What are you going to be watching in March? With thanks to our friends at Nando‘s, we round up everything that’s coming to streaming services this month, including Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Apple TV+, Neon and TVNZ on Demand.
The biggies
Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends (on TVNZ on Demand from March 22)
You’ve seen them all on The Spinoff – now you can watch every episode of the award-winning Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting Legends again on TVNZ on Demand. The series finds and celebrates the New Zealand athletes of yesteryear who’ve fallen off the radar or never got the recognition they deserve. From Māori tennis legend Ruia Morrison’s journey to Wimbledon in the 1950s to the hard luck story of 80s skateboarding prodigy Lee Ralph, the two seasons are full of incredible people and stories you probably hadn’t heard before. / Calum Henderson
Operation Varsity Blues (on Netflix from March 17)
If you’re anything like me, you were following the story of how Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin paid bribes to get their children into top universities like a hawk watches a vole scampering across a field. The story was everything you could want from a crime story: famous people trying to get around the system by throwing money at a problem, and getting dragged through the mud as a result. Now there’s a documentary, by the same people who gave us the breathless retelling of the Fyre Festival shitshow, about the 2019 scandal that saw the rich and sometimes famous paying a cumulative $25 million to get their kids into college by bribing admissions officials and fraudulently inflating test scores. / Sam Brooks
ZeroZeroZero (series on Neon from March 8)
In Calabria, southern Italy, a flailing crime lord announces a make-or-break deal: 5,000 kilos of cocaine worth €900 million is arriving from Mexico, via intermediaries in New Orleans. Thus the three interlocking stories that make up Zero Zero Zero are set in motion: the buyers in Italy (this is an Italian production, based on an novel by Gomorrah author Roberto Saviano), the producers in Mexico, and the go-betweens, a ship-owning family led by patriarch Edward Lynwood (Gabriel Byrne). This kind of big-picture portrayal of the drug trade is familiar from shows like Narcos and Traffic, but ZeroZeroZero is a stand out thanks to stunning cinematography and oodles of ominous atmospherics. / Catherine McGregor
Star (available on Disney+ now)
It’s kind of a cheat to put this here, but I think a streaming service suddenly dropping 435 films and 150 series onto the service counts, because that’s what Disney+ just did. Anyway, you can find a full list of the (almost exclusively) archival content here, and read an explainer of what Star is here. If you’re like most of my friend groups, you’ll be mostly excited to finally have somewhere to stream Ugly Betty. / SB
The notables
The Drowning (series on Neon from March 28)
The British love a moody water-based thriller – think Deep Water, The Nest, The Bay – and now there’s The Drowning, a new four-part mystery drama about a grieving mother’s search for the truth. Jill Halfpenny stars as Jodie, a gardener who becomes convinced that a local teenage boy is actually her missing son Daniel who disappeared several years earlier, presumed drowned. Determined to find out what really happened to her child, Jodie infiltrates her way into the boy’s life and turns a community upside down in the process. Nobody mention a DNA test, things are way too tense here to think logically. / Tara Ward
Invincible (series on Amazon Prime Video from March 22)
This is definitely one to keep an eye on: Invincible is more than just your average animated series, no matter how much it might look like Teen Titans. It follows a kid, Mark Grayson, (Steven Yeun) who finds out that his dad (JK Simmons) is his universe’s equivalent of Superman, and even more, he’s inherited those powers! Super strength? Got it. Flight? That too. Invincibility, as the title suggests? 100%. It’s darker than it sounds, with a tone that’s similar to The Boys, but not quite as nihilistic. The comics were great, and I can’t wait to see this show tackle the same blend of wholesome superhero comedy and cartoonish violence. / SB
