New to Netflix, Stan, Foxtel Now, Disney+, SBS On Demand, Amazon Prime and Apple TV+ in December

Forget about all that Christmas shopping, stay home and catch what’s new on streaming instead. At least there won’t be any carols.

You might think you’re busy in the lead-up to the end of the year, what with all that Christmas shopping and the invites to boozy parties.

But make time for yourself, and indulge in some much-needed bingeing. Face it, do you really want to be in those shopping centres with all that awful Christmas music?

Marriage Story (Netflix, December 6): Intimate and emotionally bruising, Noah Baumbach’s latest film features two sublime performances from Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as a young couple going through divorce. It’s expertly crafted and not one to miss. You may not want to watch this with your partner.

Marvelous Mrs Maisel S3 (Amazon Prime Video, December 6): The dazzling Marvelous Mrs Maisel is back for its third season, and Midge and Susie are getting ready to go on tour. This Emmy-winning witty series about a Jewish housewife turned comedian in the 1950s has oodles of charm leaping off the screen.

Emmy winner Rachel Brosnahan returns as Midge Maisel

The Witcher (Netflix, December 20): Splashy and expensive, Netflix is banking on The Witcher to be the next big fantasy franchise, and it’s roped in Superman Henry Cavill to do it. Based on a series of popular books, it follows a monster hunter who finds the real villains are often the humans. There’s a wicked sorceress and a young princess with a secret – you get the drift.

Upright S1 (Foxtel Now, December 1): When a cash-strapped adult and a potty-mouthed 16-year-old crash into each other on a remote stretch of highway, it’s exactly the kind of life-changing event neither of them expected. But it’s exactly what both of them needed. Starring Tim Minchin and Milly Alcock.

The Commons S1 (Stan, December 25): The Commons is a grand and ambitious drama from Stan as part of its summer of originals line-up. Starring Downton Abbey’s Joanne Froggatt, this thriller is set in the near future where climate change becomes an even bigger spectre and biotechnology offers a solution.

Joanne Froggatt filmed The Commons in Sydney

Jack Whitehall: Christmas with my Father (Netflix, December 12): If you’ve been following comedian Jack Whitehall and his father Michael’s travels around the world, then you have some idea what you’re in for. The two polar opposites will gift audiences with this Christmas special with the help of guests including Hugh Bonneville and the Queer Eye guys.

Pick of the Litter (Disney+, December 20): Last year, a gloriously adorable documentary featured the journey of five Labrador puppies selected to train as Guide Dogs. It was heartwarming, wonderful and showcased the incredible relationship between humans and dogs. Now, Disney+ is working with the filmmakers behind the film and spinning it into a series. Oh my giddy aunt.

The Other Guy S2 (Stan, December 13): There’s nothing more relatable than seeing a couple of people making poor life choices – and there’s an abundance of that in The Other Guy, returning for its second season this month. The Aussie comedy stars Matt Okine and Harriet Dyer as two millennials trying to sort out their work lives and love lives while being perpetually broke.

Kathryn Hahn never gives a bad performance

Mrs Fletcher S1 (Foxtel Now, December 8): Tom Perrotta’s books – Election, The Leftovers, Little Children – have served as the source material for acclaimed screen projects, and this time he’s the one in the driver’s seat for the TV adaptation of Mrs Fletcher. Starring the always magnetic Kathryn Hahn in the title role, Mrs Fletcher is the story of a middle-aged woman going through a sexual reawakening when her son goes off to college.

Truth Be Told (Apple TV+, December 6): Based on the novel Are You Sleeping, this Apple TV+ series stars Octavia Spencer, Aaron Paul and Lizzy Caplan in a story about a true crime podcaster investigating the case of a serial killer who claims he was framed. The line between truth and lies gets blurry.

Octavia Spencer headlines Truth Be Told on Apple TV+

I Am Love (SBS On Demand, December 6): Directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name), this sumptuous, romantic and evocative film with Tilda Swinton transports you into another world. Tilda plays the matriarch of a well-do-to Italian family who’s never felt she belonged. Her long-forgotten passions are reignited by a younger man.

Queens of Mystery (Acorn TV, December 2): Small English villages make such good settings for detective shows, especially when those detective shows are dramedies. A young copper is assigned to her hometown where she and her three crime novelist aunts solve mysteries.

Us (Foxtel Now, December 7): Jordan Peele wants us to confront, well, ourselves. His follow-up to the wildly successful Get Out features Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke as the mother and father of a family whose seaside vacation turns into a nightmare when their murderous doppelgangers climb out from below. It’s sensory experience you won’t easily shake off.