LOVECRAFT COUNTRY S1 | Eps 1-4 on 8 September, eps 5-8 on 6 October, eps 9-10 on 20 October

In the 1950s, Atticus Black, a young African-American, sets out on a road trip with his friend and uncle to find his missing father. This catapults the three into a struggle for survival against the dual terrors of Jim Crow-era America and terrifying monsters that could be ripped from a paperback written by pulpy horror author HP Lovecraft.

Based on the cult novel by Matt Ruff, Lovecraft Country is a collaboration between Misha Green (creator of Underground, named Best New Cable/New Media Show of 2016 by the African-American Film Critics Association) and Oscar-winner Jordan Peele (Us, Get Out), executive produced by JJ Abrams (Star Wars, Star Trek, Lost, Super 8, Westworld). 

RAMY S2 | Binge now, first on Showmax 

Ramy stars 2020 Golden Globe winner and stand-up comedian Ramy Youssef as Ramy Hassan, a first generation Egyptian-American millennial in suburban New Jersey grappling with how to be a good Muslim in the Tinder era. 

Two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, True Detective) joins the cast this season as Sheikh Malik, while Hiam Abbass (Succession, Blade Runner 2049) returns as his mother. 

MY BRILLIANT FRIEND S2: THE STORY OF A NEW NAME | Binge now

Set in Naples and based on Elena Ferrante’s bestselling novels, My Brilliant Friend is the story of a life-long friendship spanning 60 years. Season 2, based on the second novel in Ferrante’s series, sees Lila (Gaia Girace) stuck in a brutal marriage to the wealthy Stefano Caracci (Giovanni Amura), while Elena dallies with suitor Antonio Cappuccio (Christian Giroso) and her growing attraction to the magnetic Nino Sarratore (Francesco Serpico). 

9-1-1: LONE STAR S1 | Binge now 

This spinoff of the hugely popular first responder drama 9-1-1 stars multiple Golden Globe nominee Rob Lowe (Parks and Recreation) as a New York firefighter who relocates to Austin, Texas, where he’s tasked with putting together an entirely new squad following a tragedy. The cast includes Teen Choice nominees Liv Tyler (Harlots, Lord of the Rings) and Lyndsy Fonseca (Desperate Housewives, Nikita, Kick-Ass). 

9-1-1: Lonestar was one of the ten most-streamed shows on DStv Now in the first half of 2020, and the highest-rated new series of the year for its parent network, FOX, which recently announced its renewal for a second season.

PERRY MASON S1 | Tuesdays at 23:00, same day as M-Net. Binge from 15 September 

It’s 1932, and despite the Great Depression, LA is booming. But when the kidnapping case of the decade comes knocking on down-and-out detective Perry Mason’s door, his relentless pursuit of the truth reveals a fractured city and, just maybe, a pathway to redemption for himself.

Indiewire hailed Perry Mason as “one of the most beautiful series ever made… One of the best I’ve ever seen. Really.”

WE’RE HERE | Binge from 18 September

The six-part series sees renowned drag queens Bob the Drag Queen, Eureka O’Hara and Shangela Laquifa Wadley inspire small-town residents from across America to step outside their comfort zones for a night of no-holds-barred, full-on drag – and a life-changing journey of self-discovery. Sometimes all it takes is a little love – and “a lotta werk” – to take someone from who they are to what they can be.

AV Club describes the show as “a charming and engaging reality series… well worth watching,” while Salon.com notes that, “on a deeper level, it’s a show about loving – truly loving – your neighbour.” 

HBO has already renewed We’re Here for a second season.

LAZOR WULF S1 | Binge from 18 September, first on Showmax

He’s a wolf. With a laser on his back. And he’s the coolest thing in Strongburg. 

Created by Henry Bonsu, Lazor Wulf, Adult Swim’s latest series, is an acid vision of modern life and friendship, voiced by a predominantly black cast including rapper Vince Staples, comedian Quinta Brunson from A Black Lady Sketch Show, and WWE wrestler Ettore ‘Big E’ Ewen, with Reginald VelJohnson (Die Hard) as the voice of God. 

LA Times describes the show as “African American, retro, futuristic and strange… relaxed, but at the same time packed with tension.”

WORLD ON FIRE S1 | Thursdays at 23:30 from 24 September, same day as M-Net

Set in 1939, on the eve of the German invasion of Poland, World on Fire follows the interwoven stories of ordinary people caught up in catastrophic global events beyond their control.

The critically acclaimed World War II drama has an 84% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has already been renewed for a second season. 

LOVE ISLAND UK S6 – THE CAPE TOWN EDITION | 5 eps every Saturday. Binge from 26 September

For South African fans dying to see the latest season of the BAFTA-winning reality show Love Island UK, the long wait is finally over. And it’s all the more delicious because this is the season that was filmed at a villa in Constantia, Cape Town.

