‘The Bridgertons’, ‘Blue Lights’ and other series recommended for May | Television

The May series agenda has appointments with some of the most anticipated returns of the year. The addictive period drama The Bridgertons returns with the first part of its third season. The Belfast police officers who star in the praised police also return Blue Lights and the adventures of comedians from different generations continue but condemned to understand that they are the protagonists Hacks. Among the premieres there are gangster plots, science fiction and amazing true stories.

Additionally, Jeff Daniels plays a successful businessman whose world falls apart in the adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s novel All a man (day 2 on Netflix). Mystery, conspiracies and an investigation in Tudor England are the backdrop for Matthew Shardlake (day 1 on Disney+). A new adaptation of an Agatha Christie story with a town full of crime suspects is Killing is easy (day 8 on Movistar Plus+). Killing It (11th on Movistar Plus+) is a comedy with Craig Foster as the protagonist and created by those responsible for Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The psychological drama Without Sin: Guilt-free (11th on AXN Now) stars Vicky McClure. And that icon of British television that is Doctor Who returns (day 11 on Disney+) with new incarnation, Ncuti Gatwa.

The second season of the reinterpretation of Interview with the vampire (the 16th on AMC+) takes the protagonists to Europe. Outer Range (16th on Amazon Prime Video) continues to combine science fiction with westerns and intrigue in its second season. A policewoman descended from Sherlock Holmes solves crimes in Mademoiselle Holmes (day 16 in COSMO). The Danish Prisoner (21st on Filmin) follows four prison officers who will alter the balance of power in the prison. The second season of Beyond Paradise (either Crime beyond paradise, as Atreseries has translated it; day 26 in COSMO) brings new cases for Humphrey Goodman. He true crime French The case of Sambre (27th on Movistar Plus+) delves into the story of a sexual predator. and the youth drama Not one more (31st on Netflix) puts consent, sexual violence and harassment at the forefront.

Of this month’s premieres and returns (which you can check on our calendar), we recommend giving this selection a chance.

Hacks

Before HBO Max becomes simply Max on May 21, the HBO Max brand says goodbye in style with the return of this comedy-drama headed by Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder. With its first two seasons it has already accumulated 32 Emmy Award nominations, six of them converted into awards. Two of those awards were for best leading actress for Jean Smart, who plays a stand-up comedian whose humor has become outdated and who will have to learn to get along with a younger comedian. The second season showed the rebirth of Deborah Vance (Smart) and the story picks up a year after the two women separated. Adding to this torrent of humor, tenderness and meta-reflections on comedy this season are actors such as Helen Hunt, Christina Hendricks, Christopher Lloyd and Tony Goldwyn.

When and where to see it? HBO Max premieres the first two episodes on Thursday the 2nd, followed by two each week until completing nine of this season.

Marbella

The creators of Unit, Dani de la Torre and Alberto Marini, are responsible for bringing to fiction the real world that journalists Nacho Carretero and Arturo Lezcano dissected in a report in EL PAÍS. The common thread through that Marbella where more than a hundred criminal organizations meet is César, a lawyer played by Hugo Silva with few scruples, a good connoisseur of the Marbella nightlife and specialized in dealing with these criminals. The series requires some patience: the first half of the season focuses on the portrait of this universe, the personalities that inhabit it, how the gangsters relate to each other and the waste in which they live; The plot doesn’t fully start until the second half.

When and where to see it? Movistar Plus+ premieres its first two episodes on Thursday the 2nd, followed by a new one every week.

Dark matter

Apple TV+ really likes science fiction. It has been made clear with titles like Foundation, For all humanityMonarch: Legacy of the Monsters, SiloConstellation either Invasion. Now we have added this adaptation of Blake Crouch’s novel of the same name, which asks what happens to the alternative lives that we have not lived. The protagonist is a physics professor played by Joel Edgerton, a father whose wife is played by Jennifer Connelly, who one night is kidnapped and transported to an alternative version of his life. From there he will enter a labyrinth of realities while trying to return to his real family. For lovers of the genre.

When and where to see it? Apple TV+ launches the first two episodes on May 8, followed by a new one every Wednesday.

