Our TV experts have picked the 20 best shows and films to stream...

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Looking for something new to watch this weekend? The Daily Mail's TV experts have sifted through hundreds of programmes to bring you the 20 best shows and films to stream on demand right now...

Fire Country

Macho California firefighter drama with impressive action sequences, now back for a new series

Year: 2022-

Certificate: PG

Watch now on NOW

Watch now on Sky

Legendary US TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer is behind this California firefighting drama, and the action sequences certainly live up to his reputation for big, exciting television.

The story comes from its star and creator, Max Thieriot, who plays a maverick convict with a burning desire to redeem himself, and does so by putting his impressive biceps to work as a firefighting volunteer alongside the professionals.

This is a very American story of men who do the right thing no matter what, also a Bruckheimer hallmark - but it comes with twists as the town where Bode (Thieriot) is put to work is also his hometown, and he has some thorny personal connections there.

Thieriot is a solid hero figure with a neat twinkle in the eyes, and has charismatic support from the older cast playing figures higher up the firefighter chain, notably Billy Burke (Twilight) and Diane Farr (Numb3rs). If you're after something less soapy than Chicago Fire and less right-on than 9-1-1: Lone Star, Fire Country's impressive fire sequences and macho cast could well fit the bill.

The latest, third series begins with a bang when there's a helicopter crash - and even though it happens during the wedding of Gabriela and Diego, the firefighters leap into action.

Cast additions in series three include Jared Padalecki (Supernatural), Constance Zimmer (House Of Cards) and The Hunger Games' Leven Rambin as feisty firefighter Audrey James. (Three series)

Lionesses: History Makers

Relive the Lionesses' win in the 2025 Euro tournament

Year: 2025

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

There will be bigger and better documentaries about the Lionesses' Euro 2025 success made down the line but, for now, this half-hour look back at their path to victory will do nicely.

It opens with the 2-1 loss to France that rocked expectations and intersperses every match with interviews with players including Lucy Bronze, Ella Toone, Hannah Hampton, Chloe Kelly and many more.

The emphatic wins against Netherlands and Wales follow (4-0 and 6-1 respectively) before we settle into the coming-from-behind wins of the knockout stages. That nail-biting 3-2 penalty shootout against Sweden in the quarter finals, Chloe Kelly's winning kick in the semis against Italy and then the final against Spain - with Kelly, again, sealing the win and the trophy in penalties.

It's an emotional journey that's also quite intense when presented across half an hour. There are small personal details slipped in here and there, such as how the players relaxed between matches - some built Lego while Michelle Agyemang played her piano. A bigger documentary will surely do that personal side of the story more justice in future. (30 minutes)

Chief Of War

Bruising historical drama about warring Hawaiian kingdoms starring Jason Momoa

Year: 2025

Watch now on Apple TV+

Jason Momoa co-created and stars in Apple's expensive-looking drama based on the real-life war between Hawaii's four big kingdoms in the 18th century, a series that's conducted entirely in the endangered native language of the islands.

The Hawaiian-born Momoa, star of Aquaman and Apple's innovative 2019 warring tribes drama See, is an imposing presence here, and he's not the only familiar face. Temuera Morrison - Jango Fett in the Star Wars movies and Boba Fett in The Mandalorian - plays a formidable chief and friend to the father of Momoa's warrior character, while the tone of the series veers between jovial moments of banter, discussions of destiny and bruisingly physical fight scenes.

It's a story of loyalty, prophecy, destiny and decisions, performed with conviction by imposing men no sane person would want to face in a wrestling ring. The female characters are less prominent, but they do exist - including a grey-eyed witch-like character who claims to speak for the gods. (Nine episodes)

Inside The Cult Of The Jesus Army

A shocking story of abuse in a leafy village in England

Year: 2025

Certificate: 15

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

'High pressure and hardline', the message of the Jesus Army was join or be damned. Over 40 years, from his base in the small village of Bugbrooke near Northampton, Noel Stanton amassed thousands of followers and millions in the bank.

In 2009, after his death, hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse against him and other leaders of the community emerged and here, for the first time, survivors speak out.

Recalling happier times, one former follower describes the Jesus Army or Jesus Fellowship as a more 'vibrant form of worship' than orthodox Christianity and members were devoted. That devotion and sense of belonging would lay the foundations for the abuse that was to come.

