By The nights are drawing in and with that comes the expunging of any guilt at spending the hours between Friday evening and Monday morning collapsed in a television coma.
Thankfully, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Now TV are releasing brand new television shows and films every month to help make that coma a little easier to slip into.
September hosts the return of comedies Bojack Horseman and American Vandal on Netflix, documentaries on Oscar Pistorius and La Liga on Amazon Prime Video, and the follow-up season of porn industry drama, The Deuce, on Now TV.
See you on the other side.
Netflix
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool (11 September)
Annette Bening shines as Hollywood actress Gloria Grahame, who falls for a younger man Peter (Jamie Bell) before being diagnosed with cancer. A glittering snapshot of seventies Los Angeles, London and Liverpool complete with Saturday Night Fever dancing. Kenneth Cranham and Julie Walters impress as Peter's parents but it is Bell's tender exploration of male vulnerability that really steals the show.
American Vandal: Season 2 (14 September)
Despite a premise that sounded too ridiculous to be true - a true crime series investigating a high school prankster drawing penises on cars - the first season of American Vandal gained a cult following. Season 2 takes the joke even further, moving from penises to poo as investigators Peter Maldonado (Tyler Alvarez) and Sam Ecklund (Griffin Gluck) find a new high school where a prankster has been making students shit their pants via some contaminated lemonade. High-brow stuff for your water-cooler conversation.
BoJack Horseman: Season 5 (14 September)
The satire about a washed up and depressed alcoholic (yeah, it's the anthropomorphous horse) has gone a layer deeper than the surreal and stoner adult cartoons and proved a hit with critics and fans. Will Arnett reprises BoJack for season five as well as new voices from Alison Brie and Amy Sedaris.
Maniac (21 September)
Emma Stone, Jonah Hill and Cary Fukunaga (the director of True Detective's best season) might sound like the eclectic guests of a fantasy dinner party but in fact they're teaming up to make a dark sci-fi drama this September. Maniac is the story of two strangers who find themselves caught up in a pharmaceutical trial gone awry for a drug treatment that will cure any mental illness. Black Mirror on acid is what we're expecting from this drama.
Amazon
Molly's Game (3 September)
Based on the true story and memoir of Poker Princess Molly Bloom, Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut charts her stranger than fiction journey from pro skier to running a multi-million pound illegal poker ring for Hollywood stars. Jessica Chastain is formidable as Molly Bloom while still managing to inspire empathy, Idris Elba appears as her reluctant lawyer and there's a typically tight and clever script from Sorkin.
The Purge (5 September)
What would you do if for one night all crimes were made legal? This is the grim but fascinating proposition at the centre of this new series set in an America ruled by a totalitarian political party. Though frankly it doesn't seem too far off from America 2018, eh?! The series, a spin-off from the television franchise series, follows seemingly unrelated characters face the consequences of their decisions during the purge
Pistorius (6 September)
A story which shook the world is dissected in this four-part feature documentary about the South African Paralympic and Olympic sprinter, Oscar Pistorius, who shot and killed his girlfriend in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2013. Interviews with those involved with the trial offer fresh insight into the tragedy of Steenkamp’s death and questions about how to reckon with the legacy of Pistorius.
Six Dreams (7 September)
The 'All or Nothing' Amazon Prime series which has focused previously on Manchester City in the Premier League and the All Blacks rugby team is relocating to La Liga. This season the lens is on the league in a wider sense and the key players in it. Six Dreams features Atletico Madrid’s Saúl Ñíguez, Athletic Club Bilbao’s Iñaki Williams, and Real Betis’ Andrés Guardado as well as former Sevilla manager Eduardo Berrizo and Girona’s Quique Carcel.
Now TV
The Deuce: Season 2 (9 September)
HBO's The Deuce impressed audiences and critics alike with its debut season exploring the glittering and grotesque birth of the porn industry against the backdrop of gritty 1970's New York. Now the story has jumped forward six years and the porn industry is booming. Candy (Maggie Gyllenhaal) takes centre-stage, moving up the ladder of the porn industry by becoming a director – but it's an uneven world, with some profiting more than others.
