Pick of the week
Hello Tomorrow!
It’s the American dream but not quite as you know it. This retro-futuristic drama takes place in a twee but automated US, seemingly stuck between the aesthetics of the 1950s and the technology of the 2050s with a sense of lingering darkness. Billy Crudup plays Jack Billings, a sales executive for Brightside – a hucksterish operation that sells real estate on the moon. Billings is slick, persuasive but slightly desperate: there’s a sense of emptiness in both his personality and his profession. When he stiffs callow young customer Joey Shorter (Nicholas Podany), he also recruits him into the sales force. But can Shorter’s naivety survive contact with Billings’s reality? Phil Harrison
Apple TV+, from Friday 17 February
***
African Queens: Njinga
Pre-colonisation Africa is often tacitly portrayed as uniformly primitive by historians but this series, narrated by Jada Pinkett Smith, suggests that is an ignorant and racist rewriting of history. At the heart of events is Queen Njinga – a fierce warrior who assumed control of Ndongo (now Angola) after her father was killed. The story relies on both the testimony of historians and reconstructions, and there’s plenty of fascinating historical detail – for example, in a blow to assumptions of patriarchy, Njinga had a posse of male concubines to attend to her sexual needs. PH
Netflix, from Wednesday 15 February
***
Perfect Match
A World Cup of Netflix dating shows? Or, if you’re feeling slightly more cynical, the hookup Hunger Games? This series brings together some of the most popular singletons from Too Hot to Handle, Love Is Blind, The Mole and The Circle and packs them off to a tropical island. Will sparks fly? Almost certainly – as participants pair off and take part in various challenges, there will also be an element of matchmaking from within the group. It seems entirely likely that mind games, trickery and chaos will ensue. Nick Lachey is your romantic ringmaster. PH
Netflix, from Tuesday 14 February
***
Full Swing
Hot on the heels of Netflix’s tennis-themed Break Point and new episodes of Prime Video’s cricket documentary The Test comes this latest fly-on-the-wall sport series from the producers of Formula 1: Drive to Survive. This time, golf gets the treatment – and with a breakaway tournament threatening the Tour, it’s an interesting time to be tracking the game. Professional golf is a blue-riband, big-money affair. The pressure is intense and it’s fascinating to see, up close, the toll it takes on players such as Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter. PH
Netflix, from Wednesday 15 February
***
The Twelve
Criminal juries offer the perfect format for tense, twisty human drama: a group of strangers placed together to perform a difficult job under intense duress. In this gripping Australian 10-parter starring Sam Neill, a jury is convened over the case of Claire Spears, a 14-year-old who is missing and presumed murdered by her aunt. However, the members of the jury are dealing with issues of their own – from a man with a gambling problem to a woman with a horrific family secret, it seems inevitable that the case will unlock hidden trauma. Hollie Richardson
ITVX, from Thursday 16 February
***
Carnival Row
A second and concluding season for this endearingly silly fantasy series starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne. The vibe is steampunk Dickens – it’s a grubby, grimy but faintly magical world of fae, pix, critches and even the odd human. It’s best not to dig too deeply into the logic of its world-building, or spend too long pondering the possible metaphorical subtext about minorities persecuted by the fearful authorities. But there is fun to be had in the overripe performances, the nicely stylised settings and the underdog story at the show’s heart. PH
Prime Video, from Friday 17 February
***
Star Trek: Picard
Once more unto the bridge for the estimable Patrick Stewart, who reprises his role as Jean-Luc Picard for what we’re told will be the last time. As we begin, Picard is in an avuncular mood; there’s a sense of the wistfulness that comes with age and endings. But early impressions are deceptive: Starfleet is to face an attack that will threaten the foundations of his life. It’s a story of vengeance and betrayal centred by Stewart’s performance – he assumes the character of Picard with the effortless familiarity of a man putting on a comfortable old sweater. PH
Prime Video, from Friday 17 February
