The best new TV shows to stream in April

We’ve got an excellent mix of options to explore this month. I rate Disney+’s kinky, complex comedy Dying for Sex as one of the best new shows of the year to date. And there are some much-anticipated returns too – new seasons of Andor on Disney+ and Scrublands via Stan*.

Plus, you have a whole new streaming service to check out in Max. I know it’s somewhat masochistic since, as a television critic, I already have a dozen other platforms I’m desperately trying to keep up with, but I love the thrill of discovery as you navigate all those tiles.

Disney+

Jay Duplass (left) plays Steve, the ex-husband of Molly (Michelle Williams) in Dying for Sex.

My top Disney+ recommendation is Dying for Sex (April 4).

Adapted from the acclaimed podcast of the same name, this American limited series has a simple, if sharp, outline: a woman with stage 4 cancer wants to explore the full breadth of her sexual desire before she dies. What that encompasses, with an incredible high-wire performance from Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans) in the lead role, is bittersweet discovery, unbridled humour, the confrontation of trauma, and an eye-opening cross-section of kink. Co-created by Elizabeth Meriwether (New Girl), the show reaches stunning extremes but never loses track of the heartbreaking stakes guiding Williams’ Molly and her best friend Nikki, played by Jenny Slate (Obvious Child). These eight succinct episodes might be too much for some, but you should expect to rightly see it on the year-end best shows lists.

Also on Disney+: The Star Wars series that truly matters returns for its concluding season. Andor (April 23) was a revelation when it was released in 2022. Pitched as a prequel to the 2016 rebels v empire action-thriller Rogue One, the show upended expectations about what could happen in George Lucas’s galaxy far, far away. Creator Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) revealed how the seeds of rebellion were fomented on an individual level, illuminating how repression breaks some and emboldens others. In following thief-turned-rebel spy Cassian Andor (Diego Luna), the first season had immense world-building and intimately drawn characters. This second season, which ends where Rogue One starts, is set up to be one of the television events of the year.

March highlights: Marvel’s TV shows made a welcome comeback with Daredevil: Born Again, influencer-turned-abuser docuseries Devil in the Family had all the telling details, plus how do you make sense of the crazy story behind Good American Family?

Netflix

Pulse: a new medical show to watch once you’ve finished The Pitt.Credit: Anna Kooris/Netflix

My top Netflix recommendation is Pulse (April 3).

It’s bloody good timing. With the first season of The Pitt reminding viewers how compelling the medical procedural can be, Netflix has its first entry in the genre ready to go. Created by Zoe Robyn (Hawaii Five-0), Pulse is set at Miami’s busiest trauma ward. Sample line: “If you go one millimetre too far, she dies!” Expect plenty of ambulances, not to mention a hurricane, with the professional skills of the two lead doctors, Xander Phillips (Colin Woodell, The Continental) and Danny Sims (Willa Fitzgerald, Reacher), complicated by their personal relationship. ER is the obvious influence, but there’s some Grey’s Anatomy lurking here as well.

Also on Netflix: If you’re an aficionado of action movies, then Gareth Evans is a name that likely quickens your pulse. Evans made 2011’s The Raid and 2014’s The Raid 2, a pair of no-holds-barred bloodbaths that updated the genre for the 21st century. Now he’s back with his first feature film in seven years: Havoc (April 25) stars Tom Hardy (Mad Max: Fury Road) as a disillusioned American police detective who must fight his way through the underworld to save a politician’s estranged son.

Every time a season of Black Mirror (April 10) uploads, we wonder if the world has caught up with Charlie Brooker’s dystopic vision of the near future, and every time he stays one step ahead. Season 7 of the science-fiction anthology delivers six new instalments, with one of them a continuation of USS Callister, a 2017 episode long considered one of the show’s finest.

March highlights: A wrenching tale of teenage crime, Adolescence swiftly became one of the most-watched Netflix series of all time, and The Residence was a White House murder mystery with a delightful touch.

