This week the Derry Girls creator Lisa McGee’s latest show How to Get to Heaven from Belfast arrives on Netflix and Jack Thorne’s Lord of the Flies comes to the BBC. Mackenzie Crook brings us a new comedy drama in the shape of Small Prophets, The Artful Dodger returns and we take a powerful look at life after Little Mix with Jesy Nelson.

1. Lord of the Flies (BBC iPlayer)

Fresh from winning about every award going for co-creating the global Netflix hit Adolescence, Jack Thorne is back with another high-profile television project, this time adapting William Golding’s 1954 classic novel into a four-part drama. Starring a cast of 30 largely new-to-screen boys, the drama brings alive the story of a group of children stranded on a desert island after a plane crash who are forced to create their own order with devastating consequences. There are some exceptional performances from the young actors to look out for in this incredibly affecting story.

2. How to Get to Heaven from Belfast (Netflix)

A new eight-part comedy horror from Lisa McGee, the creator of the global smash hit Derry Girls, this show follows a group of thirtysomething friends in Ireland. When Saoirse (Roísín Gallagher), Robyn (Sinéad Keenan) and Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne) attend the funeral of a fourth estranged friend and realise that the person in the coffin isn’t who they’re expecting, they embark on an odyssey across the country that will challenge their friendship and everything they think they know about their past, present and future.

3. Small Prophets (BBC iPlayer)

Created by Mackenzie Crook (Gareth from The Office and the mastermind behind the brilliant Detectorists), this new comedy drama tells the story of Michael Sleep (Pearce Quigley), who is struggling with life after his girlfriend vanished seven years ago. However, with the help of his father Brian (Michael Palin) he summons spirits called homunculi who he hopes can assist him in finding out what happened to her and whether he will ever be reunited with his love. A charming and sweet story with a mix of live-action and stop-motion animation, this is sure to be another very British hit.

4. The Artful Dodger (Disney+)

Available on hulu in the US

The show acts as a sequel to Charles Dickens’s 1838 novel Oliver Twist and focuses on the life of Jack Dawkins (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) in Australia in the 1850s. While the apparent Royal Navy surgeon has managed to establish himself as a young doctor after arriving from England, his life is upended when his former surrogate father Norbert Fagin (David Thewlis) arrives down under and reveals Jack’s former life as pickpocket the Artful Dodger. Now into its second series on Disney+, the historical heist drama is a lot of fun for a winter evening.

5. Life After Little Mix (Prime Video)

You may think you know Jesy Nelson from her public appearances as one quarter of the all-singing, all-dancing girl group Little Mix, but this powerful documentary about the 34-year-old’s life after the band offers a whole new insight into her life. Exploring her personal struggles with fragile mental health while living in the public eye and her subsequent journey into motherhood, the show is an at times difficult-to-watch emotional rollercoaster.

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