The best new shows to stream in April

There are some much-anticipated shows to stream this month. Zendaya, Jacob Elordi and Sydney Sweeney are back for new episodes of Euphoria, and we’ll also get the final season of superhero satire The Boys. I’m particularly keen on Stan’s Half Man, however, the new drama from Baby Reindeer creator and star Richard Gadd. Plus: comic dynamos Anne Edmonds and Kitty Flanagan are pairing up in the ABC comedy Bad Company.

Netflix

My top Netflix recommendation is Big Mistakes (April 9).

Ever since Schitt’s Creek – the little Canadian comedy that could – concluded in 2020, co-creator Dan Levy has been in demand, whether as an actor or a host. He wrote, directed and starred in one feature, the under-seen Good Grief on Netflix, but now he’s back with a new show. In the crime comedy Big Mistakes, co-created with I Love LA agitator Rachel Sennott, Levy plays Nicky, a nervy Protestant priest who along with his chaotic sister, Morgan (Taylor Ortega, The Four Seasons), is blackmailed into aiding an organised crime syndicate. It’s not a gig the duo is remotely prepared for. Definitely expect some farce.

Also on Netflix: Shot on location in Sydney and the Blue Mountains, Apex (April 24) stars Charlize Theron (Mad Max: Fury Road) as an outdoors adrenalin junkie whose solo Australian tour becomes a battle for survival when a twisted hunter (Taron Egerton, Rocketman) makes her his prey. Running for her life, Theron’s character has to brave the elements, with the action choreographed by Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur (Everest). The tougher challenge may be for Egerton, with the Brit having to master an Australian accent. Eric Bana (Untamed) also features, in an unknown supporting role.

When it debuted in 2023, Lee Sung Jin’s Beef (April 16) was a limited series. But the twisted dynamic and telling details of the feud between Ali Wong and Steven Yeun’s characters was so compelling that audiences (and executives) clamoured for more. The solution? Beef is now an anthology series. Lee’s new season, unconnected to the first, follows a young couple (Cailee Spaeny and Charles Melton) working at a prestigious country club who accidentally witness their powerful boss and his wife (Oscar Issac, Carey Mulligan) in a horrifying incident. Coercion, corruption and control soon follow.

March highlights: Rachel Weisz was at the top of her game in the brilliant black comedy Vladimir, while the documentary Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere shone a light on the grifters and gurus of online misogyny.

HBO Max

My top HBO Max recommendation is Euphoria (April 13).

It’s been more than four years since the last episode of Sam Levinson’s shock-and-awe teen drama aired. Since then, numerous cast members have become film stars. Zendaya (Dune), Jacob Elordi (Wuthering Heights) and Sydney Sweeney (The Housemaid) should be too famous to return for the show’s third season, but they’re all back. Those HBO contracts are obviously ironclad. The narrative leaps forward five years, thankfully leaving high school behind, but the characters remain unsettled. Zendaya’s Rue, for example, long plagued by addiction issues, is living in Mexico and entangled with a drug dealer debt. Levinson, whose last series, The Idol, was an overwrought mess, has almost certainly not embraced minimalism.

March highlights: A bittersweet black comedy hiding inside a murder-mystery, DTF St Louis drew telling performances from Jason Bateman and David Harbour, while Steve Carell made a welcome comedy return with Rooster.

Amazon Prime Video

My top Amazon Prime recommendation is The Boys (April 8).

This hit American superhero satire, where those wearing capes are often corrupt and open to authoritarianism, has raised the unhinged stakes with every season: the gory body horror, blunt Trump parallels, and corporate crimes have become a supercharged norm. The challenge is to top all that and supply a satisfying ending for the fifth and final season. The all-powerful Homelander (Antony Starr, Banshee), a kind of fascist Superman, is now running America, through a puppet government and martial law, providing a final mission for the underground opposition led by super-hating former CIA agent ‘Billy’ Butcher (Karl Urban, Star Trek). The fan base, whatever their interpretation of the show, has the highest of expectations.

March highlights: Relocating to the Top End didn’t slow down genius Australian crime comedy Deadloch, Nicole Kidman headlined the forensics drama Scarpetta, The Bluff took a shot at pirate action, and Guy Ritchie gave us a detective origin story with Young Sherlock.

Stan*

My top Stan recommendation is Half Man (April 25).

