Best new shows – quick links
Netflix: best new shows
Outer Banks Season 5 – 20 August
Series. After losing one of their own, the Pogues chase revenge and redemption as they pursue a stolen artifact with the power to change their fortunes.
Starring Chase Stokes, Madelyn Cline and Madison Bailey.
Prime Video: best new shows
Novak Djokovic: The Wolf in Winter – 20 August
Documentary. What makes professional tennis player Novak Djokovic tick?
Born in war-torn Serbia, Djokovic grew up amid conflict and financial hardship as his family sacrificed everything to support his tennis career. When he burst onto the professional scene, he was met not with open arms, but with resistance – perceived as an unwelcome intruder disrupting the beloved Federer-Nadal rivalry that fans had elevated to mythic status.
Featuring Novak Djokovic, Jelena Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Boris Becker.
Fuze – 21 August
Film (2025). When a massive bomb discovery forces a citywide evacuation, bomb disposal commander Will Tranter (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) races to stop a catastrophic detonation – while, above ground, criminal mastermind Karalis (Theo James) and his brutal partner (Sam Worthington) use the lockdown to execute a precision bank heist.
Starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Theo James, Saffron Hocking and Gugu Mbatha-Raw.
Apple TV: best new shows
The Dynasty: UConn Huskies – 21 August
Documentary series. This series invites audiences inside the most dominant program in college basketball history as Geno Auriemma pushes his players to the limit to win 12 titles. Rebecca Lobo, Diana Taurasi, Paige Bueckers, and more reveal what it takes to survive UConn and build a dynasty.
Stillwater Season 5 – 21 August
Kids and family series. Season 5 follows siblings Karl, Addy and Michael, who have a very special next-door neighbour: a wise panda named Stillwater. His friendship and stories give them new perspectives on the world, themselves, and each other.
Stan: best new shows
You’re Killing Me – 17 August
Series. Set in a quiet New England town, You’re Killing Me follows bestselling novelist, Allie, who joins forces with an aspiring writer and podcaster, Andi, to investigate the murder of a close friend. The unlikely duo run into trouble, however, when they clash with a local police detective.
Executive produced by and starring Brooke Shields, the series co-stars Amalia Williamson (Sullivan’s Crossing) and Tom Cavanagh (The Flash, Scrubs).
The Beauty Queen and the Catfish – 19 August
Series. Dr. David Graham seems to have it all: the looks, the job, the charisma. He’s Kilmarnock’s most eligible bachelor, who happens to be online and looking for love. But when the town’s former beauty queen, Abbie Draper, starts to receive messages from him, she begins to suspect he may be too good to be true.
Uncovering the story of one of Britain’s most prolific cyberstalkers, The Beauty Queen and the Catfish follows Abbie as she discovers a trail of deception, crazy coincidences and stories that just don’t add up.
Binge: best new shows
Conan O’Brien Must Go Season 3 – 21 August
Series. Conan engages in in-depth discussions with viewers from all around the globe in this unique comedy travel show.
Hamnet – 22 August
Film (2025). Jessie Buckley won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of grieving mother Agnes Hathaway in Hamnet. Also stars Paul Mescal.
From ScreenHub‘s review:
‘What’s in a name? the doomed Juliet asks Romeo in a little play by William Shakespeare you may have heard of?
‘Though a different fragment of that text appears in Chloé Zhao’s England-set Hamnet, which just closed the British Film Festival before opening nationally on 15 January, the idea of nominative determinism howls through this heartsore film like wind in the woods.
‘Adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s historical fiction of the same name, with the author as co-writer, Hamnet underlines that names matter. They tie us to our families, for better or worse, sometimes saddling us with fates beyond our control. All have layers of deeper meaning.
‘So there’s a chill in the air, as an opening intertitle announces that, during the 16th century, given names were often interchangeable.’ Read more …
MUBI: new this week
The Loneliness of Lizards – 21 August
Film (2025). Inês Nunes’s first feature is a subtle Portuguese-Spanish co-production that introduces a promising new voice in European independent cinema.
Causing a Stir: Modern Provocations – 21 August
Spotlight collection. Every family has its black sheep – and so does cinema. To see these visions of excess and decay is to step into the funhouse mirror of modern life, swamped with twisted reflections of human nature.
