What’s coming soon to Sky and NOW TV in October 2016?
James R | On 30, Sep 2016
The Walking Dead returns to the UK this October and if you asked any Sky customer, that would probably be enough for them to make their subscription worth while. For those without pay TV, though, NOW means that you can also watch The Walking Dead Season 7 live and on-demand without a contract for £6.99 a month. With Season 1 to 6 also available to stream, that’s the month take care of, right?
Wrong – because October also sees Sky debut its brand new original drama, The Young Pope, directed by Paolo Sorrentino and starring Jude Law, which promises great things, not to mention the exclusive debut of HBO’s new epic, Westworld. (NOW users also get both of those.) All that and Supergirl, Arrow and The Flash, plus a cookery show from Harry Hill? The Walking Dead is just the start of it.
Here’s what’s coming soon to Sky and NOW this October:
Entertainment
Westworld (Sky Atlantic, 9pm) – 4th October
HBO’s dark odyssey from JJ Abrams (Star Trek Beyond, Star Wars: The Force Awakens), Jonathan Nolan (Interstellar, The Dark Knight) and Lisa Joy (Pushing Daisies, Burn Notice) is inspired by Michael Crichton’s 1970s sci-fi movie, which sees a hedonistic theme park staffed by artificially intelligent hosts go horribly, violently wrong.
Divorce: Season 1 (Sky Atlantic) – 11th October
Jessica Sarah Parker stars as Frances, a woman who suddenly begins to reassess her life and her marriage, and finds that making a clean break and a fresh start is harder than she thought.
Harry Hill’s Tea Time: Season 1 (6pm, Sky 1) – 16th October
One part chat show and one part spoof cookery show, this new show sees a celebrity guest thrown each week into Harry Hill’s kitchen, joining him and his cast of comedy characters, as they take part in a smorgasbord of cooking related chaos. While Harry teaches his guests how to cook his ridiculous recipes, such as ‘mozzarella snowmen’ and ‘sponge-finger prison’, he interviews them in his own unique way.
Yonderland: Season 3 (6.30pm, Sky 1) – 16th October
Sky 1’s delightful family comedy returns. It’s a time of peace and prosperity in Yonderland. Debbie (Martha Howe-Douglas) has fulfilled the prophecy that brought her, via a portal in her kitchen cupboard, to Yonderland as the Chosen One, and her arch-nemesis Imperatrix is gone. Meanwhile, in the real world, Debbie’s husband Peter (Dan Skinner) has been offered a promotion that means the family must relocate to Glasgow. After the arrival of the long-lost Elder Cuddly Dick, Debbie feels she can leave the realm in his safe hands. But is she really ready to leave Yonderland forever?
Criminal Minds, Season 12 (Sky Living) – 17th October
Jeff Davis’ police series is still going 11 years after it first premiered on CBS, following the cases of the FBI’s Behavioural Analysis Unit, who focus on profiling criminals to catch them.
The Walking Dead: Season 7 (9pm, FOX UK) – 24th October
Eeny, meant, miny… who? AMC’s zombie smash hit returns to answer the question that’s been plaguing everyone since Season 6.
Supergirl: Season 2 (8pm, Sky 1) – 24th October
Melissa Benoist returns for another season of female-drive heroics as Superman’s cousin, Kara Zor-El – with the Man of Steel himself set to make his first appearance. If this is half as entertaining as Season 1, we’re in for some super fun.
The Flash: Season 3 (8pm, Sky 1) – 25th October
Grant Gustin reprises his role of Barry Allen, aka. The Flash, as the show picks up the threads from the darker second season.
Geordie Shore: Season 13 (MTV) – 25th October
Seasons 1 to 12 are available now as a box set for binge-watching.
Arrow: Season 5 (8pm, Sky 1) – 26th October
Sky 1 completes its returning trio of The CW comic book series with the fifth season of Arrow. With Felicity (Emily Bett Rickards) guiding him from the bunker, Oliver (Stephen Amell) is forced to deal with a city that has become overrun with both criminals and a slew of new, inexperienced vigilantes.
The Young Pope (Sky Atlantic, 9pm) – 27th October
Saving its best TV for last, Sky Atlantic’s new original show is from Oscar winning director Paolo Sorrentino. It follows Lenny Belardo, the youngest and first American Pope in the history of the Church, who must establish his new papacy and navigate the power struggles of the closed, secretive Vatican. Jude Law takes the lead, supported by Diane Keaton.
Grey’s Anatomy: Season 1 to 12 (Box Set) – 1st October
All 12 seasons of the medical drama arrive this month, following the personal and professional dramas surrounding the medical team at Seattle’s Grace Hospital.
Legends of Tomorrow (Box Set) – 4th October
Before Season 2 of The CW’s comic book team-up hits the UK, Sky takes us back to the beginning of the Arrow spin-off with the full box set of Season 1, as a group of heroes are recruited by a time-travelling vigilante to take on immortal villain Vandal Savage.
