What are you going to be watching this week? We round up everything coming to streaming services this week, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, ThreeNow, Neon and TVNZ+.
The biggies
Hot Potato: Story of the Wiggles (docuseries on Prime Video from October 24)
Wanted to know the real story behind the biggest children’s entertainment group of all time? Prime Video has granted that very specific wish. This new documentary follows the story of the OG members, who recorded a one-off album of children’s music and ended up changing the world forever, featuring decades of personal archive and access to their sell-out shows. / Sam Brooks
After the Party (series on TVNZ+ from October 29)
From my review in the latest Rec Room newsletter: “After the Party is a new six part drama TVNZ1/TVNZ+ drama which explores the lingering, crazymaking aftermath of a boozy house party, featuring characters all on a spectrum between fallible and broken … It stars Robyn Malcolm in what may prove a career-peak role, playing Penny, a teacher and grandmother who witnesses something awful involving her partner at the party. Or does she? The show revels in ambiguity, a large step away from the didactic moralising of some recent drama.”/ Duncan Greive
Shepherdess (on Sky Open and Sky Go from October 22)
If you love a bit of Country Calendar but wish there were more cool women on it, check out Shepherdess. It’s a heartwarming new documentary series made in collaboration with the magazine of the same name, and each of the show’s six episodes celebrates the lives of women in rural communities around Aotearoa, from Tokanui to Pōrangahau to Upper Moutere. Stylishly shot, quietly inspiring and full of heartwarming stories about some amazing women, Shepherdess is a show that’s uniquely, beautifully New Zealand. / Tara Ward
The notables
Reservation Dogs (season three on Disney+ from October 25)
This is one of the best shows on TV and if you’re not watching it, you’re doing yourself a disservice. From my review of the first season: “Chances are if you’re tuning into Reservation Dogs, it’s purely because of the Taika Waititi name being attached, and there’s nothing wrong with that – but also check out Sterlin Harjo’s films, he’s bloody brilliant. For me, the value of Reservation Dogs is twofold. One part is what the bulk of the audience will get out of it: an excellently made, thoughtful introduction to a culture that might have otherwise been a mystery.”/ SB
Fear the Walking Dead (season eight on Neon from October 24)
The title of this series has always made me laugh, as if in the original show everyone absolutely loved the murderous shambling corpses rather than feared them. Anyway, this is the final season of this once-prequel but now concurrently-running series, focusing on the Clark family as they try to survive the pandemic that ruined the world. Relatable! / SB
Luther (all episodes on TVNZ+ from October 25)
Was there ever a series as wildly inconsistent as Luther? Answer: Yes, many, but I can’t recall another series that seemed to have such a strange run of either excellent or execrable seasons. If you’re unfamiliar, this series stars the always brilliant Idris Elba as the overly devoted cop John Luther, who ends up in a tortured relationship with murderess Rose Morgan (an equally brilliant Ruth Wilson) across five series and one film. Is it always good? Nope. Is it always watchable? You decide. / SB
The films
Pain Hustlers (on Netflix from October 27)
I swear, this must be streaming’s tenth take on the subject of Big Pharma over the past two years. But if you’re not sated by the offerings thus far, try this. The premise: Young single mother Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) lands a job at a failing pharmaceutical start-up, but finds herself at the centre of a conspiracy way bigger than she bargained for. Like those other onscreen examinations of the opioid epidemic, this one is based on a piece of journalism: Evan Hughes’ excellent piece for the New York Times which I highly recommend reading even if this doesn’t appeal to you./ SB
Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose (on Prime Video from October 27)
I was honestly tempted to include this just so I could type out Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose. Somehow the concept lives up to the strangeness of the title: When famed paranormal psychologist Dr. Nandor Fodor (Simon Pegg) starts to investigate a claim of a talking animal, he uncovers hidden motives and treachery. Wildly, this is based on a true-ish story: that of Gef, a talking mongoose in 1930s England. What a ludicrous country./ SB
The Blade trilogy (on Neon from October 27)
If you’re sick of Marvel, please take my word as gospel here and go back to the Blade movies. They rule, and actually have a real point of view. Justice for Wesley Snipes. / SB
Netflix
October 24
Get Gotti
October 25
Absolute Beginners
Nothing to See Here
Burning Betrayal
Life on Our Planet
October 26
Pluto
October 27
Tore
Pain Hustlers
Sister Death
Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-Fi Film Club
October 28
Castaway Diva
Neon
October 24
Fear the Walking Dead: Season 8b
October 25
100 Days Wild
TVNZ+
October 25
The Tunnel: Season 1-3
Putin: A Russian Spy Story
T2: Trainspotting
99 Homes
October 26
Evacuation
October 27
Eden: Untamed Planet
Earth’s Sacred Wonders
October 28
Kingpins
ThreeNow
October 23
Motherland: Seasons 1-2
October 25
North Sea Connection
October 27
Top Guns: Inside the RAF
Disney+
October 25
The Lions of Sicily: Season 1
FX’s Reservation Dogs: Season 3
Extraordinary Birder with Christian Cooper: Season 1
Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge: Season 2
October 27
LEGO Marvel Avengers: Code Red
Explorers: Lake of Fire
Prime Video
October 24
Hot Potato: The Story of the Wiggles
Zainab Johnson: Hjiabs Off
October 26
Fitzek’s The Therapy
Missing
October 27
Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose
Apple TV+
October 27
The Enfield Poltergeist
CURSES!
AMC+
N/A
Acorn
N/A
Shudder
October 27
When Evil Lurks