David Farnor | On 23, Jan 2017

January. A month for catching up on 2016’s best and keeping up-to-date with 2017’s new entertainment. If you’re clearing your watchlist ready for the year ahead, the end of a month is a great time, as you re-order your binge-viewing to finish the box sets and movies about to leave your favourite subscription service.

Whether you’re a Sky Box Sets user or a NOW subscriber, this is your last chance to stream the following:

TV

Yonderland S3 – 23rd January

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?

The Last Dragonslayer – 24th January

A likeable satire hides inside Sky’s cute family fantasy, which was broadcast as their big epic on Christmas Day. Read our full review.

Scott and Bailey S1 to 4 – 30th January

Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp team up to solve crimes in ITV’s long-running detective drama. The secret to the show’s appeal is the relationship between the duo. Sharp and Jones click together like old friends – in Season 4, the tension between Jones and another officer, who has seemingly stepped into her shoes after a lengthy separation, is nicely judged by writer Lee Warburton.

Westworld – 31st January

HBO’s sci-fi epic may not be available as a full box set, but with Sky Atlantic repeating the programme, you can still catch up with bits of Season 1 on-demand. Don’t miss these first two episodes, which depart together.

Marvel’s Agent Carter S1 – 1st February

Catch up with one of Marvel’s best small-screen outings with this Captain American spin-off that sees Hayley Atwell reprise her role as Peggy Carter.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. S1 to 3 – 1st February

If you’ve always wanted to catch up on Marvel’s other small-screen spin-off, this is your chance.

Broadchurch – 7th February

“I can’t be outside. I don’t want to be.” That’s DS Ellie Miller (Olivia Colman) to DI Alec Hardy (David Tennant) in Broadchurch Season 1. The ITV drama follows their investigation into the death of a local boy – 11-year-old Danny Latimer – who is found lying on a beach. When forensics suggest strangulation rather than suicide, the familiar procedural plot begins to unravel. But Broadchurch is more than a compellingly plotted and densely layered crime thriller: it’s a study in grief that reverberates with humanity, even as it pulls it apart. A tragedy, the saying goes, can bring people together. This is a distressingly brilliant piece of television. Episode 1 and 2 of Season 1 are available until 7th February, with subsequent episodes then being removed every seven days. (Season 2 is also on Sky and NOW and leaves on 3rd February. We’d recommend skipping it.)

Paranoid S1 – 12th February

ITV’s crime drama comes with the Netflix seal of approval already in place, after the streaming giant snapped up the international rights to the show and signed on as co-producer. That alone tells you that something special is in store here – and you can feel it in the show’s glossy production values, excellent cast and array of supporting characters just waiting to spring surprising twists on us.

The promising signs begin immediately with the shocking murder of a female GP in a playground – a death that’s commendably brief, as the show refuses to linger on the gory details and instead focus on its shocking impact upon those nearby. That includes eyewitness and local garden centre owner Lucy (Lesley Sharp), who seems eerily keen to help the detectives investigating the case – particularly Bobby (Robert Glenister) – and suspiciously detailed in her account of events.

 

Other TV box sets leaving Sky and NOW in January / February 2017:

23rd January
A League Of Their Own S11
Maigret’s Dead Man

25th January
Tutankhamun S1
Only Fools and Horses S3

26th January
Leave S1

27th January
Only Fools and Horses S4

28th January
Only Fools and Horses S5
Borderline S1
The Great Fire S1
16 and Pregnant S2

29th January
Legends S2

30th January
South Park S19
DCI Banks S1 to 4
In Conversation S3

31st January
Miranda Specials: Xmas 2014
Always and Everyone S1 to 4
Benidorm S1 to 7
Endeavour S1 to 2

1st February
Cougar Town S2 to 3
Cougar Town S1
I Live with Models S1
Workaholics S4 to 5

3rd February
100 Miles from Nowhere S1
Bear Grylls: Breaking Point S1
Ed Stafford: Into the Unknown S1
Idris Elba: No Limits S1
The Frankenstein Chronicles S1
The Only Way Is Essex S1 to 17

6th February
Braquo S4

 

Movies

Rams – 31st January

A hard-drinking farmer and his estranged brother band together to save their flocks of sheep in this superb Icelandic drama.

High Noon – 31st January

“Do not forsake me, oh my darling…” Gary Cooper. Grace Kelly. High Noon is an iconic Western, but it’s a bold piece of filmmaking in its own right, from the flawed local Sheriff who must face an enemy from his past – without the support of the town’s locals – to the tense script, which builds up to the climactic 12 o’clock encounter almost in real-time.

Before Sunrise – 31st January

Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy star in Richard Linklater’s swooningly believable tale of two young strangers who meet on a train in Europe and decide to spend the night in Vienna.

Inception – 5th February

Christopher Nolan’s mind-blowing sci-fi literally folds Paris in on itself to achieve the director’s ambitious, imaginative aims: to dissect dreams, reality and memories within the constraints of a mainstream blockbuster. The form struggles at times to keep hold of the content – and that’s exactly the point. If you’ve never seen it, here’s your chance. If you already have, see it again.

Chappie – 12th February

Ignore the haters: Neill Blomkamp’s sci-fi about a sentient robot is an enjoyable, underrated and thought-provoking blockbuster.

Inherent Vice – 12th February

A stoner crime comedy drama by Paul Thomas Anderson? Breathe it in.

 

Other movies leaving Sky and NOW in January / February 2017:

29th January
American Sniper

22nd January
Rambo

27th January
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

30th January
Assassin (2014)
Executive Decision

31st January
Alien Resurrection
Almost Christmas (2013)
Amadeus – Director’s Cut
Babes in Toyland
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin
Charlie’s Angels
Demolition Man
Extinction: Jurassic Predators
Fred Claus
It’s a Wonderful Life
Kill Bill: Vol. 1
Lawrence of Arabia
Mary Poppins
Montana (2014)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Pete’s Christmas
Rebel Without a Cause
Remember the Titans
Saving Santa
Shelby
Stand by Me
Stir Crazy
Stretch
The Beach
The Haunting
The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
The Hills Have Eyes 2
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Opposite Sex
The Thing (1982)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Witness
X-Men 2

1st February
Star Wars: The Clone Wars S3
Ocean’s Eleven
Science of Star Wars (Ep 1 to 3)
Star Wars: Rebels S2
Star Wars: The Clone Wars S2 to S5

2nd February
Leroy & Stitch

3rd February
Mountain Men

4th February
Cold Mountain

5th February
Gone in Sixty Seconds
Mission: Impossible III
The Wedding Ringer
Tinker Bell & The Legend of the NeverBeast

6th February
Fast & Furious 7
The Hangover
Unfriended

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