SEASON finales for The Handmaid’s Tale and The Last Of Us are still coming this month on Showmax. If you’re waiting to binge, your dates are the 28th and the 26th respectively. In the meantime, here are some that are ready to binge and others that are upcoming.
- Anatomy Of Lies | First on Showmax | Binge now
Grey’s Anatomy writer and co-executive producer Elisabeth Finch (pictured above) wowed Hollywood with her extraordinary life story – until one woman’s quest to discover the truth revealed a jaw-dropping web of lies.
Building on the shocking Vanity Fair exclusive, Anatomy of Lies is a three-part documentary series that gives audiences unique insight into a Hollywood dream that was simply too good to be true, and a scandal that engulfed one of the biggest and most beloved television shows of the past 20 years.
Anatomy of Lies has a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score. As Common Sense Media says, “For fans of Grey’s Anatomy, it’s particularly fascinating to see how Finch used her fabricated persona to create episodes inspired by the real stories of the people she manipulated. A story as dramatic and shocking as anything Finch wrote for TV, viewers will be left stunned by the real-life impact of her deceit and the devastating consequences it had on those around her.”
Watch the trailer.
- Happy Face | First on Showmax | Binge now
When Melissa Jesperson-Moore was 15, she discovered her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was the serial murderer known as the Happy Face Killer.
Happy Face centres on the now grown-up Melissa (Emmy nominee Annaleigh Ashford from Welcome to Chippendales). Her serial killer father (Emmy nominee Dennis Quaid from The Substance) forces his way back into her life after decades of no contact; the talk show she works for decides to run her story; and a possibly innocent man is set to be put to death for a crime her father may have committed.
Mashable calls the Paramount+ series “ruthlessly gripping,” saying, “True crime fans, your next TV obsession has arrived. Based on Jesperson-Moore’s podcast and autobiography, Happy Face is produced by four-time Emmy nominees Robert and Michelle King, the writer-creators of The Good Wife, The Good Fight and Evil.
Watch the trailer, which has more than 2m views.
- S.W.A.T. S8 | Binge eps 1-9 on Showmax from Monday, 19 May | Also on M-Net from 29 May
Sergeant Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson and his elite tactical team Twenty Squad are back for the action-packed eighth season of S.W.A.T.
Season eight of the Emmy-nominated action drama is set to be the final season (though the show has been cancelled twice before – and pulled through both times). The LAPD’s Special Weapons and Tactics unit (aka S.W.A.T.) will have no time for drawn-out goodbyes though, as they face an explosive prison hostage situation, a blackout, a kidnapping close to home and a nuclear threat this season.
Co-created by Emmy nominee Shawn Ryan (The Shield), S.W.A.T. has been nominated for Critics Choice Super Awards for Best Action Series and Best Actor in an Action Series (for Emmy winner Shemar Moore, as Hondo), as well as four Emmys for its stunt coordination. Annie Ngosi Ilonzeh (Emily Foster on Chicago Fire) joins the cast this season as Officer Devin Gamble, a controversial new recruit. Also look out for South African actor Stelio Savante as Omar Morina in episode 12.
- Grosse Point Garden Society | Wednesdays from 21 May | Also on M-Net
In this juicy drama from the creators of Good Girls, everyone’s got dirt … but some secrets never stay buried. Grosse Point Garden Society follows four members of a suburban garden club who get entangled in a scandalous murder and are forced to bury the body – in their own well-manicured flower beds.
The cast is led by Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Amy Santiago), Emmy nominee Aja Naomi King (Lessons in Chemistry, How to Get Away with Murder), Critics Choice nominee AnnaSophia Robb (The Way Way Back, Dr Death), and Ben Rappaport (Carey in The Good Wife).
Daily Beast calls Grosse Point Garden Society “a spiritual sequel to Desperate Housewives cross-pollinated with Big Little Lies.”
Watch the trailer, which has more than 3.5m views.
- Summertide | Binge from Friday, 30 May
Summertide follows Martin Field (SAFTA nominee Frank Rautenbach from Lioness), a marine biologist who relocates to Simon’s Town with his two teenagers, Lucy and Tristan.
The stacked cast includes SAFTA nominee Monique Rockman (Gaia) as a Michelin starred chef; Fleur du Cap nominee Andre Jacobs and three-time Fleur du Cap winner Terry Norton as Martin’s parents; and Tyrone Keogh (The Girl from St. Agnes) as his brother.
The M-Net family drama is produced by Corné and René van Rooyen through Red Letter Day Pictures. IOL’s Debashine Thangevelo says, “Summertide is a brilliantly cast family drama that mindfully deals with loss, love and hope… If you are a fan of family dramas like This is Us, A Million Little Things or Brothers & Sisters, the series will leave you in your feels.”
Watch the trailer.
