The best 30 shows to watch on demand this autumn, as picked by Daily Mail critics

Claire Danes (pictured) stars as Aggie Wiggs in Netflix's thriller about an author who develops an obsession with her neighbour

Claire Danes has a flair for playing unstable characters. She did it for years on Homeland and won two Emmy awards for her trouble, and she's at it again in more concentrated form in The Beast In Me, an eight-part thriller about a grieving author who develops an obsession with her new neighbour. The once successful, now reclusive Aggie Wiggs (Danes) comes to believe that slippery property mogul Nile Jarvis (an Emmy-winning Matthew Rhys) murdered his wife, but could the 'beast' of the title actually be dwelling closer to home? Could the beast be grief? (And even if it is, it's worth remembering that Jarvis could still be a baddie, too.)

This ambiguity drives the series, which has a much edgier look than your standard Netflix thriller and is being run by Howard Gordon – a writer on Homeland. Nile Jarvis is a slippery antagonist in a similar vein to Damian Lewis's character Nicholas Brody in the early years of that show and, although the stakes on this series are objectively lower than terrorist plots that could kill thousands, you wouldn't know it from the intensity deployed by both actors. A cat-and-mouse thriller of the kind you might want to parcel out rather than watch as fast as possible, this is the kind of show that asks you to see things from unexpected perspectives. (Eight episodes)

FURIOUS

You'll like this if you love... The Fall

For anyone who's seen one too many TV dramas that open with the body of a dead blonde, Furious should certainly strike a chord. Pictured: Emmy Rossum as FBI Agent Alice Black

A female serial killer is taking out men one by one in this dark and edgy thriller, and new FBI Agent Alice Black (Emmy Rossum) seems to be the only one who can catch her. That's the premise of Furious, the title of which hints toward the righteous anger that drives the killer, and the shifting perspectives on justice it features along its eight-part length. Both lead actresses are terrific – Rossum rose to fame on the US version of Shameless and gives Alice a simmering depth, while Lola Petticrew (Trespasses, Say Nothing) is on awards-worthy form in the showier role as the killer she's tracking.

Writer Elizabeth Meriwether has a history of creating strong shows about very different women, from chirpy sitcom New Girl with Zooey Deschanel as a manic pixie figure, to the corporate fraud Elizabeth Holmes in The Dropout, to Dying For Sex, with Michelle Williams as a woman rediscovering life in the face of a cancer diagnosis. Furious feels like another intriguing entry in that ever-deepening CV. Eight episodes may feel like a lot for a cat-and-mouse story but this is also a show that's tangling with an issue – what women should do with righteous anger, what society expects of them, and the consequences of the difference between the two things. For anyone who's seen one too many TV dramas that open with the body of a dead blonde, Furious should certainly strike a chord. There will be a second series. (Eight episodes)

WIDOW'S BAY

You'll like this if you love... Twin Peaks

Matthew Rhys (pictured) plays mayor Tom Loftis in Apple TV's comedy-horror series Widow's Bay

Widow's Bay is a mix of small-town comedy and slow, creeping horror, and one of those series that has you wondering if horrible things are really about to happen – or if it's all in the mind of the stressed main character. Matthew Rhys stars as that main character: mayor Tom Loftis, a tense man who is determined to turn around the fortunes of Widow's Bay, an ailing island town off the coast of New England that he wants to transform into a tourist hotspot, like Bar Harbor in Maine or, heaven forbid, Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts (where they filmed Jaws).

Widow's Bay is a town full of superstitions, and when Tom begs a reporter to come and write about it, an old story resurfaces about cannibalism that does nothing for his stress levels. There are plenty more question marks around the town. Is the inn really haunted? Is there a mist that kills people? And are all these horrors just a metaphor for the resentment that's been building up from years of downward economic drift?

These questions are what pull you into this ten-parter from Katie Dippold (Parks And Recreation), and Rhys's performance is what keeps you there, along with the smattering of shocks. Few leading men handle intensity as deftly as Rhys, and he's fascinating to watch whenever he's on screen – no surprise then, that he scooped an Emmy for his performance. It turned out to be a double win, actually – the proud Welshman also picked up a gong for his performance in The Beast In Me on the same night. There will be a second series. (Ten episodes)

RIVALS

You'll like this if you love... Jilly Cooper

Audiences have been won over by Alex Hassell as Rupert Campbell-Black and Bella Maclean as Taggie O'Hara (both pictured)

Rivals was a full-on experience in its first series, in every sense of the word. Yet the drama based on Jilly Cooper's Rutshire Chronicles has found another level of 1980s glamour and chintz as it opens its 12-episode second series – you just have to look at the size of Emily Atack's bouffant to see that. Atack's big-haired TV presenter, Sarah Stratton, is pregnant but so prolific has she been at sleeping her way around Rutshire that there's a question mark over the father. She thinks it's TV titan Lord Baddingham (David Tennant). He's very much still alive after being clocked on the head at the end of series one, but he's certainly not interested in fatherhood with her. Not even after a brush with death.

