Television
Loki
The latest Marvel spin-off TV series focuses on Tom Hiddleston’s Loki, AKA Thor’s troublesome adoptive brother. Rather than continuing his arc of redemption from the films, this series – created by the Rick and Morty writer Michael Waldron – focuses on an alternate Loki, back to his manipulative antihero best. Owen Wilson and Gugu Mbatha-Raw co-star.
Wednesday 9 June, Disney+
Smother
Dervla Kirwan plays grieving matriarch Val Ahern in this twisty Irish thriller. After her husband Denis is found dead following a family party, Val explores his relationships with the people he left behind, uprooting a knot of secrets, lies and hurt that threatens to rip her family in two.
Monday 7 June, 9pm, Alibi
Time
Sean Bean and Stephen Graham star in Jimmy McGovern’s latest hard-hitting drama. Bean plays Mark Cobden, a teacher jailed for four years after he accidentally kills a man. He soon learns he must adapt quickly inside, while prison officer Eric McNally (Graham) navigates keeping his charges safe and dealing with threats to his family.
Sunday 6 June, 9pm, BBC One
Clarkson’s Farm
Taking a break from driving cars, Jeremy Clarkson decided to return to his farm. This series suggests it wasn’t his best decision as he struggles with the basic tasks, including drone-based sheep herding, and annoys the locals in the process.
Friday 11 June, Amazon Prime Video
Intelligence
Nick Mohammed’s comedy, where he plays British intelligence officer Joseph Harries alongside David Schwimmer’s arrogant NSA agent Jerry Bernstein, is back for a second series. Jerry opens on the back foot, while Joseph focuses on a new romance.
Tuesday 8 June, 10pm, Sky One
Lupin
The slick French thriller – Netflix’s most-watched non-English-language series, no less – returns with the second half of its debut season. Omar Sy is back as gentleman thief Assane Diop, out to avenge his father’s death at the hands of the powerful Hubert Pellegrini.
Friday 11 June, Netflix
Podcasts
The System
As part of Radio 4’s new strand of original audio dramas, Limelight, this six-part thriller stars Noughts + Crosses’ Jack Rowan and Adult Material’s Siena Kelly in a tale of a group of young people searching for the leader of a movement promising to turn men into “alpha males”. We open with Jake (Rowan) signing up to an unusual personal training programme.
All episodes available, BBC Sounds
Passenger List
Radiotopia’s scripted audio thriller about the fate of the 256 passengers on a flight that disappeared somewhere between London and New York returns for a second season. Star Wars’ Kelly Marie Tran reprises her role as college student Kaitlin, whose brother was on board the flight and who is determined to uncover the truth.
Weekly, widely available
Full Story
The Guardian’s Australian reporting team bring their analysis of antipodean news and global stories in this daily audio series. Recent highlights have included a report on the ongoing parliamentary crisis in Samoa and its consequences, as well as a gruesome insight into eastern Australia’s “mouse plague”.
Weekdays, the Guardian
Frank Film Club
Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams and her production company Rapt have created a podcast for cinema obsessives – its spin being that it focuses on young women in the industry, and the movies that celebrate them. First up is a deep-dive on 2019’s heart-crushing Rocks, with 1975’s Grey Gardens to follow.
Weekly, widely available
Backstaged: The Devil in Metal
Joining a slew of heavy metal pods comes this look at the genre’s connection to darkness and decadence. Host Jon Wiederhorn explores its history as “the devil’s music” via interviews with members of Venom and Pentagram, while Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler discusses the band’s interest in ouija boards.
Weekly, widely available
Film
A Quiet Place Part II
(15) (John Krasinski) 97 mins
Picking up where the last film left off, this tense horror thriller delivers more of the same, which is no bad thing. The family led by Emily Blunt’s Evelyn try to evade alien creatures who hunt by sound – with neighbour Cillian Murphy drawn into their sweaty-palmed plight. Again, deaf daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds) holds the key to survival.
In cinemas
After Love
(12A) (Aleem Khan) 89 mins
A widow’s grief takes her in unseen directions in this poignant drama, featuring an expertly modulated performance by Joanna Scanlan. After her Dover ferry captain husband’s death, Mary discovers he had a lover in Calais – but her plan to confront the woman doesn’t go how she expected.
In cinemas
Dinner in America
(No cert) (Adam Rehmeier) 106 mins
After bullied college dropout Patty (Emily Skeggs) helps punk singer/drug dealer Simon (Kyle Gallner) evade the cops, an odd-couple romance develops. A delightful comedy that mainlines a Napoleon Dynamite quirkiness while just about keeping its characters three-dimensional.
On digital
The Killing of Two Lovers
(15) (Robert Machoian) 85 mins
A clanking soundtrack lends a jagged edge to this wrenching drama about a couple’s trial separation. Clayne Crawford’s David tries to keep things friendly with his wife for his four kids but desperation threatens to overwhelm him.
In cinemas & Curzon Home Cinema
Sheffield DocFest
The documentary celebration returns to cinemas with 55 world premieres, including the Steve McQueen-co-directed Uprising, and a celebration of black British screen culture among its highlights, plus partner screenings around the UK.
Various venues & online, 4 to 13 June