Laura Whitmore of Strictly Come Dancing and I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! fame is this season’s new host for the drama-packed reality show, where single hopefuls flirt, date, break up and make up while trying to capture the hearts of viewers, who will vote for their favourite couple to take home the £50k prize money.

BRIARPATCH S1 | Mondays at 2300, same day as M-Net. Binge from 28 September

Senator’s aide Allegra Dill (MTV Movie Awards nominee Rosario Dawson from Sin City, Luke Cage and Jane the Virgin) returns to her border-town Texas home to investigate the death of her sister – a local cop killed by a car bomb. What begins as a search for a killer turns into an all-consuming fight to bring her corrupt hometown to its knees. 

I MAY DESTROY YOU S1 | Wednesdays at 22:30, same day as 1Magic. Binge from 11 November

I May Destroy You centres on Arabella (BAFTA winner Michaela Coel from Chewing Gum), a carefree, self-assured Londoner with a group of great friends, a boyfriend in Italy, and a burgeoning writing career. But when her drink is spiked with a date-rape drug, she must question and rebuild every element of her life.

There’s plenty more to watch and to view everything on Showmax this month including the 2020 Oscar nominee Harriet, click here.

WATCHMEN

Watchmen was the #1 show of the year for Empire, Mashable, Screencrush, Vulture, Vox, and Washington Post, where Hank Stuever said the show “continues to take my breath away with its bracing vision of racism, mask-wearing vigilantism and superheroic qualms in a skewed-reality America.”

SUCCESSION

Succession topped numerous favourite lists from AV Club to The Guardian to Uproxx. As The Guardian said: “2019 was the year HBO threw millions upon millions of dollars at the final season of Game of Thrones, only to have another of its shows blow it out of the water entirely.

CHERNOBYL

Chernobyl took the top spot on Radio Times’ critics poll, with reviewer Tim Glanfield calling the mini-series, “a gripping and at times hard to watch drama… an outstanding piece of television… it’s more than a worthy winner of our 2019 critics’ poll.”

BARRY

Barry was the top pick of the year for three separate AV Club critics: Baraka Kaseko, Erik Adams, and Sam Barsanti. This pitch-black comedy stars Bill Hader as Barry, a depressed war-vet-turned-hitman who takes up acting while on assignment in LA.

PEN15

AV Club reviewer Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya chose Pen15 as her top pick of 2019. The comedy series follows 13-year-old besties Maya and Anna [played by 32-year-old co-creators Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle) as they navigate – and try to survive – seventh grade and puberty. AV Club called it “one of 2019’s most delightful surprises … a hilariously insightful and refreshingly heartfelt look at adolescence in the early 2000s.”

EUPHORIA

Nicky Idika of Pop Buzz picked Euphoria as her favourite show of the year, praising the performances of its lead stars as “phenomenal” and saying, “The show’s cultural impact is already apparent. Euphoria deliberately avoids a sanitised view of modern teen life and, instead, eagerly leans into the drugs, the sex, the risky behaviour, and the toxic co-dependencies.”

RAMY

Ramy stars 2020 Golden Globe winner and stand-up comedian Ramy Youssef as Ramy Hassan, a first generation Egyptian-American in politically-divided New Jersey, where he’s caught between a Muslim community that thinks life is a moral test and a millennial generation that thinks life has no consequences.

THE GOOD FIGHT

Entertainment Weekly’s Darren Franich has been telling everyone he knows to watch his favourite show of last year, The Good Fight, a “smartly hilarious legal drama” whose creators, he says, “are having too much fun throwing axes at the American apocalypse.”

PERPETUAL GRACE

Perpetual Grace was the year’s favourite show for Entertainment Weekly’s Kristen Baldwin, who called it a “strange and wonderful saga” with “a story that unfolds like a Rube Goldberg contraption” and an ensemble cast “stuffed with excellence”.

THE DEUCE

The third and final season of The Deuce got the top vote from AV Club’s Vikram Murthi. Oscar nominee Gyllenhaal plays Candy, a porn director struggling to maintain her artistic integrity in an industry that is quickly devolving. As AV Club reviewer Noel Murray put it, “She shouldn’t just win a trophy, she should have one named after her.”

SURVIVING R. KELLY

Alicia Rancilio of Associated Press picked documentary series Surviving R. Kelly as the top show of the year, saying, “No other series made the kind of real world impact that this one did.”

And in case you hadn’t figured it out yet, all the above is available for your viewing on Showmax, which also has the Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland, Spanish/English horror comedy series Los Espookys, anti-war comedy-drama Catch-22, and Season 4 of Adult Swim animated comedy Rick & Morty, among other hit shows from 2019 (a year full of great TV shows evidently). See the full breakdown from Metacritic here.