The best new TV shows to stream in July

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Your need-to-see list will be reassuringly long with a bunch of eclectic titles this month. Girls supremo Lena Dunham is back with Netflix’s relationship comedy Too Much; a beloved serial killer is back from the dead in Dexter: Resurrection; and Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss debuts Bookish, an unconventional period crime drama on Max.

Netflix

My top Netflix recommendation is Untamed (July 17).

Eric Bana and Sam Neill headline this literally expansive murder mystery set in California’s vast Yosemite National Park. The trans-Tasman duo play law enforcement officers who have to work together after a body is discovered on the federal preserve. Co-creator Mark L Smith knows all about nature’s savage extremes and the horrors humanity can unleash alongside them: his writing credits include Leonardo DiCaprio’s Academy Award winner The Revenant and January’s bloodthirsty Netflix western American Primeval. The wilds of British Columbia in Canada stand in for Yosemite, but Bana and Neill together should be the real thing.

Also on Netflix: Max’s Girls was one of the definitive shows of the 2010s, but it’s been eight years since it concluded. Creator and star Lena Dunham has kept busy since, but it’s only now with Too Much (July 10) that she’s debuting a new show. Devised by Dunham and her husband, British musician Luis Felber, this chaotic take on the romantic-comedy stars Hacks scene-stealer Megan Stalter as an American who starts over in London following a disastrous break-up and gets entangled with a wry musician, played by Will Sharpe (The White Lotus). This transatlantic culture clash comes with a serious supporting cast: Dunham, Naomi Watts, Richard E. Grant, and Girls alumni Andrew Rannells all feature.

Elsewhere, Adam Sandler is really enjoying his comedy godfather era. Approaching 60, he’s delivering Happy Gilmore 2 (July 25) to fans, the sequel to his beloved 1996 hit about an ice hockey devotee with anger issues who brings his big-hitting skills to the professional golf circuit. Don’t put too much thought into why Happy returns to the links, just get ready for Happy as a husband and father (Modern Family’s Julie Bowen returns, now as his wife), a gazillion cameos from pro golfers and other big-name athletes, plus music superstar Bad Bunny (Bullet Train) on caddy duty. The cherry on top? Christopher MacDonald encores as Happy’s oily nemesis, Shooter McGavin. Fore!

June highlights: Department Q was a telling, idiosyncratic addition to the detective genre, the third and final season of Squid Game delivered, and The Survivors was an Australian take on the crime drama.

Max

Elliot Levey and Mark Gatiss in Bookish.

My top Max recommendation is Bookish (July 16).

The English actor, writer, and director Mark Gatiss has consistently been involved in notable productions, from co-creating and co-starring in Sherlock (he played Mycroft Holmes) to popping up as a wily banker in Game of Thrones. His latest series, which he created and starred in, is a murder mystery procedural set in 1946 London. Here, Gatiss delivers a raised eyebrow and an amused quip as Gabriel Book, a bookshop owner and amateur sleuth who assists the Metropolitan Police. The twist? Gabriel is a law-breaker himself – a gay man, married to his childhood friend, Trottie (Polly Walker, Bridgerton), at a time when homosexuality was illegal.

Also on Max: Having sold more than 150 million albums in a career that stretches back 50 years, Billy Joel is one of the most successful artists in the history of popular music. He’s also one of the most confounding: a populist plagued by self-loathing, a superstar who survived bankruptcy and has retreated from the spotlight. Billy Joel: And So it Goes (July 19) is a two-part documentary, made with Joel’s co-operation, that delves into the life and art of the now 76-year-old Piano Man. Fingers crossed this has all the weird, good bits alongside the hits.

June highlights: Succession creator Jesse Armstrong served it up to the tech billionaires in Mountainhead, Law & Order: SVU star Mariska Hargitay grappled with her famous mother’s memory in My Mom Jayne, while And Just Like That… finally found its groove.

Stan*

My top Stan recommendation is The Institute (July 14).

