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When Disney+ launched in the UK in 2020 – right at the beginning of Covid – it was a godsend for parents suddenly desperate to entertain their children in between the demands of homeschooling.
Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar, Mickey Mouse and all those dauntless princesses, from Moana to Snow White to Ariel, were now all suddenly together in one place, just the click of a button away.
More than six years down the line, and all that about the streaming service being home to top family franchises is still true. What’s also true, though, is that over those years, an impressive library of entertainment that’s actually of interest to adults – parents or otherwise – has steadily been building.
So today there’s a wide selection of shows that are perfect to enjoy on a good night in, and many of them have flown under the radar for years.
Here’s our critic’s list of hidden gems to help you discover why Disney has far more to offer than just shiny family-friendly films!
Furious
Brilliant cat-and-mouse thriller about a female serial killer, from the writer of Dying For Sex
Year: 2026
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.
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)
The Lowdown
Ethan Hawke plays an oddball Tulsa writer turned private eye in this US crime caper
Year: 2025
Half-journalist, half-conspiracy theorist and self-described ‘truthstorian’, the scrappy Lee Raybon of Tulsa, Oklahoma, is definitely an outsider. He’s the oddball centre of this eight-part crime drama from FX that has notes of comedy, modern Western and classic noir, and is played to the hilt by Ethan Hawke.
Raybon could have been a cliche, but Hawke gives him depth, particularly when it comes to his tricky relationship with his daughter, and adulthood in general. It adds intrigue that Raybon is loosely based on a real-life Tulsa figure – the writer Lee Roy Chapman – but Hawke’s ‘man who knows too much’ is very much his own creation, capable of charm but all too capable of making a mess of things, too. Imagine if Columbo was actually as shabby in his manner as his mac implied, and you’ve got a piece of the puzzle.
We follow Lee as he probes the mystery of a local murder in the manner of a private eye. He’s on the side of justice, of that we can be sure – whether justice really wants him there is anyone’s guess.
It’s been renewed for a second series. (Eight episodes)
Alice And Steve
Provocative midlife romantic comedy starring Nicola Walker and Jemaine Clement
Year: 2026
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)
Legion
Dan Stevens stars as an unstable Marvel superhero in a series from Alien: Earth’s Noah Hawley
Year: 2017
Imagine Twin Peaks as a superhero show and you’re part of the way to understanding this stylish, three-series drama from Noah Hawley, which is based on a Marvel Comics character but sits way outside even the oddest outings of the mainstream Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Downton’s Dan Stevens is on dazzling form in the central role of David Haller, a mutant who has incredible special powers or is mentally disturbed – or both. As the show goes on David, who was told from a young age he was schizophrenic, finds mutant friends and goes on a walk inside his own memories to better understand himself and his family. Are some doors better left closed, though?
In series two, the central question of the show remains the same: what is and isn’t real? That takes David to a mysterious location called Division 3, where one of the characters wears a wicker basket on his head. Surely, he can’t be real? Don’t bet on anything in this show, the third and final series of which finds David gathering something of a following.
Among the cast of actors surrounding Stevens on the show, Aubrey Plaza (The White Lotus) is a real highlight as the crazed Lenny, while a pre-Hacks Jean Smart and Flight Of The Conchords’ Jemaine Clement are also very watchable indeed.
As we said, Legion was ostensibly a Marvel show but it’s odder than anything they ever put out, including WandaVision, and has Mr Hawley’s thoughtful fingerprints all over it. More recently, the Fargo showrunner pulled off a similar trick with Alien: Earth. (Three series)
Dying For Sex
Michelle Williams stars in a based-on-truth comedy about a woman whose terminal cancer sends her on a sexual journey
Year: 2025
The best jokes are usually grounded in truth, and there aren’t many truer things than death. Such is the basis of Dying For Sex, an eight-part comedy about a woman whose terminal cancer diagnosis sends her away from her husband, and into an enthusiastic journey of sexual and personal discovery – one that helps her find power in the face of powerlessness.