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (series on Disney+ from March 21)
WandaVision hasn’t even wrapped up its truly astonishing first season and yet here we are talking about the next juggernaut on the Disney+ calendar. Launching this month, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier pairs two fan favourite supporting characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe for what promises to be an action-packed, six episode spy thriller. Not a lot is known about the premise just yet, but the trailers have revealed the return of Daniel Brühl’s Helmut Zemo from the films and teased other connections to the wider universe as well. While WandaVision – which, I repeat, is pretty much the best show of 2021 – has chosen to look and sound a lot different to a traditional Marvel production, Falcon is sure to appeal to those looking for stylised action and big budget special effects. It’s only six episodes long because it would literally have been too expensive to make it any longer – this is a six hour Marvel film, people!/ Stewart Sowman-Lund
Nailed It: Double Trouble! (series on Netflix from March 26)
This is one of those real simple ones that don’t need much of an explanation: It’s more Nailed It!, the hilarious and wholesome cooking show where bad cooks are allowed to be the most mediocre they can be. Nicole Byer, a true angel among us, hosts. The twist this time is that instead of three bad cooks competing, it’s six – they’re doing it in pairs, y’all. Tune in, feel better about yourself and the world. / SB
The movies
Fake Famous (on Neon from March 21)
Little Women (on Neon from March 7)
Speaking as an ancient and creaky Gen X-er, I never expected the 1994 film adaptation of Little Women, starring an Oscar-nominated Winona Ryder as Jo and Christian Bale as a surprisingly attractive Laurie, could ever be improved on. And then 25 years later came Greta Gerwig’s version, and I realised I how wrong I was. This one isn’t just gorgeously shot and beautifully acted – it’s also inventively constructed, with a nonlinear timeline that foregrounds the adult story without detracting from the teenage hijinks. And yes, it will absolutely make you cry. / CM
Coming 2 America (on Amazon Prime Video from March 5)
If you had “Amazon will release a sequel to 1988 Eddie Murphy vehicle Coming to America” on your 2021 TV bingo card then congrats! You’re a weirdo, but also correct. This sequel follows Prince Akeem Joffer (Murphy) just as he’s set to become the King of Zamunda, but he discovers he has a son he never knew about in, you guessed it, America. The son in question is Lavelle (Jermaine Fowler), a street savvy Queens fellow. To honour his father’s dying wish, Akeem and Semmi (Arsenio Hall) go/come to America once more. The first film showed Murphy at the height of his powers, and I can only hope that this film continues the high quality comeback started by 2019’s Dolemite Is My Name. / SB
This post is made possible by our friends at Nando’s.
The rest
Netflix
March 1
Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell
Ocean’s Eleven
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
March 2
Word Party: Season 5
March 3
Moxie
Murder Among the Mormons
March 4
Pacific Rim: The Black
March 5
Sentinelle
Nevenka: Breaking the Silence
City of Ghosts
March 8
Bombay Begums
March 9
The Houseboat
StarBeam: Season 3
March 10
Marriage or Mortgage
Dealer (Caid)
Last Chance U: Basketball
March 12
The One
Paradise PD: Part 3
Love Alarm: Season 2
Paper Lives
YES DAY
March 15
The Lost Pirate Kingdom
Zero Chill
Mao’s Last Dancer
Dallas Buyers Club
March 16
RebellComedy: Straight Outta the Zoo
Waffles + Mochi
March 17
Under Suspicion: Uncovering the Wesphael Case
Simply Black
Justice League: The Snyder Cut
March 18
Cabras de Peste
Nate Bargatze: The Greatest Average American
B: The Beginning Succession
March 19
Sky Rojo
Formula 1: Drive to Survive: Season 3
One Small Problem
Alien TV: Season 2
Country Comfort
March 22
Navillera
March 23
Loyiso Gola: Unlearning
March 24
Who Killed Sara?
