If you’re lucky, you’re still on holidays. If you’re less lucky, you pretend you’re still on holidays, delaying the responsibilities of the real world until February.
And what better way to procrastinate than to while away some time with the streaming highlights of the month?
The Last of Us (Binge/Foxtel*, January 17): All eyes are on The Last of Us, and not just out of curiosity over whether this HBO adaptation of an acclaimed blockbuster video game will survive the screen-to-screen transformation. Created by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey, the story of Ellie and Joel in a post-apocalyptic world will carry with it the weight of expectations from an invested fandom.
Poker Face (Stan, January 27): Not to be confused with that other Stan title called Poker Face (no one deserves that indignity), this case-of-the-week detective series is created by Rian Johnson, as in he-who-made-Knives-Out-and-Glass-Onion. If you need more convincing – and really, you don’t – it stars Natasha Lyonne and was inspired by Colombo. Yes, a thousand times, yes.
The Pale Blue Eye (Netflix, January 6): With a great cast featuring Christian Bale, Gillian Anderson, Harry Melling and Robert Duvall, The Pale Blue Eye is based on Louis Bayard’s novel, the rights for which Netflix reportedly paid $US55 million ($A80 million). In the 1830-set story, Bale stars as a detective called in to investigate a murder at a military academy, and his protégé is a young cadet named Edgar Allan Poe. How about that?
Shrinking (Apple TV+, January 27): Created by Jason Segel, Bill Lawrence and Brett Goldstein (you may know him better as Roy Kent in Ted Lasso), Shrinking stars Segel as a therapist who’s losing it as he’s mired in seemingly inescapable grief. He starts to tell his patients what they should actually be doing – the kind of thing therapists never actually instruct – with huge consequences. It also stars Harrison Ford.
Koala Man (Disney+, January 9): Koala Man started life as a Fresh Blood pilot on the ABC but then made the leap to fully fledged Hulu series, which will stream in Australia on Disney+. The adult animation follows Kevin, a dad from Dapto (yes, that Dapto) who moonlights as a superhero at night. The brainchild of Michael Cusack, it also features voice performances from Hugh Jackman, Sarah Snook, Natalie Tran, Jemaine Clement and Hugo Weaving.
Black Snow (Stan, January 1): This Australian crime drama – that most beloved of all genres, at the moment – starts with an interesting hook. In 2019, a 25-year-old time capsule is opened to reveal a letter from a 1994 murder victim, which sparks the interest of a cold case detective. But it’s the layered storytelling among the South Sea Islander community in northern Queensland that carries the series through. It stars Travis Fimmel, Jemmason Power, Brooke Satchwell and Talijah Blackman-Corowa.
Break Point (Netflix, January 13): If you loved Drive To Survive, even if you weren’t particularly obsessed with Formula 1, then imagine what you might get out of Break Point, which is from the same doco team. Launching to coincide with the Australian Open, its 10 episodes follows the world’s tennis elite on tour as they smash records, rivals and racquets.
Velma (Binge/Foxtel, January 12): Velma Dinkley was the brains and heart of the Scooby Gang so it’s about time we all acknowledged this truth. And this prequel animated series puts the focus where it should be, on our titular hero. Mindy Kaling will voice Velma while other voice talents include Constance Wu, Glenn Howerton and Sam Richardson.
You People (Netflix, January 27): Co-written by Jonah Hill and Kenya Barris, this film stars Hill as one-half of a mixed-race couple trying to navigate the cultural and generational clashes between their two families. And it has a cracker cast, including Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Nia Long, Rhea Perlman and Lauren London.
Stonehouse (Britbox, January 17): Based on the bizarre true story of a Scottish politician who faked his own death, left behind his family and fled to Melbourne – and was later revealed to have espionage links – it reunites onscreen real-life couple Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes.
Happy Valley S3 (BBC First on Binge/Foxtel/Fetch, January 2): It’s been so long since season two of Happy Valley (seven years!), you probably thought that was the end. No, this is the end. The third and final season starts this month and it will plunge you right back in the world of the gritty, honest and brilliant Sergeant Catherine Cawood. She’s about to retire but when the remains of a victim connected to Tommy Lee Royce is found, she knows it’s not over – yet.