Based on the true story of Molly Kochan, who died in 2019 and documented her adventure on a podcast also called Dying For Sex, the series has a great star in Michelle Williams. One of the most emotionally sure-footed actresses of her generation, Williams threads the needle of a performance that finds her weak and vulnerable with doctors one minute, then altogether more... in control behind closed doors (and even some open ones) the next.
Packed with layers, the wider show also seesaws from moments of laugh-out-loud comedy to periods of dark introspection, with half-hour episodes that help to make its heavy subject matter more digestible. Molly’s friend in the series, Nikki (Jenny Slate), is based on Nikki Boyer, who hosted the podcast on which Molly told her story. Look out too for Catastrophe’s Rob Delaney as Molly’s neighbour, a man with his own issues. (Eight episodes)
High Potential
Ludwig-style mystery series about a single mother with an IQ of 160
Year: 2024
Like Monk, Ludwig and Poker Face before it, High Potential fits into a grand tradition of light-hearted mysteries in which our investigator is an unlikely soul with a special talent. Meet Morgan, a scrappy single mother of three with a cleaning job and an uncanny knack for spotting what others don’t. Why? Well, Morgan is what’s known as a ‘high potential intellectual’ – her brain is always whirring and she has an IQ of 160, something that brings her into contact with the LAPD when she spots a hole in one of their cases.
That development gives this show its case-of-the-week element. There’s also an ongoing mystery, because Morgan’s ex disappeared and she’s convinced he didn’t just walk out on her. Kaitlin Olson (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) is a nice mix of snark, smarts and charm as Morgan, a sharply drawn character whose hilarious habit of making socially unacceptable outbursts is redeemed by the fact that she is rarely, if ever, wrong. Look out for a cast of familiar US TV faces, including Judy Reyes (Scrubs) and Garret Dillahunt (The Mindy Project), in a series that makes for very easy viewing with just a little edge – mostly from Olson.
In the second series, the main change is an update on the whereabouts of Roman – Morgan’s missing first husband. There will be a third series. (Two series)
Tracker
This Is Us star Justin Hartley headlines this moreish US action show
Year: 2024
Survivalist Colter Shaw (Justin Hartley) puts the skills he learned being raised in the wilds by an obsessive dad to good use as he travels the highways and byways of the US collecting reward money for helping the authorities locate everything from missing objects to missing people. It’s a slick, high-concept adventure show full of action, a smattering of will-they-won’t-they? romance, quirky supporting characters and snappy dialogue.
Hartley clearly relishes the chance to turn his charisma up to 11 as he gets to have fun in something a bit lighter than his previous big hit This Is Us. There were 13 episodes in the first series and that felt far too short but, thankfully, Tracker was a hit, and a second and then a third series followed. (Three series)
Paradise
Gripping and unpredictable US thriller about the US President’s protection officer
Year: 2025
Paradise is a thriller – and it’s also one of those shows you should know as little about as possible before watching, so we’ll only give you the basics. Sterling K Brown (This Is Us) stars as Xavier Collins, a Secret Service agent who protects the US President, a smooth-talking son-of-a-gun played by James Marsden – an actor so good-looking he barely needs to be digitally de-aged in the flashbacks.
And that’s one other thing we’ll tell you about this show – it’s full of flashbacks but they’re absolutely of the best kind, with each fleshing out both the characters and the story in ways that continually shift your understanding of what’s going on. Julianne Nicholson (Mare Of Easttown) and Sarah Shahi (Sex/Life) also get to play great characters in a show that has everything from scale to detail, humour to tragedy, all driven by a murder mystery and a gripping, twisting plot.
There have been two series so far, and a third and final one is on the way. (Two series)
Boston Legal
Classic legal drama that shocked with its political incorrectness
Year: 2004
It’s hard to imagine a show as fiercely politically incorrect as Boston Legal getting made these days but, whenever it shocks, David E Kelley’s show, which ran from 2004-2008 has the intelligence to back up its sensationalism with substance.
The show’s heart lies in the friendship between its two most eccentric lawyers, the veteran Denny Crane (played with knowing self-mockery by William Shatner – Crane has a Star Trek ringtone), who thinks that saying his own name is enough of a winning argument in court, and Alan Shore, his emotionally damaged protégé (James Spader).
