What to watch on streaming: today's picks from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and more

You can watch this teen drama without having seen the parent series, The Boys, although that is superior so would be a better starting point. We’re in the same alternative world where superpowers are enjoyed by a significant minority of the population, who can use them to become celebrities. But because they serve as a metaphor for the hidden violence of corporate America, these superhumans tend to be selfish and vicious behind their public personae. Now we see where that all comes from as we enrol at the suitably sinister Godolkin University. Marie (Jaz Sinclair) is young, idealistic and can manipulate blood, but she’s about to learn that her plan to become a morally sound crime-fighter will not be easily realised.

Despite the campus setting, Gen V isn’t really aiming at a younger audience than The Boys — it’s just as wickedly vulgar, particularly with its imaginative, sometimes shocking, special effects.

Jack Seale

Eve Hewson is on fire as a foul-mouthed Irishwoman on a mission to learn the guitar in this salty musical comedy from writer/ director John Carney. Hewson plays Flora, a single mum with a delinquent son, who takes up the instrument and invests in online lessons courtesy of the LA-based Jeff (Joseph Gordon- Levitt) — much to the annoyance of her failed-musician ex (Jack Reynor).

As the man behind Once and Sing Street, Carney has form with the genre and Dublin setting, and he’s onto another winner here.

Emma Simmonds

Season four might have ended with a shock for Vinnie (Joe Gilgun) and his merry band of thieves - they got mixed up with a bigger, harder gang, with the result that their pal Dylan is still missing - but they soon get back into their old rhythm on their return. A slanderous graffiti campaign making wild accusations about Vinnie’s anatomy turns out to be a ruse to involve him in a grand car theft, but when that goes wrong Vinnie and co acquire a temporary new member of the crew, in the form of delivery driver Eddie.

He’s played by Lee Mack, who throws himself into the role - literally, since there’s some mild stunt work - and has the serious acting ability to carry off one of Brassic’s many lovely moments of calm, warm compassion. Not many comedies offer this much pure fun.

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Kris, Kourtney, Kim, Khloé, Kendall and Kylie are back for yet another season of America’s favourite celebrity reality series, but after the stramashes last time, the Kardashian/Jenner family have still not healed. Can they reunite, or are they now — with so many resentments, disagreements and individual commitments to worry about — past the point where they still function as a harmonious fame machine? And who ends up telling whom, “You’re just a witch and I hate you”?

Find out as one of telly’s least essential, yet compelling for some, series continues.

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Just months after releasing Asteroid City (also new to streaming this week), writer/director Wes Anderson has four new delights ready to go.

All adapted from stories by Roald Dahl, first up is his long-awaited take on The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, available from Wednesday 27 September, followed by The Swan, The Ratcatcher and Poison on 28, 29 and 30 September respectiv ely.

Anderson has form adapting Dahl (his Oscar-nominated animation Fantastic Mr Fox is on Saturday 30 September and Thursday 5 October on Film4), and with a rotating cast including Benedict Cumberbatch, Dev Patel and Ralph Fiennes, this offbeat new collection of short films looks to be “delumptious” indeed.

Calum Baker

A likeable US comedy returns for a second season. We’re among the Latino community in south central Los Angeles, where Julio (co-creator Chris Estrada) is a meek 30-something, working for a charity specialising in rehabilitating gang members. Now Julio has finally left home but his boss — a roaring comic turn by Sopranos/White Lotus star Michael Imperioli — is still a nightmare and Julio still has to deal with his softheaded cousin Luis (Frankie Quinones).

It’s affectionate, politically sharp and not afraid to include a bit of slapstick.

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It remains one of the oddest cases in British criminal history. In April 1999, Jill Dando — not just a BBC presenter and newsreader but the highest-profile TV personality in the country, widely admired for her easy relatability and Princess Diana-esque air of elegant glamour — was shot dead in broad daylight on her own doorstep, and we still have no idea who did it or why.

