Best TV shows to watch on Amazon Prime Video UK

John Krasinski may have seemed like a left-field choice to play Tom Clancy’s hero Jack Ryan when he was first cast, but boy did he quickly prove any naysayers wrong. Over four high-octane seasons, Krasinski made the role his own, while a supporting cast including Wendell Pierce, Abbie Cornish and Michael Kelly made the world feel fleshed out and each episode a joy to return to.

The plots were as twisty as you would hope for from a spy series such as this, and things were brought to a satisfying conclusion at the end of the final season – bar a potential spin-off for Michael Peña’s Domingo Chavez. All in all, if you’re looking action and spy thrills, you’re unlikely to be disappointed.

James Hibbs

Fargo is back on our screens for its much-anticipated fifth season, which will once again be set in a different place and time period. This time around, we’re in Minnesota and North Dakota and the year is 2019, with the show following seemingly typical Midwestern housewife Dorothy ‘Dot’ Lyon (Juno Temple), who is suddenly plunged back into the life she thought she’d left behind.

Like previous seasons, expect a fair share of chaos, suspense and dark humour peppered throughout – and with episodes dropping weekly, season 5 is set to keep you on the edge of your seats right on into 2024.

Morgan Cormack

While it’s likely to be a marmite show, 007: Road to a Million is not without its defenders. The first project to come out of Amazon’s acquisition of MGM is a reality competition in which a selection of Bond fans tackle nerve-shredding challenges in pairs – all for a chance of winning up to £1 million.

Overseeing the contest is none other than Brian Cox, fresh off his Succession buzz, who slips into a villainous character known as The Controller. His presence adds an air of both novelty and prestige to the proceedings, which in reality aren’t far off a glammed-up version of Race Across the World or I’m a Celebrity.

If you’ve enjoyed those similar shows, this one may well be worth a go. But if you’re not a reality fan and the idea of a Bond show without Bond makes your skin crawl – well, this might not be for you.

David Craig

If you’re a fan of The Boys but worried that this college-set spin-off might tone things down or shy away from the original show’s more outrageous sensibilities, then never fear – this new series is just as gory, crude and provocative as the original show, and just as wildly entertaining.

Gen V stars Jaz Sinclair as Marie Moreau, a young supe attending Godolkin University, who uncovers a dark secret at its heart. This eight-part first season introduces us to a host of well-rounded, engaging new characters, while also featuring enough links to The Boys and cameos to make this feel like a cohesive universe.

Perhaps most impressively, the show stands firmly on its own as an independently brilliant superhero satire – fans of the genre and Prime Video’s more gritty take on it will find a lot to like here, whether they’ve seen The Boys or not.

James Hibbs

Fans of The Good Place may be interested in this original series, which takes a similarly irreverent look at the afterlife. Robbie Amell (The Flash) stars as Nathan Brown, a man who dies after getting into an accident, but has his consciousness uploaded to a virtual version of heaven.

The series takes a satirical look at what such a place could look like, while Nathan struggles to maintain a healthy relationship with his living girlfriend. Now in its third season, critics have praised Upload for its deepening story, witty gags and endearing characters.

The ultimate example of a show cancelled before its time, Freaks and Geeks only got one season, but in that time it became a beloved cult favourite comedy and launched the careers of a number of major stars, including Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and Linda Cardellini, to name just a few.

The series, which came from creator Paul Feig and executive producer Judd Apatow, followed two groups of friends at high school – the ‘freaks’ and the ‘geeks’, and charted their everyday lives. The show continues to be beloved to this day for not only its comedy, but also its ability to straddle different tones and explore the more melancholy aspects of school life.

All 18 episodes are available to stream but be warned – by the end, you’ll be desperate for it to have continued, knowing full well that, sadly, it never did.

James Hibbs

If you’re a fan of Gone Girl or Fatal Attraction, this tale of love, betrayal and revenge will most certainly entice you. The new thriller follows Liv (Jenna Coleman) on a revenge mission against her husband Will (Oliver Jackson-Cohen).

After discovering he’s been having an affair, Liv is done with being the ideal dutiful wife and when she’s whisked away on an apology American road trip of dreams, she soon finds herself plotting Will’s downfall.

It’s a twisted love story, as well as an exploration of an anti-heroine figure in Liv as she explores her own sense of identity out of the shadows of her successful, charismatic husband. It’s the kind of watch where you don’t entirely know what Liv will do next, but that’s part of the excitement with a series like this, you just don’t know how it’ll end.

Morgan Cormack

This adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Sir Terry Pratchett’s acclaimed novel took the world by storm when it first debuted in 2019, and now the series is back with a second season focusing even more intimately on David Tennant’s Crowley and Michael Sheen’s Aziraphale.

