David Farnor | On 03, Aug 2020

Netflix. Amazon Prime Video. BBC iPlayer. NOW. Walter Presents. Apple TV+. There’s so much TV to watch these days in so many places that it can be hard to keep up. Every month, we boil down what’s on the box to the essentials you need in your streaming queue.

Summer is normally a time when TV shows die down as people venture outside, but August is turning up the heat indoors thanks to the arrival of Lucifer’s fifth season – not to mention a new Channel 5 thriller from Derry Girls’ Lisa McGee, the return of the excellent Ramy, the pulpy Dirty John, the hugely entertaining Cobra Kai and the debut of the intriguing Lovecraft Country.

We’ve sorted through All The TV to bring you your August watchlist – what’s worth watching and where you can find it online in the UK:

The Deceived

Derry Girls’ Lisa McGee co-creates this psychological thriller in which a young woman falls for her married lecturer. The four-part series airs nightly on Channel 5.

The Fugitive

Kiefer Sutherland stars in this new remake of The Fugitive as Clay Bryce, the cop tracking down the titular fugitive, Mike Ferro. Narcos veteran Boyd Holbrook plays the innocent man on the run, who is desperate to clear his name. The remake begins with a bomb tearing through the LA subway, and Ferro, who is caught in the blast on the train, wants to make sure his wife and daughter are OK.

Little Birds: Season 1

Playfully inspired by Anaïs Nin’s infamous collection of erotic short stories, Little Birds weaves tales of love and desire together with personal drama and political intrigue. This Sky original stars Juno Temple as troubled American debutante Lucy Savage alongside Yumna Marwan and Hugh Skinner. And if that combination of star power, sensual stories and a luscious period Tangier backdrop has caught your eye, expect to be drawn in immediately.

The Talk

This eye-opening Channel 4 documentary reveals a part of life that is little known about among those privileged enough not to have it. “The Talk” prepares children for the reality of living in a society where their skin colour marks them out for a lifetime of challenges white people may not understand. The first talk normally happens around age 4 to 7 and marks the day a child loses their innocence. Parents have to explain that, because of the colour of their skin, some people think they are less worthy of respect. Children are taught what to expect and how to react; advice based on experiences suffered by family, friends and neighbours. The documentary will feature a cast of leading public figures sharing memories of the talk(s) they’ve given or received, contextualised by family archive or an event that triggered it. If you’ve never had “The Talk”, this is a must-see.

Anelka: Misunderstood

Bad boy or football genius? Famed French footballer Nicolas Anelka’s controversial legacy is examined in this unflinching documentary.

Harlots

Set against the backdrop of 18th century Georgian London, Hulu’s Harlots is a playful period drama offering a brand new take on the city’s most valuable commercial activity – sex. Inspired by the stories of real women, the series follows Margaret Wells (Samantha Morton) and her daughters, as she struggles to reconcile her roles as mother and brothel owner. Co-starring Lesley Manville, Jessica Brown Findlay and Hugh Skinner, this is an absolute hoot. First airing on STARZPLAY in the UK, don’t miss the chance to catch it on the Beeb.

Semi-Detached

24, but far from Jack Bauer. That’s the hook for Lee Mack’s new comedy, which plays out in real time but, instead of following a government agent, tracks the existence of a perennial loser called Stuart (Mack), as his life goes down the pan in a suburban cul-de-sac. Written by David Crow and Oliver Maltman, the sxi-part series stars Ellie White, Neil Fitzmaurice, Clive Russell, Sarah Hoare and Patrick Baladi .

Michael Squeamish

Matt Berry is returning to BBC Two with four more documentaries from his rogue historian Michael Squeamish. Michael Squeamish presented Road To Brexit last year on the BBC, a documentary that was comprised of archive footage. With filming on new productions a far from easy proposition amid the coronavirus pandemic, Squeamish is coming back to present four more surreal educational films by plundering the Beeb’s video library, covering Entertainment, Relationships, London and Countryside.

Ramy: Season 2

Ramy Youssef’s excellent comedy about a first-generation Egyptian-American finding his way through his politically divided New Jersey neighbourhood returns for a second run, with the addition of Mahershala Ali to the cast.

The Rain: Season 3

The final season of Netflix’s dystopian thriller will pick up where the second season left off, with Simone and Rasmus at odds on how to save humanity.

Wizards: Tales of Arcadia

Characters from Trollhunters and 3 Below combine for the final chapter in Guillermo del Toro’s Tales of Arcadia trilogy, which sees conflict brewing between the human, troll and magical worlds.

High Seas: Season 3

Spain’s all-at-sea thriller returns for a third voyage, as luxury transatlantic ship Bárbara de Braganza heads from Argentina to Mexico, only for more strange goings-on to surface, leaving the Villanueva sisters to once again solve what’s happening – this time, involving a scientist with a deadly secret.