Interestingly, alongside interviews with former members and extensive archive footage, we follow some of the survivors as they undergo group therapy with psychotherapist Gillie Jenkinson, who specialises in cults and was once a member of one herself.

The series exposes the scandal but also helps its victims, and those of us watching, to better understand how cult indoctrination actually works. (Two episodes)

Trainwreck: Storm Area 51

Documentary about rumours of an attack on the US airbase

Year: 2025

Certificate: 15

Watch now on Netflix

In 2019, 20-year-old Matty Roberts created a Facebook event titled 'Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All Of Us'.

It was a jokey invitation for internet users to sign up to take action to finally see the inside of the Nevada base made infamous by claims that it was the site where the US government stored evidence of UFO landings.

Surely no one was going to take the invite seriously? However, as the number of sign-ups rose above two million, the US military began to take this perceived threat very seriously indeed...

This lively, two-part entry in the always entertaining Trainwreck strand reveals what actually happened when the military establishment found itself contemplating a face-off with an irresistible horde of alien fanatics - and just what those fanatics really got up to.

And, while the final result of all their antics doesn't quite live up to the build-up, the documentary raises some intriguing points. The local authorities spent $250,000 on preparing for the worst while it's estimated that the US military spent $11million. How does one police the satirical fantasies of the internet? (Two episodes)

The Gone

Follow the hunt for an Irish couple who vanish in New Zealand

Year: 2023

Certificate: 15

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

When a young Irish couple go missing from a small town in New Zealand, troubled Irish cop Theo Richter (Crossing Lines' Richard Flood) flies down under to join the local Maori detective on the case, the level-headed Diana Huia (Acushla-Tara Kupe).

The missing woman's mother (Gangs Of London's Michelle Fairley) was the judge who put away an Irish gangster and there's a chance this could be a reprisal. But as this small-town mystery unfolds, the evil could just as easily be home grown.

Set in the fictional town of Mt Affinity (but filmed in the North Island's Te Aroha), it looks idyllic on screen, but it's a town in crisis, with tensions high between the Maori tribes and outsiders. We're also dealing with a textbook cop duo, with both Theo and Diana harbouring their own demons.

As series two begins, Theo is getting ready to head home when an Irish journalist mysteriously disappears... (Two series)

Destination X

Rob Brydon hosts this extraordinary fusion of Traitors and Race Across The World

Year: 2025

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

Traitors meets Race Across The World in this exciting reality series. Europe is turned into 'one giant board game' as we follow players trying to work out where on the map they are, after being kept literally in the dark during transit.

When they are dropped off, they have to decide: Where the X am I? Each night, the person whose guess is furthest from the spot will be sent packing.

It all begins at Baden-Baden airport in Germany, where 13 strangers assemble not knowing quite what they've let themselves in for.

After host Rob Brydon pops up, it's made abundantly clear that nothing is as it seems - 'I'm actually Anton de Beke' quips Brydon of his fleet-footed lookalike to prove his point.

Provided with goggles that switch their vision on and off, the players will be fed information and clues, as well as plenty of red herrings.

The fact that the show has employed several sets of twins gives you an idea of the level of mischief that's in store. With Brydon a delightfully cheeky host, this has the high production values and playful energy of The Traitors, except with many more moving parts. Pay attention to the clues and you can play along at home. (One series)

My Oxford Year

Romcom about a US student falling in love in England

Year: 2025

Certificate: 15

Watch now on Netflix

American student Anna (The Life List's Sofia Carson) arrives to study in Oxford with dreams of beautiful buildings, dusty libraries and embracing the thousand-year history of the university.

She gets all that, plus an unexpected connection with her hunky literature lecturer Jamie (Corey Mylchreest of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story fame). The affair bursts quickly to life, but will it fizzle out just as swiftly? Anna's feelings for Jamie soon run deeper than those of a fling, but Jamie seems determined to keep things casual. Is he hiding something that might keep them apart forever?

Full of sweeping romance and gorgeous shots of Oxford at its most camera-friendly, this is a big, bold, old-fashioned love story with romcom trappings. Carson and Mylchreest are well matched as the young lovers, with solid support from the likes of Dougray Scott and Catherine McCormack. (112 minutes)

I Am Raquel Welch

The life and work of the glamorous Hollywood megastar

Year: 2025

Certificate: 15

Watch now on Sky

Raquel Welch was a huge star, and it's hard to explain just how big in today's fractured media landscape. 'You take Beyoncé, J-Lo, Scarlett Johansson, roll them up into one... she was that big,' says one contributor to a documentary that frames Welch as one of the last big stars to come out of the old studio system.