This three-part documentary sifts through every element of the mystery, from the initial shock and the multiple theories on who might have been responsible, to the fraught murder trial two years later that proved to be a miscarriage of justice. It’s one of those true-crime docs that, at every turn, unleashes an interviewee whose insight or unusual demeanour adds another layer of intrigue.

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News of the World journalist Mazher Mahmood scored numerous front-page scoops by posing as a Middle Eastern millionaire and enticing — or entrapping — public figures into illegal behaviour.

This three-part documentary series talks to Mahmood’s targets and associates, painting a rounded picture of hidden-camera “stings” that were undeniably thrilling in their execution but often, arguably, unfair on the recipients. Mahmood’s background is investigated, too, and his motivations are found to be fascinatingly complex.

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Backstabbing and mind games are at the forefront of this Korean reality series that locks 12 people in a Big Brother-style house to compete for a large cash prize.

Ostensibly a test of mental prowess — the contestants include a lawyer, a doctor and a scientist, as well as professional Go and poker players — the proceedings also allow for classic reality-show scheming, which often isn’t present in Korean shows. Those tend to have more respectful, mutually supportive participants — but once that code has been broken, it can’t be repaired and the game is on.

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Otto Baxter, a film-maker with Down’s syndrome, takes centre stage in this charming documentary portrait. The film sees Baxter on the road to making The Puppet Asylum, a comedy horror musical starring Paul Kaye. Directors Bruce Fletcher and Peter Beard follow Baxter as he directs his gothic tale, an analogy for his own life, in which he has often been called a “monster”. Baxter is such a lively, lovable fellow, it’s easy to fall for him.

James Mottram

This adorable mockumentary blends live action and stop-motion animation. Jenny Slate voices the eponymous mollusc, who lives in an Airbnb with his granny (Isabella Rossellini).

The film’s director, Dean Fleischer Camp, plays a documentary-maker who moves into the property and befriends Marcel, who then becomes an internet sensation. Funny and surreal, the film conjures magic out of Marcel’s escapades.

Emma Simmonds

A lightweight romantic-ish comedy stars Antonia Thomas and Craig Roberts as Lisa and Danny, who aren’t together but share a special bond: they both suffer from insomnia, which leads them to conduct long video calls at night.

As they discuss each others’ lives or, in some cases, witness them — in episode one, for instance, Lisa keeps Danny with her on her phone as she visits a late-night pharmacy, to find it mysteriously unattended — they trade jokes and observations and marvel at the unlikely situations each gets into. The writing’s a bit forced but the performances flow.

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Trial by social media turns into a night of terror in this absorbing cat-and-mouse thriller about a young man who is wrongly identified as the chief suspect behind a bombing at a London rail station. Harri (Chaneil Kular) finds himself under siege at his parents’ out-of- town home as online mob mentality escalates and angry vigilantes begin to gather.

Director Philip Barantini (Boiling Point) keeps the viewer on the edge of their seat by expertly building tension, with the majority of the film’s nightmarish scenario taking place in one claustrophobic setting.

Terry Staunton

A three-part, 70s-set prequel to the John Wick movies tells of how the films’ famous hotel for assassins came into being, with Colin Woodell (below) playing the younger Winston Scott (Ian McShane in the films). He’s drawn back to New York when his brother gets into trouble: setting up the Continental will mean besting several organised crime gangs, including one run by Mel Gibson’s character, Cormac.

The fights and shootouts aren’t quite Wick level, the leads lack charisma and some of the attempts at Tarantino-esque swagger are cringeworthy — this is one for John Wick superfans only.

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From Belgium comes a thriller where plans to manipulate streams of ones and zeroes quickly end up involving bullets, explosions and running for one’s life. Alidor (Gene Bervoets), a conman fresh out of prison, hires young hacker Jeremy (Tijmen Govaerts) to intercept some of the billions that flow electronically between banks every day. If they get it right and don’t get greedy, they’ll be very rich — but Jeremy is also on a personal revenge mission, and nothing in high-stakes dramas like these ever quite turns out the way it’s supposed to.

