Television
The kind of programming 4K TVs dream of, this big-bucks Star Wars spin-off returns for a second season. Director Jon Favreaus space western kicked off with our moody bounty hunter rescuing a cute mini Yoda, and then zipping around the galaxy with the child in tow. Star turns this time around include Rosario Dawson.Friday 30 October, Disney+
Fascinating doc from writer Emma Dabiri exploring, with input from the public (such as Raven), the cultural issues around black hair. Do some styles have political ramifications? And how do outdated beauty archetypes fit into this discussion?Tuesday 27 October, 10.15pm, Channel 4
When Matt Furie drew a cute frog called Pepe, he envisaged him as a niche character in a stoner cartoon strip. To his horror, his creation was repurposed as a symbol of race hate. How on earth did this happen? And can Pepe be reclaimed?Monday 26 October, 10pm, BBC Four
Thrills galore in Big Little Lies showrunner David E Kelleys new drama, which follows a wealthy, seemingly perfect family in turmoil. Nicole Kidmans Grace is married to the suave oncologist Jonathan (Hugh Grant), whose charming bedside manner is called into question when he disappears and a local woman is murdered.Monday 26 October, 9pm, Sky Atlantic
Poor Maxxx. Once, he bestrode the world of pop. Now he does dismal PAs and misery-scrolls his glamorous exs Insta in his spare time. Can he come back from the brink? This funny, cringey new comedy from O-T Fagbenle wallows in his hopelessness.Thursday 29 October, 10pm, Channel 4
Want to see inside a Russian troll farm? Of course you do! Years in the making, this two-part doc forensically examines Russian interference in the 2016 US election, poring over leaked documents and exploring the extent to which democracy in the US has been seriously destabilised.Thursday 29 October, 9pm, Sky Documentaries
MTV Cribs
In which reality TV eats itself: turn-of-the-century staple MTV Cribs is back, but gone are the pop stars of the past; this time, we snoop around the mansions of reality stars! Expect bon mots from the likes of JoJo Siwa, Gemma Collins and Caitlyn Jenner, plus one proper artist of note, the rapper Stefflon Don.Monday 26 October, 8pm, MTV
Nick Frost takes the lead in his new comedy-horror series with Simon Pegg, in which Frost plays Gus a broadband engineer who is secretly a paranormal investigator with Pegg as his corporate boss. As Gus pokes around spooky corridors and parallel universes, the mood is Hot Fuzz channelling Stranger Things.Friday 30 October, Amazon Prime Video
The murder of Damilola Taylor on the North Peckham estate shook the nation. But, two decades on, how are the people who knew Dami as a friend coping? Yinka Bokinni does a brilliantly sensitive job as she revisits her childhood stomping ground.Wednesday 26 October, 9pm, Channel 4
The Sister
A spooky and downbeat new thriller stripped across the week. Russell Tovey stars as Nathan, a seemingly nondescript chap whose life is detonated by the appearance of a sinister former acquaintance bearing the news Theyre digging up the woods. What will they find?Monday 26 October, 9pm, ITV
Podcasts
Built on the principle that good journalism should operate as a passport, Neil Innes and Andrés Bartos open up fascinating worlds for listeners such as the one in this latest edition, centred on a fierce old lady in Texas and her fight against Elon Musks SpaceX project, which is seeking to use her peaceful town as a launchpad.All episodes widely available
The most surprising thing about learning that Danny and Dani Dyer have launched a father-and-daughter podcast is that this hasnt happened sooner. And sure enough, it is very entertaining: both are naturally funny, likable and unselfconscious. Now, guess which of the pair once took a whole chicken to eat in bed.All episodes, Spotify
Trump v Biden feels like the most high-stakes contest in US political history. So this weekly Guardian pod will be examining the race from every conceivable angle. Columnist Jonathan Freedland is joined by journalists on the ground and members of the Guardians US politics team to discuss the various possible outcomes.Guardian online
After successfully investigating the conviction of Curtis Flowers for murder, this podcast offers Flowerss first full interview since his release from prison. Partly as a result of new evidence uncovered by the podcast, Flowers has been exonerated of a crime for which he had been charged multiple times.Weekly, widely available
There is a lot to be anxious about currently, but you know what is reassuring? Listening to a complete stranger chatting about their own unique fears for a crisp 10 minutes: from little kids (Literally everyone knows that biting fish are scary) to grown-up scientists (Time is running out).Weekly, widely available
Films
(Jason Woliner) 95 minsSacha Baron Cohens gloriously offensive Kazakhstani TV reporter returns to the US 14 years after his first, disastrous documentary and hes bringing his daughter. The focus again is on the bigoted, idiotic American right wing, but now Trump is in power and Covid has hit the country. Fish-in-a-barrel comedy, perhaps, but Cohen is rigorously merciless.Amazon Prime Video
(Alex Gibney, Ophelia Harutyunyan, Suzanne Hillinger) 123 minsGibney and colleagues deliver another devastating exposé, this time of the Trump administrations response to coronavirus. A timeline of scientific ignorance, political contrariness and economic obstinacy, its polemical but rightly so.In cinemas
(François Ozon) 101 minsAlthough it touches on his regular theme of truth v fiction, Ozons latest is, at heart, a simple YA teen romance. It centres on budding writer Alexis (Félix Lefebvre), who meets older boy David (Benjamin Voisin) at the seaside and is drawn into an obsessive relationship.In cinemas and Curzon Home Cinema
(Adrian Shergold) 91 minsThe shadow of Polanskis Repulsion looms large over this odd psychological tale. Co-writer Antonia Campbell-Hughes stars as the titular actor, whose unstable mental framework is put under strain by stalkerish phone calls and her enigmatic neighbour Frank (Johnny Flynn).In cinemas
By necessity, the 28th edition of the London-based independent film fest is largely online. Bookended by the unauthorised Bowie biopic Stardust and Dublin-set social drama Here Are the Young Men, it features 50 streaming premieres of all shapes and sizes.raindance.org, to 7 Nov
(Robert Eggers) 93 minsA devout father (Ralph Ineson) rebels against puritan elders and sets up home near a forbidding forest in 17th-century New England. The torment that follows in Robert Eggerss horror stems from the dysfunctional familys inner lives, centring on the pubescent daughter (Anya Taylor-Joy), in a tale out of the darkest folklore.Friday, 12.15am, Channel 4read more
This week’s home entertainment: from The Mandalorian to Agents of Chaos
