Best TV shows to watch on Amazon Prime Video UK

Alan Ritchson follows in the footsteps of Tom Cruise (no mean feat) to take on the titular role of the military veteran in Amazon’s new adaptation of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels. RadioTimes.com's review says the drama is "cleverly plotted, perfectly paced and isn’t short of depth".

Now, we're back for season 2, and it picks up two years after season 1 - with Jack trying to lead a more peaceful life. That is, until he's made aware of the chilling fact that members of his former army unit have been killed one by one, so it's up to him and his former teammates to investigate.

Morgan Cormack

John Krasinski may have seemed like a left-field choice to play Tom Clancy's hero Jack Ryan when he was first cast, but boy did he quickly prove any naysayers wrong. Over four high-octane seasons, Krasinski made the role his own, while a supporting cast including Wendell Pierce, Abbie Cornish and Michael Kelly made the world feel fleshed out and each episode a joy to return to.

The plots were as twisty as you would hope for from a spy series such as this, and things were brought to a satisfying conclusion at the end of the final season - bar a potential spin-off for Michael Peña's Domingo Chavez. All in all, if you're looking action and spy thrills, you're unlikely to be disappointed.

James Hibbs

Fargo is back on our screens for its much-anticipated fifth season, which will once again be set in a different place and time period. This time around, we're in Minnesota and North Dakota and the year is 2019, with the show following seemingly typical Midwestern housewife Dorothy 'Dot' Lyon (Juno Temple), who is suddenly plunged back into the life she thought she'd left behind.

Like previous seasons, expect a fair share of chaos, suspense and dark humour peppered throughout - and with episodes dropping weekly, season 5 is set to keep you on the edge of your seats right on into 2024.

Morgan Cormack

Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, Minari) leads this animated series adapted from the comic book of the same name by The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman. The stellar Invincible cast also includes JK Simmons, Sandra Oh, Gillan Jacobs, Walton Goggins and Zazie Beetz, in case you needed any more incentive to tune in.

Yeun’s Mark Grayson is just a normal teenager – except for the fact that his father, Nolan (Simmons), is the most powerful superhero on the planet. But Mark’s life grows more complicated when he begins to develop powers of his own – and learns a dark secret about his family.

The long-awaited second season finally premiered this month, making this the perfect time to catch up.

Morgan Cormack

While it's likely to be a marmite show, 007: Road to a Million is not without its defenders. The first project to come out of Amazon's acquisition of MGM is a reality competition in which a selection of Bond fans tackle nerve-shredding challenges in pairs – all for a chance of winning up to £1 million.

Overseeing the contest is none other than Brian Cox, fresh off his Succession buzz, who slips into a villainous character known as The Controller. His presence adds an air of both novelty and prestige to the proceedings, which in reality aren't far off a glammed-up version of Race Across the World or I'm a Celebrity.

If you've enjoyed those similar shows, this one may well be worth a go. But if you're not a reality fan and the idea of a Bond show without Bond makes your skin crawl – well, this might not be for you.

David Craig

If you're a fan of The Boys but worried that this college-set spin-off might tone things down or shy away from the original show's more outrageous sensibilities, then never fear - this new series is just as gory, crude and provocative as the original show, and just as wildly entertaining.

Gen V stars Jaz Sinclair as Marie Moreau, a young supe attending Godolkin University, who uncovers a dark secret at its heart. This eight-part first season introduces us to a host of well-rounded, engaging new characters, while also featuring enough links to The Boys and cameos to make this feel like a cohesive universe.

Perhaps most impressively, the show stands firmly on its own as an independently brilliant superhero satire - fans of the genre and Prime Video's more gritty take on it will find a lot to like here, whether they've seen The Boys or not.

James Hibbs

Fans of The Good Place may be interested in this original series, which takes a similarly irreverent look at the afterlife. Robbie Amell (The Flash) stars as Nathan Brown, a man who dies after getting into an accident, but has his consciousness uploaded to a virtual version of heaven.

The series takes a satirical look at what such a place could look like, while Nathan struggles to maintain a healthy relationship with his living girlfriend. Now in its third season, critics have praised Upload for its deepening story, witty gags and endearing characters.

The ultimate example of a show cancelled before its time, Freaks and Geeks only got one season, but in that time it became a beloved cult favourite comedy and launched the careers of a number of major stars, including Seth Rogen, Jason Segel and Linda Cardellini, to name just a few.

The series, which came from creator Paul Feig and executive producer Judd Apatow, followed two groups of friends at high school - the 'freaks' and the 'geeks', and charted their everyday lives. The show continues to be beloved to this day for not only its comedy, but also its ability to straddle different tones and explore the more melancholy aspects of school life.

