David Farnor | On 03, May 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.

May marks the debut of three new series from heavyweights Ryan Murphy, Álex Pina and Damien Chazelle, plus two new series from The Office’s Greg Daniels. Back again on our screens are favourites including Rick and Morty, The A Word, Dead to Me, Brassic and Schitt’s Creek, plus the long-awaited return of Charlie Brooker for a one-off special. And, while Apple TV+ reaches a milestone with its first British series, the biggest landmark of the month is ITV’s Isolation Stories, the first major drama production to be mounted in lockdown.

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

Hollywood: Season 1

What if you could change the story? The limited series from Murphy and Ian Brennan follows a group of aspiring actors and filmmakers in post-World War II Hollywood as they try to make it in Tinseltown — no matter the cost. Each character offers a unique glimpse behind the gilded curtain of Hollywood’s Golden Age, spotlighting the unfair systems and biases across race, gender and sexuality that continue to this day.

Upload

Greg Daniels’ new sci-fi comedy is set in a technologically advanced future where hologram phones, 3D food printers and automated grocery stores are the norm. Most uniquely, humans can choose to be “uploaded” into a virtual afterlife when they find themselves near-death. The series follows a young app developer, Nathan Brown (Robbie Amell), who winds up in the hospital following a self-driving car accident, needing to quickly decide his fate.

Trying

All Nikki (Esther Smith) and Jason (Rafe Spall) want is a baby, but it’s the one thing they just can’t have. How are they going to fill the next 50 years if they can’t start a family? They already went through The Sopranos in a weekend. After ruling out every other option, Nikki and Jason decide to adopt and are confronted by a world of bewildering new challenges. With their dysfunctional friends, screwball family, and chaotic lives, will the adoption panel agree that they’re ready to be parents? Apple TV+’s first British series is a charmingly frank comedy.

The Other Mother

A twisted French psychological thriller where a young boy claims that his mother isn’t his real mother. Despite being urged by a child psychologist to take up the case, the police face a tough choice: risk allowing the boy to stay with the wrong parents, or trust the word of a child and ruin a family’s life forever.

 

Isolation Stories

The first major TV show to be filmed in lockdown, Jeff Pope’s series comprises four shorts capturing life in quarantine, aired nightly this week. Assembled in conditions the production company has never faced before, it sees each actor’s partners or families join in to operate sanitised equipment delivered to their home, help behind-the-scenes and even act alongside them. Sheridan Smith, Robert Glenister, Tom Glenister, Darren Boyd, Angela Griffin, David Threlfall, Eddie Marsan and his sons Blu and Bodhi star. For the full line-up of episodes, click here.

 

The A Word: Season 3

Two years on and things have changed for our A Word family. Joe (Max Vento) is 10 and living in two places at once, processing the seismic change in his life through the filter of his autism. Alison (Morven Christie) and Paul (Lee Ingleby) are divorced and live 100 miles apart. Nicola (Vinette Robinson) has moved to London. Eddie (Greg McHugh) lives with his dad. Only Maurice (Christopher Eccleston) is holding it together. And if Maurice is the one holding it together, you know you are in trouble. A family is always a puzzle and this one needs piecing back together, albeit in a different shape.

Rick and Morty: Season 4, Part 2

Created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon, the Emmy-winning animated comedy series follows a sociopathic genius scientist who drags his inherently timid grandson on insanely dangerous adventures across the universe. Episodes arrive weekly, four days after their US debut.

Harley Quinn

The Mistress of Mayhem herself debuted a brand new animated comedy series on DC Universe last year, combining crazy fights and wisecracking jokes. Harley, voiced by Kaley Cuoco (The Big Bang Theory, 8 Simple Rules) is out of control and on a mission to make it as the criminal Queenpin of Gotham City, after having finally broken things off once and for all with the Joker. Harley is aided by Poison Ivy (Lake Bell – BoJack Horseman, Wet Hot American Summer) and a ragtag crew of DC castoffs, as she tries to earn a seat at the biggest table in villainy: the Legion of Doom!

Brassic: Season 2

Sky’s most successful comedy drama in years is created by Joseph Gilgun and BAFTA-winning writer Danny Brocklehurst and takes its title from being “broke, penniless, without means, boracic lint -skint, on the bones of yer arse”. It follows Vinnie (Joe Gilgun), Dylan (Damien Molony) and Erin (Michelle Keegan), a group of working-class friends finding unconventional ways to win at life in northern suburbia.

Dead to Me: Season 2

Jen (Christina Applegate), Judy (Linda Cardellini) and the lies that entwine them are back. Picking up in the aftermath of that bloody backyard reveal, the irrepressible pair once again struggle to keep their secrets buried. With a surprising new visitor in town and Detective Perez (Diana Maria Riva) hot on their heels, Jen and Judy take drastic measures to protect their loved ones and each other – no matter the cost.

The Eddy

Set in the vibrant multicultural neighbourhoods of modern-day Paris, The Eddy tells the story of the owner of a struggling club, its house band and the dangers they face from the chaotic city that surrounds them. The limited series stars André Holland and Joanna Kulig alongside Amandla Stenberg, Taham Rahim and Leïla Bekhti.

The Ranganation: Season 2

Romesh Ranganathan’s topical comedy show returns to BBC Two for a second series. However, as the current climate dictates, Romesh will be broadcasting from his new studio at home – his garage. The Ranganation (Romesh’s hand-picked focus group) and two special guests – all of them in lockdown – will be beamed into Romesh’s makeshift studio to mull over the lighter end of the news spectrum from the comfort of their own homes.

