The best new shows to stream in December

Over the past decade the rise of streaming has upended television, but that doesn’t mean that every storied small-screen tradition needs to be put aside. One of my favourites is the crossover episode, where characters from one show appear in another. I’m thinking Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher skipping from Murder She Wrote to Magnum PI, or The Family Guy episode that hosted The Simpsons. It can be an inspired twist, or a ludicrous stunt.

Now we’re getting a dual crossover event courtesy of Disney+. Next year the beloved dirtbags from It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia will learn some new lessons by appearing on an episode of primary school sitcom Abbott Elementary. Later in the year, the Abbott Elementary teachers will return the favour and let loose on the MA-rated It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. There is such good potential in this collaboration. I want more of them.

Meanwhile, December has plenty to add to your watch list, and I’m keen to see how intriguing propositions play out. Are we ready for Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw – the voice of Paddington Bear – as hard-nosed spies in Netflix’s Black Doves? What can Jude Law bring to Star Wars on Disney+’s intergalactic adventure Skeleton Crew? How will they use Paul Kelly’s anthem in Binge’s adaptation of How to Make Gravy?

If you’re inclined, please drop us an email and let us know what you most enjoyed watching, what you’re looking forward to, and most importantly what I might have missed. Consider it a crossover episode where the critic gets some help from the viewer.

Netflix

My top Netflix recommendation is Black Doves (December 5).

Blood-spattered and trading banter, Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Ben Whishaw (Skyfall) are intelligence operatives and old friends thrown back together in this London-based thriller when her lover is murdered, and he helps her exact revenge. I like the unconventional casting, especially Whishaw going from playing Q alongside Daniel Craig’s Bond to portraying a field operative, and I suspect that the pair signed on to this limited series to work with creator Joe Barton, whose previous Netflix show, the simmering crime meditation Giri/Haji, was one of the 10 best debuts of 2020. This is definitely not your average spy thriller.

Also on Netflix: More than three years after its debut, South Korea’s Squid Game (December 26) remains the most-watched Netflix series of all time. A horrifying survival thriller about 456 desperate competitors playing literal life-and-death games, the show was a critique of late-era capitalism given to fantastical flourishes. Fittingly, creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has said he didn’t profit greatly from the show’s breakthrough success, so the writer and director agreed to make a second season. On screen, the traumatised winner of the drama’s debut, Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae, The Acolyte) will return to play once more, along with several other existing characters. Get ready for some inventive massacres.

House-hunting becomes a matter of life and death in No Good Deed (December 12), the new black comedy from Liz Feldman, whose Dead to Me remains one of Netflix’s underrated gems. Lisa Kudrow (Friends) and Ray Romano (Everybody Loves Raymond) play a married Los Angeles couple selling their family home, but the way they monitor the potential buyers suggests they have more to win or lose than a good profit. The hopeful buyers are a killer supporting cast: Linda Cardellini (ER), Teyonah Parris (WandaVision), Denis Leary (Rescue Me), Abbi Jacobson (Broad City), and O-T Fagbenle (Presumed Innocent) all come to the open house.

November highlights: Ted Danson was at his best in the mercurial comedy A Man on the Inside, Martha Stewart didn’t like Martha, a documentary she co-operated with, and there were new seasons for Keri Russell drama The Diplomat and steampunk animation Arcane.

Binge

My top Binge recommendation is How to Make Gravy (December 1).

Few songs can carry a film adaptation, let alone merit one, but Paul Kelly’s unofficial Christmas anthem is definitely the exception. Since its release in 1996, Kelly’s tale of a prison inmate writing a letter to his brother about the family he’s missing has become a treasured Australian tune. Fans celebrate “Gravy Day” on December 21, the day the jailhouse letter is written, and make the lyric’s gravy recipe. In the adaptation from filmmaker Nick Waterman and musician and writer Megan Washington, Daniel Henshall (Snowtown) plays the letter writer, Joe, with Brenton Thwaites (Maleficent) as his sibling Dan and Agathe Rousselle (Titane) as his wife Rita. The expanded narrative shows more of Joe’s struggles in prison, with Hugo Weaving (The Lord of the Rings) as a fellow inmate.

Also on Binge: Does the plot of Laid (December 19) sound familiar? A woman learns that her former lovers are dying in strange ways, so sets out with her best friend to confront both her past failings and current fatalities. That was original Australian series Laid, which aired on the ABC for two seasons starting in 2011. A romantic comedy with a genuine body count, this American remake stars Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once) as the single who should not mingle, with Zosia Mamet (Girls) playing her bestie. The original show was a work of comic alchemy: absurd, heartfelt and filthy. Replicating it for an American audience won’t be easy.