That's just one piece of what's going on here. The spine of the story is still the two duelling TV franchises run by rivals Baddingham and Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell), the womanising showjumper turned aspiring politician with a secret vulnerable side. Rupert has a lot on his plate this series, not least his lingering love for Taggie, his current clinch with Cameron, the digging of a gossip journalist into his past and more beyond even that. Rupert is really shown in three dimensions here, and it's hard not to root for him against Baddingham – a man who literally has bad in his name. Also appearing in three dimensions is Freddie, the electronics tycoon played by Danny Dyer. Dyer's performance was the acting revelation of series one, and that hasn't changed as Freddie tries to navigate whether or not to have an affair with dear Lizzie Vereker (Katherine Parkinson), the romance novelist and Jilly Cooper proxy. Don't miss the short but lovely tribute to Dame Jilly at the end of episode one.

The only downside of this series of Rivals is that the release schedule is rather... relaxed. Which is very 1980s, in a way. The first two episodes go off like a rocket and be prepared for a strong emotional instalment later on. A third series has been ordered. (Episodes 1-6 now available, with 7-12 following from November 11)

LUCKY

You'll like this if you love... The Queen's Gambit

Anya Taylor-Joy, pictured, is a compelling presence at the centre of this twisting tale - available on Apple TV

Anya Taylor-Joy stars in a seven-part crime thriller that starts in high gear and stays there. Adapted from Marissa Stapley's novel by Jonathan Tropper (also the man behind Apple's Your Friends & Neighbours), Lucky is the story of a couple who pull off a daring heist, only for something to go wrong – leaving Lucky Armstrong (Taylor-Joy) on the run from both the law and outlaws in Las Vegas. Sporting various haircuts and colours as the show pushes on and with her character caught somewhere between victim and action hero, Taylor-Joy is a compelling presence at the centre of this twisting tale. The wider cast also features Justified's Timothy Olyphant as her jailbird dad and the great Annette Bening as a pivotal character whose nature we won't reveal here. Rest assured you won't miss her when she turns up, though. Taken as a whole, the series manages to feel both gritty and glossy, familiar and different – like Lucky herself, its style sits somewhere between pulp fiction and class act, but the one thing that's certain is that it'll pull you eagerly from one episode to the next. (Seven episodes)

LIONESS

You'll like this if you love... The Night Manager

Watch now on Paramount+

Zoe Saldana (pictured) is among the famous faces in this show, which also stars Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman

Gritty and glossy in equal measure, this spy series follows the activities of a crack CIA unit that uses female operatives to befriend the wives, daughters and girlfriends of high-value targets. Joe (Zoe Saldana) is the agent in charge of the programme – answering to high-ups played by Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman – whose first mission is to get a young former Marine (Laysla De Oliveira) to become friends with the daughter of a terrorist leader with the aim of getting close enough to assassinate her dad. Musings about the moral grey areas of international espionage rub shoulders with slam-bang action in a very satisfying thriller series that makes great use of its high-profile cast. In the second series, those grey areas become even greyer as Joe recruits a new operative – The Umbrella Academy's Genesis Rodriguez – to penetrate a threat much closer to American soil, while the latest third series finds the team facing new threats, including drones. (Three series)

ROOSTER

You'll like this if you love... Ted Lasso

Watch now on HBO Max

Steve Carell as Greg Russo and John C McGinley as the dean in HBO's comedy Rooster, which

This offbeat father-daughter comedy from HBO has a strong pedigree, between its star Steve Carell and its co-creator Bill Lawrence, a US TV producer who's been the force behind such top shows as Spin City, Scrubs, Shrinking and Ted Lasso, to name but four. The premise is that it's about a dad who comes in to help when his grown-up daughter, a professor at a liberal arts college, burns down a faculty house after learning that her husband (Ted Lasso's Phil Dunster) is having an affair with a student. As luck would have it, Greg (Carell) is a famous novelist (loosely based on Carl Hiaasen), and the dean of the college (Scrubs' John C McGinley) agrees to let his daughter stay on if Greg agrees to lecture at the college.

It's a slightly complicated premise, but that gives the show plenty of areas to mine for comedy, from the evolving nature of father-daughter relationships to the state of modern academia. The tone sometimes rides the lines between drama and comedy, a territory that perfectly suits Carell, an actor who excels at selling his comedy through total emotional commitment. He required no persuasion to star in this show, reflecting that: 'It was one of the best comedy pilots I've read,' and deciding to get on board shortly after he turned the last page. His faith was rewarded, as Rooster has been renewed for a second series. (Ten episodes)

LOVE STORY: JOHN F KENNEDY JR & CAROLYN BESSETTE

You'll like this if you love... Bridgerton

Sarah Pidgeon, a Tony Award nominee for her role in the Broadway play Stereophonic, stars as Carolyn Bessette

Originally known as American Love Story and hailing from Ryan Murphy, the uber producer behind American Horror Story and American Crime Story, the first series of this show is all about the whirlwind courtship of John F Kennedy Jr (Paul Anthony Kelly) and Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon). These two beautiful people first met in 1992, when Carolyn oversaw a VIP clothes fitting for America's most eligible bachelor in a Calvin Klein store. As JFK Jr, this is ex-model Paul Anthony Kelly's first on-screen role – but his casting as the chiselled bachelor came at the end of a long road.

