The first season of Stan’s original series Bump was by no means exceptional – but it was sweet, well-calibrated and thoughtful, bringing to life the urban myth of a teenager who doesn’t know they’re pregnant until they start giving birth.Ĭo-produced by and starring Claudia Karvan, with Nathalie Morris delivering a fine performance in the lead role, both return in season two, which continues to explore the lives of Oly (Morris), her partner Santi (Carlos Sanson Jr) and Oly’s parents (Karvan and Angus Sampson). Stan Eyes Wide ShutĬlaudia Karvan as Angie Chalmers in Bump. Honourable mentions: The Power of the Dog (film, 1 December), Lost in Space season 3 (TV, 1 December), Shaun the Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas (TV, 3 December), The Unforgivable (film, 10 December), The Witcher season 2 (TV, 17 December), Stay Close (TV, December 31). His latest film marks a departure in the sense that it is his most personal project, set when he was a teenager, at a time when he tragically lost both of his parents, their deaths caused by a carbon monoxide leak. The flavour of Italian auteur Paolo Sorrentino’s work (including films Il Divo and The Great Beauty, as well as the TV series The Young Pope) is ostentation and excess. The fourth season should make good holiday viewing. The kids are more stereotypical, as is the true villain (John Kreese, played by Martin Kove), but it doesn’t matter because the show is so sharply written and addictively entertaining. Photograph: Guy D’Alema/Netflixīut across the first three seasons things got a bit complicated, with the roles of goodies and baddies blurring – at least when it came to those two adult characters. Time to go … back to the dojo! The first season of karate soap opera Cobra Kai cleverly flipped the script, turning the bad guy from the original The Karate Kid, Johnny (William Zabka), into an underdog protagonist, and the original hero, Daniel (Ralph Macchio) into villain-ish character.īack to the dojo: Cobra Kai flips the script on The Karate Kid’s iconic characters. McKay’s directorial work includes The Big Short, another comedy about an on-the-surface very unfunny subject matter: the global financial crisis and the people who saw it coming.

This indicates the kind of comedy likely to ensue: about bureaucracy in general and humans’ reluctance (or inability) to save themselves in particular. Meryl Streep’s president Janie Orlean hears this dire prediction for the fate of the human race and informs astronomers (Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence) of her ingenious plan: “Sit tight and assess.”

“This comet is what we call a planet killer,” says a scientist (Rob Morgan) in director Adam McKay’s new black comedy sci-fi – because nothing is funnier than the end of the world.

Watch the office season 2 episode 5