Max

Pedro Pascal as Joel in The Last of Us.Credit: HBO

My top Max recommendation is The Last of Us (April 14).

Get ready to fear cordyceps again! The parasitic fungi and the zombie-like creatures it creates continue to underpin HBO’s hit post-apocalyptic drama. Set five years after the grim events of the first season, the new episodes once again focus on Ellie (Bella Ramsey, Game of Thrones), a teenager secretly immune to infection, and Joel (Pedro Pascal, The Mandalorian), the jaded smuggler who bonded with her over a perilous journey. No one took video-game adaptations seriously until The Last of Us, and the creative team responsible for that breakthrough, co-writer and director Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) and writer Neil Druckmann (the game’s creative director), have returned as well. Fresh from Netflix’s Apple Cider Vinegar, Kaitlyn Dever joins as Abby, a young soldier whose quest for vengeance brings her to Joel and Ellie.

Also on Max: I’m not sure I’m ready for a second season of The Rehearsal (April 21), but the first instalment was a can’t-look-away classic, and I’m fascinated to know if creator and star Nathan Fielder (Nathan for You) can once again create deadpan upheaval. Part documentary, part farce, part self-loathing critique, the show has Fielder “helping” members of the public prepare for difficult tasks – whether it was to reveal a truth to friends or raise a child. To do so, he created extensive sets and performance pieces and invariably, the scenario would get out of hand. It was as if Jean-Luc Godard remade Candid Camera. Expect the excruciating.

March highlights: A big tick for medical drama The Pitt – emergency room doctors and nurses rate it highly.

Apple TV+

Is this Jon Hamm’s best role since Don Draper?Credit: Apple TV+

My top Apple TV+ recommendation is Your Friends and Neighbours (April 11).

Jon Hamm has never stopped working since his beatific smile provided the finishing touch to Mad Men in 2015, marking his mark in everything from a season of Fargo to the loopy testosterone of Landman. But this sinewy drama about a hedge fund manager whose life gets upended may well be his best role since Don Draper. Hamm’s Andrew Cooper has everything until he doesn’t, facing bankruptcy and loss of stature while living in a millionaire’s enclave. His solution? Stealing from his wealthy cohort. There are multiple ramifications, both moral and legal, in a series created by the proven Jonathan Tropper (Banshee, Warrior), with a supporting cast that includes Amanda Peet (Brockmire) as Cooper’s philosophical ex-wife.

Also on Apple TV+: The estimable David Oyelowo (Selma, Silo) is the unwitting agent of chaos at the centre of Government Cheese (April 16), a show that has the form of a historical drama but leans into the absurd and divinely fantastic. Set in 1969 Los Angeles, it stars Oyelowo as Hampton Chambers, a burglar-turned-inventor just released from jail and determined to go straight. But the home Hampton returns to has irrevocably changed, and Hampton has to adapt to the new dynamic. Test the vibe on this one – it’s quite distinct.

Forget Gordon Ramsay, Marie-Antoine Careme is the only celebrity chef to deserve his own historical drama. In the late 19th century, during Napoleon Bonaparte’s cataclysmic rise in France, Careme went from humble beginnings to cooking for Europe’s elite. Careme (April 30) is a French-language series about his complicated life, which includes dramatic signature dishes, his seduction of the wealthy and some spying on the side. Benjamin Voisin (Summer of 85) plays the original culinary bad boy, with every episode directed by Martin Bourboulon, the French filmmaker whose recent takes on The Three Musketeers were a box-office smash in France and demonstrated the ability to render period drama as thrilling spectacle.

March highlights: Seth Rogen and a succession of A-list cameos give the Hollywood comedy The Studio movie star authenticity and non-stop laughs, while Dope Thief is a compelling crime thriller about small-time hustlers getting in way over their heads.

Binge

Rebecca Hall stars in The Listeners. Credit: BBC/Element Pictures/Todd Anthony

My top Binge recommendation is The Listeners (streaming now).