The casting team didn't find him until three weeks before shooting was scheduled to start, which must have been a little unnerving for his waiting co-star Sarah Pidgeon, a Tony Award nominee for her role in the Broadway play Stereophonic. According to executive producer Brad Simpson, it had got to the point where they were auditioning 'any sort of white guy between 25 and 40'. Still, it was worth it. The chemistry between the two leads is good, even if Kelly's acting skills don't match Pidgeon's, and the charm of a romance that spans two different (albeit both glamorous) worlds is engaging. As this is a true story it's not a spoiler to say their romance is a tragic one but, if you want to go in blind, don't search the internet too much before watching. Although you might want to look up Daryl Hannah's reaction to the way she was portrayed in the story. She wasn't pleased. (Nine episodes)

LAST SEEN

You'll like this if you love... The Missing

Patrick Brammall (pictured) stars as Ian Ridley, an Aussie police dispatcher who used to be a detective until his daughter Maggie went missing 11 years ago

You may be familiar with Patrick Brammall from the Australian comedy Colin From Accounts, but he's on very serious form in this six-part thriller based on the 2011 novel The Dispatcher. Brammall stars as Ian Ridley, an Aussie police dispatcher who used to be a detective until his daughter Maggie went missing 11 years ago. This tragedy triggered a spiral into a booze hell from which the poor soul has only recently recovered. Then, one day, Ian gets a call that makes him think Maggie is still alive, and he simply won't stop until he finds her – to hell with the consequences for him, and everyone else. Will his quest land him in prison or permanently at the bottom of a bottle, or does he actually have a hope of reuniting his broken family?

You'll have an inkling of which way it's going to go by the end of episode one, in which Brammall sets out his stall as an engaging leading man. Ian is driven by love for his daughter, yes, but also towards actions you may not always find sympathetic. There's an obvious Liam Neeson-in-Taken comparison to be had here, but Last Seen is much more of a thriller than it is an action series. Among the rest of the cast, Britain's Maxine Peake co-stars in a supporting role that should become more intriguing as the show goes on. (Six episodes)

THE GENTLEMEN

You'll like this if you love... Peaky Blinders

In the eight-part first series, Theo James (pictured) takes the lead as the black sheep of a noble family

Full of dangerous Cockney geezers, treacherous aristos and all manner of other colourful underworld characters, Guy Ritchie's 2019 movie The Gentlemen was a brutal thriller romp. This series may not use any of the same characters but it captures the same wisecracking sense of violent excess as its movie big brother (no surprise really, as Ritchie produces the whole thing and even directs a few episodes). In the eight-part first series, Theo James (The White Lotus) takes the lead as the black sheep of a noble family who discovers that unexpectedly inheriting his family estate puts him in the crosshairs of a number of dodgy characters, not least those played by Skins's Kaya Scodelario, Better Call Saul's Giancarlo Esposito and crime-drama legend Ray Winstone. In series two, Eddie (James) is very much in his criminal stride, and rubbing up against the Mafia in Italy. (Two series)

I WILL FIND YOU

You'll like this if you love... Harlan Coben

Sam Worthington stars as David Burroughs (pictured) - who has been imprisoned for the murder of his young son

In a US-made, eight-part thriller based on the book by Harlan Coben, Sam Worthington stars as David Burroughs – the name of a good man, if ever there was one – who has been imprisoned for the murder of his young son. David says he didn't do it and we're inclined to believe him, as that would seem to be the whole point of the plot – but his family afforded David no benefit of the doubt, and the poor soul never has any visitors. His now ex-wife and dad both think he's guilty. Why would he do it, though? Then, one day, David is visited by Rachel (Severance's Britt Lower), the journalist sister of his ex-wife. Could she have evidence that will exonerate him?

We won't spoil any of the twists from that point but will say it's a bracing change of style to have an American-made Coben story after seeing so many British ones. Lower is a strong choice of co-lead, with an acting edge to complement Worthington's bulky nobility, while the rest of the cast (including Milo Ventimiglia, Erin Richards and the always wonderful Madeleine Stowe) is full of actors with shifty expressions, meaning you can see conspiracies everywhere. And that's part of the fun. (Eight episodes)

SLOW HORSES

You'll like this if you love...Black Doves

The show's dry, dark sense of humour is never far away to leaven that heavy theme as it goes on. Gary Oldman pictured as the lead, Jackson Lab

Gary Oldman's Jackson Lamb returns for a sixth series of darkly comedic espionage adventures, a run that compresses the novels Joe Country and Slough House into just six episodes. It finds Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas) firmly installed as First Desk over at the Park, but forced to deal with an unsavoury and unexpected new threat. The plot results in the Slough House crew being forced to go on the run, and features the return of two characters – first the hapless Struan Loy and later and more significantly Sid Baker (Olivia Cooke), who was thought dead way back in series one.

