What’s On Netflix And Amazon This Month – October

Critics’ choice:

Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities

Netflix

FILM

Mr Harrigan’s Phone 5 Oct Based on a short story by Stephen King, and starring Donald Sutherland, this supernatural coming-of-age story sees a young boy realise that he can communicate with his dead billionaire friend (Sutherland) via an iPhone that was buried with a corpse. It’s produced by Ryan Murphy, creator of American Horror Story.

FILM

The Mole 7 Oct This reality series takes place over three weeks in an event that’s part escape game, part spy mission, and part great parlour game. Contestants compete to solve various missions by finding passwords, or climbing ropes over canyons, while one of them is working as a saboteur – and the rest have to identify them.

The Playlist 13 Oct Will this six-part drama be the music equivalent of The Social Network? It’s based on the life of Spotify founder Daniel Ek, following him as a young man attempting to revolutionise how music is consumed. We’re promised a tale of how it pays to dream big – so probably a tad more upbeat than Sorkin’s movie.

Sue Perkins: Perfectly Legal 13 Oct The UK’s love of British celebs’ travelogues shows no sign of abating, as they make their way on to Netflix. This one sees the ex-Bake Off host make her way around South America, trying to take part in activities that feel unexpected given that the series claims she’s been “a mostly-good girl most of her life”.

FILM

Descendant 21 Oct This Sundance film festival prize-winning documentary sees filmmaker Margaret Brown return to her Alabama hometown to document the search for – and historic 2019 discovery of – The Clotilda, the last known ship to arrive in the US, illegally carrying enslaved Africans. It profiles the community of modern-day descendents, who are proud of their heritage – but want to reconcile that with justice.

FILM

Guillermo Del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities 25 Oct The Oscar-winning film-maker curates this series of horror stories, which is intended to push the boundaries of the genre. The eight tales – including two written by Del Toro – come from a team of writers and directors that The Shape of Water director personally handpicked.

FILM

The Good Nurse 26 Oct This movie about a nurse who suspects a colleague of being behind a spate of patient deaths is packed with top calibre talent. Oscar-winners Jessica Chastain and Eddie Redmayne star, and it’s from the Oscar-nominated writer of 1917.

FILM

Amazon

Critics’ choice:

Catherine Called Birdy

FILM

Catherine Called Birdy 7 Oct, Amazon Lena Dunham’s thoroughly enjoyable movie adaptation of the millennial YA classic by Karen Cushman is a comic romp about being an adolescent girl in 13th-century England. Its stars include Game of Thrones’ Bella Ramsey, Billie Piper, Andrew Scott and Russell Brand.

FILM

High School 14 Oct, Amazon Freevee Canadian twins Tegan and Sara might be better known for making indie-pop, but this drama sees them turn TV execs. It’s the televisual version of the memoir about their late 90s youth, a grunge-soaked adaptation focusing on what it’s like forge a path of individuality in your teens, when you have an identical sibling.

The Devil’s Hour 28 Oct, Amazon Every night at 3.33am, Lucy wakes up at a time known as “the devil’s hour”. This creepy six-part drama follows her as she attempts to figure out why, as well as how her name has become connected to a string of murders in the area. The cast includes Peter Capaldi, Call the Midwife’s Jessica Raine, Nikesh Patel and Meera Syal, with Steven Moffat as the executive producer.

BBC iPlayer

Critics’ choice:

The Power of the Doctor

Ralph & Katie 5 Oct This spin-off of The A Word – a drama which centred on a family with an autistic child – sees two of its characters embark on life as newlyweds. The BBC are billing it as a groundbreaking attempt to deliver disability-focused programming, having been created by a team of disabled writers, and its two lead actors both having Down’s Syndrome.

Lovebox in Your Living Room 27 Oct Paul Whitehouse and Harry Enfield celebrate the BBC’s 100th anniversary in their own inimitable manner. Their look back at the relationship between Britishness and the Beeb takes in both archive footage as well as “genuinely made up stuff”.

The Power of the Doctor TBC We’ve been talking about it for so long, it’s hard to believe it hasn’t happened yet. But this month sees Jodie Whittaker’s final appearance as Doctor Who. The BBC’s promo images have thus far teased the return of The Master, the Cybermen and old-school companions Tegan Jovanka (Janet Fielding) and Ace (Sophie Aldred). Expect an epic send-off.

Best of the rest

Critics’ choice:

The Bear

The Walk-In 3 Oct, ITV This five-part drama is based on a real-life story about a far-right plot to kill an MP. It stars Stephen Graham as a reformed neo-Nazi who goes undercover to infiltrate the group responsible for the murder of politician Jo Cox – in an attempt to stop them murdering a second elected official. It’s written by Oscar-nominated and Bafta-winning screenwriter, Jeff Pope.

Paxman: Putting Up with Parkinson’s 4 Oct, ITV Eighteen months ago the broadcasting legend was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. In this one-off documentary, he allows cameras into his life to reflect on how it affects him, as well as meeting other people who live with the condition – and talking to experts at the cutting edge of the science around the illness.

The Bear 5 Oct, Disney+ This US series rightly proved to be a sensation when it was launched in June. It’s a tense, impeccably acted tale of a fine dining chef who returns home to run his family’s Italian beef sandwich shop after the death of his older brother. Expect to want to call everyone around you “chef” for hours after watching.

Let the Right One In 8 Oct, Paramount+ The iconic Swedish horror movie gets a TV adaptation with this 10-part series. It centres on a dad and daughter whose lives were changed 10 years earlier when she was turned into a vampire. She’s locked in, while he somehow has to find human blood for her. Expect it to be bleak, moving and gore-soaked.

Candy 12 Oct, Disney+ This true-crime series sees Jessica Biel star as a 1980s housewife who snaps. She might have a nice house and lovely family, but she nonetheless ends up accused of murdering her neighbour with an axe. It won plaudits in the US for its retro styling and the performances of a cast including Melanie Lynskey and Justin Timberlake.

Shantaram 14 Oct, Apple TV+ An adaptation of the novel of the same name, this thriller follows an international fugitive who flees to 1980s Bombay. He goes on a quest for redemption that sees him fall in love, end up working to help the city’s poor – and spend a lot of time sporting a man bun.

Chapelwaite 19 Oct, Paramount+ This month’s second exciting drama based on a Stephen King story sees Adrien Brody star in a series set in 1850. It follows him as he relocates his family to his ancestral home after his wife’s death at sea, only to have to face a sordid history, dark family secrets – and a governess who wants to write a novel about his family.

Gangs of London 20 Oct, Sky Atlantic The violent first season of this crime drama pulled in so many viewers that it was Sky Atlantic’s second-biggest original drama launch of all time. As it returns, expect even more buzz, with a new power dynamic among the city’s gangs caused by a heroin baron attempting to enforce a criminal dictatorship on London’s mobs – leading, we suspect, to the odd spot of fisticuffs.

The White Lotus TBC, Sky Atlantic It’s a whole new resort, and almost entirely changed cast for the second season of this comedy-drama set on a luxury resort. This time round, the action takes place in Sicily, with a cast including Tom Hollander, Aubrey Plaza and Michael Imperioli, plus the one returning actor – Jennifer Coolidge, reprising her Emmy-winning turn as Tanya McQuoid.

Somewhere Boy TBC, Channel 4 This drama from the production company behind The End of the F***ing World follows a teenager whose mum died in a car crash when he was a baby. After his dad gave him a hyper-closeted, risk-averse upbringing he suddenly finds himself out in the world as an 18-year-old, looking into his mum’s death.

What’s On Netflix And Amazon This Month – October

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