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

This drama tells the strange but true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons, twins who grew up in Wales in the 1970s and communicated only with each other. After a crime spree, the sisters were committed to Broadmoor high-security psychiatric hospital, where they caught the attention of an investigative journalist. Writer Andrea Seigel and director Agnieszka Smoczynska tell the bizarre story with a real emotional regard for the Gibbons, and they’re aided by affecting performances from Letitia Wright and Tamara Lawrance as the twins.

Steve Morrissey

America’s tragic pop princess Whitney Houston gets the big-screen treatment in Kasi Lemmons’s exhilarating rise-and-fall biopic. British actor Naomi Ackie is sensational as Houston, embodying her early innocence and enthusiasm as she goes from singing gospel with her mother Cissy (Tamara Tunie) to becoming the most successful black recording artist ever. Lemmons handles Houston’s slide with skill, and what ultimately emerges is a celebration of her vocal range and power; the tragedy as she begins to damage that voice is there for all to see.

James Mottram

The first series of Good Omens gamely, if sometimes patchily, adapted Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman’s 1990 novel of the same name, featuring a gang of wacky characters trying to stop the apocalypse. It was a decent success – but the real find of the series was the casting of Michael Sheen and David Tennant as Aziraphale and Crowley, an odd couple angel and demon secretly working together over centuries.

The onscreen partnership was such a success that Sheen and Tennant have become a veritable double act, mining their friendship for three series of BBC lockdown sitcom Staged (iPlayer). And so this second run of Good Omens wisely drops most of the side characters to focus on their dynamic, with the unlikely pair facing another Armageddon involving an amnesiac angel Gabriel (Jon Hamm). With Tennant and Sheen centre stage it’s sharper, tighter and funnier than series one, and just as imaginative.

Huw Fullerton

Peter Dinklage narrates a wry documentary that mixes animation with archive footage to build a "playbook" for anyone wanting to found their own sinister cult. From mass weddings and free love to psychological control methods and simple weaponry, the tools and techniques required are set out by observers of breakaway communities, spotting patterns in the behaviour of people who have become gurus. Lesson number one: never tell potential recruits up front what your organisation is really about.

Jack Seale

A stylishly filmed documentary remembers a serial-killer case that terrified and enthralled Mexico City at the turn of the millennium. With several elderly women dead by strangulation or bludgeoning, the police came up with an extraordinary profile of the likely killer: a man, dressed as a nurse, probably with a background in wrestling. Some of those descriptors proved to be accurate when the culprit was eventually found, but that came after a lot of media hype, some suspected copycat murders - and many more victims, who are commemorated here along with an analysis of a unique cultural phenomenon.

Jack Seale

After the first five episodes of season three of The Witcher aired earlier in the summer, this week sees the arrival of the rest - a farewell of sorts for series lead Henry Cavill, aka Geralt of Rivia.

In series four, he’s being recast with Hunger Games star Liam Hemsworth – and while there’s no in-universe acknowledgement of Geralt’s upcoming makeover, it’s quite a send-off nonetheless, showing off Cavill’s knack for swordplay in a handful of impressive action scenes. It’s a shame the rest of the complicated story - involving elves, magic and warring kingdoms - isn’t nearly as striking.

Huw Fullerton

The motives, difficulties and dangers surrounding eco-activism are stirringly dramatised in this loose adaptation of Andreas Malm’s non-fiction book. After experiencing first-hand the health consequences of climate change, best friends Xochitl (Ariela Barer) and Theo (Sasha Lane) convene with five like-minded strangers for an act of radical protest: sabotaging a Texas oil pipeline. Director Daniel Goldhaber splits the story into chapters that focus on each of the activists individually, and the non-linear structure helps dial up the tension. With its well-judged performances, this is a breathless thriller with a sharp edge.

Max Copeman

Silver-tongued salesmen cajole the poor to donate years of their lives to rich benefactors in exchange for cash in this intriguing, German-language sci-fi thriller. When the wife of a salesman is forced to age 40 years, her husband discovers the shocking truth behind the company he works for. The film creates a rich and convincing dystopian future, and there is dry wit amid the grimness. Occasionally, it threatens to become just another shoot-‘em-up, but the mercurial plot keeps things on track with a succession of twists.

