A new week means another guide to the best new shows and movies on streaming! On this page you’ll find six recommendations for some of the hottest films and TV shows that are available to watch over the next seven days, across a range of the best streaming services.
Taking the lead this week is the long-awaited fourth season of The Witcher, with Liam Hemsworth taking over from Henry Cavill in the title role. He has big shoes to fill, but we think he can handle it. Elsewhere this week there’s also a remake of a classic ’90s thriller, the return of Mayor of Kingstown, and much more.
The Witcher season 4
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Netflix
It’s finally here! The fourth season of The Witcher arrives on Netflix this week, with all eight episodes dropping at once on October 30. Season 3 ended with Geralt of Rivia badly wounded and separated from Ciri (Freya Allan) and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra). Still, when has that ever stopped him? Geralt puts a team together in order to rescue Ciri, who he believes has been captured. As ever, things aren’t quite that simple and the gang soon find themselves in a whole heap of trouble…
Of course, the big news with The Witcher season 4 is that we have a new Geralt, with Liam Hemsworth stepping into Henry Cavill’s size 11s. That has made some fans a bit twitchy, but Hemsworth is a solid casting choice and we have faith that the production team know what they’re doing as they put the pieces in motion for the show’s grand finale with season five.
Keep track of the best shows on Netflix with our regularly-updated guide.
Star Wars: Visions Volume 3
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Disney Plus
The acclaimed Star Wars animated series returns for a third season of anime-inspired adventures in the galaxy far, far away. For those that haven’t seen the show before, Star Wars: Visions is an award-winning anthology series where Lucasfilm and Disney allows various Japanese animation studios to reimagine the look and feel of Star Wars from the ground up. This is George Lucas’s creation as you’ve never seen it before, with dazzling character designs and eye-popping visuals.
The new season will see another nine episodes that, this time around, include a couple of sequels to earlier adventures. Kamikaze Douga teams up with ANIMA for ‘The Duel: Payback’, a follow ups to season one’s Emmy Award-nominated ‘The Duel’. Production I.G, meanwhile, present a sequel to ‘The Ninth Jedi’. But that’s just scratching the surface of another surprising season.
You’ll find more Star Wars in our guide to the best shows on Disney Plus.
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle
Available: US
Where to watch: Hulu
Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars in this remake of the 1992 psychological thriller as Caitlin Morales, a pregnant attorney who crosses paths with Polly Murphy (It Follows and Longlegs star Maika Monroe), a young woman facing homelessness. When Morales gives birth she hires Murphy to be her nanny. It’s not long, however, before she starts to suspect that she is not who she claims to be. As her suspicions grow, it becomes clear that Murphy is a threat to her family – and perhaps even her life…
The original The Hand that Rocks the Cradle was a hit in the ’90s but has since become a bit of a forgotten classic. Remakes are always risky, but this one does a solid job of reinventing the film for the present day and Winstead is terrific in the lead role.
Our list of the best Hulu movies is full of hits.
Down Cemetery Road
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Apple TV
Apple TV have found huge critical success with Slow Horses, their adaptation of Mick Herron’s spy thriller series, so it’s perhaps no surprise that the streamer would turn its attention to some of the author’s other works. 2003’s Down Cemetery Road was Herron’s first novel and the first in a series based on private investigator Zoë Boehm, here played by the great Emma Thompson. When a gas main explodes in Oxford, an ordinary woman named Sarah (Ruth Wilson) finds herself stumbling into a conspiracy – and only Boehm can help.
Down Cemetery Road was adapted by Morwenna Banks, a core member of Slow Horses’s writing team. Like that show this is a smart blend of the deadly serious and the bitterly comic. Will it be the match of Herron’s other show? Time will tell, but for now we’re just happy to take another trip into his imagination.
Slow Horses is one of the best Apple TV shows.
Mayor of Kingstown season 4
Available: US/UK
Where to watch: Paramount Plus
The Jeremy Renner-starring crime thriller reaches its fourth season – and things are about to get even rougher for Mike McLusky (Renner). A gang war has been stirred up as the various factions in town fight to fill the power vacuum left by the Russian cartel. Into this mess comes a new warden, Nina Hobbs, played by The Soprano’s Edie Falco. The Walking Dead’s Lennie James is also joining the cast as a gangster named Frank Moses.
Mayor of Kingstown remains as enjoyably bruising as ever in its fourth year, with Renner a charismatic lead. This is a no-nonsense crime thriller with style.
Mayor of Kingstown is a part of our list of the best shows on Paramount Plus.
Sliding Doors
Available: US
Where to watch: Netflix
Gwyneth Paltrow stars in this comedy-drama about the wildly different paths that life can take us. Helen Quilley (Paltrow) is trying to catch a tube home. In one version of events she gets there in time, in another she misses it by mere moments. We then follow her life as it splits in two completely different directions because of this one simple divergence.
Sliding Doors puts an innovative spin on the romantic drama, its parallel timelines orbiting the same characters, including Helen’s partner Gerry (John Lynch) and a potential new love interest in James (John Hannah). In true romantic drama style this one has laughter, tears, and some fateful misunderstandings. If you’ve never seen it before then its return to Netflix in the US is a chance to rectify that.
There’s loads of hits to choose from in our list of the best Netflix movies.
Looking for something else to watch? Check out our list of the best movies on Apple TV.
