There’s a lot happening in the world of British and Canadian TV. Here are some highlights.
Clarkson’s Farm (UK)
In Season 3 of this reality series, veteran gearhead and newbie farmer Jeremy Clarkson (The Grand Tour), along with his team, continues to tackle the ever-unpredictable world of British farming. His Diddly Squat Farm is facing some seriously daunting challenges: the crops are failing in the severe hot weather, inflation has driven the prices of supplies sky high, his dreams for the on-site restaurant are dashed, and now the farm shop faces closure.
Jeremy urgently needs to come up with creative new ways of making ends meet, so he hatches a plan to turn a profit from hundreds of acres of thick, unfarmed woodland and hedgerows that make up half of the Diddly Squat property — triggering an avalanche of schemes that involving everything from goats and pigs to mushrooms, nettles, and deer. And someone new arrives to Diddly Squat, which puts Kaleb’s nose out of joint.
(Video is from Season 2)
Clarkson’s Farm: Season 3, an Amazon Original, premieres globally on Friday, May 3, exclusively on Prime Video, where Seasons 1 and 2 are currently available for streaming.
The Cleaner (UK)
Greg Davies (Man Down, Cuckoo) will return as crime scene cleaner Paul “Wicky” Wickstead in a third season of The Cleaner, the British comedy series based on the multi-award-winning German comedy series Der Tatortreiniger (titled Crime Scene Cleaner in the US). Season 3 will see Wicky encounter a new set of unusual characters as he removes the gruesome remains at six new crime scenes, including a lighthouse in Northern Ireland. He also reconnects with a long lost friend, but his new domestic arrangement is not sitting quite well with him. (Trailer is from Season 1)
Seasons 1 and 2 of The Cleaner are currently available for streaming in the US on BritBox and in the UK on BBC iPlayer.
The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin (UK)
Apple TV+ has dropped the official trailer for this new six-episode comedy-adventure series starring Noel Fielding (The Mighty Boosh, The Great British Baking Show) in the titular role as the legendary British highwayman. Set in the 18th century, this irreverent retelling of Dick Turpin’s story sees him as the most famous but least likely of highway robbers, whose success is defined mostly by his charm, showmanship, and great hair. After being made the reluctant leader of a gang of lovable rogues, Turpin sets out on a journey of wildly absurd escapades with them and rides the highs and lows of his new endeavors, including a brush with celebrity — all while trying to outwit and escape the clutches of corrupt lawman and self-appointed thief-taker Jonathan Wilde (Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey).
The ensemble cast includes Ellie White (The Windsors), Marc Wootton (High & Dry), Duayne Boachie (Blue Story), Tamsin Greig (Episodes), Asim Chaudhry (The Sandman), Dolly Wells (The Outlaws), Joe Wilkinson (Sex Education), Mark Heap (Friday Night Dinner), Geoff McGivern (Free Rein), Michael Fielding (The Mighty Boosh), Samuel Leakey (Gretel & Hansel), and Kiri Flaherty (Blood).
The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin premieres globally with the first two episodes on Friday, March 1, exclusively on Apple TV+, followed by a new episode every Friday through March 29.
Deep Cover (UK)
Prime Video has announced that it will launch globally Deep Cover, a new Amazon UK Original action-comedy movie starring Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World), Orlando Bloom (The Lord of the Rings), Sean Bean (Game of Thrones), Nick Mohammed (Ted Lasso), Ian McShane (“John Wick” films), Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon), and Sonoya Mizuno (Maniac).
Production has started on the film, which sees the police hire three improv actors to help stage low-level stings. Their instinct to “always say yes” without breaking character leads them deep inside the London criminal underworld. Deep Cover will premiere globally exclusively on Prime Video (date tba). Stay tuned for updates.
Dreaming Whilst Black (UK)
BBC Comedy has commissioned a second season of this award-winning, International Emmy®-nominated comedy-drama series co-created, co-written, and starring BAFTA Award winner Adjani Salmon (Chivalry, Doctor Who). Loosely inspired by real-life events, the show follows Kwabena (Adjani Salmon), an aspiring filmmaker stuck in a dead-end recruitment job, who takes the first step to achieving his dream. However, he is quickly confronted with the tribulations of balancing finances, love, and his own sense of reality. (Clip is from Season 1)
Filming for Season 2 will start later this year in the UK. Stay tuned for updates.
Season 1 of Dreaming Whilst Black costars Dani Moseley (Everything I Know About Love), Demmy Ladipo (We Are Lady Parts), Rachel Adedeji (Champion), Babirye Bukilwa (We Hunt Together), Alexander Owen (Jurassic World Dominion), and Will Hislop (Gangs of London). It is currently available for streaming in the US on Paramount+ with Showtime, and in the UK on BBC iPlayer.
Family Law (CA)
This Canadian legal drama — the number one Canadian scripted series in summer 2023 — is getting a fourth season. The series, whose third season premiered in the US back in January, follows the personal, interpersonal, and professional dramas of members of the Svensson family, who work together at the patriarch’s law firm. Set to return for Season 4 are series regulars Jewel Staite (Stargate: Atlantis), Victor Garber (Alias), Zach Smadu (Cardinal), Genelle Williams (Bitten), and Lauren Holly (Picket Fences). Stay tuned for updates.