All 18 episodes are available to stream but be warned - by the end, you'll be desperate for it to have continued, knowing full well that, sadly, it never did.

James Hibbs

In the world of baffling true story documentaries, this latest series affirms Prime Video as a streamer to go to when you’re on the lookout for just that. Whether we love or hate it, reality TV has long been a staple on our screens, but the phenonemon really exploded in the early noughties when a lot of people wanted nothing more than to be on television.

Well, imagine being cast as a contestant on a brand new show and thinking all your dreams were coming true, only to find out that the entire production is fake. It was the chance of a lifetime – except it wasn’t. The series explores the case with the help of six of those people who, 20 years later, are still searching for answers as the man behind it all has seemingly disappeared.

Morgan Cormack

If you’re a fan of Gone Girl or Fatal Attraction, this tale of love, betrayal and revenge will most certainly entice you. The new thriller follows Liv (Jenna Coleman) on a revenge mission against her husband Will (Oliver Jackson-Cohen).

After discovering he’s been having an affair, Liv is done with being the ideal dutiful wife and when she’s whisked away on an apology American road trip of dreams, she soon finds herself plotting Will’s downfall.

It’s a twisted love story, as well as an exploration of an anti-heroine figure in Liv as she explores her own sense of identity out of the shadows of her successful, charismatic husband. It’s the kind of watch where you don’t entirely know what Liv will do next, but that’s part of the excitement with a series like this, you just don’t know how it’ll end.

Morgan Cormack

This four-part documentary series will undoubtedly take viewers on a twisted journey, as it sets out to explore the truth behind one of America’s most known reality TV series families, The Duggars, who are active members of The Institute of Basic Life Principles.

Many will be familiar with the family from shows like 19 Kids and Counting or Counting On, but this documentary goes behind-the-scenes with first hand testimony from family members, friends and more to investigate some of the scandals that surrounded the family, as well as the context of the fundamentalist Christian organisation they’re a part of.

While many parts of the series deliver twists, this is a well-produced and insightful watch that will certainly leave you reeling long after watching.

Morgan Cormack

There’s much to appreciate in this powerful drama about the effects of trauma past and present, as we follow the titular protagonist across two timelines after she is sent to live with her grandmother on a flower farm following a horrific personal tragedy.

Alyla Browne as young Alice demonstrates talents far beyond her years in a role which places significant emotional demands on her, and Alycia Debnam-Carey, who is best known for Fear the Walking Dead and The 100, is well cast as adult Alice.

Coupled with stunningly atmospheric direction and cinematography from Glendyn Ivin and Sam Chiplin, and a score that captures both the beauty and the pain that makes up the lives of the women on-screen, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart sweeps you up in its arms and never lets you go.

Frances Taylor

This adaptation of Neil Gaiman and Sir Terry Pratchett’s acclaimed novel took the world by storm when it first debuted in 2019, and now the series is back with a second season focusing even more intimately on David Tennant’s Crowley and Michael Sheen’s Aziraphale.

Season 2 takes on a slower pace, with more time given to the deepening relationship between the demon and the angel than to world-ending stakes than in the first season. This can make it a slower-paced, somewhat meandering affair, but simply having Tennant and Sheen back on-screen as these characters is a joy, while a cliffhanger ending neatly sets up a potential third and final outing.

James Hibbs

Elite tennis, and the experiences of vulnerable young girls within the sport’s highly pressurised environment, are the background for a dark and torrid drama. We meet Justine (Ella Lily Hyland) when she is 16, in the changing room at Roland-Garros before the French Open semi-final, receiving a pep talk from her coach Glenn (Aidan Turner) that seems to reveal that her feelings for this older man go beyond that of a devoted pupil.

Five years later, with injury having ended Justine’s career and her subsequent life an unsatisfactory consolation prize spent working with new female players at a tennis academy, Glenn comes back into her orbit – and Justine makes serious allegations against him. Hyland’s intensity – as a young woman who is damaged and vengeful, but for reasons that aren’t immediately clear to us – and Turner’s twisted charm keep an unsettling story simmering.

Jack Seale

Based on a podcast that was itself based on a one-woman play called Empanada Loca, this macabre comedy has a satirical undercurrent. Dolores (Justina Machado) emerges from an unjust 16-year prison sentence to find that her old neighbourhood, Washington Heights in north Manhattan, has gentrified almost beyond recognition.

The only touchstone she has left is her old buddy’s empanada shop, and she ends up establishing a massage studio in the basement. How do we get from there to cannibalism as a metaphor for class tensions? Sink your teeth into episode one to find out.

