More Nine Perfect Strangers and Strife, plus a Bono doco: Here’s the best shows to stream in May
From Nicole Kidman’s brilliantly bonkers Nine Perfect Strangers to a Bono documentary, these are some of the streaming highlights you can’t miss this month.
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From classy Kidman to a murderous robot and the return of the Wrexham lads and the Sex and the City ladies, there’s plenty to choose from on the streaming services in May
APPLE TV+
MURDERBOT
MAY 9
Sci-fi author Martha Wells won coveted Hugo and Nebula Awards for her The Murderbot Diaries series of books and this ten-part comedy-thriller adaptation looks to be in good hands thanks to Chris and Paul Weitz (American Pie, About a Boy) and Alexander Skarsgard, who executive produces as well as stars. The Swedish Adonis plays the title character, a security droid who has broken free from its programming and come to realise that he despises most of the people he has been tasked with protecting and would rather be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas. But when he’s assigned to guard a scientific team on a hostile planet, he finds himself oddly fascinated by the full gamut and weakness of human emotions.
BONO: STORIES OF SURRENDER
MAY 30
In April 2023, the man born Paul Hewson but known to the rest of the world as U2 front man Bono adapted his memoir Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story for the stage at New York’s Beacon Theatre. Now, with the help of Australian director Andrew Dominik, that show comes to the small screen featuring never-before-seen footage from the residency, stories about his journey “as a son, father, husband, activist and rock star” and stripped-back versions of some of the Irish band’s treasured hits. It’s also the first feature film that will cater to Apple’s crazily immersive new tech, Apple Vision Pro.
ALSO SHOWING
Long Way Home – May 9
Fountain of Youth – May 23
Lulu Is a Rhinoceros – May 30
BINGE
GEN WELL
MAY 5
TV personality Ali Daddo has enlisted the help of psychologists, instructors, academics and health practitioners, as well as ordinary, multigenerational families for this new wellbeing and lifestyle show designed to help Australians improve their overall health. Embracing traditional medicines and practices like Tai chi and yoga alongside emerging health trends such as ice baths, there are helpful tips to help remedy stress, pain and sleep issues as well as tackling life transitions like pregnancy, post-partum, and menopause.
STRIFE
MAY 8
Life is not getting any easier for Asher Keddie’s new media entrepreneur Evelyn Jones in the second season of the well-received Aussie comedy drama. Like the real woman who inspired the show, Mamamia founder Mia Freedman, Jones and her team at the female-focused website Eve are branching out into the uncertain world of podcasting while also sparring with colleagues-turned-rivals, financial challenges, the prospect of rekindling love with her ex and what it means to be a modern woman. New faces this season include Mary Coustas, Tim Minchin and Dylan Alcott.
ALSO SHOWING
The Great Pottery Throwdown Season 8 – May 15
Taskmaster UK Season 19 – May 16
Honest Renovations – May 26
DISNEY+
WELCOME TO WREXHAM
MAY 16
After back to back promotions since being bought by Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, football fans are wondering just how far Welsh club Wrexham AFC can go as the sports documentary with a huge heart enters its fourth season with an eye on the country’s second top tier. The injection of cash and the raised profile have lifted one of the oldest football clubs in the world out of the doldrums on field, but its celebrity owners have always been just as interested in the fans, the staff and the team’s hold on the community as they continue daring to dream of the very top.
ADULTS
MAY 29
With its premise of five friends in New York trying to navigate “the wins, losses and humiliations of starting out in the adult world”, this new comedy from The Tonight Show writers Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw sounds like Friends for the modern era. But with the pair describing it as “the hardest, horniest time of life” as the mates wrestle the health system, how to get ahead at work and modern dating, expect a more grown-up edge to the comedy. Charlie Cox, Julia Fox, D’Arcy Carden, Grace Kuhlenschmidt, John Reynolds and Ray Nicholson have also been confirmed as guest stars in the eight-episode season.
ALSO SHOWING
Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld – May 4
The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives Season 2 – May 15
Tucci In Italy – May 19
MAX
DUSTER
MAY 16
With fabulous flares and funked-up soundtrack, this early ‘70s set crime thriller from JJ Abrams (Felicity, Alias, Lost) – his first co-written project in six years – and LaToya Morgan (Turn: Washington’s Spies, Into the Badlands) this crime thriller looks groovy as all get out. In a part written specifically for him by his former Lost boss, Josh Holloway oozes cocky charisma as getaway driver Jim and Love, Victor star Rachel Hilson plays the FBI’s first black woman agent, who recruits him to bring down a dangerous and violent crime syndicate.
AND JUST LIKE THAT …
MAY 30
By now you’re either all-in or all out on the belated Sex And the City sequel as it heads into its third season of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) swanning around New York City looking fabulous and doing fabulous things. Diehards will be disappointed to know that despite a tantalising cameo in the season 2 finale, Kim Cattrall has confirmed she will not be returning to the show as Samantha (little chance of seeing Chris Noth’s Mr Big again either), but John Corbett’s Aiden is still in the picture to continue his “complicated” relationship with Carrie as she spreads her wings professionally as a fiction writer.