Their Joey and Chandler-style friendship is a kind of marriage, and there are few sweeter and unsentimental pairings on TV – the duo often end episodes putting the world to rights on the firm’s balcony while smoking cigars. And their world isn’t as far from our own as it may seem at times, either. Many of the cases they handle are based on real-world examples, even the craziest-sounding ones. (Five series)
Don’t Trust The B**** In Apartment 23
Krysten Ritter and James Van Der Beek star in an edgy, smartly written US comedy
Year: 2012
The late James Van Der Beek of Dawson’s Creek plays a sleazy version of himself in this edgy, fast and playful US comedy, which ran from 2012-2014, about two female flatmates of very different temperaments – one sweet and newly arrived in New York (Dreama Walker), the other a cynical party girl (Jessica Jones’s Krysten Ritter).
Created by Nahnatchka Khan (Fresh Off The Boat, Totally Killer), Apartment 23 was the smartest and edgiest comedy on US TV at the time, and still feels fresh and punchy today. Ritter is gleefully vicious as Chloe, a character who never truly softens in the way you might expect her to, and Van Der Beek has a terrific time sending himself up. Ritter has spoken since about how good the atmosphere was on set, and how much room the actors were given to do their thing – and you can certainly see the results of that on screen. It’s a show that richly deserves a new generation of fans, so bravo to Disney+ for dusting it off from the ABC TV library and giving it the chance to attract exactly that. (Two series)
The Old Man
Jeff Bridges is a deadly ex-CIA man forced back into action
Year: 2022
There’s no shortage of dramas about men being dragged out of retirement for one last job – Liam Neeson has made a whole second Hollywood career out of it – but this is one of the strongest TV examples. A big part of that is having Jeff Bridges as that (old) man, a deadly ex-CIA operative with one weakness, aside from ageing muscles – his daughter.
When he’s pulled out of retirement though, the result isn’t just a long sequence of fights that leave him bloodied but unbowed (although there is a lot of that). No, this is a grown-up drama about the choices we make and the consequences they have, with top-tier actors such as John Lithgow (as Bridges’s friend-turned-enemy Harold Harper) and NYPD Blue’s Amy Brenneman as a divorcée he meets on the road.
Series two picks up moments after the cliffhanger that concludes series one, while the remainder of the run ranges from the wilds of Afghanistan to the mean streets of the US, and comprises a satisfyingly twisty, secret-packed follow-up that runs for one episode longer (eight) than it did the first time around. As in series one, it’s all anchored by Bridges’s performance, which is a masterclass in concentrated charisma.
If you want more after this, though, prepare for disappointment – series two is also The Old Man’s last. (Two series)
Mr Inbetween
Wryly funny Australian comedy about a hit man with a tricky personal life
Year: 2018
We’ve all seen enough dark stories about antiheroes, haven’t we? The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Dexter – The Wire was almost nothing but antiheroes – but all of those shows are American. This Australian series brings a unique sense of authenticity and a wry sense of humour to its subject, a hit man who’s also juggling roles as a father, ex-husband and brother to a terminally ill sibling.
Part of that authenticity comes from the fact that the show’s star and creator, Scott Ryan, came to success late in life. He was 48 when he won a ‘best newcomer’ award (which he didn’t turn up to collect) for Mr Inbetween in 2018, and he lives and breathes the part on screen with a conviction few other actors can match. In the first episode, watch for the moment when he’s out with his daughter, and a pair of youths knock the ice cream out of her hand. The look on his face is this show in a nutshell. (Three series)
Pam & Tommy
Baywatch star Pamela Anderson’s torrid marriage to rocker Tommy Lee
Year: 2022
One of Disney’s more adult dramas in all senses of the word, this eight-parter dives into the tempestuous 1990s marriage of Baywatch’s Pamela Anderson and Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee. The trigger for all this is the theft of a sex tape featuring the two, and it’s in the impact of that on the initially happy couple that the show really soars.