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Gael García Bernal shines as real-life Mexican wrestler Saúl Armendáriz in this lively biopic. Having previously profiled him in 2016 documentary short The Man without a Mask, director Roger Ross Williams traces the wrestler’s rise in late-1980s El Paso, as the openly gay Armendáriz reinvents himself as a “Lucha libre” wrestler who performs in drag. Although Armendáriz’s behaviour sometimes comes across as clichéd, the film’s depiction of his hero status in the LGBTQ+ community — and even in the macho wrestling world — grips like a headlock.

James Mottram

In 2021, this drama swept the board at Israel’s equivalent of the Baftas — it’s roughly that country’s answer to Line of Duty, albeit with slightly more of an action-thriller vibe. Izzy (Shalom Assayag) is an idealist, an honest cop in a dishonest world. He’s wearily approaching retirement when an assassination, brazenly carried out in public, sparks an investigation that uncovers corruption and secrets at the very top of Israeli society and law enforcement — with Izzy’s friend and former partner implicated.

A world of complex, believable characters is soon sketched out.

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In its final season, the heroically frank comedy-drama about teenagers' sex lives - plus the ups and downs of their time at home and at school - is in no mood to stop filling us in on the startling minutiae of what modern young people get up to. But the characters we've been following are in for a shock too, as they arrive at a sixth-form college where sustainability and kindness are what makes a kid cool, not good looks, sporting prowess and a long list of conquests. As Otis (Asa Butterfield) wonders whether his sexual therapy sessions will be wanted, his lost love Maeve (Emma Mackey) is in the US chasing her academic dreams.

The episodes are themed around growing up, moving on and trying new things, but will Otis and Maeve ever move on from each other?

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From the late 1980s to mid-90s, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell ruled the roost as supermodels. They all came of age together in the fashion industry and in this four-part series are candid about their humble beginnings and big breaks. But the series doesn’t shy away from the less savoury aspects of the business, also reflecting on events in a post-#MeToo, post-Black Lives Matter landscape.

With contributions from designers Donatella Versace and Michael Kors, photographers Arthur Elgort, Martin Brading and Peter Lindbergh, plus Vogue trailblazers Grace Coddington and Edward Enninful, it’s an illuminating must-watch for any fashion faithful.

Laura Rutkowski

In 2009, astronaut José Hernández flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery, a feat made all the more remarkable given his background as a migrant worker who spent his childhood picking fruit. This fun, pacey if lightweight drama charts his long journey to achieve his dream of going into space, despite repeated rejections from Nasa. Michael Peña brings warmth but little dramatic weight to his portrayal, with Rosa Salazar adding much-needed emotional grounding as his wife, Adela.

Jayne Nelson

Back in 2018, her turn in The Cry (Netflix) showed us Jenna Coleman is skilled at playing the deceptively nice half of a toxic relationship - she's in similar territory here with an implausible but juicy dramatisation of BE Jones's novel. Liv (Coleman) is in a gilded cage, away from home in New York, faithfully supporting the glittering career of her husband Will (Oliver Jackson-Cohen).

We know from a flashforward that they'll end up on a southern road trip with sinister overtones...a lot of the set-up is hackneyed wronged-wife stuff, but Coleman holds this potboiler together as something dark and fun starts to loom.

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It may not be as consistent as it once was, but Rob McElhenney's cult sitcom about five friends/sociopaths remains daring. This latest run features many "I can't believe they just went there" moments (all of which are too adult for a family website), as well as guest appearances from the likes of Breaking Bad stars Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. And while there are some patchy episodes in this batch of eight, one set in a bowling alley - that descends into a battle of the sexes - knocks down all its comedy pins with ease.

David Brown