November highlights: The Eddie Redmayne assassin thriller The Day of the Jackal was an inspired remake, Get Millie Black reinvented the police drama in Jamaica, while Dune: Prophecy was a labyrinthine science-fiction prequel about wielding power.

Apple TV+

My top Apple TV+ recommendation is The Secret Lives of Animals (December 18).

With an emphasis on wide-screen production values and intimate storytelling, Apple TV+ has been quietly adding nature documentaries to its roster for some time now and providing sturdy family viewing. Narrated by Hugh Bonneville (Paddington), this new 10-part docuseries focuses on never-before-seen footage of unique animal behaviour – an orb-weaving spider constructs a replica of itself to deter predators; a wood mouse adds signposts to its environment. The series took three years to make, shot in 24 countries, and features 77 unique species, plus it has the genre’s badge of excellence: it was made by the BBC’s Natural History Unit.

Also on Apple TV+: It appears people want romantic comedies, but we’re just not sure where it is they want to see them. Audiences didn’t flock to cinemas in huge numbers when Fly Me to the Moon (December 6) debuted in July, but on streaming it gets a second life, and it reminds us that star power can still turn heads. Scarlett Johansson (The Avengers) and Channing Tatum (Magic Mike) play adversaries turned love interests in this feature set in the lead-up to the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969 – she’s the marketing whiz trying to improve NASA’s image, he’s the Launch Director focused on keeping the astronauts alive. The pair have some screwball chemistry together. That’s all the genre needs.

November highlights: The Irish siblings with too many secrets returned with a new season of Sharon Horgan’s Bad Sisters, while Before’s combination of Billy Crystal and a supernatural mystery was as bad as you might have feared.

Stan*

My top Stan recommendation is Earth Abides (December 2).

Whether it’s Stephen King’s The Stand or Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, novels about the scattered survivors of apocalyptic events have long inspired screen adaptations. This six-part American series, based on the 1949 science-fiction novel of the same name by George R. Stewart, updates the action to the present day, with Alexander Ludwig (Vikings) as Ish, one of the few survivors of a global pandemic. Trying to make sense of a seemingly empty world, Ish eventually tries to relaunch humanity, even if the tenets he believes in no longer apply. Creator Todd Komarnicki, who wrote Sully for Clint Eastwood, has a huge canvas to play with, but not that many speaking roles.

Also on Stan: Sadly, the tradition is ending. This is the final time a season of Bump (December 26) will debut on Boxing Day, with the delightfully genuine comic drama about a teenage Sydney couple – and their extended clans – brought together by an unexpected baby reaching the end of the road after five instalments. Kelsey Munro and Claudia Karvan’s multicultural show has always forged ahead, with new tests and experiences for its characters, but this final season has a lovely full-circle premise: with their daughter now in primary school, Oly (Nathalie Morris) and Santi (Carlos Sanson Jr) find themselves expecting once more.

November highlights: There was a very Australian take on the Christmas comedy with Nugget is Dead: A Christmas Story, plus the concluding episodes for Yellowstone, one of television’s biggest dramas.

Amazon Prime

My top Amazon Prime recommendation is The Sticky (December 6).

I am all for top-tier character actors having the chance to headline a show, so kudos to this Canadian crime-comedy for giving top billing to the great Margo Martindale, who’s been stealing scenes for the past few decades in everything from The Americans to The Watcher. Martindale plays Ruth, a maple syrup farmer – it’s a very Canadian show – on the verge of losing her trees who, with some questionable partners, decides to rob the maple syrup processing plant that won’t help her. With its Coen brothers vibe of snowy heists and eccentric characters, this limited series is loosely based on real events in Canada. Bonus casting: Jamie Lee Curtis (The Bear) will add to the pithy chaos.

Also on Amazon Prime: Inspired by and even set within more than a dozen popular video games, Secret Level (December 10) is an adult animation anthology where the storytelling branches out from familiar characters or scenarios. If a gamer has ever had a “what if?” moment where a possible narrative mattered more than a potential high score, then these episodes might answer their question. The creator is Tim Miller (Deadpool, Netflix’s Love, Death & Robots), who has matched voice acting from the likes of Keanu Reeves, Kevin Hart and Arnold Schwarzenegger to video games such as God of War, Warhammer 40,000, and – yes! – Pac-Man.

November highlights: Cross gave fans of the best-selling detective series Alex Cross a worthy screen adaptation, while the coming-of-age comedy My Old Ass was a further showcase for Aubrey Plaza.

Disney+

My top Disney+ recommendation is Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (December 3).

