Love Island
It’s cold and dark outside, so what better time to tune in to a new set of buffed and tanned young singles as the thinkpiece behemoth switches to South Africa for its first winter iteration? We’ll still be hoping for the beloved Love Island traits of backstabbing faux-romances, nonsensical challenges and those all-important text messages.
Sunday 12 January, 9pm, ITV2
Sex Education
The comic joys of teenagehood get dissected in all their grim glory in the second season of this Netflix hit. Asa Butterfield returns as 16-year-old Otis, who has become an unlikely school hero by dishing out the bedroom advice of his sex therapist mum Jean (Gillian Anderson).
From Friday 17 January, Netflix
Louis Theroux: Selling Sex
Since the exchange of sex for money is legal in Britain as long as it does not involve coercion or exploitation, Louis Theroux goes in search of the people who are using the internet to make a living through sex. With the potential to earn hundreds of pounds per hour, Theroux asks whether sex work should be considered empowering or exploitative.
Sunday 12 January, 9pm, BBC Two
The Rewatchables
Writer and director Quentin Tarantino joins Sean Fennessey and Chris Ryan to talk through the pleasures of returning to films, beginning with Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk. It’s clear that Tarantino is a superfan, praising Nolan’s “virtuosity” and even comparing him to Kubrick.
Podcast
The Outsider
Stephen King’s novel about the murder of an 11-year-old boy and its spiralling aftermath through an Oklahoman town gets a murky HBO adaptation from The Deuce writer Richard Price. Ben Mendelsohn stars, alongside Julianne Nicholson and Jason Bateman.
Monday 13 January, 9pm, Sky Atlantic
Rob Delaney: Jackie
Catastrophe co-writer Rob Delaney takes aim at his adopted home of London in this new standup special, filmed at the Hackney Empire. The Jackie in question is Delaney’s missing friend, but before that saga unfolds there are anecdotes on being a father to three kids, swimming in tea and sexbots. An artfully planned set to blow away those January blues.
From Friday 17 January, Amazon Prime Video
Crackerjack!
The children’s favourite returns, 35 years since it was last on air. Now fronted by duo Sam and Mark, the opening episode of the series sees cameos from past presenters such as Basil Brush and Don Maclean, as well as gunge-filled competitions and ventriloquism for the studio audience to contend with.
Friday 17 January, 6pm, CBBC
Little America
The Big Sick writers Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V Gordon pen this charming anthology series on life in the States for eight characters. There’s a Nigerian grad student who becomes a cowboy, and a 12-year-old who has to run his parents’ motel after they are deported to India. It’s an uplifting paean to the strength of immigrants.
From Friday 17 January, Apple TV+
Dracula
With Claes Bang slaying it in the new BBC version, here’s one of his illustrious predecessors in the role. In Tod Browning’s brooding classic, which cemented Universal’s position as the most horrible of horror studios, Bela Lugosi’s sinister way with words and menacing presence (watch him glide up those castle stairs) create a nightmarish vision.
Saturday 11 January, 1.30am, TCM
Grace and Frankie
The myths of a peaceful retirement and graceful old age are fully debunked in the return of the riotous Grace and Frankie. Grace (a prim Jane Fonda) and Frankie (an incense-burning Lily Tomlin) have spent the past five seasons forming an unlikely friendship after their husbands became lovers, and now they’re back to negotiate love and family.
From Wednesday 15 January, Netflix