Stranger Things to Obi-Wan Kenobi: the seven best shows to stream this week – The Guardian

Pick of the weekStranger ThingsNatalia Dyer and Maya Hawke in Stranger Things. Photograph: Netflix

A gruesome flashback to Dr Brenners lab cuts to sunny guitar pop and a teenage diary entry. Straight away, were back in the universe of Stranger Things, where the fantastical and the commonplace bleed into each other. This ordinariness has always been one of the shows strengths but, at times, it has felt as if were simply watching a likable, slightly aimless teen drama with the supernatural elements spread thinly. Still, the characters remain nicely realised: the messiness of adolescence is causing Jane/Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) to lose friends and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) to think of finding some new ones. But, as always, the Upside Down is waiting for a likely conduit. Netflix, from Friday 27 May

The Jedi code is like an itch. We cannot help it. This long-awaited series a prequel to the original films but set in the aftermath of the later trilogy fills another gap in the elastic time frame of the Star Wars universe, positing Jedi status as more of a curse than a blessing. It finds Ewan McGregors Obi in a more vulnerable place, broken by his experience of Order 66 and living in hiding after the fall of the Republic. Furthermore, Darth Vader (Hayden Christensen) hasnt finished with our hero hunting down the Jedi because they represent both opposition to his rule and a hated part of himself. Disney+, from Friday 27 May

We are used to David Attenborough explaining natural history to us, but can the nonagenarian explain prehistory? This series exploits a combination of the gravitas conferred by Attenboroughs voice and some stupendous visuals to present a startling vision of the Cretaceous period. With an episode every day this week, this collaboration between the BBCs Natural History Unit and The Lion Kings photorealist effects team MPC is essentially a classic BBC-style nature epic, transferred to a new menagerie of biting, roaring and scampering creatures. Apple TV+, from Monday 23 May

The first season proved divisive, thanks mainly to the design of its animation, which abandoned the classical manga aesthetic of the original comics for a flashy but more generic-looking CGI style. The same gripes remain albeit with an added layer of irony in a series where the narrative now explores the implications of out-of-control AI leading to a homogenised, posthuman condition. However, the story is developed in complex and interesting ways, dealing with the Orwellian concept of sustainable war and the possible end point of evolution. Netflix, from Monday 23 May

That was irony. Theres going to be a bit of that throughout the show. Thats when I say something I dont really mean, for comic effect. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Stewart Lee will be thrilled at having been such a source of inspiration for Gervaiss new hour-long standup special. Or maybe he wont; in Gervaiss hands, irony often seems the default mode of a man simply wanting to have his cake and eat it railing against the notion of taboos while relying on them for laughs. Still, hes undeniably a gifted comic brain, albeit often on autopilot. Netflix, from Tuesday 24 May

A fifth season of vicarious travel and food adventures in the company of Everybody Loves Raymond creator Phil Rosenthal. The shows secret is Rosenthals evident delight throughout, not just in the food he tastes but also the people he meets and the regional and national identities he explores. This will be Rosenthals first post-Covid series (The world is opening up again and so is my mouth) and hes evidently happy to be back on the road, sampling, among other things, the best sausages in Lisbon and a classic Mexican cantina. Netflix, from Wednesday 25 May

The propulsive, multidimensional Nigerian musical phenomenon has long gone global, with Grammy nominations for several of its leading lights. But this success has been years in the making and film-maker Ayo Shonaiya has been there from the start. Beginning in 1999, this series tracks the emergence of scene pioneers such as Burna Boy and DBanj, and tells a wider story of Nigerian growth, development and national self-actualisation. Shonaiya accurately describes this labour of love as a history lesson with a musical soundtrack. Netflix, from Friday 27 May

Read more:

Stranger Things to Obi-Wan Kenobi: the seven best shows to stream this week - The Guardian