What to watch on streaming in November in Australia: Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon Prime and more

I LOVE LA (HBO Max, 3rd)

With a title like that, there’s no mistaking creator Rachel Sennott’s intention to make Los Angeles a character in this freewheeling and funny hangout series. In the vein of Girls and Insecure, it’s a show about young people bumbling their way through life, and when your best friend is sometimes your worst enemy. Sennott, one of the Hot Young Things of this era also stars in it alongside other cool kids including Odessa A’zion, Jordan Firstman and Josh Hutcherson.

PLURIBUS (Apple TV, 7th)

Pluribus had been pretty cagey about its premise until very, very recently but when your creator is Vince Gilligan, the man behind Breaking Bad and many of the best The X-Files episodes, you can be fairly confident that it’s going to be something different. The show stars Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul) as Carol, who seems to be the only person in the world immune to a virus that made everyone “content and optimistic”.

THE IRIS AFFAIR (Stan, 13th)

This British mystery thriller comes from Neil Cross, who is most famed as the creator of Luther, and who doesn’t love Luther. It stars Niamh Algar (Raised by Wolves) as a genius mathematician and puzzle-solver who is recruited by a shady entrepreneur (Tom Hollander) to crack a series of codes that activates some big, important technology. She doesn’t trust his intentions are good so absconds with them, leading to a heightened chase across Europe.

STRANGER THINGS S5.1 (Netflix, 27th)

It’s the beginning of the end for Netflix’s enormous, and arguably among its most zeitgeist-penetrating, sci-fi series. The final season is scheduled for three separate drops and the first batch is this month. The plucky Hawkins gang will face off against the Big Bad of the Upside Down, Vecna, in one last battle. Hanging in the balance? Only the fate of the world. No biggie.

ALL’S FAIR (Disney+, 4th)

You know a show is going to have Ryan Murphy melodrama when its character names include Carrington Lane, Allura Grant, Liberty Ronson and Emerald Greene. That just screams, “We’re fierce!”. With a cast led by, ahem, Kim Kardashian, along with Glenn Close, Sarah Paulson, Niecy Nash and Naomi Watts, the primetime legal soap is about the heightened drama of divorce law. The knives are out, definitely metaphorically but given it is a Ryan Murphy thing, probably also literally.

DEATH BY LIGHTNING (Netflix, 6th)

The Americans are way too trigger happy when it comes to assassinating their presidents, and James Garfield was the second to be felled by a gunman. This series takes audiences back to the late 19th century to tell the story of Garfield (Michael Shannon) and his election win, and the man who would be his downfall, Charles Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen). The cast also includes Nick Offerman, Betty Gilpin, Bradley Whitford and Shea Whigham, and the show is produced by the Game of Thrones guys.

THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF S16 (Binge, 18th)

About bloody time. GBBO fans have been waiting and waiting and waiting to see the next round of souffles, Swiss rolls and meticulous petit fours, not even daring to Google anything baking-adjacent in case of spoilers. Sixteen seasons in, it’s still the closest you can get to your TV giving you a big, warm bear hug. Just being in its world of pastel fridges, earnest obsessions over cake crumb textures and celebration of skill and talent is pure, unadulterated delight.

THE BEAST IN ME (Netflix, 13th)

Claire Danes has reunited with her Homeland showrunner on this Netflix thriller but the mystery is less geopolitical and more personal. She plays Aggie, a grieving writer who has become isolated after a great tragedy. But a new neighbour in the form of Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys), a real estate mogul who was once the prime suspect in his wife’s disappearance, sparks something in her. She wants to write about him, he needs someone to reframe his narrative, but can she really trust someone with such a massive question mark over his guilt?

MALICE (Prime, 14th)

Casting Jack Whitehall in the role of a seemingly benign nanny who infiltrates a wealthy family with the intent of destroying them could prove to be a masterstroke. He’s made a career in not just comedy but playing up a manchild persona. If he can pull off this role of a sinister guy hiding in plain sight, then it’ll be a perfect subversion of expectations. Set against the world of privilege with lush mansions and Greek island getaways, Malice also stars David Duchovny and Carice van Houten.

A MAN ON THE INSIDE S2 (Netflix, 20th)

Ted Danson is never not charming, especially when he was roaming around the halls of a retirement home, trying to solve a mystery but really on a mission to make friends. The amateur detective action moves to a college campus in season two, returning Charles to the world of academia. The cast this season includes real-life wife Mary Steenburgen, as well as Jason Mantzoukas, Gary Cole, David Strathairn and Max Greenfield.