The profile isn't of the same quality as an HBO star treatment (see Faye, on Faye Dunaway, for comparison) but Welch is such a fascinating subject that even a middling profile is pretty compelling. It delivers several good glimpses beneath her glamorous surface, too.

The publicity shot for One Million Years BC was a big part of what sent her fame global but, amusingly, that fur bikini wasn't Welch's choice - she would have preferred a one-piece. And, as much as she was known for her body, people didn't always pay attention to what she actually did with it. Welch was a female action hero way ahead of her time in such westerns as Hannie Caulder and 100 Rifles. In the latter, she also delivered a daring bi-racial sex scene while, in the 1970 film Myra Breckinridge - she played a trans woman.

Throughout this feature-length profile, friends and co-stars such as Gina Gershon, Michael Gross and particularly Dyan Cannon do a good job of fleshing out her story, as do family members such as her son and stepson. Still, it's a shame Welch, who died in 2023, isn't around to give us her own take in full - the archive interviews only get you so far... (86 minutes)

Leanne

Comedy from Chuck Lorre and Leanne Morgan, about a wife whose husband walks out on their 33-year marriage

Year: 2025

Certificate: 12

Watch now on Netflix

Chuck Lorre has been behind some of the biggest US comedies of the modern era, including Two And A Half Men and The Big Bang Theory. Both shows have something in common - they're filmed in front of a studio audience, have that traditional 'multicam' look, and are exactly the type of sitcom that people are forever claiming are going out of fashion. Yet they keep being produced, and Leanne is just the latest example.

Comedian Leanne Morgan co-created the series with Lorre and also stars as Leanne, a woman who discovers her husband (Ryan Stiles) isn't happy when he suddenly walks out on their 33-year marriage for another woman.

The show is based on Morgan's stand-up and is about how Leanne struggles through the aftermath with her nearest and dearest, chiefly her supportive divorcee sister (Kristen Johnston) her wise mama (Celia Weston) and goofy daughter (Hannah Pilkes).

All of them are blonde southerners, dysfunctional in their own way, and are the heart of the kind of show you'll put on for one episode, think is absolutely fine, then suddenly realise you've blown through five episodes without pressing pause.

If you want more after you finish, seek out Morgan's stand-up show I'm Every Woman or Lorre's similar comedy Mom. It's the story of a mother and daughter leaning on each other to stay sober, and also features Johnston. (16 episodes)

Mayfair Witches

The White Lotus's Alexandra Daddario stars in this Anne Rice adaptation, recently returned for a new series

Year: 2023

Certificate: 15

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

In 2022, the US network AMC came up with a smart TV series take on Anne Rice's Interview With The Vampire. The BBC picked that up and they also bought this adaptation of Rice's Lives Of The Mayfair Witches from AMC, too.

The White Lotus's Alexandra Daddario, with her extraordinary eyes, is ideal casting as Rowan, a neurosurgeon who suspects - after an explosively grisly scene in the opening episode - that she might have the power to kill with her mind when driven to rage.

That sets her on a journey into her lineage and a fateful trip to New Orleans in a show that, while it lacks the inventive spark of the Interview With The Vampire series, has a good star in Daddario, a great spooky setting in New Orleans and a decent supporting cast - among them LA Law's Harry Hamlin.

On the whole the first series felt a bit sluggish, but fans will be pleased to know that series two picks up the pace - partly because Rowan has now fully come into her dark powers as she raises her son. There will be a third series. (Two series)

A Killer's Confession

Documentary investigating the prosecution of UK serial killer Christopher Halliwell

Year: 2025

Certificate: 12

Watch now on Prime Video

After he was arrested in 2011, Christopher Halliwell quickly confessed to the killings of two women - Becky Godden-Edwards and Sian O'Callaghan - and even took Swindon police to the burial sites where he had hidden their bodies.

However, because of flaws in police procedure - not least the fact that Halliwell had not been properly cautioned - the killer's confession and everything that followed wasn't admissible in court.