The long shadows

It is almost a genre in itself: stories with friends who hide a secret from their adolescence and meet again years later. Here, the friends in adulthood are played by Elena Anaya, Marta Etura, Belén Cuesta, Itziar Atienza, Ana Rayo and Lorena López. The discovery of the remains of another girl who disappeared during a trip to Mallorca when she was a teenager will lead the dead woman’s sister (Irene Escolar) to investigate what happened. The filmmaker Clara Roquet is responsible for this combination of thriller and intimate drama that delves into the shadows that weigh on each person and the contrast between the expectations of youth and reality. The adaptation of Elia Barceló’s novel has its cast as its main attraction.

When and where to see it? Disney+ premieres all six episodes on the 10th.

Blue Lights

A year after the fall of the McIntyre criminal gang, things have not improved on the streets of Belfast, with several mafias trying to gain control of the area. Rookie officers are no longer so rookies and have to deal with harrowing dangerous situations almost daily. Their personal and professional plots, fueled by the arrival of new characters, intersect in one of the best police dramas of recent times, which continues to perfectly handle the peaks of tension and the troughs to show the relationships of the characters. Come back in top shape.

When and where to see it? Movistar Plus+ premieres the second season on Wednesday the 15th.

The Bridgertons

“Dear reader”. The season two finale left Penelope Featherington devastated after hearing Colin say he would never court her, and her friendship with Eloise was shattered after her friend discovered Lady Whistledown’s identity. The reactivation of the dance and matchmaking season once again puts young women on alert in the hunt for the best match. Colin will be one of them and Penelope decides to try to get out of her world and finally forget about the young Bridgerton, who will offer to help her find a suitor. Of course, things will get complicated. With The Bridgertons We already know what we’re coming for: escape and fun with good salsa. It may be, in essence, more of the same as previous seasons, but why change the formula if it works?

When and where to see it? The first four chapters premiere on Netflix on the 16th. The next four will arrive on June 13.

The Big Cigar: The Great Escape

The series is based on a report by journalist Joshuah Bearman, the same one who wrote the story that inspired it. Argo. The new series and Ben Affleck’s movie have things in common, as we will see. The plot focuses on the story of the escape to Cuba of the leader of the Black Panthers, Huey P. Newton, told from his point of view. The story intersects the social revolution that the organization wanted to launch (and that defended armed self-defense) with the personal story of Huey P. Newton (played by André Holland) and his escape helped by a film producer, Bert Schneider. , with a plan that included a fake film production. An interesting and rhythmic story.

When and where to see it? Apple TV+ premieres the first two episodes on the 17th, followed by a new one every Friday until the six episodes are complete.

Mr. Bates v. Post Office

The British network ITV opened the year with this miniseries starring Toby Jones and based on real events that put a bureaucratic scandal in the media spotlight that caused a painful human drama. Between 1999 and 2015, more than a thousand British post office owners were brought to trial accused of fraud and embezzlement after an accounting and management system came into operation that caused chaos. There were hundreds of people affected, both economically and legally, and at least four suicides are related to this case. One of those affected was Alan Bates, who fought in court for justice to be done. The case was ignored by the media and public opinion. Until a fiction came to put it in the spotlight.

When and where to see it? Movistar Plus+ premieres it on Tuesday the 21st with a new episode every week until all four are complete.

Cycles

It may be strange to include a comedy that is already in its fourth season in a list like this, but the series starring Esther Smith and Rafe Spall deserves more attention than it has received so far. The protagonists are a couple who, in the first three seasons, have gone through the complicated adoption process. Now the parents of two siblings, the series jumps six years into the future to see how Nikki and Jason are doing with two teenagers just as her daughter, Princess, tries to reconnect with her biological mother. A British comedy as funny as it is tender that takes advantage of the chemistry between the two protagonists and their great supporting roles.

When and where to see it? Apple TV+ premieres the first two chapters on Wednesday the 22nd, followed by a new one each week until the eight episodes are complete.

Eric

Vincent’s nine-year-old son, creator of a puppet show, disappears on the way to school in New York in the 1980s. The drama will fuel tensions between his parents and Vincent’s mental problems, which enters a spiral of self-destruction. Between delirium and despair, Vincent will have the help of a monster created by the child, named Eric. Meanwhile, a black and homosexual police officer is in charge of investigating the disappearance, which leads the series to address issues such as homophobia, racism and AIDS. A Benedict Cumberbatch pushed to the emotional limit is the protagonist of this thriller dramatic created by Abi Morgan (The Split).

When and where to see it? Netflix releases the six episodes on Thursday the 30th.

Other notable series of May

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