Watch, listen and be inspired by Calum Henderson's definitive list of what's hot right now and from the vault.
Ragdoll (TVNZ OnDemand, from Tuesday)
What nickname do you give a serial killer who's carefully stitched together his victims' body parts like some extra-macabre Damien Hirst sculpture? The jaded British detectives investigating the grisly scene in a Deptford council flat have a few ideas: "Loco Chanel", "Tommy Killfigher", "Michael Corpse". It takes a stray IT worker who overhears the case briefing back at the station to suggest something a bit more simple: "What about the Ragdoll Killer?"
As confronting a sight as it is, DI Emily Baxter (Thalissa Teixeira) maintains the Ragdoll Killer's work is "not the worst thing I've ever seen", nor does DS Nathan Rose (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) seem to be particularly fazed by it. Both of them have Seen Some Things, for sure, and by the end of the first episode of Ragdoll it might not be the worst thing we've seen either.
This isn't even DS Rose's first serial killer – his last one, twisted firestarter Mark Hooper aka the Cremation Killer, went badly wrong when his case was thrown out of court after it was revealed Rose had gathered some evidence unlawfully. One frenzied courtroom beating later, Rose was sent to a psychiatric facility where he was diagnosed with PTSD.
So it's with some trepidation that he's put on this case along with Baxter and former LAPD expat Lake Edmonds (Lucy Hale). And things look especially dicey after the cops get sent a list of six names from the Ragdoll Killer – number one is the Boris-like mayor, number six is Nathan Rose himself. "You're on a kill list!" Baxter frets. "I always knew I had a certain Marmite quality," he shrugs.
From the producers of Killing Eve – which probably explains quite a lot – the show's mix of dark, dry humour and gruesome deaths may not be for everybody. But for those who enjoy a wry chuckle with their Se7en-style thrillers, this case should be right up your alley.
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Windows (Netflix)
Knives Out certainly didn't invent the idea of a funny, stylish murder mystery but we probably have the movie's popularity to thank for the growing number of TV series now operating in this area. If you enjoyed Only Murders in the Building on Disney Plus, this should provide a similarly satisfying mix of silliness and intrigue. Kristen Bell stars as the titular woman in the house, who believes she may have witnessed a murder in the house across the street – although due to her daily intake of red wine, she makes a very unreliable witness indeed.
The Afterparty (Apple TV+)
Speaking of funny, stylish murder mysteries, Apple TV+ wants in on the action too. You'll go a long way to find a funnier cast than the one attached to The Afterparty, which includes Tiffany Haddish as the detective investigating a murder at a high school reunion attended by Sam Richardson (Veep, I Think You Should Leave), Ilana Glazer (Broad City) Jamie Demetriou (the criminally-unavailable-in-New Zealand Stath Lets Flats) and more. The hook here is that each episode is from the perspective of a different attendee, over the course of which we get to try and figure out who done it.
Trigger Point (TVNZ OnDemand)
Attention all Line of Duty fans, your next fix of preposterously intense British police drama has arrived hot off the ITV production line. Trigger Point is the latest series produced by Line of Duty and Bodyguard creator Jed Mercurio, and stars Vicky McClure (Line of Duty's DI Kate Fleming) as a member of an elite police bomb disposal unit. It is both accurate and unoriginal to describe this as an explosive drama and a blast to watch – it also has the added upside of making you acutely aware of all the potential spots a bomb could have been planted everywhere you go.
Movie of the Week: The House (Netflix)
If the only stop-motion animation you've ever watched involved a cheese-loving Englishman and his quizzical dog, prepare to have your mind blown a little bit by The House. It's a three-chapter anthology showcasing some of the world's best stop-motion talent, each part of which takes place in the same house across different eras and occupants, many of whom are animals and one of which is voiced by Jarvis Cocker. Very strange, quite creepy and probably not as child-friendly as you might expect.
From the Vault: One Hour Photo (2002) (Disney Plus)
The children of today will never be able to fathom the way we used to wait weeks, sometimes months or even years to see the photographs we took. The fact that we had to take our literal camera rolls to a special shop to be developed by a total stranger? Just unimaginably bizarre. These children are also unlikely to be able to fully appreciate the psychological thriller One Hour Photo, which is their loss because it's one of Robin Williams' most underrated performances, cast against type as a lonely, quiet and increasingly terrifying photo developer who becomes obsessed with the family of one of his frequent customers.
Podcast of the Week: Eclipsed
Pick up a newspaper from the days following any major news event and there'll be a story on page two or three that on any other day would have been front-page news. On the same day that Apollo 11 landed on the moon, for example, young Australian singer Cathy Wayne was shot dead while performing at a US Army base in Vietnam. This tragic incident is the first subject of Eclipsed, a new podcast series from Campside Media (Chameleon, Suspect), in which host Bijan Stephen looks at stories from history that have been eclipsed by other events.
But the three-episode miniseries about Cathy Wayne doesn't go down the usual true crime route you might be expecting. Instead, it takes a far more interesting route by zooming out to tell the story of the hundreds of Australian entertainers who went to Vietnam to entertain troops during the war. One of Cathy's good friends, who performed under the name Lil Pattie, gives an incredibly vivid account of her own trip to Vietnam, and a near-miss that saw her choppered to safety over a raging battle. It's a hell of a story and, at a little over an hour in total, you'll almost definitely end up devouring all three episodes in one sitting.