When in doubt, adapt some Stephen King. This supernatural series is based on the horror maestro’s 2019 novel of the same name. Adapted by Justified writer Benjamin Cavell, it starts with 12-year-old prodigy Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman, son of British actor Martin Freeman) being violently abducted from his family and sent to a secret facility for unusually gifted children. There he comes under the rule – and testing – of Ms Sigsby (Mary-Louise Parker), while circumstances bring a local police officer, Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes), closer to their surreptitious laboratories. The Stranger Things season one vibe makes sense, given that Stephen King is one of that show’s key influences.

Also on Stan: I’m going to keep flying the flag for Such Brave Girls (July 4). The first season of Kat Sadler’s dark British sitcom about a dysfunctional mother and her pair of perpetually unmoored daughters – Sadler’s Josie is struggling with her mental health, while Lizzie Davidson’s Billie has too few boundaries – was one of 2023’s hidden gems. The six comically pungent episodes had a breathtaking breadth, earning the series award nominations and now a second season. It’s not too late to take the plunge.

June highlights: Mark Ruffalo headlined the bittersweet and eccentric comic-drama Hal and Harper, plus Sean Bean starred in new British gangster saga This City is Ours.

Apple TV+

My top Apple TV+ recommendation is Foundation (July 11).

It was ambitious – to put it mildly – when creator David S. Goyer (Batman Begins) declared that his adaptation of Isaac Asimov’s seminal science-fiction novellas would cover 1000 years over eight seasons. But the first two seasons of Foundation have proven to be some of the best sci-fi on television, pitting a visionary scientist (Jared Harris) against a galactic emperor (Lee Pace) in a vast narrative marked by telling concepts and immaculate design. The third season introduces a key antagonist from the books, psychic interloper The Mule (Pilou Asbaek), whose extraordinary powers upend everyone’s calculations. It’s a great escalation.

June highlights: Rocketman star Taron Egerton headlined the twisty, unpredictable crime thriller Smoke, Owen Wilson was very Owen Wilson in the golfing comedy Stick, plus the globe-trotting adventure Fountain of Youth united Natalie Portman and John Krasinski.

Amazon Prime

Maggie Q stars as Detective Renée Ballard in Ballard.

My top Amazon Prime recommendation is Ballard (July 9).

Police drama devotees got 10 sturdy seasons of crime novelist Michael Connelly’s beloved LAPD detective turned private investigator Harry Bosch, first in Bosch and then Bosch: Legacy. The finale of the latter introduced another Connelly paperback character, uncompromising LAPD officer Renee Ballard (Maggie Q), who now gets her own series overseen by many of the Bosch team, including Connelly. Mirroring the plot of Netflix’s recent success Department Q, Ballard is an outcast among her colleagues who is exiled to a cold-case job, only to uncover a major case in the files. Bosch set a consistent standard; if Ballard matches it, then Amazon Prime will have another tentpole series.

Also on Amazon Prime: Don’t overthink it, Heads of State (July 2) is meant to be silly. This action comedy stars John Cena (Peacemaker) and Idris Elba (Hijack) as rival world leaders: the former is a Hollywood movie star turned US president, while the latter is an ex-SAS officer who has become the prime minister of Britain. The duo has to put their bickering aside when Air Force One is shot down with both on board, and they’re forced on the run as shadowy adversaries hunt them. Russian director Ilya Naishuller (Hardcore Henry) amps up the action, with set-pieces that send the camera flying and the stars scrambling.

June highlights: Can a BookTok hit make it as a series? The psychological thriller We Were Liars attempted the transition, while ROMCON was a true-crime documentary about a dating apps sociopath.

Disney+

Sharon Duncan-Brewster and Sterling K. Brown star in Washington Black.

My top Disney+ recommendation is Washington Black (July 23).

