East of EdenFrom Thursday, October 1st, Netflix
John Steinbeck’s epic novel from 1952 was made into a Hollywood blockbuster starring James Dean and directed by Elia Kazan. It tells the story of the Trask family as they build themselves a new life in California’s Salinas Valley in the years leading up to the first World War, with biblical themes abounding. Now Zoe Kazan, Elia’s granddaughter, has turned her lifelong passion for Steinbeck’s magnum opus into a drama series starring Florence Pugh as the novel’s amoral antihero, Cathy Ames. She arrives into the lives of Adam and Charles Trask like a storm, driving a wedge between the brothers and casting a shadow that will reach into the next generation. Adam thinks she’s an angel sent from heaven; Charles believes she’s the devil’s daughter. Soon Adam and Cathy are wed, but Adam’s dream of a perfect family turns to dust when Cathy abandons him and their twin sons, Caleb and Aaron. The boys grow up thinking their mother has died, but the shocking truth will open a chasm between the two brothers and bring past demons back to the surface.
Kill JackieFrom Friday, October 2nd, Prime Video
Jackie Price is living the high life as an art dealer, jetting around the world while taking full advantage of every tax loophole available. Only one problem: she has to keep a low profile because of her past as a big-time cocaine dealer, during which she made many enemies. When she discovers that a group of hitmen known as the Seven Demons have been hired to bump her off, she decides to do an Uma Thurman and hunt down her would-be assassins one by one. Catherine Zeta-Jones stars in this Tarantino-meets-Guy Ritchie-style thriller series, along with Daniel Ings and Sidse Babett Knudsen.
CarrieFrom Wednesday, October 7th, Prime Video
Stephen King’s shocking story of school bullying and paranormal powers spawned a hit horror film starring Sissy Spacek, and in recent years the Duffer brothers paid homage to Carrie via the character of Eleven, in Stranger Things. Now King’s debut novel has been turned into a full-length series that promises to bring the story up to date, exploring cyberbullying and toxic social media while sticking firmly to the old-fashioned gore of the original book. Summer H Howell stars as Carrie, who has to navigate family tragedy and the cruelty of her classmates while discovering her own scary powers of telekinesis. It’s a lethal combination that’s bound to end in tears – and probably bucketloads of blood.
Small ProphetsFrom Wednesday, October 7th, Apple TV
Mackenzie Crook’s comedy for the BBC has been renewed for a second season, to air in 2027, so it’s handy that Apple TV has bagged the first season of this acclaimed series, to give us a chance to recap on this gentle and surreal suburban drama. Pearce Quigley stars as Michael Sleep, an eccentric type who has never got over the disappearance of his beloved partner, Clea, seven years ago. When his dad, Brian (Michael Palin), gives him an ancient recipe, he discovers he can conjure up strange water-dwelling creatures in his shed – not sea monkeys but homunculi, magical spirits with the power to predict the future. Crook costars as Gordon, the unlikeable manager of the DIY store where Michael works, with Lauren Patel as Michael’s colleague Kacey, with whom he strikes up a friendship.
Treasure IslandFrom Monday, October 12th, Paramount+
Robert Louis Stevenson’s maritime romp has stirred the imaginations of many film-makers, and this new six-part reimagining hopes to follow in the wake of Pirates of the Caribbean and strike streaming TV gold, with help from its stars, Hayley Atwell, David Oyelowo and Tom Sweet. Atwell is Bess Hawkins, a tiger mom who has found the legendary map, and sets off with her son, Jim Hawkins (Sweet), on the Hispaniola to find the treasure. But there’s mutiny in the air as the charismatic and ambitious Long John Silver (Oyelowo) puts Jim’s loyalties to the test.
VisionQuestFrom Wednesday, October 14th, Disney+
Its name sounds like some corporate motivational programme from the 1980s, but VisionQuest is the third and final series in the trilogy that began with WandaVision and continued with Agatha All Along. Paul Bettany returns as Vision, the former superhero who is now in hiding, living a quiet life mostly inside his own head, where he communes with a group of AI personas embedded in his brain, one of whom happens to be the notorious Ultron (James Spader), the dude who tried to destroy the multiverse. But it’s not long before a bounty is put on Vision, and he has to go on the run, accompanied by a boy named Thomas Shepard, who might actually be Vision’s son. VisionQuest promises more mind-bending Marvel fun, but it will have to be a real brainfryer to match the wacky and wonderfully inventive WandaVision.
The DiplomatFrom Thursday, October 15th, Netflix
It’s hard enough to keep a marriage together when your husband is having an affair or gambling away the family’s fortune. What happens when you discover he has helped to steal an apocalypse weapon from Russia, threatening to plunge the US into all-out war? Keri Russell returns as Ambassador Kate Wyler, with Rufus Sewell as her husband, US vice-president Hal Wyler, in series four of the political thriller that double-jobs as a relationship drama in the rarefied atmosphere of Capitol Hill. Alison Janney is the reckless and capricious US president Grace Penn, whose marriage to first gentleman Todd Penn (Bradley Whitford) is also on shaky ground. The Diplomat is an awkward blend of high-stakes political intrigue and marital strife: you can’t tell which is more urgent, preventing nuclear armageddon or serving the divorce papers on time.
The Terminal ListFrom Wednesday, October 21st, Prime Video
Navy Seal James Reece has some very particular skills, which he demonstrated to devastating effect in the first series of the military thriller based on the bestselling novels by Jack Carr. One of those skills was a talent for uncovering conspiracies that run to the highest level of government, then killing everyone involved. Chris Pratt returns as Reece. Having avenged the deaths of his family and his combat team, he’s given a chance to come in from the cold with a presidential pardon. All Reece has to do is foil a global conspiracy that stretches from the steppes of Russia to the mountains of Virginia. Soon he’s back in combat mode with a crack team, but they might need bigger guns – and cojones – for this job.
Nobody Wants ThisFrom Thursday, October 22nd, Netflix
When Noah met Joanne, they probably didn’t think their relationship would go all the way to a third series. But here they are, still mismatched and still in love, in this couples comedy starring Kristen Bell and Adam Brody that explores what happens when a sex podcaster and a rabbi find they’ve more in common than either of them expected. In series two Joanne contemplated converting to Judaism, but Noah didn’t want her to convert just for him. As the new series opens, they’re not only still together but also planning to move in together, which will bring a whole new set of challenges for Joanne and Noah.
NocturneFrom Friday, October 30th, Apple TV
Liev Schreiber and Stephen Graham are the heavyweight names on opposite sides of the law in this dark crime series based on the bestselling Scandi-noir novels. For this series the action has been moved to the United States, where Schreiber is the former soldier Jonah Lynn, a homicide detective in Philadelphia who has decided to get away from the pressure cooker of big-city policing and move with his family to a small town in Pennsylvania. But if he thinks he’s in for a relaxing time, he’s in for a shock when the town is terrorised by a serial killer, Jurek Walter (Graham), who likes to bury his victims alive so he can taunt their loved ones. No prizes for guessing that Lynn’s own family is targeted by Walter, and he’s forced to make some agonising choices to save those he loves the most.