What do you do when the whole world doesn’t believe you? In this four-part British drama, Claire (Rebecca Hall, The Town), a dedicated high school teacher, wakes up one day and can hear a low, constant menacing hum. No one else can – including her husband, Paul (Prasanna Puwanarajah) – and Claire’s doctors draw a mystified blank. The mystery that unfolds is about faith and self-belief: as Claire’s life starts to buckle, she has to decide whether she can live with the hum or if it’s actually more important than she knows. Canadian author Jordan Tannahill adapted his 2021 novel for this BBC series, which has been expertly cast: Hall is an actor capable of revealing troubling interior truths.

Also on Binge: After the successful recent reissue of Homicide: Life on the Streets, here’s an equally essential rescue mission from the vaults. Debuting in 1985, Moonlighting (April 4) was an instant success: the dynamic between Bruce Willis (with hair!) and Cybill Shepherd, as mismatched private detectives, made for crackling banter and terrific romantic friction. Most of today’s comedic TV detectives have a lineage that reaches back to Glenn Gordon Caron’s innovative series, but due to issues with the music licencing it’s never been available to stream – until now. All five seasons have been cleared, and there’s still terrific value in this 40-year-old show. Fair warning: the latter seasons are particularly nutty.

March highlights: The Last Anniversary is an adaptation of a Liane Moriarty bestseller that keeps its Australian setting. Plus, comic madness continues on the final season of The Righteous Gemstones.

Stan*

Luke Arnold and Luke Carroll in Scrublands’ second season.Credit: David Dare Parker

My top Stan recommendation is Scrublands (April 17).

Stan has locked down a potent local crime series with this ongoing adaptation of Chris Hammer’s Martin Scarsden novels. With Luke Arnold (Black Sails) playing the Sydney Morning Herald journalist, the first season of Scrublands followed Scarsden dealing with his own loss as he wrote a follow-up piece on – and eventually solved – an inexplicable rural tragedy. This month’s follow-up sees Scarsden returning to his coastal hometown, but by the time he arrives, his best friend is dead, and his girlfriend, Mandy Bond (Bella Heathcote, The Man in the High Castle), is the prime suspect. It’s the kind of frayed situation that should make for solid storytelling.

Also on Stan: The Emmy-winning Hacks (April 11) is never content to stand still. In telling the story of young comedy writer, Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), who gets her bearings rewritten by demanding Las Vegas stand-up legend Deborah Vance (Jean Smart, Mare of Easttown), the comedy manages to be very funny about the duo’s respective careers and shared dynamic even as their relationship changes. The third season ended with Deborah securing her dream job, hosting a late-night show, and Ava essentially blackmailing her to secure the head writer’s job. The new season will begin with them as crucial colleagues who are now adversaries. Let the games begin.

March highlights: The period crime drama got a sharp new feminine spin with the British success Dope Girls, while Amanda Seyfried headlined the crime procedural Long Bright River.

Amazon Prime Video

Jacob Elordi in Narrow Road to the Deep NorthCredit: Ingvar Kenne/Curio/Sony Pictures Television

My top Amazon Prime recommendation is The Narrow Road to the Deep North (April 18).

Brisbane boy turned Hollywood star Jacob Elordi follows up Euphoria and Saltburn with the lead role in this wrenching limited series, which charts the course of survival for an Australian soldier captured by the Japanese during World War II. Elordi plays Dorrigo Evans as a young prisoner of war who experiences horrors daily, while the estimable Irish actor Ciaran Hinds (There Will Be Blood) plays Dorrigo as a revered veteran wracked with guilt. The source material for this Australian production is Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning 2014 novel of the same name. And frequent collaborators director Justin Kurzel and screenwriter Shaun Grant (Snowtown, The True History of the Kelly Gang) are running the adaptation. The first two episodes were screened at the Berlin Film Festival in February, drawing strong praise.

