IF you like to keep up to date on the latest streaming releases, you’ve come to the right place.
Every week, The Celeb Report’s TV Mag fills you in on all the latest releases across the various streaming services. Here’s this week’s suggestions.
What’s New?
Richard Hammond’s Workshop – Discovery+
Hot on the heels of Jeremy Clarkson’s foray into farming comes his Grand Tour co-star’s six-part docuseries following his own labour of love. This time, there are no bee-stung bums or troublesome tractors, because Richard Hammond has allowed cameras to follow him as he sets up his own classic car restoration workshop.
“The workshop project came about before the TV show and is a genuine passion,” explains Richard, 51. “Neil and Anthony Greenhouse, who are father and son, have been restoring my cars for years, but one day about two years ago on one of our fish-and-chips Fridays at the workshop, Neil said he was losing the business because they were developing it and he didn’t have the resources to start again.
“I said: ‘Why don’t we set up a business together and pool our resources?’ And in the early stages of the process I thought it might make a nice TV show. It turns out I’m no businessman…”
Richard sold a huge portion of his classic cars and motorbike collection in order to fund the workshop, and while he admits it’s been a steep learning curve, he has no regrets.
“My grandfather was a coach builder and I’ve always been fascinated by cars from previous eras – they’re time capsules, statements about the aspirations of their time,” he says. “I get as much pleasure out of walking in the workshop and seeing the guys painting something beautifully because I sold my Porsche as I would have done from my Porsche.”
Leverage: Redemption – IMDb TV
Launched in the UK last month by Amazon, IMDb TV (a new free streaming service with adverts) boasts a library of thousands of films and TV shows but will also be home to new original series, including this reboot of Leverage, 10 years after what was believed to be the final season of the US crime drama.
If you need a reminder, Leverage follows a crack team of experts – confidence trickster Sophie (Gina Bellman), hacker Alec, thief Parker and tough guy Eliot – who use their skills to get justice for ordinary people being trampled on by the powerful.
This time round, the gang are joined by Harry Wilson [ER’s Noah Wyle], a corporate lawyer who’s grown a conscience and decided he’s been playing for the wrong team, but other than that it’s bad guy-bashing business as usual.
Energetic, intricately-plotted and lots of fun, anyone after a mash up of The Equalizer and heist classics like Mission: Impossible will love it.
Available Friday
Invasion – Apple TV+
Something strange is happening. In New York, there are unexpected power blackouts and children experiencing nosebleeds; in Oklahoma, animals seem spooked; in Afghanistan, people are going missing; in the UK, fireballs are raining from the sky; and in Japan, a space shuttle mission experiences unexpected problems.
As you might guess from the show’s name, these bizarre events are the result of visitors arriving from outer space – but they’re definitely not here to make friends and swap recipe ideas. These guys have bad intentions and the entire human race is in danger.
If you’re thinking so far, so Independence Day, you’d be wrong. Told from the perspective of five different people around the world – including Sam Neill’s Sheriff Jim Bell Tyson – 10-part series Invasion actually has a lot more in common with mysterious TV shows such as Lost or The Leftovers, where the characters’ confusion and grief is just as important as dramatic blockbuster bluster, spectacular visual effects and terrifying-looking creatures from outer space.
Sci-fi fans can rest easy, though, because the show still has plenty of that stuff too. And the impressive mix of emotional heft and wonderful effects creates an epic, edge-of-your-sofa experience.
Episodes 1 to 3 are available Friday, and then weekly
Locke & Key – Netflix
The first season of was a spectacular Strange Things -meets-Chilling Adventures of Sabrina mash up. Telling the story of three young siblings, Tyler, Kinsey and Bode Locke, who move into their family’s ancestral home – which happens to be filled with keys possessed with unique powers – it was scary, magical and wonderfully imaginative.
Series two picks up three months after the events of the first, the siblings still believing they’ve disposed of evil demon Dodge, unaware that it had taken the identity Kinsey’s classmate Gabe. With Dodge still at large and Tyler worried that he’s approaching his 18th birthday – the time when people permanently forget about the existence of magic – the Lockes find themselves in a race against time to save the world, and themselves. Demonic fun.
Available from Friday
American Horror Story: Double Feature – Disney+
For its 10th season, the always-unsettling American Horror Story has concocted not one but two new stories to terrify us. The first follows screenwriter Harry Gardner (Finn Wittrock), who moves to isolated Provincetown with his family, in an attempt to shake his writer’s block. Instead, he finds himself sucked into a world of creepy characters – including odd playwright Austin (the brilliant Evan Peters) – mysterious pills and nightmarish pale people who stalk the townsfolk.
The second story delves into the world of classic sci-fi, moving the action to New Mexico in the early 1950s, where a supposed UFO visitation heralds a series of terrifying, supernatural events. The fab cast includes Sarah Paulson and Lily Rabe as legendary missing pilot Amelia Earhart. Gripping.
The Men Who Sold The World Cup – Discovery+
To say that the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar was controversial is a massive understatement. A desert nation, with scorching summers, no existing world-class stadiums and a questionable human-rights record, Qatar appeared to have few of the factors needed for hosting such a huge, prestigious competition. One thing the country does have, however, is money – lots of it – so it didn’t take long for the decision to let Qatar to host the World Cup to face serious scrutiny, with claims of bribery and corruption rife. But what’s the truth? This exhaustive and frequently jaw-dropping two-part documentary examines FIFA’s actions, chatting to many at the heart of the scandal.