Dave Golder

The gender-flipped sequel to the sitcom How I Met Your Mother - now it's a woman called Sophie, played by Kim Cattrall, reminiscing in 2050 about how her stint on the New York dating scene led to meeting the father of her child - continues its second season. Confusingly the 2020s version of Sophie, played by Hilary Duff, has her own paternity issues to sort out as the series resumes, but her search for her father soon gives way to the usual romantic shenanigans involving her and her close circle of friends. Most are purely comic, but the show has a melancholic undercurrent stemming from an awkward truth: none of the characters is getting any younger.

Jack Seale

Lucie Blackman, a 21-year-old woman from Kent, was working as a bar hostess in Tokyo in 2000 when she suddenly vanished. Her father Tim is interviewed in this documentary about the case and recalls the sheer panic caused by attempting to search for a loved one in an unfamiliar metropolis. The hunt for Lucie, which featured calls for help from senior British politicians that fuelled high media interest in both Japan and the UK, raised difficult questions about how seriously law enforcement agencies in Japan had been taking reports of women in danger.

Jack Seale

"The best show about duelling parties thrown by pairs of drag queens that the world has ever known!" That's how judge Neil Patrick Harris introduces a comedy reality series that is supposedly testing its guests' skills regarding food, decor and entertainment, but is really only concerned with the last of those. Camp chaos reigns as the show's presenters, led by Murray Hill, remorselessly undermine and ridicule the tropes of cheesy cookery competitions, creating an aggressively eccentric and often very funny mess that might work even better if you've had a few gins before watching.

Jack Seale

Completing a four-part documentary series about quests to expand human knowledge - previous episodes have covered the mysteries of the Ancient Egyptians, the prospect of artificial intelligence being used in military contexts, and an archaeological discovery shedding new light on humans' evolutionary ancestors - is a film about Nasa's mission to launch the James Webb Space Telescope. The work of engineers and scientists is followed as a billion-dollar piece of kit is created - since its launch it's provided stunning images telling us more about black holes, galaxies, planets outside our solar system and how the universe looked soon after the Big Bang.

Jack Seale

This bold, heartbreaking historical drama depicts the aftermath of the infamous 1955 lynching of teenager Emmett Till in Mississippi. Co-writer/director Chinonye Chukwu focuses on the protracted attempt by the boy’s resolute mother, Mamie Till-Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler), to bring the killers to justice in a state riddled with systemic racism. The film thankfully holds back on the violence, but Chukwu finds plenty of chilling moments throughout. Meanwhile, Deadwyler’s powerful, dignified central performance ably carries this portrait of a woman whose tenacious campaigning helped galvanise the civil rights movement in America.

James Mottram

Lily James and Shazad Latif star in this watchable romcom from director Shekhar Kapur. Unlucky-in-love documentarian Zoe (James) is astonished to learn that childhood friend Kaz (Latif) has agreed to an arranged marriage. She asks Kaz’s permission to film him on his journey and discovers this is a more complex issue than she had assumed. Much of the culture-clash comedy is a little too broad, especially that involving Emma Thompson as Zoe’s clueless mother, but the two leads share an easy chemistry that sells this insightful look at Pakistani culture.

Patrick Cremona

Elite tennis, and the experiences of vulnerable young girls within the sport’s highly pressurised environment, are the background for a dark and torrid drama. We meet Justine (Ella Lily Hyland) when she is 16, in the changing room at Roland-Garros before the French Open semi-final, receiving a pep talk from her coach Glenn (Aidan Turner) that seems to reveal that her feelings for this older man go beyond that of a devoted pupil.

Five years later, with injury having ended Justine's career and her subsequent life an unsatisfactory consolation prize spent working with new female players at a tennis academy, Glenn comes back into her orbit - and Justine makes serious allegations against him. Hyland's intensity - as a young woman who is damaged and vengeful, but for reasons that aren’t immediately clear to us - and Turner's twisted charm keep an unsettling story simmering.

Jack Seale

Blaxploitation meets The X-Files in this satirical comedy, in which a shadowy organisation aims to control the citizens of an inner-city neighbourhood via mind-altering chemicals. It’s up to a drug dealer (John Boyega), a sex worker (Teyonah Parris) and her preening pimp (Jamie Foxx) to save the day. Director Juel Taylor references a broad spectrum of sci-fi tropes, and his social commentary hits more targets than it misses. The tricky mix of mirth and politics occasionally jars, but there are spirited performances from the three likeable leads.

