What to stream this week: Trying, Upload, Billions, Halt and Catch Fire and more

This smart new British comedy starts with an awkward sex scene on a bus and doesn’t let up from there.

Whether you want to clutch your sides laughing and watch your knuckles go white from suspense, you’ll find something bingeworthy in this week’s list of streaming recommendations.

SOMETHING NEW

Trying is a smart and hilarious new comedy

Trying: On the surface, a British comedy about a couple trying to adopt a kid doesn’t sound like much, but it’s all in the execution. Starring Rafe Spall and Esther Smith as two messed-up but seriously endearing Londoners, the writing for this incisive and honest TV series is really smart, and the performances are very charming. It starts with an awkward sex scene on the top deck of a bus and the laughs never really let up – except when the emotions start pouring out. Watch it: Apple TV+ from May 1

Upload: Greg Daniels, the creator of The Office US, gives his take on the afterlife with his series, Upload. Taking a leaf from Black Mirror, in the not too distant future, humans can upload their consciousness and memories into a simulated reality after death. It may look like paradise, but it’s designed by a corporation, so expect to be sold new Taco Bell products everywhere you turn. Robbie Amell plays a computer coder who dies in a car accident and is uploaded to a posh simulation, but his death may not have been an accident. Watch it: Amazon Prime Video from May 1

SOMETHING FUNNY

Prematurely cancelled

Happy Endings: Six young friends living in a big city, living the ups and downs of life from work to love to friendships. That sounds like it could fit any number of American sitcoms, including Friends, but there’s something about the cast chemistry in Happy Endings that makes its premature cancellation after three seasons all the more indignant. Stars Damon Wayans Jr, Adam Pally, Eliza Coupe and Casey Wilson. Watch it: SBS On Demand from May 2

Never Have I Ever: Sweet, funny and fresh, this new comedy co-created by Mindy Kaling is a high school story that will resonate with any age group. It features an Indian-American teenager living in California who, after a bruising year during which her father died, sets out to bag herself a boyfriend and be a “normal” girl. It’s got a great, diverse cast and characters who are allowed to be more than stereotypes. Watch it: Netflix

SOMETHING DRAMATIC

Halt and Catch Fire is an underrated gem

Halt and Catch Fire: Across four seasons, Halt and Catch Fire had some of the most compelling and complex characters committed to the small screen in recent years. The under-appreciated drama is set in the world of technology, from the PC battles of the 1980s to the burgeoning search engines of the 1990s. But that’s just a framework to tell the very human stories of Joe, Cameron, Donna and Gordon, the core four who will change each other’s lives with their ambitions and betrayals. Watch it: Foxtel Now

Penny Dreadful: City of Angels: For some viewers, just the prospect of Natalie Dormer as a malignant demonic being, enunciating every syllable of her devious plan, is reason enough. This rather grand and ambitious spin-off of Penny Dreadful is set in late-1930s Los Angeles in which good souls battle the spectres of Nazism, ritual killing and radio evangelists while also worshipping folkloric deity Santa Muerte. There’s a lot going on here. Watch it: Stan

RELATED: Everything new to streaming in May

SOMETHING THRILLING

Deep Water is an impressive Australian drama

Deep Water: A gripping Australian thriller, Deep Water is a dramatisation of a series of real-life disappearances of gay men in Sydney throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The TV series stars Yael Stone and Noah Taylor as detectives investigating a murder in Bondi when they find a connection to up to 80 other cases. The four-part series was broadcast in companion with a documentary. Watch it: iTunes/Google Play

Borgen: With Netflix’s announcement this week that it’s reviving Borgen with eight new episodes for 2022, a decade after it first premiered, now’s a great time to catch up on the first three seasons. The Danish political thriller explores the intrigue in the halls of power when a minor politician, Brigitte Nyborg, becomes the first female prime minister. For a reductive comparison, it’s a bit like The West Wing crossed with House of Cards. Watch it: SBS On Demand

SOMETHING LONG

Billions returns for its fifth season this weekend

Looking for things to pass the time? The best shows to watch, the funniest videos, the best hacks? Find it all at our Life (goes on) in Lockdown section

Billions: In Billions, characters stare with great purpose – even more so than in daytime soaps. It’s because everyone is always plotting, whether it’s for power or for someone else’s demise. Backstabbing and skirting the law is the order of the day in this intense series set in the world of Manhattan high finance, anchored by an intense rivalry between billionaire hedgefunder Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) and politically ambitious prosecutor Chuck Rhoades (Paul Giamatti). Season five starts this Sunday. Watch it: Stan

Homeland: It would probably surprise quite a few people that Homeland only just bowed out this week with its series finale after eight seasons. The Claire Danes and Mandy Patinkin political thriller made a huge splash when it first premiered in 2011, the story of a brilliant but trouble CIA agent and a returned POW she suspected of terrorism. The show had a sketchy season and a half early on, which lost a lot of fans, but from season four onwards, it really found its strength again. Definitely worth giving another go. Watch it: Seasons one to seven on Foxtel Now, season eight on SBS On Demand

SOMETHING WITH THE KIDS

These guys were so much fun

Recess: OK, maybe this one is more for parents to relive some of their childhood memories but Recess holds up and is a great one to share with your kids, especially if they’re stuck as homeschoolers. The playground exploits of T.J, Gretchen, Vince, Gus, Mikey and, of course, Ashley Spinelli make for some diverting hours. Watch it: Disney+

Forky Asks a Question: While it’s squarely aimed at younger kids, the breakout character from Toy Story 4 Forky’s attempts to answer life’s questions, from the mundane to the existential, could probably teach adults some lessons too. And it does it in five-minute chunks. Watch it: Disney+

Share your TV and movies obsessions | @wenleima