This gritty documentary follows the work of the police team who engaged in a game of cat and mouse with Halliwell in order to finally bring him to justice. It also contains new in-depth interviews with Karen Edwards, who refused to accept that Halliwell might get away with killing her daughter even after telling police that he had done it. (Two episodes)

Dexter: Resurrection

Michael C Hall returns as the avenging serial killer in a second sequel series

Year: 2025

Certificate: 18

Watch now on Paramount+

Beware, if you've not seen Dexter: New Blood, the first sequel series to the Miami serial-killer show Dexter, don't read any further. Okay?

Well, when we last saw Dexter, he was shot and bleeding out in the finale of the 2021 sequel series Dexter: New Blood. You can't keep a good vigilante psychopath down for long though and, in Dexter: Resurrection, Dexter Morgan (Michael C Hall, who first played the role on TV in 2006) emerges from a coma with one thing on his mind: tracking down his long-lost son, Harrison.

The search takes the avenging serial killer to New York City, but things are never simple, especially when there's a new serial slayer named the Dark Passenger Killer haunting the Big Apple. Who could it be?

After the strongly played but rather downbeat New Blood, this ten-part series is a dark and playful return to killer form for the Dexter-verse, with old friends from Dexter's Miami days returning - look out for cop buddy Angel Batista (David Zayas) - alongside a raft of brilliant new characters played by Uma Thurman, Peter Dinklage, Neil Patrick Harris and Krysten Ritter. (Ten episodes)

Built In Birmingham: Brady & The Blues

Footballing documentary about Birmingham City and new co-owner Tom Brady

Year: 2025

Certificate: 15

Watch now on Prime Video

The success of Welcome To Wrexham looms large over this five-part documentary series about Birmingham City and the take-over of the club by a consortium headed by former American football great Tom Brady.

It's less of a rags-to-riches story as Birmingham aren't quite as low down the footballing pyramid as Wrexham were when Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney took over, but Brady and co are just as determined to get their club up to the Premier League, by whatever means necessary.

The show takes the same approach as WTW here, focussing on the club's long-suffering fans (including Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight who co-produces the documentary series) as much as the staff and players, in an enjoyably dramatic and heartfelt series that even has time for a cameo appearance or two by Misters Reynolds and McElhenney. (Five episodes)

Classified

French-Canadian spy thriller about enemies within

Year: 2022

Certificate: 12

Watch now on Channel 4

Set in Montreal, this slick and well-paced French-Canadian spy thriller follows married intelligence officers Rachel and Emile, who work hard on their work/life balance despite the pressure of their jobs.

A shooting outside the US consulate turns their world upside down and Emile is pressured into spying on his wife, who is suspected of being a mole for the CIA.

Parallels are drawn between Rachel and Emile and a family exiled from the Arabian emirate of Shammar: Yasser, his wife and children, who run a bookshop in the city. Targeted by unknown shadowy forces, Yasser, like Emile, worries that he can't trust his wife. (Ten episodes)

The Sandman (Series 2)

The second and final series of the fantasy epic about the god of dreams

Year: 2025

Certificate: 18

Watch now on Netflix

As this second and final run begins, the god of dreams Morpheus (Tom Sturridge) has largely set his kingdom to rights after the enforced absence that began series one. But there are still enemies swirling around him - not least members of his own Endless family as well as assorted demons, eternal beings and gods - and his own past actions may well come back to haunt him.

The Sandman may be tainted by the sexual misconduct allegations aimed against the creator of the original comic book, Neil Gaiman, but this is still fantastic fantasy television - imaginative, beautiful to look at and peopled with some of the best acting talent around.

Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mason Alexander Park and Gwendoline Christie are among those returning alongside new additions such as Jack Gleeson, Freddie Fox and Adrian Lester as the story concludes with 12 final episodes released in three chunks, all of which are now available. (12 episodes)

The Naked Gun (1988 film)

The gag-packed police spoof, starring Leslie Nielsen as bumbling detective Frank Drebin

Year: 1988

Certificate: 15

Watch now on Netflix

Watch now on Paramount+

Watch now on NOW

Watch now on Sky

Based on a 1982 US television series that was considered a flop at the time, The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad! (to give it its full title) was a slap in the face of the TV executives who had unceremoniously canned the original show after just six episodes.

Leslie Nielsen returned for the big-screen adaptation as determined cop Frank Drebin, gleefully oblivious to his total ineptitude. The plot follows Drebin's investigation into the near-fatal shooting of his colleague, the hapless Nordberg (OJ Simpson - yes, that OJ Simpson), and a trail that leads to an assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth II.

