From a new medical show starring ER's Noah Wyle to the return of Apple TV+'s dystopian workplace drama, these are the shows to stream this month.
1. Missing You
The characters in Harlan Coben's novels are beset by all sorts of problems, usually murder and dark secrets from the past. But their troubles have become a happy success for Netflix, which has turned several Coben books into reliable hit series, including Fool Me Once and Stay Close. In the latest, Rosalind Eleazar (Slow Horses) plays Detective Kat Donovan, whose fiancé, Josh (Ashley Walters from Top Boy) disappeared one day, leaving behind an empty wardrobe and no clue to his whereabouts. Years later, pursuing a different missing persons case, Kat spots Josh's photo on a dating app, and sets out to find the truth. It seems he was up to no good. Although Corben's 2014 book was set in New York, the screen version is set in the UK and was shot in Manchester. Richard Armitage and Lenny Henry co-star.
Missing You premieres 1 January on Netflix internationally
2. Lockerbie: A Search for Truth
Colin Firth plays the real-life Dr Jim Swire in this potent, fact-based drama about the 1988 disaster in which a bomb exploded on a plane heading from London to New York, killing 270 people when it fell over the town of Lockerbie, Scotland. Swire, whose daughter was among the victims, becomes the spokesman for a group trying to find the truth behind the tragedy. The series begins shortly before the flight takes off, but focuses on the aftermath, as Swire spends years relentlessly searching for answers, even visiting Muammar Gaddafi in Libya. Eventually, he uses tactics and forms opinions that distance him from the families he set out to represent. The real Swire remains controversial today, refusing to accept the guilty verdict that sent a Libyan intelligence officer to prison for the bombing. Whatever position viewers take on those events, Firth makes Swire's grief real and emotionally wrenching.
Lockerbie: A Search for Truth premieres 2 January on Sky in the UK and Peacock in the US
Netflix
3. American Primeval
Set in 1857, this Western follows several characters as they head across the US wilderness, and weaves together personal drama, action and culture clashes. Betty Gilpin plays Sara, who is driving her young son in a covered wagon, hoping to meet up with her husband. The man she does meet is Taylor Kitsch as Isaac, who helps her along the journey. The story features soldiers, settlers, Indigenous Americans (a consultant advised on the accuracy of language and costumes) and the Mormon leader Brigham Young (Kim Coates), who has an army of his own. The series – written by Mark L Smith, co-writer of The Revenant, and directed by Peter Berg (Painkiller) – takes the violence of the Old West seriously. Jim Bridger (Shea Whigham), the leader of a fort where the travellers stop, warns them they are facing death from the mountain snows, grizzlies and wolves. And an Indigenous woman asks a white man, "Why do you people have so much hunger to kill?"
American Primeval premieres 9 January on Netflix internationally
Max
4. The Pitt
This medical drama could have been called ER meets 24. Noah Wyle, whose career took off when he played young Dr John Carter on ER, stars as Dr Michael (known as Robby) Robinavitch, the chief attendant in the trauma section of a Pittsburgh hospital. Each of the show's 15 episodes takes place over a single hour of his day-long 15-hour shift, like Kiefer Sutherland in 24 but without the terror threats. Instead, Robby grapples with medical emergencies, staffing problems and the memory of a mentor's death from Covid during the pandemic. The off-screen drama might match what's on screen. The show is produced by John Wells, who also worked on ER. He and Wyle had discussed an ER sequel featuring an older Dr Carter, but never agreed to terms with the estate of Michael Crichton, that show's creator. Now Crichton's widow is suing, saying that The Pitt simply changed the main character's name and location. Warner Brothers, the studio behind The Pitt, says it is a new and different medical show. The litigation is ongoing. Maybe it could inspire a new legal series?
The Pitt premieres 9 January on Max in the US
Amazon MGM Studios
5. On Call
Series created by Dick Wolf – including the behemoths Law and Order, and Law and Order: SVU – are known for being straightforward. But this police show from his production company comes with visual gimmickry, including bodycam and dashcam points of view, along with hand-held cameras. The essence is still true to the formula of a police procedural. Traci Harmon (Troian Bellisario, Pretty Little Liars) is a veteran cop in Long Beach, California, and Alex Diaz (Brandon Larracuente, The Good Doctor) is her rookie partner. Lori Loughlin appears as a police lieutenant, and Eriq La Salle, who also directs several episodes, is a sergeant. Wolf is an executive producer of the show (created by his son, Elliot Wolf, and Tim Walsh), his first streaming series. "Everything old is new again," he told Deadline, pointing to the fact that half-hour programs were once a staple of network television. At that length, he points out, On Call is now perfectly suited to streaming, bingeable in three hours. "It's television popcorn," he said.
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