This series has a new face behind the camera, with Gaby Chiappe taking over from Will Smith as lead writer. Slow Horses has felt a little tired in the last two series so a fresh set of eyes seems sensible, as does the choice to switch up the structure by adapting two books instead of one. Even if you're familiar with Joe Country and Slough House, there will be some surprises in the way the story is told here, but the books' essential theme remains: loss. That's set in motion right in episode one, as River prepares to give a speech at the funeral of his spy legend grandfather. The show's dry, dark sense of humour is never far away to leaven that heavy theme as it goes on and there are a few cracking action scenes, too. A seventh series based on just one book – Bad Actors – will follow, and an eighth after that. (Six episodes)

CAPE FEAR

You'll like this if you love... Luther

Javier Bardem (pictured) is electrifying to watch every time he steps on screen on Apple TV's gritty Cape Fear

Menace lurks in every scene of Cape Fear, a ten-part take on the story of revenge that's been made as a film twice before – in 1962 and 1991. The casting of Max Cady, the vengeful ex-con who stalks the married lawyers who put him behind bars, has always been crucial to making the story work. In 1962 it was Robert Mitchum, in 1991, Robert De Niro and in the 2026 series it's Javier Bardem. Bardem is electrifying to watch every time he steps on screen, taunting wife and mother Anna (Amy Adams) over whether he's really wreaking revenge on her family or if it's coming apart all on its own.

Anna clearly has depths she's willing to sink to across the course of the series, and Adams is terrific at portraying that in a subtle way, giving us the feeling that she has just a little of the animalistic Cady lurking inside her. Anna is married to fellow lawyer Tom, who is played in vanilla style by Patrick Wilson – he's a bland, faintly frustrated man who feels like a suburban prop, albeit one with a gun. Cady, meanwhile, is taunted by visions of his dead family, and around and around the story goes, swirling deeper and deeper until, you suspect, everyone will thoroughly regret ever having met each other. This includes Tom and Anna's children, Natalie and Zack – the latter of whom is played by Joe Anders, the son of Kate Winslet and Sam Mendes. (Ten episodes)

THE SHARDS

You'll like this if you love... Euphoria

The Shards comes from flashy American producer Ryan Murphy, so expect plenty of style. Pictured: Hayes Warner as Debbie Schaffer

This slick mix of thriller and teen horror is based on the book by Bret Easton Ellis but, more than that, it's a semi-autobiographical story about the American Psycho author's youth. Set at a privileged school in Los Angeles in the 1980s, it follows 17-year-old Bret (Igby Rigney) as he comes into the orbit of intriguing new student Robert Mallory, whose arrival just happens to align with a string of murders attributed to a serial killer dubbed 'The Trawler'. So, is Mallory the killer? How far will Bret fall into the world of this mysterious stranger? And will the murders impinge on his close circle of wealthy, hard-partying friends?

The Shards comes from flashy American producer Ryan Murphy, so expect plenty of style – think of it as a much darker Gossip Girl and you may not be too far off the mark. The chief interest on the cast is probably Homer Gere as Mallory – he's the son of actor Richard and was previously seen in series three of Euphoria – but look out too for Kaia Gerber, daughter of Richard's ex Cindy Crawford. There's more generational talent behind the camera as the directors include Max Minghella, son of the late Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella. (Nine episodes)

BROTHERS

You'll like this if you love... a chummy buddy comedy

Watch now on Amazon Prime Video

Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, both pictured, have a terrific on-screen chemistry

A comedy series that's 'based on a true rumour', Brothers stars Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey as versions of themselves. The two men had a terrific on-screen chemistry in series one of True Detective and are real-life friends, a relationship the eight-parter puts under the microscope when circumstances conspire to push Woody to move in with Matthew after a household crisis. Matthew is trying to work on a speech about his dead father, so doesn't immediately relish the interruption but, as the two friends hang out, a startling possibility emerges – could they actually be brothers? If you like Harrelson and McConaughey, then you'll find a lot of easygoing charm in this series, which is sprinkled with the kind of Hollywood charisma that only comes from casting stars. Holland Taylor adds edge to the story as Matthew's mother, who has a wonderful way with words. (Eight episodes)

GIRL TAKEN

You'll like this if you love... The Missing

Watch now on Paramount+

Tallaluh and Delphi Evans play identical sisters Lily and Abby Riser in this compelling British abduction thriller

This compelling British abduction thriller isn't so much a whodunnit or a whereisshe (let's face it, it's nearly always a she) because we know both early on. The abductor is seemingly nice English teacher Mr Hansen ('call me Rick'), and the abductee is 17-year-old Lily, identical twin sister to Abby, both of whom are on their last day of school and poised for a bright future. Then 'Rick' comes along. Alfie Allen plays the odious educator, who pretends to his strangely tolerant wife that he's working on a book as he heads off to put poor Lily through hell at a remote cottage, forcing her to play out his demented 1950s fantasy over what turns out to be a long, long time.

