The best movies and TV shows to stream this month
From adaptations of best-selling books to the return of a beloved bodice-ripper, there’s plenty of streaming choices for the month of May.
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With award-winning comedies, period drama and the return of a sci-fi legend, there’s something for everyone dropping on the major streaming platforms this month.
Binge
SHELVED
MAY 20
As first glimpse, the sedate and silent library environment doesn’t exactly look like a sure-fire environment for big laughs, but then again Aussie comedians Wayne Hope and Robyn Butler managed three seasons of book-adjacent comedy gold in The Librarians. This Canadian workplace comedy looks like it has a similar vibe, set as it is in an underfunded library staffed by a collection of slightly odd units with differing opinions on how it should be run. Its creator and co-writer Anthony Q. Farrell has some impressive credentials in the genre as a former writer for the US version of The Office and it’s fronted by Lyndie Greenwood of Nikita and Sleepy Hollow fame, who plays the put-upon, bureaucracy-fighting branch head Wendy.
COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS
MAY 30
The first season of this homegrown comedy about a couple thrown together by a nipple flash and an injured dog was an absolute delight when it was released in late 2022 and won hearts and glowing reviews around the world, as well as a stack of awards, including three Logies. Propelled by the easy banter and crackling chemistry of its two leads – real-life couple Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer, who also wrote it – the second season finds on-again, off-again Ash and Gordon now living together and trying to get their beloved special needs dog back from its new owners. The top-notch support cast including Helen Thomson and Jai Hara are also back plus some fresh faces of top Aussie talent.
Also out on Binge:
Pretty Little Liars: Summer School – May 9
Inside the Shien Machine – May 1
Gogglebox UK (Season 22) – May 3
The Real Housewives of New Jersey (Season 14) – May 6
The Bay (Season 4) – May 22
Paramount+
ELSBETH
NOW SCREENING
The Good Wife is the show that just keeps giving. Having already been spun-off once with The Good Fight, now comes this police-procedural comedy-drama centred around oddball lawyer Elsbeth Tascioni. Carrie Preston, who won an Emmy for her guest role in The Good Wife, returns as the title character, who has now left her legal career for new investigative role alongside the NYPD, where she often find herself butting heads with cop Captain Wagner (The Wire’s Wendell Pierce). Billed as more of a “howcatchem” rather than a “whodunit”, with the killer revealed at the start, it’s already been renewed for a second season after impressing audiences in the US.
TOP GEAR AUSTRALIA
MAY 17
The Top Gear franchise has been a phenomenon for decades now but finally there’s a homegrown version again for the first time in more than a decade. Hosted by musician/filmmaker Blair Joscelyne, former rugby league player turned presenter Beau Ryan and actor and sometime Survivor host Jonathan LaPaglia, this reboot will be looking to appeal to more than just the revheads, with a blend of entertainment, information, and automotive passion. And while there’s a definite Aussie twist, there’s also plenty of globetrotting, as the trio hit the streets of Rome, the coastline of St Tropez and the jungles of Colombia in search of fast and furious thrills.
Also out on Paramount+:
Behind the Music (Season 2) – May 3
Catfish (Season 9) – May 7
Paw Patrol (Season 10) – May 11
Evil (Season 4) – May 24
Stan
THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ
MAY 2
Kiwi-born, Brisbane-based author Heather Morris wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz after meeting Holocaust survivor Lali Sokolov while working in a Melbourne hospital and it went on to become one of the biggest selling novels of the 21st century, with 13 million copies sold and 85 weeks on the Sunday Times bestsellers list. Morris has been heavily involved in this adaptation – billed as a love story set in the darkest of places – and will also be played in it her acclaimed compatriot, Melanie Lynskey, while Oscar-nominee Harvey Keitel will play the modern day Lali. If it’s anywhere as emotionally impactful as the book, invest in extra tissues.
INSOMNIA
MAY 23
Sleep deprivation has long been used as a method of torture – and any new parent will tell you that lack of slumber is enough to drive you bonkers – and creative types from Christopher Nolan to Stephen King have found it fertile territory for tales of terror. Author Sarah Pinborough’s 2022 book of the same name tells the story of a successful career woman who fears she is losing her mind after weeks of sleep deprivation, at the same age her mother suffered a violent psychotic breakdown after suffering the same affliction. It’s made the same team that successfully adapted Pinborough’s Behind Her Eyes for Netflix in 2022, so signs are good for this one too.
Also out on Stan:
Hacks (Season 3) – May 3
High: Surviving a Dubai Drugs Bust – May 12
Little Bird – May 15
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars – May 18
We Are Lady Parts (Season 2) – May 31
Prime Video
MAXTON HALL – THE WORLD BETWEEN US
MAY 9
Based on the best-selling book Save Me, by Mona Kasten, this lavish new drama looks like it falls somewhere between Succession and Bridgerton. Set at the elite Maxton Hall private school, it’s full of extremely rich, upper-class people behaving extremely badly and not expecting to suffer any consequences. When smart and spunky scholarship student Ruby Bell (Harriet Herbig-Matten) witnesses an explosive secret in the hallowed halls of the school, insufferable, entitled rich kid James Beaufort (Damian Hardung) tries to buy her silence. But when she refuses to be intimidated by his power and wealth, sparks fly between the two raising the question of whether Ruby will be seduced into a world of glamour and prestige.
