What To Watch This Week 13.05.24

The Jennings Vs Alzheimer’s, BBC

Alzheimer’s is one of the biggest drains on our social care system and, with an ageing society, it’s going to be even more of an issue in the coming years. So, the search for a cure is even more pressing. When Carol Jennings, after her Alzheimer's diagnosis, lobbied for research into the disease being hereditary, it led to confirmation of a mutant gene. Charting this family's history intertwined with research developments, this documentary follows her children who are left with a terrible dilemma: to find out if they are carriers of the gene. And, for the scientists, it's a race against time to find a cure.

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The Guilty Innocent With Christopher Eccleston, Sky History

Kicking off this week, The Guilty Innocent is a new two-parter narrated by award-winning actor Christopher Eccleston. As the name suggests, it will examine some of the biggest miscarriages of justice in history. It starts with George Davis who was jailed for the London Electricity Board robbery in 1975 on shaky evidence. Through archival footage, and interviews with journalists, lawyers and campaigners, the story unravels, exposing the gaps in the system that allowed it to get it so wrong. 

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Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal, Netflix

When Ashley Madison – the dating site for people seeking extramarital affairs – was hacked in 2015, the fallout was unimaginable. Across 40 countries, millions of users’ intimate data was exposed, destroying marriages and lives in one fell swoop. In this new three-parter from documentarian Toby Paton (Jo Cox: The Death of an MP), we hear from ‘dot com boom’ experts, as well as users and about the hack that brought it all down.

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Bridgerton, Netflix

The third series of our favourite steamy period drama kicks off this week. In this instalment, it’s Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan, Derry Girls, Big Mood) taking centre stage. After hearing Colin Bridgerton’s (Luke Newton) dismissive remarks about her last season, she’s finally let go of her long-standing crush on him and it’s time to find a husband – all while juggling her double life as Lady Whistledown. After receiving the cold shoulder on his return from his travels, Colin tries to make amends with Penelope and help her in her search for a husband. This season is split into two parts, with the first ready to binge this week and the second soon to follow. 

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Outer Range, Amazon Prime

The highly anticipated second season of the sci-fi neo-Western series is back after a two-year hiatus. Outer Range follows Wyoming rancher Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin: Dune, No Country For Old Men) as he battles to safeguard his family and land from both human interference and a mysterious dark void that emerges on their pasture. In this season, Royal and his wife Cecelia (Lili Taylor: Say Anything, The Conjuring) grapple with keeping their family intact after their granddaughter Amy's (Olive Abercrombie) sudden disappearance, all while the black hole expands on their property. 

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The 8 Show, Netflix

The 8 Show is the latest satirical South Korean export. The premise – not too dissimilar to the popular Squid Game – sees eight individuals trapped in an eight-storey building and the longer they stay, the larger the prize becomes and the higher the danger. Betrayal, underhand tactics and morality breaches are tenfold, but who is really pulling the strings? 

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The Big Cigar, Apple TV

Drawing inspiration from true events, this new drama tells the tumultuous tale of the bond between film tycoon Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) and Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton (André Holland). While Schneider had produced iconic counter-cultural films like Easy Rider in the late 60s, he yearned for genuine rebellion. Enter Newton, facing legal peril and in need of a swift departure from the US. Together, they devise a daring scheme: smuggling Newton to Cuba under the guise of a fictitious film production.

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American Fiction, Amazon Prime

New on Prime is 2024 Oscar winner American Fiction. Written and directed by Cord Jefferson (The Good Place), the film has an impressive cast: Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, John Ortiz, and Jeffrey Wright (Westworld, The Batman) as the protagonist. It’s based on the novel Erasure by Percival Everett, which tells the story of Monk, a novelist who is increasingly disheartened by the establishment's exploitation of clichéd Black entertainment and stereotypes. In response, he writes a satirical book that embraces those clichés. To his dismay, it's lapped up by a clueless audience and becomes his most successful work.

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