Television

Tom Burke and Holiday Grainger return in the fourth adaptation of Robert “JK Rowling” Galbraith’s Cormoran Strike series of crime novels. Burke plays the titular private detective who, alongside his partner Robin (Grainger), must try and unravel two complex cases seemingly linked by the troubled stranger Billy Knight (Joseph Quinn).
Sunday 30 August, 9pm, BBC One

David Attenborough is back to soothe us through uncertain times with this newly scored assembly of Planet Earth and Blue Planet clips. Attenborough records a new narration along with compositions from Hans Zimmer, featuring rapper Dave on the piano.
Monday 31 August, 8pm, BBC One

Robin Thede’s groundbreaking US sketch show now airs in the UK, featuring updates from the Angela Bassett-fronted Bad Bitch Support Group and other hilarious cameos from the likes of Kelly Rowland, Laverne Cox and Issa Rae.
Tuesday 1 September, 9pm, Sky Comedy

Tom Hardy narrates this much-anticipated second season of the behind-the-scenes show, this time focusing on the fortunes of Spurs. It has been a more dramatic season than most, with an uncompromising new manager in José Mourinho and a global pandemic shutting down all matches for months. Let the games – and injuries – begin.
Monday 31 August, Amazon Prime Video

Best to think of this spin-off of Henning Mankell’s novels as a reboot. Adam Pålsson stars as the more youthful Kurt Wallander, in a present-day prequel to the books and the BBC’s Kenneth Branagh version. Here, Wallander investigates an attack on a teenager.
Thursday 3 September, Netflix

Fame-hungry superheroes the Seven face the titular antiheroes again in season two of the comic book series. With the leader of the Boys, Billy Butcher (Karl Urban), on the run, the Seven’s Homelander (Antony Starr) has to deal with a new recruit – the toxic Stormfront (Aya Cash).
Friday 4 September, Amazon Prime Video

Podcasts

This eight-part audio series showcases long-form journalism at its very best. Telling the story of New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina, The Atlantic’s Vann R Newkirk II writes and narrates how longstanding inequalities and subsequent government irresponsibility led to unmitigated disaster. New Orleans native Christian Scott provides the jazz-leaning score.
All episodes widely available

If working from home has left you without the time to spare to delve into the Guardian’s tranche of in-depth long reads, this podcast is the answer – it features recent additions such as an investigation into diet pills and a look behind the curtain at hospital ICUs, as well as tales from the archive. Listen as the journalists narrate their hard-won stories.
Weekly, the Guardian

Comics and married couple Jess Salomon and Eman El-Husseini record from New York City each week, tackling the ever-changing world of current affairs with the help of fellow international comedians in this new podcast. Expect fresh takes on the US presidential election and the pandemic.
Weekly, BBC World Service

The latest cheerful pop culture podcast from The Ringer , The Connect sees hosts Jason Concepcion and Shea Serrano draw parallels between films that superficially seem very different. So you’ll find out what Scarface and Office Space share in their depictions of work-life balance, and why World War Z and Ritchie Valens biopic La Bamba shouldn’t be watched on a plane.
Weekly, Spotify

Journalists Justin Charity and Micah Peters return with a newly formatted weekly iteration of their Sound Only podcast. Each episode will see them deep-dive into one aspect of millennial life, be it hip-hop, video games, YouTube and more. Up first is rap battle web series Verzuz, and emerging remix style Slowed + Reverb.
Weekly, widely available

Film

(Christopher Nolan) 151 mins
The creator of Inception and Interstellar is a master of the mind-bending event movie, and this sci-fi-tinged spy thriller – the first big release since lockdown – is no exception. John David Washington plays an agent with the power to “invert” time, who is tasked with preventing a third world war. Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki co-star.
In cinemas

(William Nicholson) 100 mins
Screenwriter Nicholson enjoys a rare directorial outing in a perceptive tale outlining the break-up of a 29-year marriage. Annette Bening is marvellous as the spirited Grace, inconsolable and uncomprehending when her dish-mop husband Edward (Bill Nighy) leaves.
Curzon Home Cinema

(Amy Seimetz) 84 mins
An intriguing mystery from writer-director Seimetz, with an end-of-the-world atmosphere that feels disturbingly topical. The emotionally fragile Amy (Kate Lyn Sheil) announces that she is “going to die tomorrow” – a statement that seems to infect her family and friends with the same determination.
Digital platforms

(Xavier Dolan) 119 mins
The Quebecois writer-director also stars in his latest, a slow-burner in which the relationship between two friends (Gabriel D’Almeida Freitas and Dolan) is thrown into turmoil when they kiss for a student film. Repressed feelings bubble up in an intelligent drama.
Mubi

(Ninian Doff) 87 mins
Engagingly silly comedy-horror that flips the class politics of The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, as a group of ne’er-do-well boys on an expedition in the Scottish Highlands are hunted by landed gentry, led by Eddie Izzard’s skin-masked toff.
Amazon Prime Video