Seaspiracy
March 25
Caught by a Wave
Secret Magic Control Agency
DOTA: Dragon’s Blood
March 26
Nailed It!: Double Trouble
The Irregulars
Magic for Humans by Mago Pop
A Week Away
Bad Trip
March 27
Petter Rabbit
March 30
Octonauts & the Ring of Fire
March 31
Haunted: Latin America
Neon
March 1
The Amazing World of Gumball: Season 6
Transhood
Tell it To The Bees
Vita and Virginia
March 2
Horse Camp: A Love Tail
The Photograph
March 4
The Flash: Season 7
Bellbird
Almost Famous
March 5
A-Z Guide for Girls
The Gruffalo’s Child
Lubna and Pebble
Sesame Book: My First Trip to the Farm
JoJo’s Follow Your Dream
Black and Blue
Judy & Punch
Seven Stages To Achieve Eternal Bliss by Passing Through The Gateway Chosen By The Holy Storsh
Vault
The Nightingale
March 7
Little Women
Edge of Darkness
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
For Sama
Halston
In Search of Greatness
March 8
ZeroZeroZero
March 9
Grown Ups
March 10
Honey Wars
March 11
New Amsterdam: Season 3
The Hunt
March 12
Bia & Nino Humming
Death At a Funeral
The Pursuit of Happyness
March 15
Terminator Salvation
March 16
Louis Theroux: Life on the Edge
The Nomads
March 17
Mayans M.C: Season 3
March 18
The Diagnosis Detectives
Bloodshot
March 19
The Changing Face of the New Zealand Dairy
90 Day Fiance: Season 7
Cadillac Records
Where the Wild Things Are
March 21
Fake Famous
March 22
Erin Brockovich
Rambo
Red 2
March 23
How We Eat with Simon Gault
Red 2
The Grey
March 24
Living with Tourette’s: Season 1-3
March 26
Pins and Nettle
Total Divas: Season 6-9
The Grudge
March 28
The Drowning
March 29
A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood
Crank: High Voltage
TVNZ on Demand
March 1
Kitchen Science
Trapped: Season 1-2
Born to Kill
Suburgatory: Season 1-3
The Unauthorised Beverly Hills, 90210 Story
The Unauthorised Melrose Place Story
She Shears
From the Vault: Sailing
Scott and Bailey: Season 1-5
Whitechapel: Season 1-4
The Eric Andrew Show: Season 1-4
Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Season 2-7
Harvey Birdman: Season 2-4
Zama
Sex Lives of Plants
Banksters
The Beatles, Hippies and Hell’s Angels: Inside the Crazy World of Apple
Playground Murder Plot
Living Dolls
Voyage of Curiosity
Chernobyl Reclaimed
Happy Face Killer
Victoria Gotti: My Father’s Daughter
The Obsession of Carter Andrews: Season 2
Yukon Gold: Season 5
Broken English Virtual Concert with Bebe Zahara Benet
Nubia Amplified
Stranger Hearts
Love is Blind
Looking for Lenny
We are X
Gardening with Soul
Madam K
The Defence (aka The Disappearance)
March 6
My Māori Midwife: Season 2
March 7
Black Sails: Season 1-4
Banished: Season 1
March 18
Press
March 20
Nikita: Season 1-4
March 24
The Secret of Circkley Hall
March 28
The Gloaming
March 29
Defending the Guilty
Amazon Prime Video
March 5
Coming 2 America
March 12
Making Their Mark
March 22
Invincible
Noah
March 24
The Mauritanian
Disney+
March 5
Raya and The Last Dragon
Flicka 2
Flicka: Country Pride
March 12
Love in the Time of Corona
Own the Room
March 19
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Arrested Development: Season 1-3
Disney Ducktales
March 26
The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers
Gnomeo and Juliet
Code Black
Ghost Whisperer: Season 1-5
Happy Endings
Apple TV+
March 12
Cherry
Acorn TV
March 1
Balathazar: Season 2
Black Box
The Miniaturist
March 8
The Sounds
Above Suspicion: Season 3-4
WPC 56
March 15
Finding Joy: Season 2
In Deep: Season 1
Murphy’s Law: Season 1
March 22
Moving On: Season 9-10
Total Control
Code of a Killer
March 29
In Deep: Season 2
I, Claudius
River