ALSO SHOWING
100 Foot Wave Season 3 – May 2
Jay and Pamela – May 6
Outback Opal Hunters Season 8 – May 15
Pee-Wee As Himself – May 24
Rick and Morty Season 8 – May 26
NETFLIX
THE FOUR SEASONS
MAY 1
The great Tina Fey, along with her fellow 30 Rock writer-producers Lang Fisher and Tracey Whigfield, spearheaded this adaptation of Alan Alda’s 1981 rom-com of the same name into an eight-part series about a three tightly knit couples whose long standing tradition of quarterly family holidays is up-ended when one of the couples splits. Fey calls the show as “a love letter to long-term relationships, both platonic and romantic” and is reunited with her Date Night co-star Steve Carell, along with Colman Domingo, Will Forte, Erika Henningsen and Kerri Kenney-Silver.
SIRENS
MAY 22
The White Lotus’s Meghann Fahy and Aussie House of the Dragon actor Milly Alcock star as sisters in this seductive black comedy from Maid creator Molly Smith Metzler and Margot Robbie’s production company Lucky Chap. Told over the space of a weekend and set on a luxury island, older sister Devon is worried about her younger sibling’s creepy relationship with her socialite boss Michaela (Julianne Moore) in what’s billed as an incisive, sexy, and darkly funny exploration of women, power, and class.
ALSO SHOWING
Conan O’Brien: The Kennedy Centre Mark Twain Prize for American Humour – May 4
Full Speed Season 2 – May 7
Blood of Zeus Season 3 – May 8
Nonnas – May 9
Fear Street: Prom Queen – May 23
American Manhunt: Osama bin Laden – May 14
PARAMOUNT+
THE LIST
MAY 1
Those knuckleheads from social media sensation The Inspired Unemployed, Jack Steele and Matt “Falcon” Ford, are going global in what looks like a mash-up of The Amazing Race and one of those Japanese game shows that tries to inflict as much pain on its contestants as humanly possible. In a six-part series, the comedians and pranksters are hitting the road to six countries to tick off tasks from a bucket list that has been created for them – but they have no idea what’s on it. Expect plenty of pain and laughs at their expense as they become Mermen in Malaysia, enter a rap battle in Soweto, train with Japanese monks and get stalked by bears in Finland.
THE SERIAL KILLER’S WIFE
MAY 2
Parties don’t get much worse that having your husband arrested for suspect murder in front of all your guests, but that’s just the beginning of the nightmare for Beth Fairchild (Britannia’s Annabel Scholey) in this four-part British crime drama. As the police conduct their investigation, Beth’s seemingly perfect world is shattered as she uncovers dark secrets about her husband as well as his infidelity and perverted tastes. As she fights to clear his name, she’s also left to face up to some uncomfortable truths about their relationship and whether she might have unwittingly played a role in shielding his crimes.
ALSO SHOWING
SpongeBob Squarepants Season 15 – May 7
Caught in the Act: Unfaithful Season 3 – May 14
SkyMed Season 3 – May 17
PRIME VIDEO
NINE PERFECT STRANGERS
MAY 22
Aside from the return of Aussie Oscar-winner Nicole Kidman as wellness guru Masha, it’s an all-new cast and location for the second season of the mystery drama, based on Liane Moriarty’s 2018 novel of the same name. Where the first season was set in sunny California (filmed in Byron Bay during Covid), the action now moves to the chilly Austrian alps as a fresh set of clients unpack their emotional baggage with the help of Kidman’s micro-dosing psychedelics enthusiast, now sporting a blond bob and juggling some legal and financial issues. Once again there’s a top-notch ensemble cast including Henry Golding, Annie Murphy, Christine Baranski, Murray Bartlett, Dolly de Leon, and Mark Strong.
THE BETTER SISTER
MAY 29
Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks star as sisters in this eight-part adaptation of Alafair Burke’s best-selling 2019 thriller. Biel’s Chloe is a successful media executive with a luxurious lifestyle and a teenage son, while Banks plays her estranged sister Nicky, whose long battle with drug and alcohol addiction have left her struggling to make ends meet. But when Chloe’s high-flying lawyer husband is brutally murdered, the aftermath and investigation will reunite the pair as they try to untangle a complex family history that might provide some clues to his death.
ALSO SHOWING
Another Simple Favour – May 1
Overcompensating – May 15
Clarkson’s Farm Season 4 – May 23
STAN
POKER FACE
MAY 8
The first season of Rian Johnson’s (Knives Out) hugely fun crime-comedy-drama was one of the surprise packages of 2023 and lead actor Natasha Lyonne was well worth her Emmy nomination for her role cocktail waitress Charlie Cale, who has an uncanny ability to tell when people are lying. In this second season of the mystery-of-the-week series, Charlie is embracing the crime-solving abilities that come with her gift as she hits the road in her vintage Plymouth Barracuda and encounters an absolutely stacked roster of guest stars including Cynthia Erivo, John Mulaney, Katie Holmes, Melanie Lynskey and Justin Theroux.
KEVIN COSTNER’S THE WEST
MAY 28
From his breakout role in Silverado through his Oscar-winning success with Dances With Wolves right up to his current Horizon epics, there are not many actors as well versed in the Wild West as Kevin Costner. All of which makes him the perfect host for this eight-part documentary series that examines the complex history of the American West and the competition and conflict for land, power and identity that framed it. Told from a variety of perspectives and incorporating explorers, outlaws, lawmen, indigenous warriors and ranchers, each episode will highlight an important and often tragic chapter from the era.
ALSO SHOWING
The Downfall of Diddy: His Defense – May 4
Walking Dead: Dead City – May 5
Love Triangle UK – May 18
American Music Awards – May 27
Originally published as More Nine Perfect Strangers and Strife, plus a Bono doco: Here’s the best shows to stream in May
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