Shortlisted for the Booker Prize upon release in 2018, Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black was a 19th century coming of age tale that transcended historical fiction in telling the story of a brilliant boy born into slavery in the Caribbean and his journey of discovery seeking freedom. This adaptation, from Jordan Peele protégé Selwyn Seyfu Hinds (The Twilight Zone) leans into wonder, love, and resilience in the face of horror. Eddie Karanja and Ernest Kingsley Jr play Washington as a child and young man respectively, while the supporting cast is headlined by executive producer Sterling K. Brown (Paradise) as a mentor on a journey that stretches from the tropics to the desert to the bottom of the sea.

June highlights: That’s what Friends was for – Adults hit the spot as a chaotic twentysomething comedy for the 21st century, plus The Bear took risks and evolved with its fourth season.

ABC iview

Nathan Welsh, Ella Maisy Purvis and Laura Fraser in Patience.

My top iview recommendation is Patience (July 4).

Production for the second season of this British detective drama is already under way, following on from a first season that introduced an eclectic pair of sleuths. Detective Inspector Bea Fraser (Laura Fraser) is a Yorkshire police officer who discovers that a young woman on the autism spectrum working in the archives, Patience Evans (Ella Maisy Purvis), has extraordinary insights. When the two team up, Patience has to contend with a complicated world. Screen depictions of autism vary greatly in terms of authenticity and detail, but it’s worth noting that Purvis herself is on the spectrum. Done right, this could be a valuable addition to a familiar genre.

June highlights: The mordant Australian crime drama Bay of Fires returned for a tense second season, and the demands of new motherhood underpinned the British thriller Little Disasters.

SBS On Demand

Filippa Coster-Waldau stars as Smilla in Smilla’s Sense of Snow.

My top SBS On Demand recommendation is Smilla’s Sense of Snow (July 30).

A deeply nuanced detective thriller, Danish author Peter Hoeg’s Miss Smilla’s Feeling for Snow was a literary hit in 1992, following the titular young woman who suspects foul play in the death of a young boy from Greenland she has befriended in her Copenhagen apartment building. A Hollywood adaptation followed in 1997, with Julia Ormond in the title role, but Hoeg’s evocative writing still has purpose. A new version, from British filmmaker Amma Asante (A United Kingdom), moves the story into an uneasy 2040 of energy crises and state surveillance. The role of Smilla goes to Danish actress Filippa Coster-Waldau, the daughter of Game of Thrones star Nikolaj.

June highlights: Climate change upheaval becomes a stark reality for a Danish family in Thomas Vinterberg’s near future drama Families Like Ours, plus the Indigenous health documentary series Our Medicine debuted.

Other streamers

My top recommendation for the other streaming services is Paramount+’s Dexter: Resurrection (July 11).

The Dexter franchise is, well, unkillable. Michael C. Hall’s note-perfect depiction of the Florida forensics analyst and vigilante serial killer Dexter Morgan is up to its third incarnation – 2006’s long-running Dexter, 2021’s revival Dexter: New Blood, and now Dexter: Resurrection. Resurrection picks up a few weeks after New Blood’s conclusion, where Dexter was shot by his own son, Harrison (Jack Alcott). But the father-son bond is stronger than ever, with Dexter following Harrison to New York to attempt a reconciliation. Will Dexter kill some creepy killers along the way? Almost certainly so. The Dexter universe knows that the fans are out for blood.

Also: British society had never seen anything like the Mitford sisters. In the 1930s the six aristocratic siblings were a magnet for newspaper headlines, scandal, enduring art, and terrible wrongs. They were a lot. BritBox’s Outrageous (July 24) looks to capture the social and household dynamic that led the sisters down a series of contradictory paths: Nancy (Bessie Carter) was a writer who used her family as barely disguised source material; Diana (Joanna Vanderham) was a great beauty who married a fascist; Jessica (Zoe Brough) was a communist; and Unity (Shannon Watson) became an ardent Nazi. Getting the right tone will be everything with this limited series.

June highlights: First love, classic tunes, and second chances set up Binge’s Mix Tape as a melodic romantic drama, plus an A-list cast updated the Agatha Christie model in BritBox’s Towards Zero.

* Nine owns Stan and this masthead.

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