Girl Taken isn't all about the abduction itself, which is just as well, because that's pretty grim stuff (seek out The Patient, starring Steve Carell and Domhnall Gleeson, if you like that sort of thing). It's really focused on what comes after and on the effect it has on Abby and the twins' single mother, Eve (Jill Halfpenny). Episode two jumps forward a year and then even further after that. The bond between Eve and her daughters (played by real-life sisters Tallulah and Delphi Evans) is strongly established back in episode one, so you really start to feel their pain as the consequences of the abduction unfurl in later episodes.

It's worth noting on that storytelling point, too, that this isn't one of those thrillers that starts out with an exciting scene then drags you back 'one week earlier'. The makers of Girl Taken deserve a lot of praise for telling their story straight – hopefully more people will follow in their footsteps. (Six episodes)

SCARPETTA

You'll like this if you love... Silent Witness

Nicole Kidman takes the lead as Kay Scarpetta, crime novelist Patricia Cornwell's beloved scalpel-wielding heroine

This mystery thriller brings one of literature's favourite forensic pathologists to the small screen and is fit to burst with star quality. Nicole Kidman takes the lead as Kay Scarpetta, crime novelist Patricia Cornwell's beloved scalpel-wielding heroine, who returns to her hometown in Virginia and the job of chief medical examiner that made her name 28 years previously. Scarpetta's first new case bears a striking resemblance to her very first gruesome murder all those years ago as she confronts long-held professional rivalries and personal grudges that soon surface once more. 'Is it a second chance or am I just looking to mess myself up again?' muses Scarpetta.

The multi-layered action plays out across eight episodes and two timelines, with Jamie Lee Curtis co-starring as Scarpetta's wildcard sister, Dorothy, Bobby Cannavale (Boardwalk Empire) as detective Pete Marino – who is married to Dorothy and works with Kay – and Simon Baker (The Mentalist) as FBI profiler Benton Wesley, who is Kay's husband. As you can tell by the complex personal and professional relationships described there, this is a show about both family and work.

The series is executive-produced by Kidman, who says she has 'been pursuing Scarpetta for nearly 20 years'. And with 29 of Cornwell's crime novels to source from, this is a series that should run and run. (Eight episodes)

THE PITT

You'll like this if you love... ER

Watch now on HBO Max

Noah Wyle, pictured, plays Dr Robby in critically acclaimed medical drama The Pitt, from HBO Max

In ER, Noah Wyle played Dr John Carter, the bright-eyed trainee with the white coat that had his name embroidered onto it. In The Pitt, it's easy to see him as the jaded older version of that bushy-tailed medic. Dr Robby (Wyle) cuts a more casual, careworn figure, wears a blue hoodie as he runs the ER at the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center, handling all that comes his way with a kind but knowing gaze. That includes the four trainee doctors that just joined his staff. Created by R Scott Gemmill (a writer on ER) and produced by John Wells (who produced ER), this medical procedural has a core that does feel very, very ER, and also shares both that show's sense of humour and its keen eye for the harsh realities of balancing budgets with humanity. It differs in two ways. Firstly, it unfolds in real time, with each episode tracking an hour on shift at the Pitt with Dr Robby and co and, as such, the pressure builds and builds across each series. Secondly, it's almost entirely just about work so there's no Dr Ross and Carol-style romantic subplots. The first series went down a storm in the US with audiences and critics alike, picking up five Emmy awards – a feat it went one better on for series two, picking up six. Each series runs for 15 episodes/hours, and a third season has, of course, been ordered. (Two series)

PONIES

You'll like this if you love... The Flight Attendant

Watch now on Sky/NOW

Bea (Emilia Clarke) and Twila (Haley Lu Richardson), pictured, star together in this comedic spy thriller

A spy thriller that occasionally plays more like a comedy, this eight-parter is set in Moscow, in 1977, and the Ponies aren't small horses but grown women who are Persons Of No Interest – secretaries at the US embassy and also wives to spies, both of whom suddenly die on duty. As these women are of No Interest to the Soviets, though, Bea (Emilia Clarke) and Twila (Haley Lu Richardson) decide they are perfectly placed to investigate the Russkies under the radar after their husbands pop their clogs. And so, after a little huffiness from the suits at the CIA, they do.

The show starts strongly in terms of plot and atmosphere and Clarke (Game Of Thrones) and Richardson (The White Lotus) are nicely paired as the by-the-book Bea and the rebellious Twila, with Richardson's performance more than a little reminiscent of Russian Doll's Natasha Lyonne at the start. They remain fun as the show goes on, with a supporting cast that includes Brits Harriet Walter and Adrian Lester, and keep your eyes peeled for a certain CIA higher-up called George HW Bush – the future US President genuinely was in the CIA.

