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Pick of the week
A Man on the Inside
Michael Schur’s delightful retirement home detective comedy was originally based on a true story. While that source material was soon exhausted, it was clear the show had legs. Sure enough, this second season effortlessly transfers its magic to another eccentric institution: Wheeler College, a university that needs the favour of an unpleasant donor to survive. But who is trying to sabotage the deal? It’s a perfect job for Ted Danson’s septuagenarian PI Charles, who must pose as a professor and assess the suspects – including music tutor Mona, played by Danson’s wife Mary Steenburgen. It’s charming stuff, kept afloat by the lead’s irresistible comic chutzpah.
Netflix, from Thursday 20 November
Landman
Taylor “Yellowstone” Sheridan’s Texas drama returns for another wallow in America’s last great blue-collar gold rush. With Monty out of the picture, it’s time for Demi Moore’s Cami Miller to step up – and she shows every sign of becoming a terrifyingly efficient ambassador for big oil. Meanwhile, Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton) continues to juggle professional power-broking with a turbulent home life. Landman leans into the mythologising of its setting without really engaging with the environmental consequences but still hits its narrative beats with ruthless precision.
Paramount+, from Sunday 16 November
Byker Grove
For viewers of a certain age, this will be an irresistible hit of nostalgia. There is an Ant and Dec-powered reboot of this much-loved coming-of-age drama in the works. In the meantime, it’s now possible to enjoy all 18 seasons of the geordie teen institution, which began in 1989 and, alongside the erstwhile PJ and Duncan, also launched the careers of Donna Air and Charlie Hunnam. The show is undoubtedly of its time but it still looks admirably progressive, tackling homophobia, child abuse and abortion. Not to mention the dangers of paintballing.
ITVX, from Sunday 16 November
June Farms
June Farms in the US’s Hudson Valley is the (self-described) “premier events destination of upstate New York”. This series follows Matt Baumgartner, the owner of this idyllic rural venue, as he attempts to deliver perfect bespoke weddings to wealthy urbanites. There’s much focus on the sometimes turbulent lives of Baumgartner’s staff, most of whom seem to be in a constant state of coupling up and dumping each other. But there’s plenty of high-society opulence for viewers to vicariously enjoy alongside the behind-the-scenes dramas.
Prime Video, from Monday 17 November
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English Teacher
This comedy about a gay, thirtysomething teacher working in a Texas high school continues to be warm, a little formulaic and devoid of much in the way of overt polemical grandstanding. Instead, like all the best educators, it shows rather than tells: Evan Marquez (Brian Jordan Alvarez) is still well-meaning, gently embattled and a fine, low-key argument for diversity. This term sees him attempting to teach Dante’s Inferno to students who are more interested in critiquing his sartorial choices, and helping his students stage a play about the impact of Covid.
Disney+, from Wednesday 19 November
The Mighty Nein
The line between gaming and small-screen fiction becomes ever more porous: this animation is set in Exandria, the world created by game designer Matthew Mercer for a 2012 Dungeons & Dragons campaign. It then expanded into a web series and now reaches (potentially) its ultimate form. But whatever the provenance, the animation and the plotting are fairly traditional – the series follows a group of outcasts and adventurers (including a drunken goblin and a rude monk) as they attempt to combat forces unleashed by a powerful relic known as the Beacon.
Prime Video, from Wednesday 16 November
The Invisibles
Like the Slow Horses but empathetic, mutually supportive and hugely competent, the Invisibles in this French crime drama are a motley squad of misfit cops, thrown together as a semi-secret collective to crack the cases that elude their more orthodox colleagues. The team (which includes a duchess, a military veteran and an ex-boxer) specialise in identifying unknown corpses, which range from a woman found dead in her wedding dress to a body discovered built into a wall during a house renovation. Inventively macabre.
Channel 4, from Friday 21 November
