Watch, listen and be inspired by Calum Henderson's definitive list of what's hot right now and from the vault.
Girls5eva (TVNZ OnDemand)
For a couple of days this month, Atomic Kitten were back. After England fans rewrote the group's 2000 hit "Whole Again" as a football anthem ("Southgate you're the one … football's coming home again"), the group reunited enthusiastically to perform the new version on the morning shows. The whole thing was remarkably similar to the first episode of new American sitcom Girls5eva.
Here, turn-of-the-millennium, one-hit-wonder girl group Girls5eva (because forever's too short) get a second shot at fame after their 1999 chart-topper, Famous 5eva, is used as an "old school" sample on the new single by Lil Stinker, a rapper who's young enough to be their son. Jimmy Fallon invites the group to sing live backing vocals for Lil Stinker on the Late Show as a nostalgia gimmick, and they come to realise none of them have quite given up on the dream.
The first episode introduces the four living members (the fifth one died after swimming over the edge of an infinity pool) in a variety of grimly adult situations. De facto group leader Dawn (Sara Bareilles) hears their sample on the radio - mid-mammogram, Summer (Busy Philipps) heard it during her spin class, Gloria (Paula Pell) was too busy taking care of her elderly dad and four spaniels while Wickie (Renee Elise Goldsberry) is a jetsetting international woman of mystery – or at least looks like one on Instagram.
With no help from their inept former manager, Larry, who can't even book the group on a 90s nostalgia cruise around the Pacific garbage patch, the four women strike out on an unlikely quest to become middle-aged popstars, riding a wave of very accurately observed millennial nostalgia.
Created by Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt writer Meredith Scardino and produced by 30 Rock creator Tina Fey, Girls5eva is definitely cut from the same comedy cloth.
Time (Neon, from Monday)
Mr Bean goes to prison? Sean Bean that is, and it's definitely not a comedy. Time is an intense three-part BBC drama about the nightmare of being sent to prison for a crime you did but still feel bloody guilty about. Bean's character gets bullied for being soft from day one – his prison officer, played by Line of Duty's Stephen Graham, is a good sort and tries to keep him safe, but one of the prisoners has his number too, which puts Bean between a rock and a hard place. All the elements you want from a series like this are present: outstanding acting, outstanding writing, almost unbearable tension.
Dr Death (TVNZ OnDemand)
If you haven't already listened to the hit true-crime podcast and are unfamiliar with the case of sociopathic neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch – aka Dr Death – this probably just looks like a Dawson's Creek reboot in which Pacey has been to college, got a medical degree and now works as a doctor. What it actually is, is a true-crime drama about a neurosurgeon who does a number on a quite staggering number of patients, and what it took for his colleagues to get it stopped. If you thought this series had already been made, you're probably thinking of Dirty John.
Schmigadoon! (Apple TV+)
Imagine stumbling upon a portal to another dimension, only to find the dimension in question is one in which it's a 1940s/50s musical all the time. This is the extremely specific premise behind Apple TV's postmodern musical comedy Schmigadoon! Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele) and Cecily Strong play a quarrelling couple of American backpackers who are respectively devastated and delighted to have stumbled into this particular dimension – one where the only way they can leave, a leprechaun tells them, is to find "true love". Part homage, part parody and full of references to golden-age musicals.
Movie of the Week: Tenet (Neon)
If you avoided going to see Tenet at the movies because it was two and a half hours long and all anybody who saw it could talk about was how confusing the plot was and how half the dialogue was inaudible, this is your chance to see if it was as bad as those reviews made it sound – or as great as everyone insisted it actually was. It's still two and a half hours, but on Neon you can rewind, unselfconsciously read the synopsis on Wikipedia as you watch, or simply give up and go back to rewatching Friends or The Simpsons for the 100th time. No shame, no judgment.
From the Vault: Logan's Run (1976) (Netflix)
It is 1976, you're a massive sci-fi nerd, but Star Wars doesn't exist for another year – all you have is Logan's Run. Set in 2274, when what remains of society all live under geodesic domes in a world where everything's run by a computer, the blockbuster poses the question: would you be happy to die when you turn 30 if it meant you got to enjoy a life of hedonistic pleasure before that? It's one way to deal with overpopulation, but it's not for everybody. It's Logan's job to hunt down the runners – until he becomes one himself. It really is hard to imagine just how cool this all must have been in a time before Star Wars.
Podcast of the Week: ICYMI
Trying to keep up with whatever's happening on the internet is an increasingly futile pursuit. In the time it takes you to find out who Logan Paul is, and why everybody's mad at him this time, two other controversies will have erupted that you feel you should probably know about too. It's stupid and exhausting and a waste of time, but ... Chrissy Teigen said WHAT?!
Here's a happy compromise: go for a walk, get some fresh air and listen to ICYMI (In Case You Missed It) instead. It's one of an emerging and new genre of podcasts dedicated to explaining and discussing what's happening on the internet and social media, a vaguely dystopian concept but also an important public service.
Twice a week hosts Madison Malone Kircher and Rachelle Hampton get together to run through the latest online talking points so we don't have to go digging around online to piece together the story ourselves. If you scroll down in the feed a bit the episode about the Chrissy Teigen cyberbullying controversy is a good example, offering a solid overview and analysis but most importantly saving anybody from having to have actually been following any of the people involved to know what's happened.
