Best new shows & films – quick links
BritBox: best new shows
Mint Season 1 – 17 July
Series. A reimagined Romeo & Juliet set against two rival gangs in industrial Scotland, where loyalty and love collide.
Written and directed by Charlotte Regan (Scrapper, Standby, The Responder), this beautifully shot series is celebrated for its distinctive, dreamlike aesthetic, drawing on her background in music videos and a bold streak of magical realism.
The series follows Shannon, played by Emma Laird, the daughter of a powerful crime family, whose world unravels when she falls for someone from the opposing side. Loyalty, betrayal, and impossible choices follow.
Starring Emma Laird, Laura Fraser, Sam Riley and Benjamin Coyle-Larner.
Prime Video: best new shows
Ride or Die – 15 July
Series. Ride or Die follows best friends Debbie Claybourne (Octavia Spencer) and Judith Burton (Hannah Waddingham) who thought they knew everything about each other, except Judith turns out to be an international assassin.
When a mysterious figure emerges from Judith’s past and a hit goes horribly wrong, both of their worlds are turned upside down as they’re forced to go on the run together. It’s a race against time and a road trip across Europe, with law enforcement, highly trained assassins, and some very dangerous criminals at their heels.
MUBI: best new films
It Was Just An Accident – 17 July
Film (2025). An auto mechanic, suspecting that a man he encounters may have been his former torturer in prison, kidnaps him in pursuit of vengeance. With the only clue to the suspect’s identity being the squeak of a prosthetic leg, Vahid seeks confirmation from other recently released victims. As the investigation unfolds, the situation becomes increasingly perilous.
This morally charged drama transforms an apparently routine roadside encounter into a tense exploration of guilt, suspicion, and state violence. It Was Just an Accident extends Panahi’s tradition of deceptively simple yet politically resonant storytelling. Utilising confined settings, real-time tension, and meticulously observed daily interactions, the film eschews melodrama in favour of subtle psychological intensity, offering a controlled study of power and fear in contemporary Iran.
Recipient of the Palme d’Or at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
Cinema By Any Means: A Jafar Panahi Retrospective – 17 July
Collection. A retrospective celebrating the work of Jafar Panahi — whose defiant, inventive cinema has persisted through imprisonment, house arrest, and travel bans, always finding a way to document the humanity of contemporary Iran.
Includes It Was Just an Accident, No Bears, Closed Curtain, Crimson Gold, The White Balloon, Offside, The Circle, The Mirror.
Stephanie Rothman’s Feminist Exploitations – 17 July
Collection. Celebrating three standout films by 1970s exploitation director Stephanie Rothman, known for politically and socially astute films with badass female leads. Her counter-culture films fought back against the male gaze of 1970s New Hollywood.
Includes Group Marriage, Terminal Island, The Working Girls.
ABC iview: best new shows
Play School: Party Animals – 13 July
Calling all party animals! Play School is turning 60 and you’re invited to come celebrate. Your favourite Play School toys will be hosting different parties, from Arty Party, Superheroes to Animals, Space Explorers and Move & Groove!
When the River Rose – 14 July
Documentary. A deeply moving documentary revealing the social and economic impacts of the 2022 Lismore floods through intimate, character-driven storytelling. Flood survivor Kate Stroud guides audiences through compelling conversations with residents whose lives were reshaped by the record-breaking flood.
Back Roads Season 12 – 16 July
Series. Take a road less travelled to the small towns and communities that make Australia special, and discover remarkable stories and inspiring people you’ll never forget. Join Lisa Millar and guest presenters as Back Roads returns for its winter season.
Ninjago: Dragons Rising – 17 July
The Ninja become outlaws to sever Nya’s bond to the sea and, in doing so, uncover a plot to unite Ninjago’s greatest villains against them, orchestrated by the mysterious Crystal King. The Ninja turn to old allies and awaken new powers to protect their home and restore balance to Ninjago.
Treasure & Dirt – 19 July
Series. Two detectives investigate a gruesome murder in a dying opal town in the Australian desert – and are drawn into a strange, surreal underworld of secrets, greed and old sins that won’t stay buried.
Believe Me – 19 July
The story of the victims of John Worboys – one of the most prolific sex attackers in British history – and how two of them took the Metropolitan Police to task for failing them.
SBS On Demand: best new shows
Alone Australia Season 4 – 15 July
Series. Smash-hit survival series Alone Australia drops its highly anticipated fourth season into its most ambitious location yet, plunging 10 brave souls into the brutal, yet spectacular wilds of the Arctic Circle.
Deep in the northernmost reaches of Sapmi, Finland, they face a gruelling survival experiment where the subzero landscape grows deadlier by the day.