As to the wider show, the plot around Bea and Twila occasionally feels a little loose, but it's all good and entertaining stuff on the whole. Be warned, there is a cliffhanger ending but Ponies has been cancelled so there will be no second series. (Eight episodes)

THE FIVE-STAR WEEKEND

You'll like this if you love... The Perfect Couple

Watch now on Sky/NOW

The show is so easy to watch you barely notice the episodes slip by, in between the quality of the cast and the loveliness of the setting

When high-flying food blogger Hollis Shaw (Jennifer Garner) loses her husband, her world seems to fall apart – and all she wants is a distraction. That distraction comes in the form of a weekend away with friends from different parts of her life, at a fancy house in Nantucket, and that weekend is the basis of this eight-part drama based on the novel by Elin Hilderbrand. Hilderbrand also wrote The Perfect Couple, which was also set in Nantucket. That was a murder mystery adapted with some style for Netflix and starring Nicole Kidman, but The Five-Star Weekend is much more of a drama about women coming to terms with where they are in their lives. It's no less moreish, though.

The cast is top drawer, and includes Chloe Sevigny as the understandably bitter Tatum, Regina Hall as Dru-Ann, a woman with work issues, D'Arcy Carden as Brooke – whose husband is asking a lot of her – and Gemma Chan as Gigi, a more recent associate of Hollis. The result is a show that is so easy to watch you barely notice the episodes slip by, in between the quality of the cast and the loveliness of the setting. It will be back for a second series. (Eight episodes)

YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBOURS

You'll like this if you love... Mad Men

In this witty show, Jon Hamm (pictured), playing a hedge fund manager, finds his life going completely off the rails when he also loses his job

Still struggling to get used to his recent divorce, hedge fund manager Andrew 'Coop' Cooper (Jon Hamm) finds his life going completely off the rails when he also loses his job and can't admit that to anyone who depends on his money. When legitimate work proves hard to find, he hits on a new way of supporting his lifestyle: robbing the homes of his wealthy friends and neighbours. The first, nine-part series of this drama sees Hamm turn his easygoing charm all the way up to 11 as the quick-witted Coop, who finds himself gaining access to not just valuables but also every little dirty secret that lurks behind the locked doors and high fences in his swanky community.

It's an intelligent, witty, incident-packed show with a great supporting cast that includes Corbin Bernsen as his entertainingly monstrous boss and Amanda Peet as his ex-wife, plus The Newsroom's Olivia Munn. Series two – stop reading now if you've yet to catch up – opens with Coop on holiday with his family but still a single man, happy as a clam with the income rolling in from his illegal pursuits. Then, one day, a mystery man (Paradise's James Marsden, furthering his mid-life career renaissance) moves in nearby, and it seems he could change all that. Marsden is a great addition to a show that actually started as an idea for a novel before writer Jonathan Tropper pitched it over lunch as a TV show to Hamm – who loved it, so Tropper went off to write the script, and a two-series order followed. And here we are. (Two series)

COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS

You'll like this if you love... a good romcom

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall play a dysfunctional pair brought together by a dog they name Colin

A big hit with UK audiences when it first aired here, this Australian comedy was created by its married-in-real-life stars Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, who play the dysfunctional pair brought together by a dog they name Colin (From Accounts) or Collie for short. As they share custody of the pup after he's injured in a car accident they were jointly culpable for, the antagonistic spark between student doctor Ashley (Dyer) and microbrewery owner Gordon (Brammall) slowly blooms into romance.

As series two opens, Ashley and Gordon are desperately trying to get Colin back (after he was adopted by a terrifying new family). Ashley worries that without the disabled dog they have nothing in common: 'With our age gap, and the different friendship groups, and just where we're at with our lives, and your knees…' Then, a new complication gets thrown into the mix.

The third and final series opens three years later and returns us again to the question that started it all. Will they or won't they end up together? Colin, as cute as he is, plays second fiddle to Ashley and Gordon, and their largely chaotic friends, with notable mentions to Genevieve Hegney as Gordon's business partner Chiara and Emma Harvie as Ashley's best friend, Megan or 'Meggles'. (Three series)

YOUTH

You'll like this if you love... Catastrophe

Watch now on HBO Max

Sharon Horgan as Alex and Aran Murphy as Ruari in HBO's TV show Youth - perfect for fans of Euphoria

Love and life in your 50s are the focus of Sharon Horgan's HBO comedy, in which she plays the divorced mother of a tricky, university-age child. Alex (Horgan) is looking forward to having an empty nest and dating again – or is she? Uncertainty ripples through an eight-part series in which Alex pinballs between parenting a child who is technically an adult to flirting with her ex, Patrick (Rupert Friend), to dealing with the growing demands of her ageing parents and the small matter of her job as a literary agent in London.

Like everything Horgan does (Pulling, Catastrophe, Bad Sisters, Motherland, Divorce), the comedy in Youth is underpinned by the emotions that come from the fraught situations in which Alex finds herself. Horgan – who wrote every episode – has managed to make an easy and moreish watch out of a time in your life when it might feel like the window for having any kind of fun is about to close forever, and the quality of the cast helping to tell that story is a testament to her TV career.

