn (Hunter Schafer) during the Christmas holidays. The previous episode saw Rue (Zendaya) confiding in her sponsor about her road to sobriety – which is far from over – but this time, we get to hear Jules’ perspective.

Available to watch from 25th January

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Headspace Guide To Meditation, Netflix

Netflix has collaborated with the Headspace App in this eight-episode series on meditation. Over the course of each episode, Andy Puddicombe, former Buddhist monk and co-founder of Headspace, takes viewers through the benefits and science of meditation. Each 20-minute episode showcases a different technique that aids in the practice of meditation, focusing on everyday emotions such as stress, anger, and acceptance. Headspace Guide to Meditation provides a moment of stillness and illustrates that practicing meditation is both easy and accessible. There’s also a short, guided meditation at the end of each episode. 

Available to watch now

Visit Netflix.com

Herself, Amazon

Single mother Sandra (Clare Dunne) escapes her abusive partner Gary (Ian Lloyd Anderson), with her two young children, only to find herself trapped in temporary accommodation when the housing system refuses to give her a new home. After months of struggling, she draws inspiration from one of her daughter’s bedtime stories and decides to build her family an affordable home. She finds an architect who provides her with plans and is offered land by Peggy (Harriet Walter), a woman she cleans for. Aido (Conleth Hill), a building contractor, appears willing to help, too. But as her past revisits her in the form of Gary, Sandra must try and rebuild her life from the ground up. 

Available to watch now

Visit Amazon.co.uk

Night Stalker: The Hunt For A Serial Killer, Netflix 

This true crime docu-series details the life and crimes of one of the most notorious serial killers in American history, Richard Ramirez. In the summer of 1985, a record-breaking heatwave hit Los Angeles, along with a series of murders and sexual assaults that baffled the police. With victims from all walks of life, ranging in age from six to 82, they came from different neighbourhoods and backgrounds, but there was one thing that connected them all – their killer. At the time, detective Gil Carrillo and renowned homicide investigator Frank Salerno worked tirelessly to solve the case, which is detailed step by step in this four-part series. The documentary is told through first-person interviews and unearthed archival footage from a deeply troubling time in American history. 

Available to watch on 13th January

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Penguin Bloom, Netflix 

Based on the best-selling book by Cameron Bloom and Bradley Trevor Greive, Penguin Bloom is an extraordinary film about family, hope and courage. In 2013, Samantha Bloom (Naomi Watts), her husband Cameron (Andrew Lincoln) and their three sons leave their home in Australia for a holiday in Thailand. When Sam falls off a rooftop and is paralysed from the chest down, she falls into a deep depression after she can no longer enjoy her previous life and love of the outdoors. A year later, her children bring her home a wounded baby magpie they name Penguin, beginning a process of unexpected emotional healing for the whole family.

Available to watch on 27th January

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Pieces Of A Woman, Netflix 

Martha (Vanessa Kirby) and Sean (Shia LaBeouf) are on the verge of parenthood when their lives change irrevocably after a home birth ends in unimaginable tragedy. Thus begins a yearlong journey for Martha, who must navigate her grief while working through complicated and strained relationships with Sean and her domineering mother (Ellen Burstyn), as well as the publicly vilified midwife (Molly Parker), whom she must face in court. Executive produced by Martin Scorsese, Pieces of a Woman is a deeply personal, searing, and ultimately transcendent story of a woman learning to live alongside her loss.

Available to watch now

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Surviving Death, Netflix

Based on best-selling author and journalist Leslie Kean’s book, Surviving Death is an in-depth investigative series exploring the possibility of an afterlife. The six-part series explores existential questions that have been asked over time – what does death mean? Is it the end of our existence? Is there more than one afterlife? Through scientific research and first-hand accounts from those who have been close to – and allegedly even experienced – death and reincarnation, this extraordinary documentary goes above and beyond with compelling evidence and fascinating studies. 

Available to watch now

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Sylvie’s Love, Amazon 

Set in 1960s New York City, Sylvie’s Love tells the romantic story between a jazz musician and an aspiring TV producer. Robert (Nnamdi Asomugha), a saxophonist, spends late nights playing behind his less talented but well-known jazz quartet band member, while Sylvie (Tessa Thompson), dreams of a career in television but spends her days helping at her father’s record store. When Robert takes a part-time job at the store, the two begin a friendship that sparks a deep passion in each of them unlike anything they have felt before, but as the summer ends, life takes them in different directions and their relationship comes to an end. Years later, when Sylvie is a successful TV producer, the pair cross paths again and their feelings for each other remain the same. Sylvie’s Love beautifully captures the romance, music and rich culture of 1960’s New York in this elegant film.  

Available to watch now

Visit Amazon.co.uk

The Dig, Netflix

Based on John Preston’s 2007 novel and the real-life events that took place in Suffolk’s Sutton Hoo, The Dig is Netflix’s latest literary adaption. As WWII looms, Edith Pretty a wealthy widow (Carey Mulligan) hires amateur archaeologist Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to excavate the burial mounds on her estate. Edith cannot spare the resources to begin with, but once she learns a whole host of important artefacts lie beneath her home, she does everything within her power to uncover the past, which echoes Britain’s uncertain future.

Available to watch on 29th January

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The Serpent, BBC iPlayer

The first episode of the BBC’s latest drama, The Serpent, hit the screens on New Year’s Day, but the whole series is available to watch on iPlayer. In this true-crime thriller, French conman and serial killer Charles Sobhraj (Tahar Rahim) is finally brought to justice after a killing at least 12 Western backpackers across south east Asia with the help of his girlfriend Marie-Andrée Leclerc (Jenna Coleman). In this eight-part series, Sobhraj masterfully evades the police and authorities time and again, gaining his notorious title as The Serpent. However, when Dutch diplomat Herman Knippenberg (Billy Howle) is made aware of two Dutch backpackers who were brutally murdered in Bangkok, Sobhraj’s sinsiter plan – the ‘Hippie Trail’– is revealed. 

Available to watch now

Visit BBC.co.uk/iPlayer 

The White Tiger, Netflix 

Based on the New York Times bestseller and 2008 Man Booker Prize-winning novel, The White Tiger is a story of ambition and success. Balram Halwai (Adarsh Gourav) narrates his epic and darkly humorous rise from poor villager to entrepreneur in modern India. Both cunning and eager for a better way of life, Balram tricks his way into becoming a driver for Ashok (Rajkummar Rao) and Pinky (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), who have just returned from America. From humble beginnings, Balram takes on the role of the servant to survive, but after a night of betrayal, he realises the corrupt lengths his employers will go to trap him and save themselves. Against all odds, Balram transgresses society and rebels an unequal system to rise up and become his own master.

Available to watch on 22nd January

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A Teacher, BBC iPlayer

Based on the 2013 film of the same name, A Teacher is a ten-part miniseries created by film director and producer, Hannah Fidell. Claire Wilson (Kate Mara) is a popular English teacher at Westerbrook High School in Texas who begins an inappropriate friendship with one of her students, Eric Walker (Nick Robinson). After revealing she is unhappily married to her husband Matt (Ashley Zuckerman), the relationship between teacher and student turns into a sexual affair, which eventually forces Eric to come to terms with the abusive coercion Claire has forced upon him. 

Available to watch now

Visit BBCiPlayer.co.uk