Also on Amazon Prime: Ever since Harrison Ford snarled “Get off my plane” in 1997’s Air Force One, the president of the United States has been a recurring favourite in action movies. Aaron Eckhart (Olympus Has Fallen), Samuel L. Jackson (Big Game) and Jamie Foxx (White House Down) have all put their presidential seal on what is essentially Die Hard. G20 (April 10) gender flips the genre, with Viola Davis (The Woman King) starring as President Danielle Sutcliffe, a former soldier who springs into action when the G20 summit in South Africa is overrun by terrorists. Antony Starr (The Boys) is on villain duty. This should be a very silly movie, but hopefully also entertaining.

March highlights: Deeply bracing, Nickel Boys may well have been the best movie from Hollywood’s recent awards season, while Nicole Kidman got subversive with Holland.

ABC iview

David Morrissey, Leslie Manville and Robert Glenister in the gripping British thriller Sherwood.Credit: BBC

My top ABC iview recommendation is Sherwood (April 11).

Britain makes a slew of crime dramas, so a series has to really stand out to distinguish itself from the generic and merely good. The BBC’s Sherwood did just that in 2022, turning a murder mystery set in a former Nottinghamshire mining community into a deeply empathetic story of frayed families, collective trauma, and official deception. It was a procedural wracked with genuine regret. David Morrissey (State of Play) starred as the investigating detective forced to confront his own past. He returns for this season, which uses a disputed killing to examine a generation of young people unable to escape the complicated shadow of their families.

March highlights: The struggles of parenting, both comedic and dark, continued to drive Martin Freeman’s Breeders.

SBS On Demand

Elisabeth Moss in the final season of The Handmaid’s Tale. Credit: Disney/Steve Wilkie

My top SBS On Demand recommendation is The Handmaid’s Tale (April 8).

It’s been a complicated and often brutal journey, but the adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s celebrated novel about a dystopian version of America concludes with this sixth and final season. The Handmaid’s Tale has occasionally struggled to keep the storytelling in motion, as Elisabeth Moss’ June repeatedly moved between slavery as a fertile woman in the religious dictatorship running America and exile in Canada, but this last batch of episodes should allow for reckonings and a measure of resonance, with June’s rival, fellow mother, and even uneasy collaborator, Serena (Yvonne Strahovski, Dexter) once more in her orbit. Moss directs four of the 10 new episodes, but I doubt that will distract her from what has been a formidably sustained performance of fragile humanity at the centre of chaos.

March highlights: Virdee was a tough, taxing crime thriller about a British police detective caught between his career and his community, while Boiling Point turned up the heat on the restaurant game.

Other streamers

Pierce Brosnan in MobLand.Credit: Paramount+

My top recommendation for the other streaming services is Paramount+’s MobLand (streaming now).

This gritty crime drama reportedly began as an origin story to the American drama Ray Donovan, but somewhere along the way, creator Ronan Bennett (The Day of the Jackal) steered it into an original story about the ructions inside and out of a London criminal empire. Tom Hardy (Venom) plays Harry De Souza, the brass knuckles-wearing fixer for the Harrigan clan, a multi-generational gangster empire run by husband-and-wife hard nuts Conrad (former Bond, Pierce Brosnan) and Maeve (Helen Mirren, The Queen). The Guy Ritchie-directed series will have to work to distinguish itself from a slew of predecessors, stretching right back to 1980’s The Long Good Friday (which Mirren also starred in). But the cast is absolutely stacked: Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey) and Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon) also star.

Also: The Crown, Harlots, Phantom Thread, Mum … at this point, if Lesley Manville is in it, you should at least consider watching. Now the British actress gets her literary detective on in BritBox’s Moonflower Murders (April 15), a murder mystery adapted by author Anthony Horowitz from his 2020 novel. Manville plays former book publisher Susan Ryeland, whose Greek islands retirement becomes an investigation when she learns her hotel was the setting of a crime eight years prior. It’s a classic British whodunit, with shades of Agatha Christie, but the book and show also tell a story within a story – one of Susan’s former authors used the case as inspiration, and his take on it is visualised throughout Susan’s quest.

March highlights: Suits LA resurrected the legal drama and took it westwards.

* Nine owns Stan and this masthead.

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