The casting of the usually intense Rupert Friend (Homeland) as her romantic interest is a nice surprise while, among the supporting cast, look out for fun performances from Harriet Walter and Anne Reid at Alex's agency – a company that is forever in the grip of some ridiculous crisis or another. And, if Alex's gloomy offspring, Ruari, looks a little familiar around the eyes, there's a reason for that – he's played by Cillian Murphy's son, Aran. (Eight episodes)

SOMETHING VERY BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN

You'll like this if you love... Severance

Watch now on Amazon Prime Video

Pictured: Daisy Jones and the Six star Camila Morrone as Rachel Harkin in Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen on Netflix

Do soulmates exist? Is marriage a trap? Is there anything weirder than other people's families? Such are the questions raised while watching Something Very Bad Is Going To Happen, a frequently horrifying eight-part drama produced by the Duffer Brothers and created by Haley Z Boston, a writer who, despite what you might think after watching this, says this about her mum and dad: 'My parents have a really wonderful relationship and a beautiful marriage.' But then, her mum did also tell her: 'Don't marry the wrong person because it can ruin your life.'

That's very much the underlying fear of the series, which is about couple Nicky and Rachel. He's from a well-off and weird family, she's from a highly traumatised one and has grown up with a constant sense that something very bad is about to happen. Her perspective leads naturally to the horror of the show, psychological and otherwise, as Rachel goes to stay with Nicky's family and Nicky disappears. Eight episodes is a long time to be kept in a state of awaiting doom and that's not the whole tone of this show by any stretch. While visually dark almost the entire time, it often jumps into moments of surprising black comedy and can flip entire situations on their head with a line.

Camila Morrone (who is not only Al Pacino's stepdaughter but also dated Leonardo DiCaprio for five years) is a remote but interesting lead as Rachel, while Jennifer Jason Leigh is superb as Victoria, Nicky's seemingly deranged mother, and the moments between the family are all very engaging. The wait between those can be long, though. Although this is one of those shows that isn't for everyone, it's likely to be appreciated and re-appreciated as the years go by. (Eight episodes)

STEAL

You'll like this if you love... Industry

Luke (Archie Madekwe) in Steal. This six-parter is a thriller, and one of the kind that you'll want to know as little as possible about before watching

When an armed gang walk into a London investment company and steal billions of pounds' worth of ordinary people's pensions, back-room office worker Zara (Game Of Thrones' Sophie Turner) and her colleague Luke (Saltburn's Archie Madekwe) find themselves right in the middle of it all. After the heist is over, DCI Rhys Kovac (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) shows up and starts asking questions – then the security services get involved, and things really start to get complicated.

As you may have guessed, this six-parter is a thriller, and one of the kind that you'll want to know as little as possible about before watching, so we'll stick to general comments. The slick early feel of the show, along with its financial setting, make it feel like the BBC drama Industry but the overall experience is more like that of a gritty conspiracy thriller with the odd burst of brutal violence thrown in.

The casting, of the arrogant supporting characters at the firm and elsewhere, is top notch and features many seasoned actors – Peter Mullan, Anna Maxwell Martin, Andrew Koji – in supporting roles. And as for the leads? This is a show and a story that lives in ambiguity and Turner and Fortune-Lloyd are both good at doing a lot with a look – that's just what Steal requires to work and, while you can feel the story dragging its heels in the second half, those two make you want to know how it all pans out. (Six episodes)

THE BLAME

You'll like this if you love... Pierre

Watch now on ITVX

Michelle Keegan, pictured, is front and centre as DI Emma Crane, who is in the search for the killer of young figure skater Sophie Madsen

DI Emma Crane is Michelle Keegan's first role since giving birth to daughter Palma in March last year, and it's fair to say she could have had a gentler re-introduction to acting. Crane is not only front and centre in the search for the killer of young figure skater Sophie Madsen, but over the course of this six-part thriller she also risks her own safety by delving into the deep corruption she discovers within the team of detectives investigating the murder. (Six episodes)

ALICE AND STEVE

You'll like this if you love... Fleabag

Watch now on Amazon Prime Video

Created by Sophie Goodhart, a writer on Sex Education and Rivals, this 'wrong-com' is all about choices. Pictured: Nicola Walker as Alice

Alice and Steve used to go out together. The fiftysomething friends met at the legendary Hacienda nightclub way back when and still like having a good time now. We're shown that right at the start of this six-part British comedy, when they hit the bars hard after the funeral of their friend. As played by Nicola Walker and Jemaine Clement, they're a relatable pair of people trying to find their way in mid-life, at a point when their personal lives are anything but simple and when time seems increasingly at a premium and choices feel important.

Created by Sophie Goodhart, a writer on Sex Education and Rivals, this 'wrong-com' is all about choices, and one choice in particular: when Steve starts dating Alice's rebounding 26-year-old daughter, Izzy (Yali Topol Margalith). It's a choice that Alice, unsurprisingly, doesn't approve of. It's a tricky concept to play out well and, were it not written by a woman, this could be in serious danger of being a sleaze-fest. As it is, there's a lot of charm and humour here, even if a lot of it feels like the show is succeeding in spite of itself. Margalith in particular is a big part of why it comes off – she makes it way more believable than Clement does – while watching Walker's Alice reel from it all is a joy in itself. A second series has been ordered which, for those who've seen the ending, may feel like a divisive choice. (Six episodes)

THE RAINMAKER (ITVX)

You'll like this if you love... John Grisham

Watch now on ITVX

Based on a 1995 John Grisham novel, this energetic ten-part legal drama follows plucky new law graduate

Based on a 1995 John Grisham novel, this energetic ten-part legal drama follows plucky new law graduate Rudy Baylor (Rivals' Milo Callaghan) and his dreams of being a rainmaker, the kind of lawyer who secures big multimillion-dollar wins. Fired from his first job at a prestigious law firm, Rudy has to settle for chasing every small win he can for the personal injury firm of Jocelyn 'Bruiser' Stone (Lana Parrilla), where he learns the ropes from Stone's loveably dodgy paralegal Deck Shifflet (PJ Byrne).