Includes: Rosebush Pruning, Crimes Of The Future, Liberte, Attenberg, Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, Dogtooth.
Athina Rachel Tsangari: A Double Bill – 21 August
Alongside Yorgos Lanthimos, Athina Rachel Tsangari is a defining member of the Greek New Wave. This double bill pairs her breakout masterpiece with a singular short: films whose off-beat style, dark humour, and shrewd visuals explore gender, power, and national identity in modern Greece.
Includes: Attenberg, The Capsule.
Rosebush Pruning – 21 August
Film (2026). Karim Aïnouz, the Brazilian-German filmmaker, brings his most radical work yet to MUBI. Rosebush Pruning, a European co-production filmed in four countries, opens a new chapter in his career. His films often focus on bodies under pressure, desire as a political battleground, and a willingness to confront what society tends to ignore.
Rosebush Pruning is visceral, formally daring, and filled with the dark wit that has set Aïnouz’s films apart from the beginning.
ABC iview: best new shows
Take 5 with Zan Rowe Season 5 – 20 August
Series. Take 5 with Zan Rowe returns for its fifth season, bringing together an exceptional line-up of global music, cultural and political icons. The acclaimed music interview series explores the universal idea that we all carry a soundtrack to our lives. Do you have one?
Amanda & Alan’s Italian Job Season 2 – 20 August
Series. Amanda Holden and Alan Carr purchase a dilapidated 17th century house for one euro in idyllic Tuscany and spend the summer transforming it into an Italian dream home.
Zog – 22 August
Series. The brand new series Zog, inspired by the beloved books of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Produced by the award-winning Magic Light Pictures, the animated comedy adventure series follows Zog, Doctor Princess Pearl and Sir Gadabout the Great as they soar across the land treating all their fantastical friends.
SBS On Demand: best new shows
Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey Season 2 – 18 August
Series. The new season of Shaun Micallef’s Origin Odyssey sees Shaun Micallef accompany six prominent Australians back to the places their ancestors once called home. Armed with historical research, misplaced confidence and a passport, Shaun helps uncover family stories that have lain hidden for generations.
Guests include Pia Miranda, Denise Scott, Matt Okine, Luke McGregor, Kate Langbroek and Tony Armstrong.
Nora Sand: The Pushover Season 2 – 20 August
Series. The second instalment of the Nora Sand series.
In an upscale neighbourhood in North Zealand, Denmark, a woman is found dead in a pool.Suspicion falls on her boyfriend, Tom (Sigurd Holmen le Dous), a notorious con artist. When he unexpectedly turns himself in, he admits to fraud but insists her death was an accident. Veteran investigator Morten Stark (Morten Hauch-Fausbøll) is convinced he is lying, and he plays a dangerous game to expose him.
Meanwhile, in Copenhagen, journalist Nora Sand (Marie Sandø Jondal) digs through a former colleague’s research and uncovers multiple past fraud cases against Tom. As her team trace his past, they reveal a chilling secret.
The Vampire Lestat – 21 August
Series. The Vampire Lestat is the riotous next instalment in the Interview with the Vampire series. Set in the 2020s, it shifts perspective to Lestat (Sam Reid) as he goes on tour with his eponymously named band, while being haunted by ‘muses’ from his past.
As the band’s popularity grows, so does Lestat’s influence over vampires and humans alike, leaving others to contend with Lestat’s power in the face of the Great Conversion.
Interview with the Vampire Seasons 1 & 2 – 21 August
Series. Based on the Anne Rice novel, Interview with the Vampire begins with Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) who lives in 1910 New Orleans as executor-in-charge of his family’s fortune. When he meets the vampire Lestat (Sam Reid), Louis’ life begins to unravel in. otherworldly ways. Some 110 years later, Louis tells his story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian).
La Vuelta a España – 22 August to 13 September
Live and On Demand. All the action from the 2026 edition of La Vuelta as the final Grand Tour of the year sets off from Monaco. The route will take the peloton through a mediterranean and mountainous landscape across 21 stages and a total of 3275 kilometres.