(Trailer is from Season 3)
The entirety of Seasons 1 and 2 of Family Law, and the recently-debuted episodes of Season 3, are currently available for streaming in the US on The CW’s website. The next new episode arrives on Thursday, February 8, at 9pm ET/PT, on the network’s linear channel.
The Grand Tour (UK)
Filmed in Mauritania, the special The Grand Tour: Sand Job is this motoring show’s penultimate episode. Reuniting in the remote African country of Mauritania, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May follow in the footsteps of the legendary Paris-Dakar rally, but instead of driving bespoke Dakar racers, the trio must complete their journey in cheap modified sports cars. It sees them tackle the killer Sahara and perilous river crossings and protect their precious fuel pump from exploding, all while battling scorching temperatures and unforgiving sand terrain.
The Grand Tour: Sand Job, an Amazon Original, premieres globally on Friday, February 16, exclusively on Prime Video. (You can add it to your watchlist now.) The final special of The Grand Tour is set to launch on Prime Video later this year. Stay tuned for updates.
Hijack (UK-US)
Apple TV+ has announced a second season for this hit thriller starring and executive produced by Idris Elba (Luther), and created by George Kay (Lupin, Criminal) and Jim Field Smith (Criminal, Litvinenko). The Season 2 storyline is under wraps, but Idris Elba assures us that the production “will bring the high octane back!”
(Trailer is from Season 1)
Season 1 of Hijack, an Apple Original, is currently available for streaming globally exclusively on Apple TV+.
Man Like Mobeen (UK)
The BBC has commissioned a fifth season of the BAFTA-nominated comedy series Man Like Mobeen. With Season 4 having ended on a cliffhanger, the new season should reveal what happens with former criminal Mobeen (Guz Khan, Our Flag Means Death, Turn Up Charlie).
The six-episode season is set to start filming later this year, and will launch on BBC Three and iPlayer (date tba). There’s no word yet about a US streaming or linear channel picking up Season 5, but Seasons 1-3 are currently available for streaming in the US on Netflix.
Mr Bates vs The Post Office (UK)
PBS has picked up this gripping historical drama, which became ITV’s biggest new drama in over a decade (even beating the UK launch of Downton Abbey). Starring Toby Jones (The Long Shadow, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), the four-part limited series centers on the real-life British Post Office scandal — one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in British legal history — and was created with direct input from the innocent people who got caught up in it.
Following the UK broadcast on ITV, the series set off a firestorm of public outrage and, within eight days of premiering, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a new law to pardon the victims who had been wrongly convicted. In addition, former Post Office CEO Paula Vennells returned her CBE and Post Office Chairman Henry Staunton stepped down from his role, both after facing mounting pressure over the scandal.
What happened in the scandal? When money started to seemingly disappear from local post office branches, the government-owned Post Office wrongly blamed their own managers for the apparent losses. For more than a decade, hundreds of them were accused of theft and fraud, and many were even sent to prison — leaving lives, marriages, and reputations in ruins. But the issue was actually caused by errors in the Post Office’s own computer system, something the organization denied for years.
Revealing a shocking David vs. Goliath fight for justice, Mr Bates vs The Post Office is the story of the decent, ordinary people who were relentlessly pursued, coerced, and controlled by a powerful corporation, and their ongoing battle — against seemingly insurmountable odds — to right so many horrific wrongs.
Costarring in the series are Monica Dolan (The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe), Julie Hesmondhalgh (The Trouble With Maggie Cole), Alex Jennings (The Crown), Ian Hart (The Responder), Lia Williams (The Capture), Will Mellor (No Offence), Clare Calbraith (Home Fires), Shaun Dooley (Gentleman Jack), Amit Shah (Happy Valley), Lesley Nicol (Downton Abbey), Adam James (Vigil), and Katherine Kelly (Criminal: UK).
Mr Bates vs The Post Office premieres in the US on Sunday, April 7, at 9pm ET, on PBS (check your local listings), with streaming available on PBS.org, the PBS App, and the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel.
Say Nothing (US)
FX has commissioned Say Nothing, a new limited series based on the book Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe. The nine-episode drama explores The Troubles, the four-decade-long conflict in Northern Ireland, opening with the disappearance of single mother Jean McConville, who was abducted from her home in 1972, never to be seen alive again. McConville, along with many others, became known collectively as The Disappeared.
Through the eyes of various IRA members — including sisters Dolours and Marian Price, young women who transformed into magnetic symbols of radical politics; Brendan Hughes, a conflicted, tight-lipped military strategist; and Gerry Adams, a savvy political operator who would go on to negotiate peace but ultimately deny his involvement with the IRA — Say Nothing unpacks the extremes to which some people will go within a civil rights movement as they pursue their ideals, the mystery surrounding The Disappeared, the cost of silence, and the way society mends (or doesn’t) after a long and bloody conflict.
The series stars Lola Petticrew (Bloodlands) as the young Dolours Price, Hazel Doupe (Smother) as Marian Price, Anthony Boyle (Masters of the Air) as Brendan Hughes, Josh Finan (The Responder) as Gerry Adams, and Maxine Peake (Silk) as Dolours Price.
Say Nothing will be available exclusively on Hulu in the US, Star+ in Latin America, and Disney+ in all other territories. Stay tuned for updates.
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Dreaming Whilst Black: Season 1
Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe
