Series to Watch: May 2023

Series to Watch: May 2023


By DQ
April 27, 2023

Ones to Watch

DQ checks out the upcoming schedules to pick 10 new series to watch this May, from a pair of dystopian dramas and a Romanian spy thriller to a British family mystery and the next chapter in the Bridgerton story.

A Small Light
From: US
Original broadcasters: National Geographic (US), Disney+ (worldwide)
Producers: ABC Signature, Keshet Studios
Starring: Bel Powley, Joe Cole, Liev Schreiber, Amira Casar, Billie Boullet, Ashley Brooke, Andy Nyman, Caroline Catz, Rudi Goodman and Noah Taylor
Launch date: May 1 (Nat Geo), May 2 (Disney+)
This show tells the remarkable true story of Miep Gies, who played a key role in hiding Anne Frank and her family during the Nazi occupation in Amsterdam. Gies (Powley) is a young, carefree and opinionated woman when her boss, Otto Frank (Schreiber), asks her to hide his family. For the next two years, she, her devoted husband Jan (Cole) and others support the Frank, van Pels and Pfeffer families hidden in a secret annex.
Watch trailer

Arkitekten (Architect)
From: Norway
Original broadcaster: Viaplay
Producer: Nordisk Film Production
Distributor: Viaplay
Starring: Eili Harboe, Ingrid Giæver, Alexandra Gjerpen, Fredrik Stenberg Ditlev-Simonsen and Kim Falck
Launch date: May 4
In this darkly satirical story set in a not-too-distant future where mortgages are completely out of reach for first-time buyers, architect Julie (Harboe) turns disappointment into opportunity when she and her friend stumble upon a growing community living illegally in an abandoned underground car park. When a project to build a thousand flats in Oslo is put out to tender, she has an idea: why not convert these empty car parks into residential buildings?
Watch trailer 
Read more here

Queen Charlotte
From: US
Original broadcaster: Netflix
Producer: Shondaland
Starring: India Amarteifio, Corey Mylchreest, Arsema Thomas, Sam Clemmett, Golda Rosheuvel, Adjoa Andoh, Ruth Gemmell, Michelle Fairley and Hugh Sachs
Launch date: May 4
Inspired by characters from hit Netflix period drama Bridgerton, this prequel centres on Queen Charlotte’s rise to prominence and power, looking at how the young Queen’s marriage to King George sparked both a great love story and a societal shift.
Watch trailer
Read more here

Silo
From: US
Original broadcaster: Apple TV+
Producer: AMC Studios
Starring: Rebecca Ferguson, Harriet Walter, Chinaza Uche, David Oyelowo, Avi Nash, Rashida Jones and Tim Robbins
Launch date: May 5
In this series based on the novels by Hugh Howey, the titular silo is home to the last 10,000 people on Earth, sitting a mile beneath the toxic and deadly world outside – but no one knows when or why it was built, and anyone who tries to find out faces fatal consequences. When engineer Juliette (Ferguson) seeks answers about a loved one’s murder, she stumbles into a mystery that leads her to discover that if the lies don’t kill you, the truth will.
Watch trailer 

Dance Brothers
From: Finland
Original broadcasters: Netflix, YLE (Finland)
Producer: Endemol Shine Finland
Starring: Roderick Kabanga, Samuel Kujala, Jeanine Muyima, Fanni Noroila, Lauri Lohi, Eeva Eloranta and Cristal Snow
Launch date: May 10 (Netflix)
The first Finnish series to premiere globally on Netflix, Dance Brothers centres on siblings Roni (Kabanga) and Sakari (Kujala) as they struggle to make a living as professional dancers. To help finance their dance dreams, they decide to start their own club, which provides income, housing and a training space. Their unique club and impressive dance routines quickly bring them fame, but soon, artistic ambitions and personal relationships collide with commercial demands, and the loyalty and love the brothers have for each other will be tested by the one thing that always united them – dance.
Watch trailer

Black Knight
From: Korea
Original broadcaster: Netflix
Producer: Project318
Starring: Kim Woo-bin, Song Seung-heon, Kang You-seok and Esom
Launch date: May 12
Based on the webtoon Delivery Knight, this dystopian series is set in 2071, where people are dependent on respirator masks to breathe due to extreme air pollution, and deliverymen known as Black Knights play critical roles in the survival of the population. One legendary deliveryman is 5-8, who has extraordinary fighting skills – which are needed to fend off attacks by hunters out to disrupt the supply chain.
Watch trailer 

Maryland
From: UK
Original broadcaster: ITVX
Producers: Monumental Television, Teamakers Productions
Distributor: ITV Studios
Starring: Suranne Jones, Eve Best, George Costigan, Hugh Quashie and Channing Stockard
Launch date: May 4
This three-part drama, co-created by Jones, focuses on the relationship between two sisters, down-to-earth mother of two Becca (Jones) and disciplined high-flyer Rosaline (Best), who have been driven apart by complex family dynamics. When the body of an older woman is discovered on the Isle of Man, Becca and Rosaline travel to repatriate the body of their mother. But confined on the island, they discover shocking information about her and find it impossible to escape the ripple effect of her secrets and lies.

No Escape
From: UK
Original broadcaster: Paramount+
Producer: New Pictures
Starring: Abigail Lawrie, Rhianne Barreto
Launch date: May 18 (UK, Ireland, Canada)
Based on Lucy Clarke’s novel of the same name and filmed in Thailand, No Escape stars Lawrie and Barreto as best friends Lana and Kitty, who are on the run from their lives in the UK. Together they find refuge on a romantic yacht, The Blue, crewed by a group of enigmatic people sailing through South-East Asia. But The Blue harbours dark secrets, and the paradise the girls thought they had found turns into a nightmare.
Watch trailer 

Spy/Master
From: Romania
Original broadcasters: Max (formerly HBO Max), Warner TV Serie (Germany)
Producers: Proton Cinema, Mobra Films
Starring: Alec Secăreanu, Svenja Jung and Parker Sawyers
Launch date: May 19
Set during the Cold War, Spy/Master follows fictional character Victor Godeanu (Secăreanu), advisor and right-hand man to Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. However, Godeanu is also a secret KGB agent and must escape from Romania and Ceausescu before he is exposed. His only chance to survive is to go to the US, and on a diplomatic trip to Germany he enlists the help of an undercover Stasi agent (Jung) and a CIA agent (Sawyers).
Watch trailer
Read more here 

Bon Matin Chuck
From: Quebec
Original broadcaster: Crave
Producers: St-Laurent TV, Connect3 Media
Distributor: Cineflix Rights
Starring: Nicolas Pinson, Marilyn Castonguay, Chantal Fontaine, Bernard Dortin, Sylvain Mercel, Amélie B Simard and Hugo Dubé
Launch date: May 24
Recently in competition at French TV festival Canneseries, Bon matin Chuck (Good Morning Chuck) is a stylish dark comedy filmed in black and white. It focuses on Chuck, the host of a popular morning show, who becomes front-page news after a scandal that leaves his reputation in tatters. Chuck quickly decides to go into rehab to earn the goodwill of his partner, agent and the public – but once he arrives, he’ll tell anyone who listens he isn’t an addict, he’s just a party guy.
Watch trailer 

tagged in: , , , , , , , , , ,