I Know This Much Is True

Based on the bestselling novel by Wally Lamb and written and directed by Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, A Place Beyond the Pines), Academy Award nominee Mark Ruffalo stars in this six-part limited series in a double role as Dominick Birdsey and his twin brother, Thomas, in a family saga filled with betrayal, sacrifice and forgiveness.

Trial By Media: Season 1

In this true crime docuseries, some of the most dramatic trials of all time are examined with an emphasis on how the media may have impacted verdicts.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Interactive Special

Kemper, Burgess, Krakow­ski Kane and Jon Hamm will all return for this farewell outing of Netflix’s comedy, alongside special guest star Daniel Radcliffe. Titled Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend, it promises us three states! Explosions! A dancing hamburger! And you, the viewer, get to decide how the story goes – including whether to make out with Daniel Radcliffe.

Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star: Season 2

BBC Three’s Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star is back for a second season, hosted by Stacey Dooley. Industry legends Val Garland and Dominic Skinner are back on the judging panel, ready to choose who glows and who goes, as they whittle down the Make-Up Artists (MUAs) one by one before crowning this year’s Glow Up star.

Charlie Brooker’s Antiviral Wipe

In this one-off special, Charlie Brooker returns to our screens for the first time since his Bafta Award-winning 2016 Wipe to take a look at life under lockdown. As well as coverage of the crisis itself, he’ll also be exploring what we’ve been watching to while away the hours. Guest contributors joining him, from a safe distance, include the ever-insightful Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan) and Barry Shitpeas (Al Campbell). If nothing else it will give you something to do for half an hour.

Schitt’s Creek: Season 6

Suddenly broke, the formerly filthy-rich Rose family is reduced to living in a ramshackle motel in a town they once bought as a joke. Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy and co return for this brilliantly charming and funny sitcom’s final season.

The Swingers: Season 4

The fourth instalment of the nail-biting Dutch drama returns to see Eva escaping from the troublesome neighbourhood in a desperate attempt to keep from having to return her adoptive daughter to her biological father. Trying to stay ahead of the authorities, Eva flees to Sardinia with the aid of an intriguing stranger named Olivier and his seductive partner Victoria. They help her settle down and become her neighbours on the island. She starts to build a life again for her and Roosje, but soon enough it turns out her new home is not the safe-haven she hoped it would be.

White Lines: Season 1

From the creator of Money Heist, the series sees the body of a legendary Manchester DJ discovered 20 years after his mysterious disappearance from Ibiza. When his sister returns to the beautiful Spanish island to find out what happened, her investigation leads her through a thrilling world of dance clubs, lies and cover-ups, forcing her to confront the darker sides of her own character in a place where people live life on the edge.

Eurovision: Come Together

This year’s contest may not be going ahead, but fear not – Graham Norton will be on hand to kick off a night of Eurovision fun. In this one-off special from BBC Studios, Graham will give UK viewers the opportunity to take part in a live vote to crown their favourite Eurovision performance from an eclectic short list compiled by experts and celebrity super fans.

Homecoming: Season 2

Amazon’s sci-fi thriller returns to delve into a fresh new mystery, with Janelle Monae taking over from Julia Roberts. Her character wakes in a rowboat adrift a lake, with no memory of how she got there — or even who she is. Her ensuing search for identity will lead her into the heart of the Geist Group, the unconventional wellness company behind the Homecoming Initiative.

Snowpiercer: Season 1

Jennifer Connelly and Daveed Diggs star in this new TV series based on Bong Joon-ho’s dystopian sci-fi thriller, in which class warfare, social injustice and the politics of survival play out amongst the remnants of humanity – who inhabit a perpetually moving train that circles the globe.

Bake Off: The Professionals

Hosted by Liam Charles and Tom Allen, the toughest Bake Off on television welcomes six teams from top hotels, restaurants and small businesses who will battle it out for their place in the competition. Once again, judges Cherish Finden and Benoit Blin set a pair of exceedingly tricky challenges, the first of which requires exacting precision and creativity – 24 strawberry tarts and 24 fruit salads – in just three and a half hours. For the teams’ final challenge – the showpiece – the teams have just five hours the reinvent a classic dessert. For this heat it’s that retro favourite the Pineapple Upside Down cake…

The First Team

Written by the award-winning duo Iain Morris and Damon Beesley (The Inbetweeners), this new comedy follows the off-the-pitch misadventures of three young football players as they find themselves struggling with their mercurial Italian manager Cesare (Paulo Sassenelli). Shaquille Ali-Yebuah (The Feed, The Children Act), Jack McMullen (The Souvenir, Ford v Ferrari) and Jake Short (SuperCool, This Is the Year) lead the cast, alongside Will Arnett (Arrested Development, BoJack Horseman) as their eccentric American chairman.

Space Force: Season 1

This new comedy from Greg Daniels (The Office) follows four-star general Mark R. Naird (Steve Carell), a decorated pilot with dreams of running the Air Force. He is thrown for a loop when he finds himself tapped to lead the newly formed sixth branch of the US Armed Forces: Space Force. Skeptical but dedicated, Mark uproots his family and moves to a remote base in Colorado where he and a team of scientists and “Spacemen” are tasked by the White House with getting American boots on the moon (again) in a hurry and achieving total space dominance.

Philharmonia

A Black Swan set in the orchestra, Philharmonia is a tense and moving psychological thriller following renowned conductor Hélène who returns to Paris to take over an orchestra known as ‘the maestro killer.’

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