Season 2 takes on a slower pace, with more time given to the deepening relationship between the demon and the angel than to world-ending stakes than in the first season. This can make it a slower-paced, somewhat meandering affair, but simply having Tennant and Sheen back on-screen as these characters is a joy, while a cliffhanger ending neatly sets up a third and final outing.

James Hibbs

Elite tennis, and the experiences of vulnerable young girls within the sport’s highly pressurised environment, are the background for a dark and torrid drama. We meet Justine (Ella Lily Hyland) when she is 16, in the changing room at Roland-Garros before the French Open semi-final, receiving a pep talk from her coach Glenn (Aidan Turner) that seems to reveal that her feelings for this older man go beyond that of a devoted pupil.

Five years later, with injury having ended Justine’s career and her subsequent life an unsatisfactory consolation prize spent working with new female players at a tennis academy, Glenn comes back into her orbit – and Justine makes serious allegations against him. Hyland’s intensity – as a young woman who is damaged and vengeful, but for reasons that aren’t immediately clear to us – and Turner’s twisted charm keep an unsettling story simmering.

Jack Seale

The latest foreign jolly for Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May sees them take a road trip across central Europe, with Gdansk in Poland as the starting point and stop-offs in Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia.

After a classic bout of unlikely car selections, the meandering odyssey is interrupted by horses, “Soviet-style Formula One”, a superstar racing driver and an ambush by deadly archers, before arriving at a climax with pretensions to rival the Fast and Furious film franchise. Rumours persist that Clarkson’s days on Prime Video are numbered, but he and his pals have already filmed another special: they’ll soon have sand in their carburettors as they race across Mauritania.

Jack Seale

From the brilliantly creative mind of Boots Riley – who wowed critics with his debut feature Sorry to Bother You – I’m A Virgo is a coming-of-age story like no other.

Jharrel Jerome follows acclaimed performances in Moonlight and When They See Us with this offbeat project, where he plays a 13-foot tall 19-year-old named Cootie. He has always been hidden away due to his enormous stature, but leaps at the first opportunity to experience the world – including a meeting with his idol, known simply as The Hero (played by Walton Goggins).

Critics have praised the show’s satirical commentary and unique visual style, while the performances are stellar across the board. Jerome and Goggins are joined by Mike Epps (The Upshaws), Carmen Ejogo (True Detective), Brett Gray (On My Block) and Kara Young (The Staircase).

David Craig

Based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Naomi Alderman, this fantasy series imagines a world where women suddenly become capable of firing electrical charges through their fingertips. The story follows several characters from across the globe, all of whom are profoundly affected as a new world order begins to take shape.

While perhaps not as impactful as the source material – few screen adaptations are – The Power is an intriguing concept through which Alderman explores society’s attitudes towards gender.

Meanwhile, the cast is a mix of established names like Toni Collette, John Leguizamo and Eddie Marsan as well as emerging talent including Chloe Auliʻi Cravalho, Heather Agyepong and Ria Zmitrowicz – all of whom bring their A-game to this exhilarating story.

David Craig

You wait ages for a TV remake of a controversial Jeremy Irons movie, then two come along at once: as well as Netflix’s Obsession, we have this bold re-imagining of the 1992 film where Jeremy Irons played identical twin gynaecologists. Now the twins are Rachel Weisz, playing flamboyantly unpredictable sisters (“If I’m a psycho, you’re a psycho!”) in a show that’s much more about fertility, motherhood and how society views women than the original film was. As a torrent of garish images and nightmarish ideas unfurls, Weisz visibly relishes the liberation of a daring double role.

Jack Seale

One of the best comedy dramas of recent years is enjoying a playful final season, jumping around in time to give us glimpses of where the beloved characters will end up – while still majoring on Rachel Brosnahan as Midge, a 1960s housewife turned stand-up comic whose career change has led us on a dazzling tour of the Manhattan comedy scene at its counter-cultural peak, offset by the wry take on Jewish New Yorkers provided by Midge’s family.

Jack Seale

Few fans of the Next Generation felt that the crew got the farewell they deserved in 2002 box-office bomb Star Trek: Nemesis. But two decades on, that wrong is finally being righted.

Because, for the first time since that damp squib of a send-off, Jean-Luc Picard’s (Patrick Stewart) former officers are reuniting as they take on a valedictory mission that feels very much like a Next Gen love letter. It’s also – it must be said – something of a necessary recalibration for the Picard spin-off itself, which has, up until now, been struggling on impulse power.

Seasons one and two remain available on Prime Video, but this third (and final) run is a standalone adventure that gives aficionados the chance to warm themselves in the glow of nostalgia, as we catch up with the likes of empathetic Dr Crusher, the burly Riker and Klingon warrior Worf.