Jack Seale

The latest foreign jolly for Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May sees them take a road trip across central Europe, with Gdansk in Poland as the starting point and stop-offs in Slovakia, Hungary and Slovenia.

After a classic bout of unlikely car selections, the meandering odyssey is interrupted by horses, “Soviet-style Formula One”, a superstar racing driver and an ambush by deadly archers, before arriving at a climax with pretensions to rival the Fast and Furious film franchise. Rumours persist that Clarkson’s days on Prime Video are numbered, but he and his pals have already filmed another special: they’ll soon have sand in their carburettors as they race across Mauritania.

Jack Seale

From the brilliantly creative mind of Boots Riley – who wowed critics with his debut feature Sorry to Bother You – I’m A Virgo is a coming-of-age story like no other.

Jharrel Jerome follows acclaimed performances in Moonlight and When They See Us with this offbeat project, where he plays a 13-foot tall 19-year-old named Cootie. He has always been hidden away due to his enormous stature, but leaps at the first opportunity to experience the world – including a meeting with his idol, known simply as The Hero (played by Walton Goggins).

Critics have praised the show’s satirical commentary and unique visual style, while the performances are stellar across the board. Jerome and Goggins are joined by Mike Epps (The Upshaws), Carmen Ejogo (True Detective), Brett Gray (On My Block) and Kara Young (The Staircase).

David Craig

Based on the New York Times bestselling novel by Naomi Alderman, this fantasy series imagines a world where women suddenly become capable of firing electrical charges through their fingertips. The story follows several characters from across the globe, all of whom are profoundly affected as a new world order begins to take shape.

While perhaps not as impactful as the source material – few screen adaptations are – The Power is an intriguing concept through which Alderman explores society’s attitudes towards gender.

Meanwhile, the cast is a mix of established names like Toni Collette, John Leguizamo and Eddie Marsan as well as emerging talent including Chloe Auliʻi Cravalho, Heather Agyepong and Ria Zmitrowicz – all of whom bring their A-game to this exhilarating story.

David Craig

You wait ages for a TV remake of a controversial Jeremy Irons movie, then two come along at once: as well as Netflix’s Obsession, we have this bold re-imagining of the 1992 film where Jeremy Irons played identical twin gynaecologists. Now the twins are Rachel Weisz, playing flamboyantly unpredictable sisters (“If I’m a psycho, you’re a psycho!”) in a show that’s much more about fertility, motherhood and how society views women than the original film was. As a torrent of garish images and nightmarish ideas unfurls, Weisz visibly relishes the liberation of a daring double role.

Jack Seale

One of the best comedy dramas of recent years is enjoying a playful final season, jumping around in time to give us glimpses of where the beloved characters will end up – while still majoring on Rachel Brosnahan as Midge, a 1960s housewife turned stand-up comic whose career change has led us on a dazzling tour of the Manhattan comedy scene at its counter-cultural peak, offset by the wry take on Jewish New Yorkers provided by Midge’s family.

Jack Seale

Harlem is back and after the cliffhanger of season 1’s finale, something tells us that season 2 will carry on in the same hilarious and dramatic fashion. In a similar vein to comedy shows like Girlfriends and Insecure – and from Girls Trip writer Tracy Oliver – we follow four stylish and ambitious best girlfriends in Harlem NYC, the mecca of Black culture in America.

After blowing up her career and disrupting her love life, Camille (Meagan Good) has to figure out how to put the pieces back together, while the other members of the group are navigating self-discovery, career prospects and their big dreams. Be warned, though: it’s definitely the kind of series you can easily consume in a weekend.

This warm comedy drama tells an emotional story about three siblings and their parents, jumping back and forth in time from their childhood in the 1980s to their adult lives today. The impressive ensemble cast features powerhouse performances from Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes), Mandy Moore (47 Meters Down), Chrissy Metz (American Horror Story) and Sterling K Brown (The People v OJ Simpson). This Is Us has received glowing reviews from critics since it began, racking up a considerable number of award nominations and wins.

Ever wondered what happens when you cross a comedy with a nail-biting thriller? Well, The Consultant answers that question and provides ludicrous action with subtle humour.

In the series, we follow the after-effects of an unspeakable tragedy that takes place at Compware, a games studio in downtown Los Angeles. But when mysterious consultant Regus Patoff comes into town, he demands to take charge. It’s a series that explores the sinister relationship between boss and employee, but be prepared for twists and turns aplenty.

Christoph Waltz stars as Patoff while Death Note’s Nat Wolff and The White Lotus‘s Brittany O’Grady star as the company’s employees Craig and Elaine.

Morgan Cormack