Ultimate Aussie summer streaming guide for movies, TV shows

Aussies are spoilt for choice with new movies and TV shows that have dropped and are coming to Netflix, Prime Video, Stan, Foxtel, Binge and other streaming platforms.

The days when summer TV was a wasteland of cricket, dated kids’ movies and re-runs of old American sitcoms are well and truly over.

Ever since the dawn of streaming services there has been a wealth of content – both old and new – at your fingertips all year around.

Even better, many streaming services are increasingly seizing on the fact summertime is the period when people have the most time on their hands to binge watch TV and are releasing some of their hottest new shows over the break.

Here’s what’s in store for Christmas and the new year:

Alexandra Daddario as Dr. Rowan Fielding and Harry Hamlin as Cortland Mayfair in The Mayfair Witches. Photo Credit: Alfonso Bresciani/AMC

AMC +

Mayfair Witches, January 5: This lesser-known story from Anne Rice – of Interview with the Vampire fame – follows a talented neurosurgeon (White Lotus star Alexandra Daddario) as she discovers she’s from a longline of witches. Look out for Harry Hamlin (husband of Real Wife of Beverly Hills’ star Lisa Rinna) as the creepy patriarch of this haunted family.

Gary Oldman in the spy thriller Slow Horses. Picture: AppleTV+

Apple TV +

Truth Be Told, January 20: Now in its third season, this 10-episode drama produced by Reese Witherspoon follows podcasters Poppy Scoville (Octavia Spencer) as she investigates yet another crime. This time Poppy is hot on the trail of a sex trafficking ring. It’s predictable melodrama but elevated to something far better thanks to Spencer.

Shrinking, January 27: How I Met Your Mother’s Jason Segal is Jimmy; a therapist with some really serious issues of his own. Grieving the loss of his wife has left Jimmy in a downward spiral until he seizes upon a controversial new way to treat his patients. Harrison Ford is particularly great as Segal’s uber-serious boss.

Slow Horses, streaming now: Gary Oldman returns as Jackson Lamb, a rude but shrewd spy who’s leading a team of MI5 rejects known as the Slow Horses. Even though Lamb’s much-maligned crew have earned some begrudging respect from the spy chief (Kristin Scott Thomas), very little has changed day-to-day for them until a Russian double agent turns up dead on a bus.

Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsay from The Last of Us.

Binge

Colin from Accounts, streaming now: Real life spouses Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer created and star in this quirky comedy about a pair of strangers who meet through very unusual circumstances.

Gossip Girl, streaming now: It’s another season of salacious secrets from Manhattan’s elite in this reboot of the early 2000s series. This time we know the tea is being spilt from the teacher’s lounge, but there’s still plenty of sexy scandals to keep you intrigued.

The Last of Us, January 16: In the hands of Chernobyl director, Craig Mazin, this video game adaptation starring Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), Bella Ramsey (Catherine Called Birdy) and Anna Torv (The Newsreader) becomes a compelling drama about humans struggling to survive an apocalypse. Yes, the mutant flesh-hungry creatures are terrifying, but scarier still is that its subject matter feels very close to the bone after the pandemic.

Guy Pearce in a scene from the spy drama A Spy Among Friends

Britbox

A Spy Among Friends, streaming now: In this Cold War espionage drama based on real events, MI6 officer Nicholas Elliott (Damien Lewis) is left reeling when he discovers his closest friend and confidante Kim Philby (Guy Pearce) is a double agent.

Scene from the Australian animated show Koala Man.

Disney +

Koala man, January 9: Sarah Snook and Hugh Jackman lend their voices to this new animated series about a pretty dubious superhero. The middle-aged Koala Man stands at the ready to fight crime, take down the forces of evil and make sure his neighbours put the right bins out.

Bad Batch, January 6: Yes, it is yet another Star Wars spin-off. Now in its second season, this animated series – featuring the voices of Dee Bradley Baker, Neighbours’ star Michelle Ang, and Rhea Pearlman (Cheers) – is a prequel of Clone Wars about elite clones with unique abilities.

