Watch, listen and be inspired by Calum Henderson's definitive list of what's hot right now and from the vault.
Screw (TVNZ OnDemand, from Tuesday)
First days at a new job are scary enough when you work in an office. New British drama series Screw allows us to consider an even more stressful scenario. Within the first five minutes of her first day as a prison officer at Long Marsh Men's Prison, Rose (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell) receives a hostile welcome and is given a mean nickname before being told "welcome to hell" – and that's just meeting the other staff.
"Sprog", as she's now known, appears to have had next-to-no training for her new role, and the wing manager Leigh (Nina Sosanya) doesn't seem that interested in telling her what she's supposed to be doing – she's too preoccupied with an impending inspection and a potential promotion. Sprog's arrival does, however, mean they finally have enough staff to be able to let the prisoners out of their cells for the first time in a couple of days.
There's hardly a dull moment – someone's naked for some reason, there's a bad smell that can't be sourced, someone else has had their toilet seat stolen. And there's plenty of advice for Sprog to take in from colleagues and inmates alike. There's a definite vein of humour running through the script, though to describe this as a "comedy drama" still feels like a bit of a stretch . . . What writer Rob Williams – who worked in prisons before becoming a TV writer – does is find a sweet spot between gritty, over-serious modern TV drama and the broad, easy-to-watch old-school classics like The Bill or Casualty.
Screw is the best of both worlds – it'll draw you in with prison lingo of questionable authenticity ("No kickoffs or f–ups today, no zombies off their heads on spice," the boss orders at one point) then keep you hooked with shocking twists and turns.
DMZ (SoHo, 9:30pm tonight; Sky Go and Neon from Wednesday)
The second US Civil War, as predicted by the new dystopian drama DMZ, will be fought between the federal government of the United States of America and a coalition of secessionist armies known as the Free States of America. Probably this idea seemed a bit less plausible when the comic book series first started in 2005 than it does now. The TV series adaptation, directed by Ava DuVernay, takes place in the demilitarised zone of Manhattan, and follows a medic (Rosario Dawson) who's been searching for her son ever since he went missing during the borough's evacuation eight years ago.
Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
If you thought Slough House was just where David Brent lived, think again. It's also where the MI5 sends its disgraced spies to see out the rest of their days, assigning them endless mundane tasks in the hope they'll get so bored they just quit. These slow horses, as they're nicknamed, feature in a whole series of spy novels by Mick Herron, the first of which has now been made into a six-part TV series. Gary Oldman stars as Jackson Lamb, the mean and miserable head of Slough House, which isn't nearly as boring as it once the slow horses become engaged in what can only be described as a "dangerous gambit".
The Outlaws (Prime Video)
The short synopsis of The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant's new series: Christopher Walken does community service in Bristol. The slightly longer version: seven strangers from very different backgrounds, who at first seem like lazily-drawn caricatures of various types of annoying people until you start getting to know them better through flashbacks which explain why they're all doing community service in Bristol, form an unlikely team as what first appears to be a gentle comedy performs a surprisingly violent handbrake turn into gritty crime thriller territory. One of them is played by Christopher Walken.
Movie of the Week: Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood (Netflix)
Guess how old film-maker Richard Linklater was when Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969? Actually, it happened just before his 9th birthday, but Apollo 8.95 doesn't have quite the same ring to it. The Boyhood director's latest film – a return to the unique animated style of his 2001 film Waking Life – tells a loosely autobiographical story about what it was like being a kid and coming of age on planet Earth during the time man first set foot on the moon, and the imaginative flights of fancy the space exploits of Neil Armstrong and co inspired.
From the Vault: Difficult People (2016) (Neon)
If you liked watching Billy Eichner yell at people in Billy On The Street, you'll love watching him yell at people in the misanthropic sitcom Difficult People. He and Julie Klausner (the one who actually created the show) play a pair of unsuccessful and pathologically petty New York comedians who go around saying the wrong things in front of the wrong people at the wrong time and getting into some very awkward and/or funny situations as a result. If your personal comedy palette includes shows like Curb Your Enthusiasm and Always Sunny, give this a go.
Podcast of the Week: Switched On Pop
You might think there are already enough podcasts about Britney Spears, but it turns out there's still one aspect of the troubled pop star's life that hasn't been the subject of in-depth analysis: her music. The reliably great Switched On Pop has set out to rectify this with a miniseries dedicated to dissecting her greatest hits and pointing out things you've probably never noticed even though you've heard them a thousand times.
Turns out you've never truly heard '. . . Baby One More Time' until you've been played Britney's isolated vocal track from the second verse to highlight just how weird and avant-garde was her vocal technique on that song. And chances are you probably haven't joined the dots between the chord progression of 'Oops! … I Did It Again' and 15th-century classical music. But that's the kind of thing Switched On Pop hosts Nate Sloan (a musicologist) and Charlie Harding (a songwriter) notice and what makes their podcast geeking out about pop music such an enlightening listen. If you come to hear them deconstruct 'Toxic', it's worth scrolling down and checking out some older episodes too – the one about Baz Luhrmann's 'Sunscreen Song' (elder millennials remember) is one of the all-time great podcast episodes.