How do you top Baby Reindeer? That’s the challenge for the Scottish actor and writer Richard Gadd, whose 2024 Netflix series was an absolute sensation. He returns with this tale of estranged Glaswegian “brothers”, Niall (Jamie Bell, The Shining Girls) and Ruben (Gadd), who are reunited when the latter turns up at the former’s wedding and promptly sets off alarm bells with his behaviour. The two are completely different in personality, but grew up relying on each other. The story charts their lives together and apart. Gadd has said “dysfunctionality” is central to the show. Oh, and remember how Gadd was a beanpole in Baby Reindeer? He’s jacked this time.

Also on Stan: Equal parts relationship satire and tiny action-adventure, The Miniature Wife (April 19) pairs up Matthew Macfadyen (Succession) and Elizabeth Banks (Mrs America) – great casting! – as Les and Lindy Littlejohn, a struggling scientist and a successful author. When Les’ work in miniaturisation pays off, there’s a hitch – Lindy accidentally gets reduced to 20 centimetres tall, with no reversal. With a new dynamic in play, starting with Lindy literally living in a dollhouse, their love is tested and she faces unexpected survival stress. Is this the grown-up version of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids no one knew we needed? Sure sounds like it.

March highlights: Let’s make the case for The Hunting Wives as the ultimate guilty pleasure.

Apple TV

My top Apple TV recommendation is Margo’s Got Money Troubles (April 15).

After a terrific run of high-profile movies – A Complete Unknown, Predator: Badlands, and Sentimental Value – Elle Fanning headlines this comic-drama in which her titular, working-class, young character has her university education derailed by a baby. Desperate for income, the single mother becomes a content creator on the adult subscription platform OnlyFans. Rufi Thorpe’s 2024 novel of the same name has been adapted by the eternally prolific David E. Kelley (Ally McBeal, Big Little Lies), so the tone surrounding Margo’s idiosyncratic but nonetheless explicit work is positive, as is her interaction with her parents – a retired Hooters waitress (Michelle Pfeiffer, The Madison), and a former pro wrestler (Nick Offerman, Parks and Recreation). Nicole Kidman also features, as a hard-nosed lawyer.

Also on Apple TV: Widow’s Bay (April 29) is the latest showcase for Matthew Rhys. The star of The Americans and The Beast in Me plays the mayor of an American island town quietly determined to turn the remote community into a tourist destination. His every move is opposed by sceptical locals, who believe that Widow’s Bay is actively cursed, and when Rhys’ Tom Loftis does make progress, inexplicable events suggest that the naysayers were not wrong. It’s a character-driven drama that moves steadily into the horror realm, testing both Tom and the audience’s endurance.

Oscar-nominated as an actor for Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street, Jonah Hill has been focused on making his own movies in the 2020s. His latest is Outcome (April 10), a black comedy about a beloved Hollywood star, Reef Hawk (Keanu Reeves), who has reached sobriety and calm, only to learn that someone has a video of him from his dark days that would destroy his career. Advised by his lawyer (Hill), and accompanied by his best friends (played by Cameron Diaz and Matt Bomer), Reef goes on a personal apology tour to everyone he’s wronged, trying to make amends and checking if they’re his blackmailer. Done right, this really could be a great role for Keanu.

March highlights: Elisabeth Moss, Kerry Washington and Kate Mara combined for the secrets-and-lies murder mystery Imperfect Women.

Binge

My top Binge recommendation is Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (April 17).

It’s 16 years since this British period drama, crafted with aristocratic alacrity and period authenticity by Julian Fellowes, became a powerhouse television success. The last episode aired in 2015, but the demand for more Downton Abbey has resulted in a steady supply of feature film sequels. The latest now reaches streaming, bringing back the majority of the cast to the stately Yorkshire manor, less the late, great Maggie Smith’s Dowager Countess. The year is 1930, the Great Depression is wreaking havoc, and rumours are spreading that Lady Mary (Michelle Dockery) is a divorcee. This is expert fan service.

March highlights: Pride and Prejudice was just the starting point for charming spin-off The Other Bennet Sister.

Disney+

My top Disney+ recommendation is The Testaments (April 8).