Terry Staunton

La La Land director Damien Chazelle lays bare the debauchery of Hollywood's Golden Age in this riotous account of the transition from silent pictures to talkies. Across three frantic hours, the film follows several larger-than-life personalities, including Margot Robbie’s vivacious up-and-coming starlet Nellie LaRoy and Brad Pitt’s carousing leading man Jack Conrad, as they attend outrageous parties and navigate the radically changing film landscape of the time.

Directed with real gusto by Chazelle, it’s a sprawling, lurid epic that celebrates cinema while acknowledging the industry’s shortcomings.

Patrick Cremona

Heartwarming romantic drama Sweet Magnolias follows a trio of close friends living in the fictional town of Serenity, South Carolina, where everyone knows everyone – and that inevitably leads to some complicated situations. Maddie (JoAnna Garcia Swisher), Helen (Heather Headley) and Dana Sue (Brooke Elliott) tackle the troubles that life has to throw at them together, forming a friendship group they lovingly refer to as the Sweet Magnolias.

The season 2 finale left a lot of plot threads up in the air, with some much-needed answers finally arriving in this new, third run.

David Craig

One of last year's best dramas returns for a more expansive, more contemplative second season. Previously it was the story of elite chef Carmen (Jeremy Allen White) inheriting his brother's Chicago sandwich joint and trying to impose his expertise on the humble restaurant's staff, a clash of ideas that became a fractious learning process for everyone concerned. Now, as Carmy and his fretful protégée Sydney (Ayo Edibiri) indulge their grand ambition to open a proper restaurant, the intensity drops a little as the ensemble cast's roles are beefed up. But the crisp indie-movie aesthetic is intact and the show's musings on personal ambition, family obligations and what workplaces should be like remain tender and profound. Under its cranky exterior, The Bear is a hymn to collaboration, to every human’s unique potential and to the joy of a job properly done - few dramas are so lovingly crafted.

Jack Seale

This truly immersive documentary explores the competitive and dangerous world of free-diving, where a person dives under water on a single breath of air. Italian Alessia Zecchini has set national and world records, and we follow her journey alongside Irish safety support diver Stephen Keenan. Laura McGann's documentary uses a narrative device that suggests a tragedy will take place, but it's not immediately clear when it will strike, and to whom. But once the events do unfold, you will be both moved and horrified.

Laura Rutkowski

Lil Dicky, aka neurotic suburbanite Dave Burd, is enjoying some success as a rapper as a confusingly high-concept US dramedy - it fictionalises the real life of rapper Lil Dicky, aka comedian Dave Burd - returns for a third season. Previously a show about a privileged white man refusing to accept his lack of importance, now it's about someone who has to some extent made it but still struggles to find happiness, as evidenced by an opening episode where Dave goes on tour to Texas and meets his fans, but discovers that even smalltime celebrity is a tricky, burdensome beast.

Jack Seale

Film-maker James Gray (Ad Astra) reflects on his adolescence for this thoughtful and moving coming-of-age drama. The film is set in 1980s New York, where 12-year-old Paul (Banks Repeta), who is part of a Jewish-American family, and his African-American classmate Johnny (Jaylin Webb), learn hard lessons about race and class at school. The young leads hold their own alongside co-stars Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong, but it’s Anthony Hopkins who shines brightest, giving an emotive performance as Paul’s worldly-wise grandfather.

Max Copeman

Season one made minimal impact in 2021, but AppleTV+ is right to stick by this sci-fi epic, based on the novels of Isaac Asimov: if you can attune to its agonised philosophising, the show's design, acting and dialogue are a cut above. We are now a century on from last season, although the Era Imperial's time-hopping, cryo-freezing technologies mean that doesn't necessitate a new cast. While "psychohistory" genius Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) kicks about in digital purgatory, Gaal (Lou Llobell) and her slightly older daughter Salvor (Leah Harvey) have some work to do, since they're marooned on a shipwreck with a storm coming. Everything looks fabulous, including the android that, after a cracking fight scene, offers style tips on how to make do when half your head's been cut off.

Jack Seale