Summer is usually quite the drought when it comes to TV, but July seems to be bucking the trend this year. There’s plenty to sink your teeth into over the coming weeks, whether you’re a fan of murder mysteries, sport comedies or deep-dive documentaries on former glamour models. Too niche?
Of course, there’s Wimbledon and the rest of the World Cup to enjoy across the BBC and ITV, too. But if you’re anything like me, you’re hankering after some dramatics that don’t involve balls and grass.
Here are the best series to look out for this July:
Elle
Lexi Minetree as Elle Woods. The new TV show is a prequel to ‘Legally Blonde’ (Photo: Prime Video)
Ever wondered what Elle Woods was up to before she stormed Harvard Law School? Me neither, but Prime Video is telling us anyway with this 90s pink-tinged prequel to Legally Blonde. Lexi Minetree, who plays Elle, is a doppelgänger for Reese Witherspoon (an executive producer on this), and the series sees the future lawyer once again dropped in a fish-out-of-water scenario when her family move to Seattle. Bedazzled Nirvana T-shirts abound.
Streaming now, Prime Video
Katie Price: Nothing to Hide
Katie Price in ‘Nothing to Hide’. The series documents Price’s rise to fame (Photo: Lauren Maccabee/Sky UK)
No, this isn’t yet another of Katie Price’s ill-conceived reality shows (anyone remember the Mucky Mansion?), rather a classier four-part documentary series from Louis Theroux’s production company. It charts Price’s rise to fame in the tabloids, in which she was better known as glamour model Jordan, as well as interrogating why the British public are as obsessed with her private life today as they were 30 years ago. As the title suggests, there’s not much Price refuses to discuss.
Wednesday 8 July, Sky
Little House on the Prairie
Alice Halsey as Laura Ingalls and Luke Bracey as Charles Ingalls in ‘Little House on the Prairie’. The Netflix take includes an expanded story and plot (Photo: Eric Zachanowich/Netflix)
Netflix’s take on Little House on the Prairie is inspired more by Laura Ingalls Wilder’s 1935 semi-autobiographical book than the more famous 70s TV series. It follows the Ingalls family – as seen through the eyes of a young Laura (Alice Halsey) – as they take to a new life in the meadows of Kansas, battling fever, wolves and fire. This time, the story is expanded to include the indigenous Osage people who have lived on the prairie for ever – a necessary and welcome update to a classic tale of the American dream.
Thursday 9 July, Netflix
The Westies
JK Simmons as Eamon Sweeney in ‘The Westies’ (Photo: Brooke Palmer/MGM+)
Oscar winner JK Simmons (Whiplash) plays Eamon Sweeney, the fictitious leader of a real life Irish-American gang who operated out of the Hell’s Kitchen area of New York in the 80s known as the Westies. Sweeney is a charismatic captain, but there’s a schism between the old and young generation of the Westies threatening to upset his reign. And that’s not their only problem – the FBI are using the gang to get to the Italian mob – the perfect set up for a mob land showdown.
Sunday 12 July, MGM+ via Prime Video
Ride or Die
Hannah Waddingham as Judith Burton in ‘Ride or Die’ (Photo: Dušan Martinček/Prime)
Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (The Help) and Hannah Waddingham are a comedy dream team as Debbie and Judith, two friends who are forced to go on the run from a mysterious bad guy. Why? It turns out Judith is a trained assassin, much to Debbie’s shock – she thought she knew everything about her best friend of 20 years. The hilarious, action-packed adventure (created by British podcaster and writer Tessa Coates) takes them across Europe, where it seems every other person they meet wants them dead.
Wednesday 15 July, Prime Video
Lucky
Anya Taylor-Joy as Lucky. #Lucky’ features a stacked cast, including Annette Bening (Photo: Michael Becker/Apple)
Another series about a woman on the run, but this time it’s a lot more serious. Con artist Lucky (Anya Taylor-Joy) is looking for a way out of her shady criminal lifestyle, but when a heist goes wrong, she finds herself the target of a murderous crime boss – and the FBI. Taylor-Joy is joined by some impressive actors for the crime thriller, including five-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening as Priscilla, the ruthless mob leader who will stop at nothing to catch Lucky.
