Here are our top picks of some of the best bits to engross yourself in this summer.
David Baddiel | My Family: The Memoir | 4th July | Fourth Estate
Inspired by his Olivier-nominated stage show, comedian, presenter and author David Baddiel returns with an honest yet humorous memoir all about his family and their experiences as a lower-middle-class Jewish family. The book offers both comedy and poignancy as Baddiel investigates his family’s past and openly talks about his mother’s affair and his father’s dementia, finding humour in the darker, less easy to talk about subjects.
Umbrella Academy | 4th August | Netflix
Fan favourite Umbrella Academy returns for a final season and follows the Hargreeves siblings trying to individually navigate their new normal without their powers after last season’s climax saw their timeline reset and their powers removed. Enemies want to see the siblings wiped from existence and strange new forces are conspiring around them. In the fourth and final instalment of the show, we’ll see The Academy risk upsetting the peace they’ve all endured so much to secure by coming together for one last time to finally set things right.
Robin and the Hoods | Summer 24 | Sky Cinema
For 11-year-old Robin and her friends, their imagination is their reality. Sticks and bin lids are swords and shields, the hippie woman that lives in the woods is a wicked witch and a patch of overgrown land at the end of their street (known as The Hoods) is a magical kingdom. When a property developer turns up and piques the parents’ interest with the promise of health spas and day-care facilities, the children’s pleading and protests to save The Hoods fall on deaf ears and so they must take matters into their own hands and defend their realm.
Time Bandits | 24th July | Apple TV
Terry Gilliam’s 1981 film Time Bandits has been reimagined for the small screen with this TV adaptation. The series (created for TV by Jemaine Clement, Iain Morris, and Taika Waititi) follows an 11-year-old, Kevin, who discovers a time-traveling portal in his bedroom and is recruited by a group of bandits (lead by Lisa Kudrow) embark on epic adventures and thrilling quests to save the world. Time Bandits promises fun for all the family with an unpredictable journey through space and time.
My Spy: The Eternal City | 18th July | Prime Video
In the sequel to 2020’s action comedy My Spy, veteran CIA operative JJ (Dave Bautista) and his stepdaughter turned protégé Sophie (Chloe Coleman) are back fighting crime when a high school trip to Italy is interrupted by a plot targeting the Vatican. When Sophie convinces JJ to chaperone her high school’s choir trip across the pond, the duo have to work together to save CIA chief David Kim (Ken Jeong) and his son Collin, who is Sophie’s best friend.