Pick of the week
Missing You
DI Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar) isn’t a woman who makes life easy for herself. Her dad’s murderer is about to die, so she’s decided to go and visit him on his deathbed. Her ex – who disappeared when she was grieving, 11 years earlier – has matched with her on a dating app and rather than running a mile, she’s swiped right. This thriller, adapted from a novel by Harlan Coben, relies heavily on such contrivances to build its narrative. It’s equal parts a twisty murder mystery and a study in trauma – as such, takes itself incredibly seriously. But the fine ensemble cast, which also includes Ashley Walters, Lenny Henry and a cartoonishly villainous Marc Warren, keep things interesting.
Netflix, from New Year’s Day
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The Rig
Back to the North Sea, where humanity’s attempts to wean itself off oil fuel this pungently overripe but still enjoyable drama starring Martin Compston and Rochenda Sandall. The remains of the crew are reeling from the tsunami and Mark Addy’s villainous company man Coake isn’t helping: he’s whisked the riggers off to the Arctic Circle where they are presented with an offer. Tickets home, £200k and your signature on an iron-clad non-disclosure agreement. Will they sign? And in the meantime, has mother earth finished her rumblings? The Rig is admirably unafraid of going dramatically big as we find out. PH
Prime Video, from Thursday 2 January
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Darby and Joan
This platform has made its name as a reliable purveyor of cosy crime dramas. It brings the second series of this gentle but accomplished Australian murder mystery in which widowed former nurse Joan (Greta Scacchi) and retired cop Jack (Bryan Brown) travel the outback. They’re looking for answers regarding the death of Joan’s husband – but as they engage with the sometimes eccentric communities they encounter, other peculiar situations draw them in. It’s bright and breezy but the characters are sturdily constructed and there’s an undercurrent of melancholy too. PH
Acorn TV, from Monday 30 December
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Avicii: I’m Tim
Swedish EDM producer Avicii (real name Tim Bergling) saw his career go stratospheric as a result of his 2011 single, Levels, but he died by suicide in 2018. This intimate documentary explores his life story through interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. It concentrates more on his vertiginous rise than his death – but with Bergling himself providing the narration from past recordings, there’s a haunting sense of the apparently shy and self-contained man behind the public image. Netflix are also launching a concert film of Avicii’s final show, from Ibiza’s Ushuaïa. PH
Netflix, from New Year’s Eve
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Michelle Buteau: A Buteau-ful Mind at Radio City Music Hall
With this performance, Floridian standup Buteau becomes the first female comic to film a special at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. But, as she puts it: “I’d better not be the fucking last!” It’s a raucous and life-affirming hour of comedy in which Buteau takes stock of fame, motherhood and marriage, and ponders the implications of her success. Not least among which is being eagerly followed by Lenny Kravitz on Instagram and being able to tease her husband about his dangerous new love rival. PH
Netflix, from New Year’s Eve
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Slaycation
All the uber-camp of the festive season is thrown at this latest expansion of the Drag Race universe in which six veterans of the franchise spend the holiday season together in a snowy Canadian winter resort. The idea is that they’ll put on a production of some sort for the community at the end of the week, but that feels like a pretext for partying, rivalries and industrial quantities of passive aggressive shade-throwing. The featured queens include Jada Shada Hudson, Kerri Colby, Kandy Muse and our very own Lawrence Chaney. PH
Wow TV, from New Year’s Eve
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Selling the City
Everyone knows the drill by now: this series from the creators of hate-watch Selling Sunset follows a group of aggressively crass estate agents from the Douglas Elliman organisation as they sell garish properties in the clouds above New York City to unfeasibly rich and demanding punters. Alongside all the property porn, there’s a whole world of performatively fractious interpersonal relationships as the idea that the agents are a collaborative, mutually supportive team is optimistically posited but quickly crumbles like a stale mince pie. PH
Netflix, from Friday 3 January
