Welcome to our top picks of the week! As HELLO!’s TV Team, we get through a lot of telly to be able to give you bonafide golden recommendations of what to watch on the box - especially now that there are so many streaming services, and a seemingly endless supply of shows to choose from.
So, which shows in particular have caught out attention this week? Here are our expert top TV picks for this week in December - get cosy and enjoy the watch!
The Buccaneers - Apple TV+
I absolutely love a period drama, but it has to have what I need from a period drama, and that is, complete melodrama, a heroine that I can root for, and a handsome, brooding man in a billowing cloak, preferably loitering on a cliff. Fortunately, this show has all three! The story follows a group of American ladies of the upper-class society, including sweet Nan, effervescent Conchita and their squealing pals Lizzy, Jinny and Mabel, who are invited to stuffy and charmless Britain to find love/husbands/themselves, etc.
The show feels a little like Apple TV+’s version of Bridgerton, and while it doesn’t hit the mark quite as well, it is still a very enjoyable romp that I really enjoyed becoming deeply invested in. After all, will Nan marry a Duke, or the boy next door who knows her deepest secret? Will Jinny learn the truth of her devilish husband? Will Conchita find her way in boorish Britain? Just don’t take the anachronistic elements of the show too seriously, and you’ll be fine. - Emmy Griffiths, Digital TV and Film Editor
Virgin River – Netflix
At a time when work is crazier than ever, Christmas shopping is never quite finished, and the temptation to say, 'Let's pick this up in the New Year' burgeons – a light-hearted show is exactly what I need. Enter Virgin River.
The gift that keeps on giving, it's an easy watch that warms the heart, and while there's always a family drama or two, you can rest assured that nothing truly horrific ever happens here. In November, Netflix dropped two Christmas specials to round out series five, and while they weren't the strongest episodes, they're fantastically festive.
Far less cringy than any Hallmark movie, sure, there are some moments that feel a bit too sickeningly sweet (I know, I sound like the Grinch), but at Christmas, who doesn't love a wholesome watch with a steaming cuppa?
As Mel and Jack take on a scavenger hunt to find her biological father, Charmaine FINALLY gives birth, and Lizzie musters up the courage to tell her mum she's pregnant. It's all kicking off in Virgin River… - Megan Bull, Junior TV and Film Writer
Slow Horses - Apple TV+
Espionage dramas don't come better than Apple TV+'s Slow Horses. It's fast-paced, dramatic yet funny, and if the high-stakes plot doesn't keep you glued to your screen, then the performances from the star-studded cast certainly will. The series returned with its third outing recently, and I was immediately hooked by the epic street chase in the opening moments of the first episode.
For those unfamiliar with the series, it follows a group of misfit intelligence agents who have been banished to the dumping ground department of MI5, Slough House, after making career-ending mistakes. In season three, a romantic liaison in Istanbul threatens to expose a deep-buried MI5 secret, and the Slough House gang find themselves in the middle of a conspiracy.
While there are elements of a traditional spy drama, Slow Horses couldn't be more original as it explores the murky world of British intelligence. - Nicky Morris, TV and Film Writer