Netflix’s Under Pressure, Neon’s Lazarus Project among great shows to stream this weekend

The Buccaneers (Apple TV+)

Inspired by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton’s unfinished final novel of the same name, this eight-part period drama focuses on a group of fun-loving American girls who explode into the tightly-corseted London scene of the 1870s.

While the cast includes Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks, The First Lady’s Kristine Frøseth and 13 Reasons Why’s Alisha Boe, the music-driven series also features a modern soundtrack with tracks by top female performers like Taylor Swift, Brandi Carlile and Sharon Van Etten.

“We are allowed some nonsense now and again, and there is nothing more joyfully restorative than when it is done as well as it is here,” wrote The Guardian’s Lucy Mangan, while AV Club’s Kayleigh Dray thought that “the characters are endearing, the story never drags and, despite the tropes, it often chooses to zag where we might expect it to zig.”

Fargo (Neon)

Having previously taken a microscope to Minnesota’s Bemidji, Luverne and St Cloud and Missouri’s Kansas City, the action for the fifth installment of this crime-drama anthology series centres around the small Minnesota settlement of Scandia.

It’s 2019 and Dorothy Lyon’s (Juno Temple) tasering of a police officer, when the local middle school’s Fall Festival Planning Committee descends into a brawl, sees her thrown behind bars. However, after being bailed out by her husband (David Rhysdahl) and scolded by her mother-in-law (Jennifer Jason-Leigh), Dorothy then finds herself the target of kidnappers.

While last season’s 50s-set tale was a welcome change in format, driven by a terrific performance by Jessie Buckley, this feels far more in keeping with the tone and style of the original Coen brothers’ conceit.

This is a story filled with kooky characters, crazy situations and lashings of violence. There’s a killer with a distinctive haircut a la Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigurh, a terrifically tense and brilliantly choreographed gas station face-off and John Hamm delivering a scene-stealing performance as North Dakota Sheriff Roy Tillman – “a hard man for hard times”.

The Greatest Show Never Made (Prime Video)

“Want to raise your profile? Reality TV show seeks contestants June 2002-3. One year, £100,000. If you’re characterful, resourceful and energetic – email nrussian@nrussian.freeserve.co.uk”

In a United Kingdom obsessed with programmes like Popstars, Big Brother and Survivor that turned ordinary people into overnight celebrities, it was an opportunity that proved too enticing to resist.

Carefully placed classified ads and flyers handed out in places like Millennium Bridge ensured there were hundreds of prospective contestants eager to show off their on-camera charisma and talents at the auditions on the London island of Raven’s Ait.

Put through their paces with tasks like making a cake using ingredients sourced from locals, those who attended were heartened by just how professional everything seemed to be run and impressed by the young impresario behind it all – Nikita Russian.

However, as this entertaining and sometimes shocking three-part documentary series recounts, the dreams of stardom immediately turned sour for the “lucky 30” selected for the programme.

Told via an engaging mix of quite frankly jaw-dropping archival footage and modern-day interviews with contestants, Greatest Show Never Made details just what those then 20 and 30-somethings gave up – and endured – in their quest for small-screen fame and fortune.

The Lazarus Project (Neon)

As the second, eight-episode season of this British sci-fi series opens, George (Paapa Essiedu) aims to regain trust from his loved ones after he betrayed his organisation for love.

However, as he uncovers a darker conspiracy, he begins to question who he can trust.

“Essiedu’s George is a jittery joy in a smart, sharply scripted show that’s lots of fun to watch,” wrote The Guardian’s Leila Latif, while The Daily Telegraph’s Jasper Rees thought that “the handsome cast inject as much humanity as they can, especially into quieter scenes”.

A Murder at the End of the World (Disney+)

The OA creators Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij re-team for this seven-part mystery thriller which focuses in on Emma Corrin’s (The Crown) amateur detective Darby Hart.

Invited, along with eight other guests, to participate in a retreat at a remote and dazzling location by a reclusive billionaire (Clive Owen), she’s called into action when one of the others is found dead.

While very much a traditional murder-mystery in the spirit of Agatha Christie, End of the World comes armed with slick visuals, a superb soundtrack and very modern mores.

Marling and Zal Batmanglij have created a more serious answer to The White Lotus and Glass Onion, while also coming up with a fractured narrative that feels like the love child of True Detective’s sun-baked Southern Gothic and The Killing’s Nordic-noir.

It’s heady, engrossing stuff, driven by a compelling, stunning turn from The Crown and My Policeman’s Corrin that must surely be part of next year’s Emmy conversations.

Slow Horses (Apple TV+)

Based on Mick Herron’s beloved book series, this brilliantly black, occasionally bleak spy comedy focuses on the inhabitants of a British security service office in Aldersgate, London, a location “so far from the heart of MI5 it might as well be in Slough”.

In this six-part, third season, a romantic liaison in Istanbul threatens to expose a buried MI5 secret in London. When Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman) and his team of misfits are dragged into the fight, they find themselves caught in a conspiracy that threatens the future not just of Slough House – but of the entire British intelligence service.

Sope Dìrísù (Gangs of London) and Katherine Waterston (Fantastic Beasts) join an already impressive ensemble that includes Kristin Scott Thomas, Jack Lowden, Saskia Reeves, Sophie Okonedo and Jonathan Pryce.

“Part Killing Eve, part John le Carré lite, Slow Horses continues to stand head and shoulders above its streaming peers when it comes to sharp and truly bingeable TV,” wrote Slate’s Fran Hoepfner.

Under Pressure: The U.S. Women’s World Cup Team (Netflix)

Docu-series which follows the 2015 and 2019 football champions, as they attempted to complete a three-peat at the Fifa tournament in New Zealand and Australia earlier this year.

Intimate interviews with players, coaches, former stars and media lift the lid on the ups and downs of the build up to the competition – and the tumultuous campaign itself.

I’m sure, when it was originally proposed, the makers hoped to capture just what made Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and other members of the squad stand out from their opponents, as they achieved an unprecedented “three-peat”. What they got instead was a ringside seat, as the team struggled to find their mojo, the back of the net, or even their first choice team.

Across four fascinating episodes (which clock in at around three hours total), we see how the relaxed atmosphere and breezy confidence of their pre-tournament team camps transforms into tense “locker room” scenes, as they find themselves behind against fierce rivals the Netherlands and failing to break down the plucky Portuguese.

We Need to Talk About Cosby (TVNZ+)

Almost two years after its debut at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, Kiwis finally have the chance to see a truly compelling and disturbing celebrity docu-series.

Yes, Robbie Williams sitting around in his undies lamenting his life and David Beckham reliving the vitriol he received after being sent off at the 2002 World Cup have nothing on the testimony and footage included in this four-parter.

Like Allen v. Farrow, W. Kamau Bell’s Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning tale contrasts an incredibly successful public-facing showbiz career, with a private hell so many women (some of whom front up here) say Bill Cosby put them through as he abused his power.

As Leaving Neverland did five years ago, this is likely to be one of the most talked about shows of the summer.