Unsaid Stories

ITV is airing four drama shorts inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. Written by Jerome Bucchan-Nelson (Bulletproof), Anna Ssemuyaba (Upload), Lynette Linton (Sweat) and Nicole Lecky (Superhoe), they reflect what’s happening in Britain today and feature real people in completely real situations, confronting and exploring racism and prejudice.

Look at Me focuses upon young professional couple Nicola and Michael and the aftermath of them being stopped by the police while out driving on a date. Lavender centres on an uncomfortable conversation between a white woman and her mixed race daughter, who has recently had a baby with a Black man. Generational explores the relationship a black father and daughter have with each other. I Don’t Want To Talk About This sees a former couple bump into each other a few years later at a mate’s party and reassess the impact of racism on their love and friendship. The shorts air nightly over four nights. Photo: Greenacre Films for ITV

Mandy: Season 1

Diane Morgan stars in this new BBC Two comedy as Mandy, a woman with dreams. Most of all she dreams of breeding Doberman Pinchers. But there are hurdles to overcome before that dream can become a reality. So, in this series we’ll see her go on a health kick, rent out her small back room on Airbnb and attempt a series of short-lived jobs in the modern gig economy. A short-form series of six 15-minute episodes, the show co-stars Alistair Green, Michael Spicer, David Bradley, Tom Basden, Natalie Cassidy, Sean Lock and Maxine Peake.

Dirty John: Season 2

Netflix’s true crime anthology returns for a second story ripped from the headlines. This time, Amanda Peet stars as socialite Betty Broderick, who hits a homicidal boiling point during a bitter divorce from her unfaithful husband.

Derren Brown: 20 Years of Mind Control: Live

Derren Brown returns to Channel 4 for a night honouring some of his most jaw-dropping moments on TV, including a viewer-voted retrospective and a live stunt. The psychological illusionist will perform his latest mind-blowing feat as well as revealing some of the heart-pounding moments of the stunts he has performed over the years. In the two-hour special Derren will divulge the stories behind each one and talk through the meticulous logistics involved.

Lovecraft Country

Based on Matt Ruff ’s novel of the same name, HBO drama Lovecraft Country follows Atticus Freeman (Jonathan Majors) as he joins his friend Letitia (Jurnee Smollett) and his Uncle George (Courtney B. Vance) on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America in search of his missing father (Michael Kenneth Williams). This begins a struggle to survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the terrifying ancient monsters ripped from the twisted mind of H.P Lovecraft. Episodes are simulcast with their US broadcast every week.

Lucifer: Season 5 Part 1

Tom Ellis returns as the original fallen angel, who has given up his throne in the underworld for the underbelly of Los Angeles, where he helps the cops to punish criminals. This penultimate season sees him head for home, leading to some unexpected family complications.

Hoops: Season 1

This new adult animation follows a hot-headed, foul-mouthed high school basketball coach who thinks turning around his awful team will take him to the big leagues. Jake Johnson stars.

DC’s Stargirl

Based on the DC Comics superhero Courtney Whitmore created by Johns and Lee Moder, DC’s Stargirl follows high school sophomore Courtney Whitmore (Brec Bassinger, School of Rock) as she inspires an unlikely group of young heroes to take up the legacy of a long-lost superhero team – The Justice Society of America – and stop the villains of the past. Luke Wilson co-stars.

Aggretsuko: Season 3

Based on the beloved Sanrio character, the anime follows Retsuko as she navigates company politics, befriends co-workers, and attempts to maintain a healthy work/life balance. From her meddling mother to nightmarish coworkers, the tiny red panda’s story is a reminded to us all that internal strength comes from the strangest places – in this animal’s case, it’s by venting stress just private death metal karaoke sessions.

I Hate Suzie

Billie Piper stars in a bold, bracing, Sky original drama about the moment in life when the mask slips, asking if any of us can survive being well and truly ‘known’. Suzie Pickles (Piper), has her life upended when she is hacked and a photo of her emerges in an extremely compromising position. Episode by episode we follow her through the stages of shock, denial, fear, shame, bargaining, guilt, anger and acceptance as Suzie and her best friend and manager Naomi (Leila Farzad) try to hold her life, career and marriage to Cob (Daniel Ings) together.

Cobra Kai: Season 1 and 2

This hugely entertaining sequel to The Karate Kid sees Ralph Macchio and William Zabka reprise their roles from the 1980s sports classic as arch-rivals Daniel LaRusso and Johnny Lawrence. Several decades older, with the events of the 1984 All Valley Karate Tournament a distant memory, Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) lives with his beautiful family, while running a successful string of car dealerships, and Lawrence (William Zabka), whose life has taken a rocky turn, seeks redemption by reopening the infamous Cobra Kai karate dojo, promising to teach local kids how to fight with “a method of fighting your pansy-ass generation desperately needs”. Originally a YouTube Original series, it’s now moving to Netflix ahead of a third season.

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