Set against a breathtaking backdrop of dancing Northern Lights, this season delivers a brand-new spectacle of bushcraft, ingenuity and survival. Thrust into an unfamiliar Arctic environment, participants must navigate unknown flora, risky first-time foraging challenges, where a single mistake identifying fungi could turn a life-saving meal into a lethal one, and rapidly dwindling resources – all while coexisting with formidable predators.
Cold Haven – 16 July
Series. This Icelandic-Portuguese crime thriller is a tense psychological drama of betrayal, resilience, and the cost of truth. On the remote Icelandic island of Vestmannaeyjar, the close-knit fishing community is shaken when Maria Santos (Maria Joao Bastos), a devoted mother and factory worker, is found dead on a desolate roadside. Her death sets off a chain reaction, exposing long-buried secrets and threatening to unravel the fragile bonds holding the town together.
Trade Secret: The Polar Bear market – 17 July
Documentary. From Executive Producer Adam McKay and Australian director-producer Abraham Joffe, this documentary offers a gripping investigation of the polar bear fur trade, revealing how conservation, politics and commercial interests collide.
Netflix: best new shows
The Hawk – 16 July
Series. On the back nine of his career, golf legend Lonnie ‘The Hawk’ Hawkins chases one final major – and drags everyone he loves into the chaos.
Starring Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon and Jimmy Tatro.
Heartstopper Forever – 17 July
Film (2026). It’s a new school year for the Truham-Higgs gang. As Nick and Charlie’s relationship deepens, their thoughts turn to life after the last bell rings.
Starring Kit Connor, Joe Locke, William Gao and Yasmin Finney. Watch the trailer.
HBO Max: best new shows
People Magazine Investigates Surviving a Cult – 14 July
Series. People Magazine Investigates shines a light on three controversial groups accused of using faith, spirituality and self-discovery to exert control over their followers. Across The Secrets of the Twelve Tribes Cult, The Cult of the Soulful Journey and The University of Cosmic Intelligence Cult, the specials explore allegations of abuse, manipulation, forced labour and unwavering devotion, revealing how the promise of belonging can sometimes conceal a far darker reality.
Good Fortune – 17 July
Film (2025). In Good Fortune, a well-meaning but rather inept angel named Gabriel (Keanu Reeves) meddles in the lives of a struggling gig worker (Aziz Ansari) and a wealthy venture capitalist (Seth Rogen). Watch the trailer.
Stan: best new shows
Married At First Sight USA – 13 July
Series. The phenomenon returns in the latest season of Married at First Sight USA, where singles marry strangers in the social experiment of a lifetime.
The new season will be the first to be modelled on the successful Australian format, introducing a brand-new panel of experts, as the couples navigate the highs and lows of married life.
All American Season 8 – 14 July
Series. The eighth and final season of All American picks up six months after the football cliffhanger at the end of last season, spanning just one week in the lives of our favourite Beverly and Crenshaw crew. A week that will have them wondering if everything they’ve been through over the course of their lives has prepared them for this moment. A week that will ultimately reunite old with the new, friend with enemy, and alter the course of each of their futures forever.
Follow Jordan (Michael Evans Behling), Layla (Greta Onieogou), Coop (Bre-Z), Cassius (Osy Ikhile), KJ (Nathaniel Logan McIntyre), Khalil (Antonio J. Bell), Amina (Alexis Chikaeze) and Preach (Kareem Grimes) in the pursuit of their dreams in the aftermath of Season 7, which left relationships tentative at best.
The F Ward – 17 July
Series. From the makers of Bump comes the new Stan Original The F Ward, starring Anna Friel, Ioane Sa’ula and Dan Wyllie.
This new six-part series follows a group of medical interns sent to the underfunded Pines Hospital in Sydney for one final chance to complete their medical training. Here, they must overcome their insecurities, their past, and their own expectations in a hot-house environment where the stakes are life and death.
The F Ward stars Lola Bond (Last Days of the Space Age), Alex Fitzalan (Prosper), Emily Barclay (Babyteeth), Annie Boyle (Colin from Accounts), Arka Das (Sunny Nights), Paula Arundell (The Last Anniversary), Jeremy Sims (The Artful Dodger), Susie Porter (The Artful Dodger), Toby Schmitz (Boy Swallows Universe) and Alex Dimitriades (Strife). Watch the trailer.
Apple TV: best new shows
Lucky – 15 July
Series. Lucky centres on a young woman (Anya Taylor-Joy) who left behind the life of crime she was raised in years ago, but must now embrace her darker, criminal side one final time in a desperate attempt to escape her past.
The ensemble cast also includes Annette Bening, Timothy Olyphant, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Drew Starkey, Clifton Collins Jr and William Fichtner. Watch the trailer.
