TEN TV SHOWS TO WATCH IN JULY
From Game of Thrones to a gritty cop drama and an F Scott Fitzgerald adaptation, Eddie Mullan suggests some programmes worth making time for.
Snowfall
Boyz n the Hood director John Singleton revisits the streets of early ‘80s Los Angeles to tell the story of how the crack cocaine epidemic began. Before the drug takes a hold in US cities, we follow ambitious dealer Franklin Saint (British newcomer Damson Idris) on a quest for power.
Meanwhile, a CIA operative begins an off-book operation to fund the Nicaraguan Contras, and a wrestler-turned-gangster gets caught up in a power struggle within a crime family. Premieres 5 July on FX (Credit: FX)
Meanwhile, a CIA operative begins an off-book operation to fund the Nicaraguan Contras, and a wrestler-turned-gangster gets caught up in a power struggle within a crime family. Premieres 5 July on FX (Credit: FX)
Castlevania
When we watch someone slot a video game into a retro NES console (giving the cartridge an obligatory blow) and boot up an 8-bit style Netflix logo in the Castlevania trailer, it feels from the outset this adaptation has been crafted by loving hands.
Inspired by the classic video game franchise, this dark medieval fantasy follows the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from Dracula. The animation is produced by Adi Shankar (The Grey, Dredd) who stated “it will end the streak and be the Western world’s first good video game adaptation.” Premieres 7 July on Netflix (Credit: Netflix)
Inspired by the classic video game franchise, this dark medieval fantasy follows the last surviving member of the disgraced Belmont clan, trying to save Eastern Europe from Dracula. The animation is produced by Adi Shankar (The Grey, Dredd) who stated “it will end the streak and be the Western world’s first good video game adaptation.” Premieres 7 July on Netflix (Credit: Netflix)
The Defiant Ones
A reference to the 1958 film of the same name about escaped prisoners (played by Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier) who are shackled together and must co-operate to survive, this four-part documentary focuses on the unlikely business bromance between two street-smart men from different worlds, Andre ‘Dr Dre’ Young and Jimmy Iovine, and their impact on pop culture down the decades.
Filmed over three years, The Defiant Ones features in-depth and candid interviews with the music moguls as well as artists including Snoop Dog, willi.iam, Eminem and Bono. Premieres 9 July on HBO (Credit: HBO)
Filmed over three years, The Defiant Ones features in-depth and candid interviews with the music moguls as well as artists including Snoop Dog, willi.iam, Eminem and Bono. Premieres 9 July on HBO (Credit: HBO)
In the Dark
MyAnna Buring (Ripper Street, Downton Abbey) stars as the strong-willed detective Helen Weeks in a gritty crime drama adapted from books by Mark Billingham. Helen is drawn into the two toughest cases of her career, forced to return to her hometown to face a painful past, just as she prepares to become a mother. Ben Batt (Shameless) co-stars as Helen’s partner and headstrong Detective Inspector. Premieres 11 July on BBC One (Credit: BBC One)
Friends From College
You might think you’re a perfectly responsible adult, but for some reason when your college pals are in town, stupid things seem to happen. From Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nick Stoller, this dramedy features a star-packed comic ensemble including Cobie Smulders, Keegan-Michael Key, Fred Savage and Billy Eichner, playing a group of Harvard friends who, approaching their 40s and hit with a dose of nostalgia, are realising they are no longer the people they were after graduating. Premieres 14 July on Netflix (Credit: Netflix)
Game of Thrones
It seems like we’ve been waiting forever for winter to come to the seven kingdoms, but it’s finally arrived and with it the great war. At the explosive finale of season six, Cersei Lannister had seized the iron throne in a coup at King’s Landing, Jon Snow reclaimed Winterfell after a brutal battle, and flanked with her dragons, Daenerys Targaryen is headed for Westeros after assembling an armada.
Whether there will be any throne left to claim when the Night King and his army of the dead descend, is anyone’s guess. Premieres 16 July on HBO and 17 July on Sky Atlantic (Credit: Sky Atlantic)
Whether there will be any throne left to claim when the Night King and his army of the dead descend, is anyone’s guess. Premieres 16 July on HBO and 17 July on Sky Atlantic (Credit: Sky Atlantic)
Ozark
Arrested Development star Jason Bateman takes a rare dramatic turn in a dark thriller playing a Chicago financier forced to go on the run with his wife (Love Actually's Laura Linney) and secretly relocate his family to a resort community in the Missouri Ozarks when his money laundering dealings with a Mexican drug lord go awry. Premieres 21 July on Netflix (Credit: Netflix)
Midnight, Texas
The remote town of Midnight is a mysterious safe haven for people who are different, but want to live a normal life – but when one of their own gets murdered, the witches, vampires and human allies band together to form an unlikely family.
Based on the hit book series by Charlaine Harris (True Blood) comes a journey into a place where no one is who they seem. Premieres 24 July on NBC (Credit: NBC)
Based on the hit book series by Charlaine Harris (True Blood) comes a journey into a place where no one is who they seem. Premieres 24 July on NBC (Credit: NBC)
The Last Tycoon
Adapted from F Scott Fitzgerald’s last unfinished novel – based on real-life film mogul Irving Thalberg – this lush period drama follows 1930s Hollywood movie producer Monroe Stahr (Matt Bomer), as he battles father figure and boss, Pat Brady (Kelsey Grammer) for creative control of their studio. Premieres 28 July on Amazon Prime Video (Credit: Amazon Prime Video)
Top Gear America
America undeniably loves cars, so why doesn’t it TV shows about cars? A new US version of Top Gear is set to ride again in the latest attempt to jump-start the brand stateside with a revamped line-up featuring actor William Fichtner, pro drag racer Antron Brown and British car journalist Tom Ford.
The previous attempt Top Gear USA was cancelled after a respectable run of six seasons, but if this latest incarnation is to last, it’ll need a bit more gas in the tank and take US fans somewhere they haven’t already been before. Premieres 30 July on BBC America (Credit: BBC Worldwide)
The previous attempt Top Gear USA was cancelled after a respectable run of six seasons, but if this latest incarnation is to last, it’ll need a bit more gas in the tank and take US fans somewhere they haven’t already been before. Premieres 30 July on BBC America (Credit: BBC Worldwide)
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