This continuation of The Handmaid’s Tale is no quick spin-off. It’s adapted from Margaret Atwood’s 2019 novel of the same name, with Bruce Miller returning as the show’s creator after overseeing all six seasons of the original dystopian drama. The setting remains Gilead, aka America under a monstrous theocratic dictatorship, but a few years have passed, and the younger generation is the focus. One Battle after Another breakout star Chase Infiniti stars as Agnes MacKenzie, a young woman raised by a powerful Gilead family and sent to the regime’s elite finishing school for teenage girls. She’s joined by an outsider, Daisy (Lucy Halliday), and both are watched closely by the school’s headmistress, Ann Dowd’s Handmaid antagonist, Aunt Lydia.

Also on Disney+: Television’s 2000s revival continues, with Scrubs being followed by Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair (April 10). Originally conceived as a movie, but now four half-hour episodes, this revival of the madcap family comedy that aired between 2000 and 2006 sees an adult Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) forced back into proximity with his dysfunctional clan when he and his own family are summoned to the 40th wedding anniversary of Malcolm’s parents, Hal (Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad) and Lois (Jane Kaczmarek, Raising the Bar). Can the former child genius fare any better as an adult? Hopefully not. This franchise thrives on domestic chaos.

March highlights: Marvel fans got more of the revival that actually mattered with a new season of Daredevil: Born Again.

Paramount+

My top Paramount+ recommendation is Curfew (April 8).

This detective thriller is a work of speculative fiction. Adapted from Jayne Cowie’s novel After Dark, it’s set in a Britain where the movement to protect women from male violence has led to a curfew and electronic monitoring for all men from 7pm to 7am each night. That’s changed the culture, society and relationship dynamics. But when a woman is found murdered, the investigating police officer, Detective Inspector Pamela Green (Sarah Parish, Industry), suspects that a man is somehow the culprit. Partnered with a young male colleague, Eddie Wilson (Mitchell Robertson, A Very British Scandal), Pamela has to handle both the investigation and her doubting superiors. The world-building and the characters will have to click in this one.

March highlights: Taylor Sheridan got a little touchy-feely with his grief-laden new Michelle Pfeiffer drama The Madison.

ABC iview

My top ABC iview recommendation is Bad Company (April 26).

No pairing in April excites me more than the headliners of this new Australian comedy. Anne Edmonds (Get Krack!n) and Kitty Flanagan (Fisk) star in this tale of a prestigious but floundering theatre company whose chaotic artistic director (Edmonds) has to deal with the corporate executive (Flanagan) brought in to save the institution from collapse. I strongly suspect this show, created by Edmonds, will have dialogue exchanges that gloriously cross the deranged with the deadpan. Hopefully, the supporting cast allows some very fine actors to cut loose as very silly actors. Can’t wait.

March highlights: Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker made a heist thriller so much more in Frauds, village comedy Can You Keep a Secret? was a showcase for Dawn French’s comic brilliance, plus a new panel quiz show with Tonight at the Museum.

SBS on Demand

My top SBS On Demand recommendation is Riot Women (April 2).

Sally Wainwright is one of British television’s crucial voices, having created Last Tango in Halifax, Happy Valley and Gentleman Jack. Her latest show – with a second season already commissioned – is a feedback-friendly drama about a group of female friends struggling with the demands and dismissals of life in their fifties. The London quintet finds a balm for their dissatisfactions when they form a band to play a local fundraiser. Discovering their roles in the group, and making a righteous racket, helps the women figure out who they might yet be. The cast includes Tamsin Greig (Belgravia) and Joanna Scanlan (A Very Royal Scandal), who get the kind of lived-in roles, complete with humour as a coping mechanism, that Wainwright does so well.

Also on SBS On Demand: In the 2010s, shows about the hub of American corporate technology such as Silicon Valley were exaggerated satires. That moment has passed. The Audacity (April 15) returns to the privileged Californian enclave, but the humour is altogether darker as an ambitious tech CEO (Billy Magnussen, Made for Love) and his self-serving therapist (Sarah Goldberg, Barry), cross all kinds of lines. If you’re thinking that this show sounds like a Succession successor, you’re spot on. Creator Jonathan Glatzer wrote several episodes of the media mogul masterpiece.

March highlights: A real-life imprisonment without cause in an Iranian jail was the inspiration for British drama Prisoner 951.

* Stan is owned by Nine, the owner of this masthead.

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