David Brown

If watching the Stranger Things gang play Dungeons & Dragons has given you an interest in the real thing, The Legend of Vox Machina would be a great way to learn more about the fantasy role-playing game. This is an animated retelling of a real campaign originally played on popular web series Critical Role, which follows a ragtag group of adventurers as they seek to avenge murders committed by the evil Lord and Lady Briarwood.

In the recently launched second season, Vox Machina is faced with saving the world once again – this time, from a sinister group of dragons known as the Chroma Conclave. Expect adult humour along the way as well as big name guest stars, including David Tennant (Doctor Who), Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Indira Varma (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Ralph Ineson (Willow) and Henry Winkler (Barry).

While this new action thriller has been heralded as many things, one thing’s for certain – it’ll certainly keep viewers intrigued till the very end.

The series, which is led by Line of Duty’s Martin Compston, is an exhilarating drama centred on the crew of the Kinloch Bravo oil rig. As a mysterious fog descends on them, though, they all struggle to keep themselves together and soon, questions of ecology and our relationship with the planet start to rear their head. While it’s been likened to BBC’s Vigil (on account of the similar claustrophobic setting), we say that it’s a sci-fi thriller that has notes of Doctor Who about it.

Morgan Cormack

With the release of this supernatural thriller from executive producer Steven Moffat, Prime Video invites audiences to ask the question – what exactly is The Devil’s Hour?

With a season premiere that features abstract imagery and a cavalcade of sensory assaults, the series never proves to be an easy watch. Five minutes in, Lucy (Jessica Raine) and Gideon (Peter Capaldi) are captured conversing in a blacked-out room. She is pale, bruised and defiant in the face of her interrogator who sits opposite, handcuffed yet commanding. Exposition is limited and other storytelling staples are thin on the ground, making this show almost impossible to pin down for audiences seeking context.

Martin Carr

If you enjoyed cartoon comedy/existential drama Bojack Horseman, then you’ll love this trippy animation from the same creators. Starring Rosa Salazar and Bob Odenkirk, the series is a psychological comedy-drama, which tells the story of Alma, a young woman who, after getting in a car accident, discovers she has a new relationship with time and uses this ability to find out the truth about her father’s death.

Dealing with themes surrounding mental health, family and culture, with a (potential) sci-fi twist, it’s at once hilarious and also devastatingly sad. The show’s unique look is created using rotoscope animation, meaning the actors performed the scenes live and animators then drew on top of them. It makes for a gorgeous looking series, which helps to heighten the un-reality of it all.

Swarm is the kind of series that’s rather difficult to put into words – you just have to watch it. Created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, who both worked together on Atlanta, the series shares the same slightly comedic tone and is unexpectedly thought-provoking throughout.

We follow Dre, brilliantly played by Dominique Fishback (Judas and the Black Messiah), a devoted fan of fictional R&B icon Ni’Jah. But Dre takes things all too far in her quest to get closer to her icon, resulting in her taking a dark cross-country journey, leaving devastation in her wake.

The series has glaring (intentional) similarities to the real-life Beyhive, but also shines an important light on fandoms, parasocial relationships and the pile-on culture that dominates the internet.

Morgan Cormack

It’s the big one – the one we’ve all been waiting for. Amazon purchased the rights to The Lord of the Rings back in 2017, and have been steadily putting together this series, based largely on appendixes from those books, ever since. The result is The Rings of Power, a visually dazzling series which is reportedly the most expensive show ever made.

It takes us back to Middle Earth but not as we know it, with the series set thousands of years before The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and features, elves, dwarves and the Hobbit-like Harfoots. If you’re looking for sweeping fantasy, epic vistas and a plot to intrigue as we delve in the world JRR Tolkien first created like never before, then this one’s for you.

If you’re looking for a taste of musical nostalgia then look no further than Daisy Jones & The Six, which transports you into the heady world of ’70s rock and roll, where the titular band reigns supreme.

They’re on top of the world, touring America and living out the kind of lifestyle they’d previously only ever dreamed of. But one fateful night, that all comes crashing down and the band disbanded soon after. What was the fateful catalyst that broke Daisy Jones & The Six up?

Through the talking heads style of the ’90s documentary that’s being made about the band, we see how the events of the ’70s impacted them and continue to, making for an easy watch of a series with songs you’ll struggle to get out of your head.

Morgan Cormack

In the years since Game of Thrones drew to a close, several new fantasy shows have emerged in an attempt to become the next big thing – and the latest is The Wheel of Time. The show is based on Robert Jordan’s book series of the same name, and given that series is made up of 14 novels it’s not likely they’ll run out of source material anytime soon. Starring Rosamund Pike in the lead role, this is high production value, grippingly told stuff – and seems sure to appeal to all fantasy fans.