Black Doves to Stick: the seven best shows to stream this week

Helen Webb (Keira Knightley) is now the prime minister’s wife. Will that temper her treachery? Not a bit of it. This hugely entertaining espionage thriller returns with Helen cracking a safe (and adding to her spectacular body count) at an official engagement. The Black Doves spy ring is now in chaos after a key disappearance and, worse still, Sam (Ben Whishaw) has become a loose cannon, forced to take on hit jobs without much due diligence. Soon, absolutely everyone is somehow on a direct collision course. It’s a glorious mess of motive, morality and murder, and the superb cast – which now includes Ambika Mod and Babou Ceesay – are clearly having a ball. So will you.
Netflix, from Thursday 5 November

SCTV: The Greatest Show You’ve Never Heard Of

“I have watched those things 122 times,” says Tom Hanks, “and I still laugh.” For the uninitiated, Second City TV was an oddball Canadian sketch comedy that ran between 1976 and 1984. It was defiantly lo-fi and made on a shoestring, but also unapologetically itself. And it launched the careers of soon-to-be superstars including John Candy, Catherine O’Hara and Eugene Levy. The documentary is every bit as endearing as the show was – it’s evident that this scrappy enterprise changed the life of almost everyone who encountered it.
Netflix, out now

Stick

Owen Wilson’s charming performance as ageing golf pro Pryce Cahill elevates this comedy drama above the current glut of feelgood sports stories. The key is Wilson’s vulnerability which, for all the laughs, gives the show high stakes and an edge of melancholy. As season two begins, Pryce senses that his brilliant protege Santi (Pete Dager) is starting to outgrow him. The professional tour beckons and big-time agents are sniffing around. But Pryce is enjoying something of a late bloom himself – could he still be a contender in his own right? Clearly, it’s a dream he won’t be able to resist chasing.
Apple TV, from Wednesday 4 November

All’s Fair

The first season of this Ryan Murphy monstrosity was the recipient of a rare but richly deserved zero-star review from the Guardian. However, these days there’s no such thing as bad publicity: All’s Fair is back and it is leaning into its witlessly camp grotesquery. “Vengeance is a savage game,” Glenn Close’s Dina Standish warns in the opener. Is she addressing a fellow character or the world’s TV reviewers? Arguably both. What unfolds involves hit jobs, a Carrie spoof and Kim Kardashian still trying to act. Vengeance complete.
Disney+, from Wednesday 4 November

The Greatest

The life of Muhammad Ali is exhaustively documented but, even so, this eight-part drama (made with the cooperation of Ali’s estate) is a worthy addition. The story begins at the 1960 Olympics when the former Cassius Clay won gold and kicked open the door to wealth and fame. But, from family tensions to the US culture wars in which he became a central figure, his path was never smooth. The political dimensions of Ali’s life are never overplayed but always insistently drawn, the fight scenes are thrilling and Jaalen Best plays Ali with a steely calmness.
Netflix, from Wednesday 4 November

The Assassin

The most riveting mother-and-son relationship on TV is back: this thriller starring Keeley Hawes as grumpy, semi-retired assassin Julie is still preposterous fun. Julie and her son Edward (Freddie Highmore) are estranged again but, for all Edward’s diffidence, trouble keeps finding him. When his wife, Kayla (Shalom Brune-Franklin), is kidnapped on their honeymoon and he gets an inkling that the police might have been involved, he has no choice but to ask for Julie’s help. Julie and Edward’s comically toxic anti-chemistry remains a weird delight to watch.
Prime Video, from Friday 6 November

Awkwafina: The Unlikely Cook

When we first meet comic and actor Nora “Awkwafina” Lum, she’s making instant ramen with spam. A call to her horrified grandmother confirms that this isn’t exactly traditional Chinese cuisine. But Nora is on a mission: her family were behind a much-loved (but now closed) restaurant that she’d like to revive. But can she learn to cook? While the various scenarios sometimes feel contrived, this breezy series is at its best when Lum considers her family’s experiences in the context of an immigrant community in America trying to establish themselves.
Apple TV, from Friday 6 November