CONDOR S2 | First on Showmax | Binge now
Based on the James Grady novel Six Days of the Condor and the 1975 film adaptation Three Days of the Condor, Condor follows young CIA analyst Joe Turner, who is drawn into a deadly terrorist plot that threatens the lives of millions.
Joe is played by Max Irons (The Wife, The White Queen – and the son of Oscar winner Jeremy Irons), supported by Oscar winners William Hurt (A History of Violence, Damages) and Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite, Hollywood), Oscar nominee Bob Balaban (Gosford Park, The Politician) and, for Season 1, by Saturn Award, Kid’s Choice and Teen Choice nominee Brendan Fraser (The Mummy, The Affair). Emmy nominee Constance Zimmer (UnReal, Boston Legal) joins the cast this season.
Condor has an 86% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which praises its “slick concept and propulsive pacing”, while Washington Post described it as “quite the little pulse-pounder – the sort of thing 24 fans can eat with a spoon.”
YEARS AND YEARS S1 | Binge now
From award-winning writer Russell T Davies (A Very English Scandal, Dr Who), Years And Years is a six-part drama that follows the lives of a single family, the Lyons, over 15 years in a Britain rocked by unstable political, economic and technological change.
Russel Tovey (Being Human) and two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) were nominated for Supporting Actor awards at the 2020 Critics’ Choice Awards, where Years and Years was also up for Best Limited Series.
The HBO show has an 8.4/10 rating on IMDb and an 89% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus says, “Years and Years scathingly critiques the present with a nihilistic projection of the future, leavening the devastating satire with a buoyant sense of humour and characters who are easy to become invested in.”
On Becoming a God in Central Florida S1 | Binge now
Critics’ Choice winner and Emmy nominee Kirsten Dunst (Fargo, Spider-Man) was nominated for both a 2020 Golden Globe and a 2020 Critics’ Choice award for Best Actress in this comedy drama about a minimum-wage water park employee who lies, schemes, cons and kicks her way up the ranks of the cultish, multibillion-dollar pyramid scheme that drove her family to ruin.
The series’ exec producers include Oscar-winning collaborators George Clooney and Grant Heslov, who produced Argo and Catch-22, while the cast boasts the likes of Golden Globe nominee Alexander Skarsgård, Ted Levine (Monk, The Silence of the Lambs), and Saturn Award winner Julie Benz (Dexter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
The series has an 85% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus calls it, “a clever and absurd satire that will make you want to buy whatever Kirsten Dunst is selling.”
L.A.’s Finest S1 | Binge now
Gabrielle Union (Good Deeds, Being Mary Jane) reprises her Bad Boys 2 role as Marcus’ sister Syd in this spinoff series, which earned her the 2019 Teen Choice Award for Choice Actress: Action.
Syd’s now working for the Los Angeles Police Department, where she partners up with Nancy McKenna, a working mom, played by Golden Globe nominee Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four, Sin City, Dark Angel) in a Teen Choice-nominated performance.
Ten-time Emmy winner and box office phenomenon Jerry Bruckheimer (Bad Boys, Pirates of the Caribbean, Armageddon) executive produces, while former CSI: NY showrunner Pam Veasey is the co-showrunner. L.A.’s Finest has already been renewed for a second season.
JETT S1 | Binge now
World-class thief Daisy ‘Jett’ Kowalski (Teen Choice nominee Carla Gugino from The Haunting of Hill House) is just out of prison and already being forced back into what got her there by a group of eccentric and dangerous criminals.
Emmy winner Gil Bellows (Ally McBeal, The Shawshank Redemption), Emmy nominee Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul), Berlin Shooting Star winner Elena Anaya (Wonder Woman), and Gaite Jansen (Peaky Blinders, In The Line of Duty) co-star.
Jett has a 94% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus says, “Carla Gugino shines in Jett, a stylish – if overtly violent – noir that benefits from its willingness to crank its genre set-pieces up to eleven.”
FLORIDA GIRLS S1 | Binge now
Inspired by series creator Laura Chinn’s real-life struggle growing up on the West Coast of Florida, Florida Girls follows four women on the wrong side of the poverty line, who are forced to confront their stagnant lives when their only ambitious friend moves away to follow her dreams.
Florida Girls has an 85% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Time calling it “the most fun you’ll have in front of the TV this summer… For all its smart social commentary, the show is first and foremost a madcap comedy – one that makes a shrewd addition to the lineup of fresh, funny talent on Pop TV, an up-and-coming cable channel that Schitt’s Creek put on the map… With its raunchy, inventive humour and commitment to laughing with its characters more than at them, Florida Girls may well turn out to be the most enjoyable new show of the summer.”
THE MASKED SINGER S2 | Binge from 1 October
This super fun, mega-popular musical reality/game-show just won Outstanding Costumes: Variety, Non-Fiction or Reality at the Emmys, where it was also nominated for Outstanding Competition Programme.
Season 2 features even more undercover celebs (last season’s line-up included Grammy winners, pro athletes, video gamers and YouTube influencers), all concealed from top to toe in awesome costumes as they perform covers of famous songs and get us all guessing… until they’re unmasked if they receive the fewest votes.
The show is once again hosted by Nick Cannon, with panellists Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke taking their best shots (and often missing) at who the mystery contestants could be.
PRIMAL S1B | First on Showmax | Express every Monday from 5 October
Adult Swim’s Primal has just won three Outstanding Achievement In Animation Awards at the 2020 Emmys, for storyboard artist Genndy Tartakovsky, art director Scott Wills, and character designer Stephen DeStefano.
From Genndy Tartakovsky (Samurai Jack, Hotel Transylvania), Primal follows a caveman at the dawn of evolution and a dinosaur on the brink of extinction. The two creatures, one on the way out and one on the way in, become each other’s only hope of survival in a treacherous world.
Primal has an 8.7/10 score on IMDb and a 100% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus is, “Epic in every sense, Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal is a stunning feat of visual storytelling.”
ALEX RIDER S1 | First on Showmax | Binge from 15 October
When Alex Rider learns that his Uncle Ian was killed in the line of duty as a British spy – and not a car accident like he’s been told – everything changes for this otherwise normal teen.
Alex is approached by Alan Blunt, head of a top-secret offshoot of MI6 known as The Department, who reveals that he’s been unknowingly trained since childhood for the dangerous world of espionage. Pressured to leave his old life behind, Alex goes undercover to investigate the connection between the deaths of two billionaires and a remote boarding school called Point Blanc, aided by his classmate Kyra, best friend Tom, and his au pair Jack.
Based on the best-selling Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz, the series has an 81% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, with Daily Telegraph hailing it as “a junior version of the Bourne franchise… that can also keep adults entertained.”
INTO THE DARK S1 | Binge from 19 October
In this horror anthology from Oscar-nominated producer Jason Blum (Us, Get Out, The Purge, Paranormal Activity, and more), each episode is inspired by a holiday, from Halloween to Thanksgiving, Christmas to New Year’s Eve.
Look out for the likes of Emmy nominee Jimmi Simpson (Westworld), Teen Choice Award winner Josephine Langford (After), Dermot Mulroney (My Best Friend’s Wedding, August: Osage County), and Harvey Guillén (Guillermo in What We Do In The Shadows).
Into The Dark was nominated as Best Series at the Fangoria Chainsaw Awards 2020.