ALL HER FAULT (Binge, 7th)

Adapted from a bestselling novel, All Her Fault seems to have the beats of a TV show we’ve all seen before – a community rocked when a mother goes to pick up her son from a playdate only to discover he’s not there. Sounds trite. But given Sarah Snook not only starred in it but backed it as a producer, and shot the series in Melbourne, you have to believe there has to be some value in it.

LANDMAN S2 (Paramount+, 16th)

From the Taylor Sheridan stable of TV shows where men are manly, and owning land makes them even manlier, Landman was, not unsurprisingly, rather popular among male viewers. OK, OK, not just men, but it certainly reinforced certain notions of masculinity and the world. Starring Billy Bob Thornton and set in the oilfields of West Texas, it returns with more schemes, embezzlement accusations and fraud, plus new guest stars Andy Garcia and Sam Elliott.

DMV S1 (Binge, 11th)

If you’re looking for somewhere new to set a workplace comedy, why not look to Zootopia’s sloths for inspiration. America’s Department of Motor Vehicles are notoriously the place where urgency and purpose goes to die, so it’s a potentially interesting backdrop for the absurdities of work. On the one hand, this is a CBS comedy, and they tend to be canned and lame, but on the other, it stars Australian Harriet Dyer, who is wonderful. Could go either way.

PALM ROYALE S2 (Apple TV, 12th)

When you set a series among the wealthy elite of Florida in 1969, you know it’s going to be very extra. Palm Royale is definitely that with its colourful jump-off-the-screen production design and costumes. Every time you blink, there’s something new to look at, which makes it and its story of an upstart social climber trying to take over high society, overstimulating. The second season picks up after a scandal and a public breakdown leaves Maxine in a perilous position. Can she come back from it? Patti LuPone and John Stamos joins a cast that includes Kristin Wiig, Allison Janney and Laura Dern.

GHOSTS AUSTRALIA (Paramount+, 2nd)

Ghosts is becoming quite a little train that could. The original British series with its quirky premise – a young couple inherit a crumbling mansion that is haunted by a motley crew of ghosts who are bound to the house – found that it translates to almost any territory. This Australian version follows in the footsteps of American, German, Greek and French iterations. In a cut-throat property market, sharing your home with chatty spectres is better than not having one at all.

ALL CREATURES GREAT & SMALL S6 (Britbox, 11th)

When it comes to cosy, inoffensive, heartwarming British fare, it’s hard to go past All Creatures Great & Small. It’s just so wholesome. Set in the 1930s and 1940s in Yorkshire, it’s the smalltown adventures of a good bloke veterinarian saving animals, falling in love and solving local crises. It’s super low stakes and that’s exactly its appeal.

HURRY UP TOMORROW (Prime, 15th)

Look, you may have been so scarred by the catastrophe that was the HBO series The Idol that even the mention of Abel Tesfaye aka The Weeknd triggers an unpleasant visceral response. You can put that to the test with Hurry Up Tomorrow, an unusual experiment in that it is both psychological thriller movie and a companion piece to his 2025 album. He plays a version of himself that gets pulled into a strange odyssey with a fan. It also stars Jenna Ortega and Barry Keoghan.

HE HAD IT COMING (Stan, 20th)

The intentions were good. It was meant to be a piece of activist art to support feminism, but then it was co-opted by a killer. Zut alors! What are the two women behind the artwork to do but get themselves embroiled in a murder mystery? This Australian comedy stars Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Lydia West and Liv Hewson.

CRIME NIGHT! (ABC iview, 5th)

Oh hey, another panel show! The favourite genre of free-to-air networks who can no longer afford to churn out more expensive scripted programs. But at least this one is hosted by the always fabulous Julia Zemiro who leads a panel of expert criminologists and comedians to explore the one topic that seems to fascinate so, so many: true crime. It’s like getting caught in that conversation at the pub, except with more interesting people.

BUMP: A CHRISTMAS FILM (Stan, 30th)

The Bump family always had one more adventure left in store for its fans: a Christmas tale. The bells are jingling and chaos reigns with this special chapter set between episodes nine and 10 of the final series, and it blends the traditions of a classic Australian celebration with elements of Colombian culture, as befitting the multicultural heart of the show. Returning cast members include Nathalie Morris, Carlos Sanson Jr, Claudia Karvan and Angus Sampson.

WICKED: ONE WONDERFUL NIGHT (7plus, 18th)

Wicked: For Good is almost upon us and never underestimate the movie sensation for its ability to market itself. The two-hour special will see Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, alongside cast members Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang and Marissa Bode take part in a night of musical stage numbers, as well as interviews and sneak peeks of what’s ahead. It was filmed at Dolby Theatre in LA.