Quantico: Season 1 (Box Set) – 15th October
ABC’s thriller from Josh Safran and Mark Gordon follows young government agents as they go through training.
Criminal Minds: Season 1 to 11 (Box Set) – 19th October
Before Season 12 premieres on the site, the first 11 seasons arrive, giving you all the FBI criminal profiling action you can binge-watch.
Stan Lee’s Lucky Man: Season 1 (Box Set) – 24th October
James Nesbitt stars in Sky’s original TV series from comic book legend Stan Lee, which follows a cop from Central London’s notorious Murder Squad, who is given a charm that seems to give the wearer the ability to control luck. Missed it at the start of 2016? Catch up on the whole thing.
Hello Ladies: The Movie and Season 1 (Box Set) – 29th October
Stephen Merchant’s six-part series, about a hapless English software designer searching for the woman of his dreams in LA, returns as a box set, along with Hello Ladies: The Movie.
Elementary: Season 5 (Sky Living) – TBC
Sky should be confirming a return date for the other modern Sherlock reboot in the early days of October.
Sky Cinema
Black Mass – 7th October
Who doesn’t love a heavy-hitting drama? Scott Cooper clearly does, switching from Crazy Heart to this Boston tale of corruption, with Johnny Depp and Joel Edgerton delivering weighty performances as notorious gangster Jimmy “Whitey” Bolger and the cop trying to bring him down.
Sisters – 9th October
Two sisters decide to throw one last house party before their parents sell their family home in this comedy from Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Did we mention Tina Fey and Amy Poehler?
In the Heart of the Sea – 14th October
Based on Nathaniel Philbrick’s novel, Chris Hemsworth stars in this weight drama about the sinking of a New England whaling ship in 1820 – an experience that later inspired the great novel Moby-Dick.
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi – 16th October
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi swiftly ticks all the boxes you’d expect from Michael Bay: manly macho men doing their manly macho duty for the United States of America, the manliest macho country in the world. The film tells the story of an attack on a US consulate in Benghazi that took place in 2012. The unexpected onslaught lasted through the night, a from-dusk-till-dawn scenario that provides blisteringly intense action, as Bay pulls out all the stops to wreak havoc.
Stations of the Cross – 19th October
Directed by Dietrich Bruggeman, Stations of the Cross is divided into 14 single-take scenes, or chapters, each of which is named after the titular stations depicting Christ’s route to the Crucifixion. Newcomer Lea van Acken plays 14-year-old Maria, whose family belong to a strict Catholic sect and whose 4-year-old brother, Johannes (Linus Fluhr), has not yet started to speak. This is disturbing, thought-provoking and genuinely moving.
The Danish Girl – 23rd October
Tom Hooper’s film about Danish artist Lili Elbe, one of the first people to undergo a sex-change operation, boasts two excellent performances from Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander.
Evolution – 26th October
The only residents of young Nicholas’s seaside town are women and boys. When he sees a dead body in the ocean one day, he begins to question his existence and surroundings. Why must he, and all the other boys, be hospitalised? Lucile Hadzihalilovic’s enigmatic, eerie mystery is a creepy, stunning hybrid of sci-fi, coming-of-age drama and horror. You may not understand it, but you’ll be mesmerised all the same.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again – 28th October
This feature-length re-imagining of the 1975 classic stars Victoria Justice (Victorious) and Ryan McCartan (Liv & Maddie) as Janet and Brad, a pair of sweethearts who stumble far from the beaten track. Soon, they are swept into the bizarre world of Dr Frank-N-Furter, a sexually ambiguous and wildly flirtatious mad scientist, hosting an event to showcase the birth of Rocky Horror – a muscle-bound specimen created solely to fulfil his every desire. The ensemble is led by none other than Orange is the New Black’s Laverne Cox as Frank-N-Furter, the “sweet transvestite from Transsexual, Transylvania” originally brought to life by Tim Curry.
Goosebumps – 29th October
Jack Black leads a likeable bunch of young people, ghouls and creepy creatures in this witty adaptation of RL Stine’s seminal kid-friend horror novels.
Other new releases coming soon to Sky Cinema and NOW in October 2016:
1st October
Girl on the Edge
2nd October
Victor Frankenstein
3rd October
Julia
4th October
Backtrack
5th October
The Crow’s Egg
6th October
A Promise
8th October
The Fifth Wave
10th October
Continuum
11th October
Extraction
12th October
Colt 45
13th October
The Taking of Deborah Logan
15th October
Capture the Flag
17th October
Lost in Karastan
18th October
Down Dog
20th October
The Returned
21st October
Grimsby
22nd October
The Finest Hours
24th October
Freezer
25th October
Closer to the Moon
27th October
The Quiet Hour