Downton Abbey’s Lily James delivers an eerily accurate and sympathetic performance as Anderson, while Marvel’s Sebastian Stan is a lot of fun as the wildman rocker. At the start we see their relationship from the outside, and it’s hard to have any sympathy for either of them but that changes as the show goes on. (Eight episodes)
Fleishman Is In Trouble
Claire Danes and Jesse Eisenberg star in a New York story of divorce
Year: 2022
Taffy Brodesser-Akner adapted her own novel into this US drama, and had a great cast to bring her words to life. We meet Jesse Eisenberg’s Dr Toby Fleishman first – a principled medic who has eschewed promotion, and is shocked to discover that his marriage to driven theatrical agent Rachel (Claire Danes) is falling apart. We see the story from his point of view for a while – a long while – and it’s all narrated by Toby’s friend Libby (Masters Of Sex’s Lizzy Caplan), the reason for which becomes clear later.
You can take it as a given that all of this is very well acted – but what sets this series aside is the way you ultimately see the story from everyone’s perspective, and things that once seemed completely justified end up becoming something else entirely. It plays like one long film, and has plenty to say about mid-life, marriage, motherhood, divorce and just life in general. (Eight episodes)
Andor
Strong Star Wars spin-off from Bourne Identity writer Tony Gilroy, following a rebel in hiding
Year: 2022
This is a Star Wars show for people who don’t like Star Wars shows. Created by Bourne writer Tony Gilroy, Andor is a dramatically credible account of life at the sharp end of rebellion and is, essentially, a prequel to the brilliant movie Rogue One – which Mr Gilroy also co-wrote, and was in itself essentially a sci-fi take on The Magnificent Seven.
Diego Luna (Narcos: Mexico) stars as Cassian Andor, a rebel in hiding, in a series that starts slowly but builds up and out in ways you don’t expect. In some places it becomes a workplace comedy drama set at Imperial Intelligence, where the bureaucrats fight among themselves. It’s also a spy action thriller, with a particularly thrilling sideline in jail breaks, and it’s also a dark political drama about the consequences of fighting the system, hinged around a terrific performance from The Honourable Woman’s Genevieve O’Reilly as Mon Mothma. That last element has the feel of the US House Of Cards, which is no coincidence – Beau Willimon, who created that show, wrote several episodes of Andor.
The first three episodes from series one are free on YouTube and a second, final (and even more excellent) series followed. (Two series)
Alien: Earth
Sci-fi adventure series spinning off from the Alien movies, from the showrunner of Fargo
Year: 2025
Having a spacecraft crash-land in the middle of a city on 22nd-century Earth wreaks havoc enough – having that spacecraft then be an intergalactic zoo full of deadly extraterrestrial species – including a certain familiar acid-blooded murderous xenomorph – is a whole other level of catastrophe.
Showrunner Noah Hawley (who also piloted the Fargo TV series) takes the key elements of the Alien movie universe and successfully integrates them into an eight-part TV horror-thriller series full of creeping terror, high-intensity action and more than a little musing about what it means to be human and just who the real monsters are.
At the heart of the action is Wendy (Sydney Chandler), a synthetic android with the mind of a human girl, tasked with investigating the wreck and the dangerous beasties that emerge from it while on the wider cast, look out for Timothy Olyphant (Justified), Essie Davis (The Babadook) and Adrian Edmondson – yes, that Adrian Edmondson.
Surrounding the cast is a clearly very well-resourced production that impresses from the off in a way that Marvel and Star Wars shows simply don’t always manage. A second series has been ordered. (Eight episodes)
NYPD Blue
Classic ensemble police drama from the man behind Hill Street Blues
Year: 1993
After Hill Street Blues, Steven Bochco went on to co-create another brilliantly authentic police drama. NYPD Blue hit the airwaves in 1993, and it’s as good as anything that came along in the feted HBO era five years or so later (Oz, The Sopranos, etc). That’s especially impressive when you consider it was made for a US broadcast network, with all the taste restrictions that entails.
David Caruso was its star, until he left the show on unpleasant terms – Mr Bochco called him ‘cancerous’ – but NYPD Blue’s real beating heart is Dennis Franz as Detective Sipowicz, a layered character with many demons. Franz was also in Hill Street Blues, which you can find streaming on Channel 4. (12 series)