TV that curses, clashes and heals broken hearts

Enough of hibernation from bad weather, worse politics and other ailments. Here are five recommendations to get some go-time energy from new offerings on cable and streaming apps.

Widow’s Bay

(Series premières Wednesday, April 29, on Apple TV)

Those who crave an offline getaway vacation might be attracted to the idea of this fictional island town off the coast of New England.

It has no Wi-Fi and only occasional cell service, so perfect, right?

Except there are also persistent rumours about “the hag” and other dark disturbances.

Matthew Rhys (The Beast in Me) stars in this horror comedy as Mayor Tom Loftis, who is desperate to prove Widow’s Bay is not cursed. But just as tourism begins to pick up, weirdo stuff starts at least appearing to prove the creepy stories true. “Aawoo!”

 

King & Conqueror

(Series premières Thursday, April 30, on Showcase/Stack)

This British historical epic is now premièring here after its run in the U.K., Europe and Africa.

Early reviews lament the weight of exposition early on, but eventually the narrative achieves a sword-clashing gallop toward the year 1066, specifically the Battle of Hastings.

The casting definitely makes this worth at least a few episodes. Taking central roles in the drive for the English throne are James Norton (Happy Valley) as Harold of Wessex and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones) as William of Normandy en route to becoming William the Conqueror.

Also impressively featured across eight episodes are Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan) as the short-lived King Edward, Juliet Stevenson (Professor T) as Lady Emma and Indy Lewis (Industry) as Margaret.

 

Lord of the Flies

(Four-episode miniseries premières in North America on Monday, May 4, on Netflix)

After it was published in 1954, William Goulding’s debut novel about boys stranded on an island without adults came to be shorthand for the urge to ruthlessly dominate.

Adapted for TV by some of the creatives behind such streaming hits as Adolescence, His Dark Materials, Enola Holmes and Sex Education, the miniseries distils the story into four episodes each named for a main character: organizer Ralph, intellectual Piggy, gentle Simon and hunter Jack.

Let the games begin.

 

Legends

(Six-part series premières Thursday, May 7, on Netflix)

The era is the early 1990s and the location is, once again, England.

Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise are losing the battle to keep drugs out of the country.

Meet the Legends, some very modest employees who are quickly crafted into undercover agents infiltrating the gangs running those drugs.

Steve Coogan (The Trip movie series) plays the boss who struggles with his own undercover trauma as he assembles and tries to support his team.

Tom Burke (The Lazarus Project) gladly ditches his job inspecting carry-on at Heathrow for the drama of undercover work.

Douglas Hodge (The Great) will do his buttoned-down best to protect the team from government overseers. Created by Neil Forsyth (The Gold).

 

Remarkably Bright Creatures

(Premières Friday, May 8, on Netflix

And now we come to the tissue-box portion of the program. Shelby Van Pelt’s bestselling debut novel is the basis for this movie about Tova, an aquarium employee (Sally Field, Lincoln) who becomes friends with the resident giant octopus named Marcellus. So far, so sweet. Additional story layers (not to mention a pre-Mother’s Day release date) compound the tissue count: Tova is a widow, and the leggy Marcellus — voiced by Alfred Molina (Three Pines) — is “on a mission to solve a mystery that will heal the widow’s heart and lead her to a life-changing discovery,” it says in the promotional material. Lewis Pullman (Lessons in Chemistry) plays Tova’s hapless co-worker, a.k.a. “the juvenile.” Order in extra Kleenex.

 

winnipegfreepress.com/deniseduguay