THE GOAT
MAY 9
We may have reached peak reality TV with the release of this turbocharged entry into the well-worn genre. The basic premise is that fourteen US “reality superstars” (if that’s not a contradiction in terms) from Bachelorette to Dancing With the Stars and Survivor to Big Brother move into GOAT Mansion and over 20 challenges, battle it out for the title of the greatest of all time reality star, as well as a not-too-shabby $200K. Hosted by American comedian Daniel Tosh, expect a whole of oversharing, melodrama and very little in the way of life lessons.
Also out on Prime Video:
Clarkson’s Farm (Season 3) – May 3
Arthur the King – May 10
Outer Range (Season 2) – May 16
The Test (Season 3) – May 24
Disney+
SHARDLAKE
MAY 1
This four-part, lavishly produced murder-murder mystery is adapted from the hit novels by CJ Ransom and set in 16th century, Tudor era England during the dissolution of the monasteries. Arthur Hughes plays the title character, Matthew Shardlake, who is an honest lawyer in world of schemers and plotters and is tasked with solving a murder in a monastery. The involvement Sean Bean is usually a mark of quality, and the Game Of Thrones and Time star plays Henry VIII’s cunning and dangerous right-hand man Thomas Cromwell, who sends Shardlake on his mission, making for an eerie whodunit and swashbuckling adventure.
DR WHO
MAY 11
The arrival of a new Doctor Who is always met with equal parts scepticism and trepidation by the dedicated fans of the long running sci-fi franchise (61 years and counting!) but Sex Education star Ncuti Gatwa appears to have passed his test as the 15th iteration of the Time Lord with flying colours, after glowing reviews of his charm and magnetism in last year’s Christmas special. For the new season, the Doctor is accompanied by Millie Gibson’s Ruby Sunday as they whiz through time and space in the TARDIS, from Regency England to war-torn future worlds as they make friends and battle foes, including one who is billed as the Gallifreyan’s most powerful enemy yet.
Also out on Disney+:
Welcome To Wrexham (Season 3) – May 3
Star Wars: Tales of the Empire – May 4
Let It Be (Beatles documentary) – May 8
Kardashians (Season 5) – May 23
Beach Boys (documentary) – May 24
AppleTV+
DARK MATTER
MAY 8
Joel Edgerton is front and centre in this satisfyingly mind-bending, nine-part sci-fi thriller based on Black Crouch’s acclaimed best-selling novel of the same name. The always watchable Aussie actor plays physicist, professor and family man Jason Desson who is abducted into an alternative version of his life. His amazement at discovering the existence of other realities soon turns to terror and despair as he journeys through many versions of his life to get back to his true existence with wife Daniela (Jennifer Connelly) and faces off with the Jason variant who has supplanted him.
THE BIG CIGAR
MAY 17
With its era-perfect costumes and propelled by a furious funk soundtrack, this six-episode limited series tells the (mostly) true of Black Panther founder Huey P. Newton (Andre Holland from The Knick) and his bid to evade the FBI and flee the US for Cuba. With echoes of the Oscar-winning Argo, the political activist enlists Hollywood producer Bert Schneider (Alessandro Nivola) to help him avoid the murder charge the feds want to pin on him by cooking up a fake movie called The Big Cigar, leading to a high-stakes game of cat and mouse.
Also out on Apple TV+:
Acapulco (Season 3) – May 1
Hollywood Con Queen – May 8
Trying (Season 4) – May 22
Netflix
BRIDGERTON SEASON 3
MAY 16
After more than two years away, the bodice-ripping historical drama is back, and promising to get back to its steamy, saucy roots. The third season focuses on Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan), who has finally gotten over her crush on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) and is in the market for a husband who will also indulge her secret gossip columnist alter-ego, Lady Whistledown. After her initial attempts to snag a beau go horribly wrong, Colin offers to mentor her in the wooing ways and as her efforts improve he ends up pondering whether their new friendship could provide the foundation for something more. Bosoms will heave, glances will smoulder and hearts will undoubtedly break. Part two will arrive on June 13.
ERIC
MAY 30
Two-time Oscar nominee Benedict Cumberbatch looks to be in red-hot form her playing arrogant, self-centred, hard-drinking puppeteer Vincent, who also happens to be the creator of the hugely popular children’s television show Good Day Sunshine. When his son goes missing, the already mentally fragile and self-loathing Vincent begins to unravel even further and is convinced that the only way he can find him is with the help of a seven foot monster puppet called Eric, who his son has dreamt up. Created by Abi Morgan, who also wrote The Iron Lady and Shame, it makes ‘80s New York look like an absolute hellscape and promises to be gritty and sometimes challenging drama of the highest quality.
Also out on Netflix:
Heeramandi: The Diamond Bazaar – May 1
A Man In Full – May 2
Selling The OC (Season 3) – May 3
Blood of Zeus (Season 2) – May 9
Originally published as The best movies and TV shows to stream this month
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