Netflix
Mascots
People taking innately ridiculous things incredibly seriously is a comedy staple. And, from heavy metal to dog shows, Christopher Guest has wrung more humour out of this trope than most. This new film is set in the world of sports mascots and features most of Guest’s perennial revolving cast. The likes of Parker Posey, Jane Lynch and Fred Willard (pictured) are now joined on the roster by relatively recent newcomers including Tom Bennett and Chris O’Dowd, but the dry yet goofy humour remains familiarly enjoyable even if this does have a touch of “Guest-by-numbers” about it.
Available now
Amazon Prime
Animal Kingdom
Ellen Barkin stars in this fiery, violent new drama series as the starchily sinister matriarch of a southern Californian crime family. When 17-year-old relative Joshua (Finn Cole) moves in with the family, he’s initially shielded from their safecracking, blowtorch-torturing excesses. But inevitably it’s only a matter of time before he sees something he shouldn’t and finds himself dragged into a morass of drugs, brutality and general unwholesomeness.
Available now
Vice
High Society
We Brits love our ecstasy almost as much as we love our booze. But our prolific and perpetual taste for intoxication has a downside, which is explored in the opening episode of this new Vice webseries. Matt Shea reports from, inevitably, east London on the newly unpredictable properties of ecstasy which, increasingly, is varying wildly in strength – with dangerous results. Shea also meets dealers and users, and finds out how the dark web has revolutionised drug dealing and drug policing alike.
Available now
BBC3
American High School
“This ain’t no fairytale high school” says one youngster at the beginning of this new documentary series. And a fight involving a knuckleduster quickly confirms this to be the case. However, it’s incredibly easy to root for the kids from Orangeburg-Wilkinson High. The school in South Carolina, which is majority African-American, draws from impoverished catchment areas and at times feels like a militarised zone. Yet it also accommodates and nurtures kids as likable and varied as absurdly high-achieving Jalena, male cheerleader Vernon and beefcake football-player Kordel. And tough-but-tender principal Dr Peters is looking like a promising contender for the best TV teacher ever.
Available from Tuesday
Podcast
In 1989, 11-year-old Jacob Wetterling from St Joseph, Minnesota was abducted and murdered. Jacob was taken in front of two of his friends who called the police immediately. However, it wasn’t until August 2016 that Danny Heinrich admitted his guilt and directed police to Jacob’s remains. Why did capturing the killer take 27 years? This meticulously assembled new podcast – which might well fill a Serial-shaped hole in your life – examines the failures in policing which potentially cost Jacob his life.
Available now