Wednesday 15 July, Apple TV
The Five-Star Weekend
Jennifer Garner as Hollis Shaw. The show features a stacked cast of well-known actors (Photo: Seacia Pavao/Peacock)
An all-star cast of women in a drama set in a picture-perfect American beach town? No, this isn’t another series of Big Little Lies, but it is adapted from another bestseller, this time by Elin Hilderbrand. Jennifer Garner plays Hollis Shaw, a recent widow who decides to combat her misery by taking a trip to sunny Nantucket with her best friends (played by D’Arcy Carden, Gemma Chan, Regina Hall and Chloë Sevigny). It might sound idyllic, but the trip is not all plain sailing as secrets are exposed, and boundaries are pushed.
Thursday 16 July, Sky and Now
The Hawk
Will Ferrell as Lonnie in ‘The Hawk’. Ferrel returns to our screens as a golfer determined for one last victory (Photo: Colleen E Hayes/Netflix)
Love him or loathe him, Will Ferrell is back. This time he’s playing Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins, a professional golfer who has his sights on one last big win before retirement. It’s been over two decades since Lonnie was at the peak of his putting powers, but with the help of his nearest and dearest – his son Lance (Jimmy Tatro), his ex-wife (Molly Shannon), Lance’s fiancée (Katelyn Tarver) and his caddy Sam (Fortune Feimster) – he’s determined to be champ once again.
Thursday 16 July, Netflix
Heartstopper Forever
Joe Locke as Charlie and Kit Connor as Nick (Photo: Netflix)
The sweetest teen romance on TV is coming to an end not with one last series, but a feature-length film. When we last saw lovebirds Nick (Kit Connor) and Charlie (Joe Locke), it seemed nothing could break them apart – but with one of them getting ready to move away for university, they’re about to face their biggest hurdle yet: a long-distance relationship? Will they be able to weather the storm? The “Forever” in the title would certainly suggest so…
Friday 17 July, Netflix
Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston
Tom Hiddleston in Pompeii (Photo: Paolo Verzone/National Geographic)
Tom Hiddleston is quite the odd choice to front a “docudrama” (that’s half documentary, half drama) about the destruction of Pompeii, but apparently, he’s quite the history buff. Over three episodes, the Night Manager star will travel back in time and introduce us to three Pompeians – a teenage apprentice, a powerful businesswoman and a mysterious Praetorian Guard – whom we follow throughout the eruption of Vesuvius, challenging what we thought we knew about one of history’s most famous disasters along the way.
Thursday 23 July, Disney+
Ann Droid
Sue Johnston as Sue and Diane Morgan as Linda (Photo: Gary Moyes/BBC/Boffola Pictures)
Just when you thought Diane Morgan’s characters couldn’t get any stranger than Philomena Cunk and Mandy, here comes Linda, a second-hand robot carer employed to look after widow Sue (Sue Johnston). Hired by Sue’s son Michael (Paul Ready) so he can move out and fix his own marriage, over-attentive Linda soon turns out to be more trouble than she’s worth – and, as is the case with everything Morgan touches, absolutely hilarious.
July, BBC One
The Dark
Laura Donnelly as detective Monica Kennedy in ‘The Dark’ (Photo: Mark Mainz/Poison Pen Studios/ITV)
Set among the atmospheric hills of the Scottish countryside, this six-part thriller follows DI Monica Kennedy (Laura Donnelly) and her new partner DC Connor Crawford (Mark Rowley) as they hunt down a depraved serial killer. The investigation kicks off when the body of a young man is found under eerie circumstances, setting the local village off into a state of panic. Can Monica catch the murderer before he strikes again? Or will her own mysterious personal demons cloud her judgement?
July, ITV
The Undeclared War
Hannah Khalique-Brown as Saara , Simon Pegg as Danny and Siân Brooke as Barbara (Photo: Channel 4)
Blue Lights’ Siân Brooke joins the second series of Channel 4’s political thriller as Barbara, boss Danny’s ex-wife and now GCHQ analyst, arriving just in time for a fresh cyber attack on British soil. According to Danny (Simon Pegg), the malware is “potentially nuclear”, and suspected to be deployed by Russian agents. As if that wasn’t terrifying enough, Danny and his team work out that there’s a mole within their ranks, feeding vital information to the enemy.
July, Channel 4