Chasing Waves, January 11: Sun, sand and sacrifice. Meet the athletes from around the world who are making a splash on their boards, in this stunning behind-the-scenes docuseries shining a spotlight on Japan’s surf culture.

National Treasure, Edge of History, streaming now: Catherine Zeta Jones and Harvey Keitel star in this old-school rollicking adventure series. Set in the same universe as the movies starring Nicolas Cage, a young woman named Jess Venezuela (Lisette Olivera) is now the treasure hunter.

Scene from the coming Vardy V Rooney: A Courtroom Drama.

Foxtel on Demand

Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama, streaming in January: The real-life feud between two soccer star’s wives – dubbed Wagatha Christie by the British tabloids – has become a juicy courtroom drama starring Michael Sheen.

Emma Thompson as Agatha Trunchbull, Alisha Weir as Matilda in Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical.

Netflix

Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical, December 25: Australia’s own Tim Minchin is the man behind the music in this movie starring Emma Thompson as the terrifying school principal, Miss Trunchbull. Filled with toe-tapping classics, this family-friendly film is the best cinematic Christmas gift Thompson has given us since Love Actually.

Emily in Paris, December 21: It’s more of the same when Emily (Lily Collins) and co return in another dazzling parade of chic and (occasionally crazy) ensembles. Torn between her loyalty to her American boss and the new friendships she has made in France, Emily finds herself running between two jobs. And her love life is equally complicated as she juggles her relationship with Alfie and her unresolved lust for Gabriel.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, December 23: A modern twist on an Agatha Christie whodunit, the first film was a huge hit. Reprising his role as the dapper detective, Benoit Blanc, Daniel Craig investigates a new murder with a new cast of A-list suspects that includes Edward Norton, Kate Hudson and Janelle Monae.

John Krasinski in a scene from Jack Ryan.

Prime Video

The Test, January 13: Step inside the inner sanctum of Australia’s test cricket team with this fly-on-the-wall documentary series. Filmed as the dust settles on Tim Paine’s sexting scandal as Pat Cummins takes on the captaincy, The Test offers cricket fans a more intimate look at the headlines.

Shotgun Wedding, January 27: Jennifer Lopez has got to hold some sort of record for the number of wedding frocks she’s worn – on screen and off. In this new movie co-starring Josh Duhamel, Lenny Kravitz and Jennifer Coolidge, Lopez is once again headed up the aisle until a case of cold feet and a hostage situation threatens her big day.

Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, December 21: When the series returns, Jack (John Krasinski) is working as a CIA case officer in Rome when he discovers a secret Soviet project has been reactivated. When a mission to get more information on this plot goes awry, Jack finds himself implicated in the conspiracy and on the run.

Travis Fimmel (left) in a scene from Black Snow.

Stan

Bump, December 26: Picking up five years after we last saw teen parents Olly (Nathalie Morris) and Santy (Carlos Sanson Jr), and their daughter is now starting school. Although not quite as good as its previous two seasons, this is still an enjoyable watch thanks to a brilliant cast.

Black Snow, January 1: Set in Queensland’s cane fields, this six-part mystery involves a community haunted by the murder of a teenage girl on the way home from her high school formal some 25 years earlier. When an emotionally scarred detective (Viking’s Travis Fimmel) roles into town to reinvestigate the case, it reopens old wounds and long-buried secrets.

Transfusion, January 20: Avatar’s Sam Worthington stars as a special forces operative who is thrust into the criminal underworld to stop his son being taken from him.

Your Honour, January 14: Bryan Cranston is the master of playing desperate men who are forced to do very bad things for the ones they love. Hot on the heels of his star-making turn in Breaking Bad and Cranston is Michael; a respected New Orleans judge willing to do anything to protect his son, Adam. Now that Adam is dead and Michael’s crimes revealed, the judge once again finds himself under pressure only this time he doesn’t have his reputation or his powerful friends to help him.

Originally published as Ultimate Aussie summer streaming guide for movies, TV shows