Rudy's girlfriend Sarah (Madison Iseman) keeps her job at the hotshot firm that sacked Rudy and impresses senior partner Leo Drummond (John Slattery). The two firms operate in very different ways, with Rudy's 'ambulance chasers' scrambling for work piecemeal among ordinary folk, while Sarah's top-tier firm uses its might to protect the wealthy elite. These two worlds will collide, giving Rudy his shot at making it rain money and facing Drummond, the man who fired him, in court.

It's a smartly played and thrilling show, with Mad Men's Slattery on especially reptilian form and The Lincoln Lawyer's Parrilla earning that 'Bruiser' nickname. The big draw is British actor Callaghan, who has all the boyish charm and emerging-star quality of the young Matt Damon when he played Rudy – the ambitious underdog who goes from chasing sticks to leading the pack – in the 1997 film adaptation. There will be a second series. (Ten episodes)

WINTER

You'll like this if you love... Professor T

Watch now on ITVX

Pictured: Richard Armitage as Ethan Winter. Filmed in Belgium and Bristol earlier this year, Winter sees the doctor use his sharp intellect and willingness to bend the rules to solve complex murders

Meet TV's latest crime-busting double act: unconventional forensic pathologist Dr Ethan Winter (Red Eye's Richard Armitage) and the meticulous, no-nonsense DI Lauren Bell (The Split's Annabel Scholey). Filmed in Belgium and Bristol earlier this year, Winter sees the doctor use his sharp intellect and willingness to bend the rules to solve complex murders, with the detective's help. Each of the six episodes features a self-contained homicide, as well as the latest chapter in an overarching story related to Winter's personal life. (Six episodes)

BLUE LIGHTS

You'll like this if you love... Happy Valley

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

The gritty, Northern Irish police drama has not failed to impress viewers. It first hit screens in 2023 and has proved a real fan favourite

This Northern Irish police show, which first hit our screens in 2023, has proved a real fan favourite – and picked up the Bafta for best drama series last year. It began by following three rookie cops in Belfast as they tried to keep the peace in the post-Troubles era and over three series we've seen them grow into the job. In the six-episode fourth series, Katherine Devlin, Nathan Braniff and Sian Brooke are back as officers Annie Conlon, Tommy Foster and Grace Ellis, older but not necessarily wiser. As we return to the mean streets of Northern Ireland, Conlon and the rest of the section are challenged by escalating tensions at a community event protesting against immigration. Meanwhile, the war on drugs never stops but the latest investigation is in danger of faltering. (Four series)

KILL JACKIE

You'll like this if you love... Kill Bill

Catherine Zeta-Jones as Jackie Price - playing a little like a cheeky, TV version of Kill Bill with a bit of Killing Eve mixed in

Catherine Zeta-Jones looks fabulous, waves a gun about and uses her own Welsh accent in an eight-part action series based on the novel The Price You Pay. She's the Jackie of the title, a cocaine dealer-turned shady seller of art whose life is gliding along quite nicely, thank you until one day a group of assassins known as 'The Seven Demons' are sent to kill her. Only, she decides she's going to kill them first. Playing a little like a cheeky, TV version of Kill Bill with a bit of Killing Eve mixed in, the centrepiece of Kill Jackie isn't so much the action as it is Zeta-Jones – striding through scene after scene of globe-trotting, lavishly staged chaos, and being gloriously Welsh at the centre of it all. It's very refreshing. How many high-profile Welsh action heroes can you name, after all? The supporting cast includes Daniel Ings (The Gentlemen) as Sam, her lawyer and much younger love interest, Sidse Babette Knudsen (Borgen), and Ron Perlman (Hellboy). (Eight episodes)

WAR

You'll like this if you love... The Split

Watch now on Sky Atlantic and Now

What begins as an amicable split between super-rich tech mogul Morgan Henderson (Dominic West) and his actress wife Carla Duval (Sienna Miller) soon turns ugly

'If they play dirty, we will be total and utter filth,' says combative lawyer Beatrice 'Queen Bea' Ubosi (Nina Sosanya) in this eight-part divorce drama. What begins as an amicable split between super-rich tech mogul Morgan Henderson (Dominic West) and his actress wife Carla Duval (Sienna Miller) soon turns ugly – and greedy. As Carla tells her legal team, 'Let's take Morgan for every penny he's got – and he's got quite a few.' (Eight episodes)

BELOW

You'll like this if you love... Jaws