Best Netflix UK Movies and TV Shows - Travels with my Father, American Horror Story, The Dark Crystal and More
So many shows, so little time. Make sure you don't waste yours by checking our recommendations here.
UPDATE: September 13 - This week's two new entries both revolve around the USA. Travels with my Father sees Jack Whitehall trying to show his dad what's so great about the western coast of the United States, while American Horror Story: Apocalypse is about what happens when the US, along with the rest of the world, is consumed by nuclear war.
Read more about these and our other top picks from the Netflix UK catalogue below!
Jack Whitehall: Travels with my Father - New Series (pictured above)
Comedian Jack and his producer and father Michael have gone on adventures twice before in Asia and Europe. This time, it’s Jack’s turn to show his dad that the American West is an interesting place to visit, and try to convince him to move to Los Angeles with him.
American Horror Story - Series 8 Now Available
This horror anthology series changes settings and characters each season but retains the same actors, keeping the horror fresh and showing off the different sides of the cast. Newly added to Netflix is the eighth season: ‘Apocalypse’, which takes place in a bunker after a world-destroying nuclear war.
Carole & Tuesday (2019)
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An original anime about two new friends trying to become pop stars. Set on Mars in a familiar but hi-tech science fiction setting, Tuesday comes from a powerful family, while Carole is a streetwise orphan living in Alba City. When Tuesday runs away from home to seek her fortune, she encounters Carole and the pair form a double act.
West Side Story (1961)
Taking the story of Romeo and Juliet and retelling it through music and dance set in 1960s New York. Amongst the members of the warring Jets and Sharks, two youth gangs, there’s Tony and Maria, two lovebirds that end up changing the course of the conflict for better or worse.
Dirty Dancing (1987)
At a summer resort with her parents, Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman encounters the resort’s charming dance instructor Johnny. When Johnny’s partner is unable to dance due to an unexpected pregnancy, Baby steps in and she and Johnny form a relationship, despite the troubles that surround them from Baby’s judgemental parents and Johnny’s tense interactions with the other resort staff.
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
A prequel series to the cult puppet-animated 1982 film. Before Jen heads out on his fateful quest, three new Gelflings: Rian, Brea and Deet, incite a rebellion against the villainous Skeksis, who are using dark magic to drain the land of life.
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Eggsy is a young Royal Marines dropout with little going on in his life aside from petty crime. But Harry Hart, a colleague of Eggsy’s late father, intervenes to recruit the young man as a secret agent. Meanwhile, the organisation investigates a billionaire that’s keen to provide his telecoms technology to the entire world for free, and find that there’s more to his plan than meets the eye.
Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
K’s job is to hunt down lifelike human biorobots that have escaped from their human masters. He discovers that despite being artificially made, the ‘replicants’ are in fact capable of reproducing, and sets out to find the first natural born replicant before the world finds out.
Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus (2019)
After a long absence, Zim returns to Earth and, having found his arch nemesis has become lazy, begins the second phase of his invasion plan. When that fails, Zim enacts a new one, far more petty than world domination, but one that ends up being even more dangerous to Earth
Kiss Me First (2018)
Leila is an avid fan of the online game Azana, but is in reality living alone and friendless. She then meets Tess, another player who introduces her to a group of players who bend the rules of the game. Between the game world and reality, Leila gradually discovers some unfortunate truths about Adrian, the leader of the group, and tries to stop his dangerous scheme.
Psycho (1960)
Marion, keen to get married despite her and her fiance’s debts, steals money from her office and goes on the run. She manages to evade the police, but when she checks in to the Bates Motel, the story takes a sudden (albeit famous) twist.
8 Mile (2002)
Jimmy, or B-Rabbit, lives in a trailer park with his mother and sister, and works an unfulfilling job at a Detroit car factory. He tries to escape through the city’s rap scene, but his involvement is not welcomed by the leading rappers. But Jimmy is undeterred, set on improving his life and that of his family.
GLOW - New Series
Based on a real-life wrestling promotion, GLOW (Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling) shows a group of women coming together to take part in the curious mix of storytelling and physical stunts that is professional wrestling. of In the third series (the newest one), the ladies move to Las Vegas to take up a hotel residency, gaining new associates and working through other long-standing issues from previous seasons.