That 90s Show (Netflix, January 19): If you never made it to the end of That 70s Show, Eric and Donna turned out to be each other’s endgame romance – how cute. And now, cut to 1995 and they have a teen daughter named Leia who is going to spend the summer of 1995 with her grandparents, Red and Kitty, with Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp reprising their roles. The original crew (minus the now disgraced Danny Masterson) will be special guest stars.
Better Date Than Never (ABC iview, January 24): From the creators of Love On The Spectrum, this six-part docuseries follows a group of people with one thing in common – a yearning to find love and the desire to overcome what’s stood in their way, their first date.
Servant S4 (Apple TV+, January 13): One of the stranger and more intriguing series to come out of Apple TV+’s original slate, the moody M. Night Shyamalan-produced thriller is wrapping up with its final season. It started with the mystery of a nanny and a baby in the home of a well-to-do family with its own secrets and traumas and where it ends up is anyone’s guess. Stars Lauren Ambrose and Rupert Grint.
Kaleidoscope (Netflix, January 1): Kaleidoscope is both a very conventional and a very unconventional heist thriller. The plot is familiar but the delivery is not – the idea is that you can watch the episodes (except for the finale) in any order and it will still make sense. That part more or less works; what doesn’t is the rest of it, burdened by weak scripts. Stars Giancarlo Esposito, Rufus Sewell and Tati Gabrielle.
The Great North S3 (Binge/Foxtel, January 8): Australia is finally getting the third season of The Great North, a delightful animated series from the Molyneux sisters (Bob’s Burgers) about a family in Alaska. It’s funny, warm and a tonic for any anxiety in your day. It features the voices of Nick Offerman, Jenny Slate, Will Forte and Paul Rust.
Death in Paradise S12 (BBC First on Binge/Foxtel/Fetch, January 7): It’s an old favourite but it’s a favourite for a reason. The island-set detective show which blends cosy murder mysteries with quirky and loveable characters returns for its 12th outing. And with a still relatively fresh ensemble, Saint Marie is calling.
Mayor of Kingstown S2 (Paramount+, January 16): Rare is the Taylor Sheridan series that doesn’t involve ranchers and a propensity for protectionist violence, but Mayor of Kingstown still has that muscular vibe. Jeremy Renner and Dianne Wiest star in this drama about a family who controls the only business in town that matters, locking people up.
Extraordinary (Disney+, January 25): In a world where everyone develops a superpower on their 18th birthday, what if you’re the one loner still waiting for yours at 25? Jen is that extraordinary person – extraordinary when the ordinary person has powers of which she can only dream. This British comedy stars Mairead Tyers and Sofia Oxenham.
Hunters S2 (Amazon Prime Video, January 13): Hyper-violent and heightened in almost every other way, the second and final season about a group of Nazi hunters picks up in 1979 with the cabal on the prowl in Argentina for the greatest target of all – Hitler.
If These Walls Could Sing (Disney+, January 6): If someone is going to take you on an inside tour of the famed Abbey Road studios on its 90th birthday, you could do worse than Mary McCartney, daughter of Paul. The older McCartney appears as an interviewee, as does Jimmy Page and Elton John. Let the nostalgia wash over you.
Wolf Pack S1 (Paramount+, January 27): OK, this teen supernatural series actually sounds silly – essentially four teenagers bonded by werewolf bites and blood, one guess as to why. But it is Sarah Michelle Gellar’s first regular TV role since the Robin Williams comedy The Crazy Ones, and that just seems very notable, for better or worse.
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The Test S2 (Amazon Prime Video, January 13): Summer sport is synonymous with cricket – or so we’ve been told – and fans of the baggy green will delight in the drama of the second season of this docuseries following the Australian team.
An earlier version of this article said Miracle Workers: End Times was to premiere on January 17 - this release has been postponed.
*Binge and Foxtel are majority-owned by News Corp, publisher of this website
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