The Shows Must Go On: The Time Traveller’s Wife, The Essex Serpent and more

The Time Traveller’s Wife (Sky Atlantic)

“Sorry I’m late dear, but I involuntarily time travelled back fifty years.” Adapted from Audrey Niffenegger’s titular 2003 best-seller, this sci-far romance features Game Of Thrones’ Rose Leslie and Backstabbing For Beginners’ Theo James as a young couple whose marriage runs into some unexpected difficulties. If you can get past the preposterous premise, the HBO eight-parter turns out to be as gripping as it is tender. Just don’t try using that excuse yourself, guys.

The Time Traveller's wife.

Basically Johnny Moped (Netflix, available now)

Imagine if Daniel Johnston had been born during the ‘60s in Croydon, Surrey rather than Sacramento, California and you’ll have some idea of the glorious punk noise made by Paul Halford whose rechristening was encouraged by Captain Sensible from The Damned. Featuring an unlikely cameo from Chrissie Hynde who pre-Pretenders was sacked from Johnny’s band twice, this outsider rock documentary will make you laugh, cry and want to rush out and buy the boy Moped’s legendary 1978 debut, Cycledelic.

Basically Johnny Moped.

The Essex Serpent (Apple+. May 13)

Having finally said goodbye to Homeland after eight riveting seasons, Claire Danes lines up alongside Tom Hiddlestone in this classy adaptation of the Sarah Perry source novel. The action centres around the recently widowed Cora Seaborne who, having moved from London to the Essex coast, becomes convinced that a mythical sea monster actually exists. All manner of family drama unravels as she attempts to prove it.

The Essex Serpent.

We Own This City (Sky Atlantic, June TBC)

Having flitted off to New York and New Jersey for his last two series, David Simon returns to the extremely mean streets of Baltimore for the true-ish tale of how the city’s Gun Trace Task Force became as bad as the crooks they were targeting in the noughties. Very similar in tone to The Wire, it stars The Walking Dead’s Jon Bernthal as Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, a dirty cop who’s currently inmate number 62928-037 at a federal prison in Kentucky.

We Own This City.

The Newsreader (BBC Two, Date TBC)

Fresh from scoring a record number of Australian Academy nominations, this ‘80s TV news drama gets a well-deserved northern hemisphere airing. Mindhunter star Anna Torv plays primetime anchor Helen Norville who’s deemed ‘difficult’ for standing up to her misogynistic male colleagues. Things take a turn for the better with the arrival of Dale, a young reporter with serious smarts but none of the chauvinist attitude. Based on real events like the Challenger disaster and Chernobyl, it also features Stephen Peacocke who deserves a gong for Best Hugh Grant Lookalike.