Archer - New Series
While originally an animated comedy series about a spy working in a world where all of the 20th century seemed to be happening at once, Archer has in recent years been taking season-long breaks to place its characters in new situations. The latest is Archer 1999, a space epic except with a ship’s crew that bickers and screws up more than any other.
Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling
The original Rocko’s Modern Life series followed Rocko the wallaby living in a small American town, dealing with everyday problems alongside his friends. This special shows Rocko returning to O-Town after two decades, and having found that much has changed, tries desperately to revive his favourite TV show.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power - New Series
Adora was once a soldier for the Horde, a regime that seeks to rule the land of Etheria with advanced technology. But when she found a legendary magic sword, she discovered her destiny was to in fact help the princesses of the rebelling kingdoms to protect their arcane powers from the evil she had been serving. In this six-episode third series, the Rebellion is shaken by changing allegiances and the climax of some major plans.
Creed (2015)
Adonis ‘Donnie’ Creed wants to become a boxer, just like his late father, Apollo. He seeks out Rocky Balboa, once one of the finest boxers around and his dad’s old rival, to train him. While Donnie trains for his first matches, we learn what’s happened since we last saw Rocky and how both men want to free themselves from ties to their past, despite training together.
Orange Is the New Black - New Season
After being convicted for an old drug smuggling charge, Piper is sent to a women's prison to serve her sentence. Her story and those of her fellow inmates are told in this serious but funny drama, and the new seventh (and final) series wraps up the remaining loose ends. If you’ve not been watching, now’s the time to start!
Ex Machina (2014)
Caleb, an employee of tech billionaire Nathan, is invited to Nathan's remote home/lab for seven days in order to test if his latest creation - an AI named Ava, can pass as a human. As the week progresses, Caleb learns more about Ava’s personality, and what Nathan plans for the end of the test, and decides to take drastic action to do what he thinks is the right thing.
Money Heist - New Season
The third series of the Spanish heist show has arrived, and if you haven't watched it you’re missing out. Under the command of ‘The Professor’, a gang of thieves raid the Spanish Royal Mint in order to print themselves millions of bank notes, taking hostages as they do so. We follow the heist in real time, as well as the team’s earlier preparations and the authorities’ efforts to stop them, making for a show drenched in tension and excitement.
The Great Hack
While it hasn’t hit major headlines since 2018, the influence of Cambridge Analytica, the subject of this documentary, can still be felt in the present. By using the data of Facebook users, it was able to help political groups target their campaign advertising with unprecedented precision. Since this information was used without user consent, it led to massive problems for Facebook, which this show explains with the help of experts and reporters who broke the story.
Queer Eye - New Season
The Fab Five are back for the next part of their quest to provide life and style advice to men and women who deserve a little help. It’s the kind of unrelentingly positive and constructive reality TV that will put you in a good mood. You might even learn a thing or two about putting together outfits, caring for your hair and skin, cooking or how to become more confident, with each member of the group providing tips throughout the episodes.
Sully (2016)
In 2009, a US Airways plane landed in New York’s Hudson River, but miraculously nobody was seriously injured. This film tells the story through the lens of the pilot who performed the landing, Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, and how his amazing feat was soured. Not only did he find the incident traumatic, but a follow-up inquiry by the authorities leads to them accusing him of being responsible for the incident. With his job on the line, Sully works to prove that he made the right call.
The third series of the nostalgic sci-fi series has arrived, showing how a pleasant summer in the town of Hawkins can still turn peculiar. We meet up once again with a group of young friends who’ve all experienced the strange world of the Upside Down, and see how their friendships have changed as a result of the nightmares they’ve experienced together.
Bridesmaids (2011)
Despite having a chaotic personal life, Annie is Lillian’s maid-of-honor for her upcoming wedding. As disasters continue occurring in her wedding preparation duties, Rose, the infinitely more organised rival for Lillian’s right-hand-woman, threatens to take control completely, leaving Annie with the choice of either giving up on her friend or turning her life around and pulling off a perfect wedding.
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Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he's also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he's likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.