In the course of his investigation, Drebin finds the time to seduce and be seduced by Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley, in her biggest and best big-screen role). Jane, an administrator for the film's villain (Ricardo Montalbán), is the perfect match for Drebin, equally incapable of seeing the wood for the trees.

The brains behind the film are David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker (affectionately known as ZAZ or 'the boys'). As you'd expect of the comedy dream team behind 1980's Airplane!, silliness abounds. It plays as a persistent spoof of police procedurals and film noir, while the violence is pure cartoon.

The comedy is often unexpected and mostly downright absurd. Childish puns, toilet humour (literally, thanks to a forgotten radio mic) and unabashed slapstick - indeed, anything goes. The guiding principle that unites all this happy chaos? Keep them coming. The gag rate is quite simply relentless.

Leslie Nielsen had previously worked with Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker on Airplane!. They were thrilled to find a veteran actor who took to their style of comedy so naturally. After Nielsen's death in 2010, aged 84, David Zucker penned a moving tribute to the actor in which it was revealed that Nielsen was a 'chronic prankster'. He was known to carry a mechanical whoopee cushion, which he unleashed on unsuspecting victims at every opportunity.

You have to wonder whether Liam Neeson did the same during the filming of the hilarious 2025 revival, in which he plays Drebin's son. (85 minutes)

The Graduate

Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft star in the seven-time Oscar nominated drama

Year: 1967

Certificate: 12

Watch now on BBC iPlayer

Nominated for seven Oscars and launching the film career of Dustin Hoffman, this classic drama follows directionless Benjamin Braddock (Hoffman), fresh out of college, as he embarks on a passionate affair with Mrs Robinson (Anne Bancroft), a woman of his parents' generation - although, criminal as it sounds, Bancroft was just six years older than her 29-year-old co-star.

Despite the famously seductive promotional poster, of a nervous Hoffman peering at a stockinged leg (not Bancroft's, but that of Dallas actress Linda Gray), the movie isn't really about love and sex, but much more concerned with the generational divide.

It's an interesting film to rewatch - older and wiser, perhaps, than the first time around - to see how your perspective might have changed. And of those seven Oscar nominations? It ultimately took home one, for Best Director. (106 minutes)

Murder Most Puzzling

Downton's Phyllis Logan gets sozzled as she puzzles her way through crime cases

Year: 2025

Certificate: 12

Watch now on 5 (Ch5)

Like Ludwig, this is a show about a puzzle setter solving murders, with Phyllis Logan as Cora Felton, aka the Puzzle Lady, a recent arrival in the sleepy market town of Bakerbury, who gets caught up in police investigations.

The origin of the show predates Ludwig, and is based on a long-running series of novels by American author Parnell Hall, which began in 1999. The first episode is based on his debut Puzzle Lady book and introduces us to DCI Hooper, who is struggling with his first murder.

Cora is soon on the case, and ropes in her niece, Sherry, to help - and as the story unfolds, we learn that neither woman is all she seems to be. For a start, Cora is drunk when she meets Hooper, and remains unapologetically sozzled as she chases clues. This swings between cosy and dark, and is shot through with humour. While comparisons with Ludwig are inevitable, it has its own charm - Logan is a hoot in the lead, and there's room for more than one setter in the genre. (Three episodes)

The Assassin (2025 series)

Keeley Hawes and Freddie Highmore star in a thriller series about a retired hitwoman

Year: 2025

Certificate: 15

Watch now on Prime Video

Settled into a sedate life on a quiet Greek island, Julie (Keeley Hawes) hopes she's put her past as a professional assassin behind her. She feels she has enough to deal with when her estranged son Edward (Freddie Highmore) turns up looking for answers about his paternity from his distant and secretive mother.

But then ghosts from her former life reappear, forcing the pair to go on the run together as they try to avoid being crushed in the cogs of a wide-reaching conspiracy.

Dark, exciting and full of twists, this six-part thriller from Harry and Jack Williams (The Missing, The Tourist) give Hawes freedom to tap back into the lethal skills of her Spooks days, while also crafting a believable dysfunctional relationship with the always-excellent Highmore, who is playing a very, very British character. Watch out too for appearances from Jack Davenport, Richard Dormer, Gina Gershon and Alan Dale.

If you enjoyed seeing Keira Knightley on lethal form in Netflix's Black Doves, The Assassin is a less bloody opportunity to see Hawes do something similar. (Six episodes)