Series to Watch: October 2024
DQ checks out the upcoming schedules to pick 10 new series to watch this October, from a dark German comedy and a Australian romantic drama to a thrilling Welsh crime noir and the first series from Danish director Thomas Vinterberg.
Where’s Wanda?
From: Germany
Original broadcaster: Apple TV+
Producer: UFA Fiction
Starring: Heike Makatsch, Axel Stein, Lea Drinda and Leo Simon
Launch date: October 2
Apple TV+’s first German-language original series, this eight-part dark comedy follows Dedo and Carlotta Klatt (Stein and Makatsch), who are desperate to locate their missing 17-year-old daughter, Wanda (Drinda), who disappeared months ago without a trace. When the police fail to find her, the family take matters into their own hands, obtaining surveillance devices with the help of their tech-savvy son, Ole (Simon). Disguising themselves as employees of an electrical company, they bug their neighbourhood and half their suburb, finding out that behind closed doors, none of their neighbours are who they pretend to be.
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Four Years Later
From: Australia
Original broadcaster: SBS
Producer: Easy Tiger
Distributor: ITV Studios
Starring: Shahana Goswami, Akshay Ajit Singh, Kate Box, Roy Joseph, Taj Aldeeb and Luke Arnold
Launch date: October 2
Set between Australia and India and told in Hindi and English, this romantic drama uncovers the complex realities of Yash and Sri’s long-distance relationship and their reconnection after four years apart, as the two lovers’ turbulent marriage struggles to survive the test of time and distance and they try to find their way back to each other.
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The Franchise
From: US
Original broadcaster: HBO
Producers: Neal Street Productions, Dundee Productions
Starring: Himesh Patel, Aya Cash, Jessica Hynes, Billy Magnussen, Lolly Adefope, Darren Goldstein and Isaac Powell, with Richard E Grant and Daniel Brühl
Launch date: October 6
This series follows the crew of an unloved franchise movie fighting for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe. The comedy shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question: how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made? Because every fuck-up has an origin story.
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Une Amie Dévouée (The Confidante)
From: France
Original broadcaster: Max
Producers: Studiofact Stories with June Films
Starring: Laure Calamy, Arieh Worthalter, Annabelle Lengronne, Alexis Manenti, Ava Baya and Anne Benoît
Launch date: October 11
The first French original series from Max, psychological thriller The Confidante is inspired by true events and follows Christelle ‘Chris’ Blandin, a rock music-obsessed Parisian who, after witnessing the harrowing terrorist attacks of November 2015, quickly latches onto a community of survivors. Claiming that her best friend Vincent was one of dozens critically injured at the Bataclan Theatre, Chris becomes an indispensable resource for the group, working her way into a prominent role in a survivors’ association. Though her commitment seems relentless, discrepancies begin to pepper her story – raising serious doubts among the true victims of the tragedy.
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Disclaimer
From: US
Original broadcaster: Apple TV+
Producers: Apple Studios, Esperanto Filmoj and Anonymous Content
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Kline, Sacha Baron Cohen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Lesley Manville, Louis Partridge, Leila George, Hoyeon and Indira Varma
Launch date: October 11
Described as a gripping psychological thriller in seven chapters, written and directed by Alfonso Cuarón, Disclaimer (also pictured top) is based on the novel of the same name by Renée Knight. Acclaimed journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Blanchett) built her reputation revealing the misdeeds and transgressions of others. When she receives a novel from an unknown author, she is horrified to realise she is now the main character in a story that exposes her darkest secrets. As Catherine races to uncover the writer’s true identity, she is forced to confront her past before it destroys her life and her relationships with her husband Robert (Baron Cohen) and their son Nicholas (Smit-McPhee).
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Cleddau (The One That Got Away)
From: Wales
Original broadcasters: S4C, BBC iPlayer
Producer: Blacklight
Distributor: Banijay Rights
Starring: Elen Rhys, Richard Harrington, Rhian Blythe, Ioan Hefin, Aled Pugh, Mali Ann Rees, Will Thomas, Sharon Morgan and Hannah Daniel
Launch date: October 13
This emotionally charged psychological thriller stars The Mallorca Files’ Rhys in her first major Welsh-language role. She plays DI Ffion Lloyd, who partners up with her ex-lover DS Rick Walters (Hinterland’s Harrington) to find out who is responsible for murdering a nurse in a Welsh coastal town – a crime that sparks fears of a copycat killer from a series of murders a decade earlier.
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NCIS: Origins
From: US
Original broadcaster: CBS
Producer: CBS Studios
Distributors: Paramount Global Content Distribution
Starring: Austin Stowell, Kyle Schmid and Mark Harmon
Launch date: October 14
NCIS: Origins follows a young Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Stowell) in 1991, years prior to the events of NCIS, and is narrated by Harmon (who plays the character in the original series). Here, Gibbs starts his career as a newly minted special agent at the fledgling NCIS Camp Pendleton office, where he forges his place on a gritty, ragtag team led by NCIS legend Mike Franks (Schmid).
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Thou Shalt Not Steal
From: Australia
Original broadcaster: Stan
Producer: Ludo Studio
Distributor: DCD Rights
Starring: Sherry-Lee Watson, Will McDonald, Miranda Otto and Noah Taylor
Launch date: October 17
Robyn (Watson) is a young Aboriginal delinquent searching for the truth behind a mysterious family secret. After she escapes from detention and reluctantly teams up with awkward teenager Gidge (McDonald), together they flee her small central desert community on a perilous journey across the outback, finding answers and learning some hard life lessons along the way. Hot on their heels are Maxine (Otto), a sex trafficker whose taxi Robyn stole, and Gidge’s domineering father Robert (Taylor), a fraudulent preacher.
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Rivals
From: UK
Original broadcasters: Disney+, Hulu
Producer: Happy Prince
Starring: Alex Hassell, David Tennant, Bella Maclean, Katherine Parkinson, Aidan Turner, Nafessa Williams, Emily Atack, Catriona Chandler, Danny Dyer, Rufus Jones, Lisa McGrillis, Luke Pasqualino, Claire Rushbrook and Victoria Smurfit
Launch date: October 18
An eight-part series based on the novel of the same name by Jilly Cooper, the story is set against the backdrop of the drama, excess and shocking antics of the power-grabbing social elite of 1980s England, delving headfirst into the ruthless world of independent television in 1986.
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Familier som vores (Families Like Ours)
From: Denmark
Original broadcasters: TV2 (Denmark), Canal+ (France)
Producer: Zentropa
Distributor: StudioCanal
Starring: Amaryllis August, Albert Rudbeck Lindhardt, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Paprika Steen, Helene Reingaard Neumann, Esben Smed, Magnus Millang, David Dencik, Thomas Bo Larsen, Max Kaysen Høyrup and Asta Kamma August
Launch date: October 20 (TV2)
The first television series from director Thomas Vinterberg (Another Round), this dystopian story takes place in Denmark in a not-too-distant future, when rising water levels can no longer be ignored and the country needs to be evacuated. All property becomes worthless, all fortunes change and luck favours only a few. Against this backdrop, high-school student Laura is in love for the first time and on the cusp of graduation. When news of the evacuation breaks, the course of Laura and her family’s lives are changed forever, and Laura is forced into the impossible dilemma of choosing between the three people she loves the most.
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tagged in: Cleddau, Disclaimer, Familier som vores, Families like ours, Four Years Later, NCIS: Origins, Rivals, The Confidante, The Franchise, The One That Got Away, Thou Shalt Not Steal, Une Amie Dévouée, Where’s Wanda?