The Star Wars television shows thankfully continue to diversify, with the latest addition being an intergalactic adventure that leans into wide-eyed adolescent wonder as a quartet of children from a peaceful planet make a discovery and end up far – very, very far – from home with no plan on how to get back. Co-creator and lead director Jon Watts is responsible for all three Tom Holland Spider-Man blockbusters, and the vibrant trailer has some 1980s echoes, whether it’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off or puppet work for alien creatures. With no stormtroopers in sight, Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes) plays the canny veteran trying to steer the youngsters to safety. Put the lore aside, this just needs to be capital-f Fun.

Also on Disney+: Elton John: Never Too Late (December 13) is aiming to be the definitive documentary about the many lives of a pop music icon. Following the British singer and songwriter on his final world tour – which featured a mere 330 stadium gigs across the globe – the narrative covers the 77-year-old’s life and career, complete with access to exclusive unseen material from John’s own archives. This may well be the documentary that is more outrageous than the biopic (2019’s Rocketman). The directors are Elton’s husband, David Furnish, and filmmaker R.J. Cutler, who recently delivered Martha, the wild Martha Stewart Netflix documentary.

November highlights: The riveting Say Nothing was a must-see invocation of The Troubles in Northern Ireland, Interior Chinatown was a conceptual comedy that moved the boundaries, Rivals was a 1980s British romp, and Mexico’s biggest stars headlined boxing black comedy La Maquina.

ABC iview

My top ABC iview recommendation is Douglas is Cancelled (December 1).

The prolific British writer and producer Steven Moffat (Doctor Who, Sherlock) has a somewhat more hapless protagonist in this contemporary satire. Douglas Bellowes (Hugh Bonneville, Downton Abbey) is a beloved British television presenter whose on-screen charm starts tilting when an online post accuses him of making a sexist joke at a wedding. It’s a brief crisis, but it begins the complex unravelling of Douglas’ relationship with his younger co-anchor, Madeline Crow (Karen Gillan, Guardians of the Galaxy). At just four episodes it’s a quick watch, but rest assured Moffat covers a lot of timely issues.

November highlights: Countdown: 50 Years On celebrated the chart-topping show that once had a nation watching every Sunday night, while Headliners was a contemporary celebration of music that had Australian greats mentoring young musicians with disabilities.

SBS On Demand

My top SBS On Demand recommendation is Daddy Issues (December 19).

Arriving with glowing reviews from the UK, where it’s already had a second season commissioned, this BBC comedy updates the odd couple genre along family lines. Hairdresser and party animal Gemma (Aimee Lou Wood, Sex Education) has to re-appraise her life after a hook-up leaves her pregnant and single just as her housing falls through. A process of elimination leaves Gemma with one back-up option, her single father, Malcolm (David Morrissey, Sherwood), who is absolutely not ready to look after himself, let alone his daughter and future grandchild. The show is funny, but it’s not a fantasy – the humour stems from plausible issues, big and small.

November highlights: Taut 1970s espionage drama Spy/Master offered a new perspective on Cold War machinations, plus a detailed portrait of the comic who became a wartime president in The Zelensky Story.

Other streamers

My top recommendation for the other streaming services is Paramount+’s Dexter: Original Sin (December 13).

It’s an odd but accurate compliment: Dexter Morgan is television’s favourite serial killer. A sociopath orphaned by a horrific crime who channelled his bloodlust into vigilante retribution, Michael C. Hall’s blood-spattered anti-hero has fronted multiple series since 2006. The next one up is 2025’s Dexter: Resurrection, but in the meantime Dexter devotees can get a fix with this prequel drama. Set in 1991 Miami, it stars Patrick Gibson (The OA) as a young Dexter, just beginning his career as a forensics technician and serial killer under the influence of his adopted father, Harry (Christian Slater, Mr Robot). Gibson is a terrific casting choice, but Hall will still be present – he’ll be voicing Dexter’s narration. How nostalgic!

Also: Does Martin Clunes have a little Liam Neeson inside him? We’ll find out how the star of Men Behaving Badly and Doc Martin fares as a vengeful father in Out There (AMC+, December 16). In this British drama Clunes plays Nathan Williams, a lifelong farmer who is already widowed and belatedly realises that he has lost his son, Johnny (Louis Ashbourne Serkis, The King Who Would Be King) to a drug gang that has taken up residence in the family’s rural community. When Nathan takes on the criminals, he discovers qualities he never knew he possessed.

November highlights: Paramount+’s Matlock reboot was two good shows cunningly combined into one, 7plus unearthed a hidden gem with the mind-bending spy thriller Counterpart, and Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman were back to once again save America in Paramount+’s Lioness.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.

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