Best Disney Plus shows - originals and returning favourites

Before he was Star Wars’ jackbooted, imposing arch-villain, Darth Vader was a hero called Anakin Skywalker – and Anakin, like any Jedi worth his kyber crystals, had a young apprentice who he taught in the ways of the Force, the lightsaber and (most crucially of all) Jedi robe-swishing 101.

Now, Anakin’s apprentice Ahsoka – an alien character who wasn’t in the Star Wars movies, but has appeared in a few of the Disney+ TV shows – has her own adventure. At this point, Vader is long dead, but Ahsoka (Rosario Dawson) is keen that nobody tries to continue his dark legacy. Cue spaceship chases and twirling laser swords as she takes on the forces of evil, and meets a few familiar faces from her past.

Huw Fullerton

The conspiracy theory industry in the US feels much more loaded and pernicious these days than it did when The X-Files made its debut 30 years ago. Now, it’s all talk of stolen elections and secret cabals of child abusers. But oh, for more simpler times when all that preoccupied fringe FBI agent Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) was the threat of an alien invasion being hushed up by shadowy forces at work in the government. He believed wholeheartedly that the truth was out there, despite partner and sceptic Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) doing her best to debunk his outre ideology. The rest is the stuff of cult TV legend.

David BrownWhy watch The X-Files?

After eight years away, one of US television's best anti-heroes is back - and his twinkle is undimmed. Timothy Olyphant is Deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens, relocated from Kentucky to Florida but fated to head to Detroit on the trail of a ruthless criminal. With a teenage daughter to look after - chemistry is guaranteed there, since she's played by Olyphant's own daughter, Vivian - and more fresh blood in the cast, the new show successfully reboots and updates a classic without losing its tough old smarts.

Jack Seale

The White Lotus is a strong influence on this US mystery drama, although it's based on a 2020 novel by Alexis Schaitkin. Multiple timelines deal with the before and after of an unexplained death: that of a young white American, on holiday with her family at a luxurious Caribbean resort. Scenes set both at the resort and 20 years later, as the dead woman's younger sister looks again for answers, build up a morass of possibilities.

Jack Seale

Some fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe have taken issue with the franchise's increasingly silly tone as of late, with Thor: Love and Thunder, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania all veering off into truly daft territory.

Those craving more serious comic book storytelling may find Secret Invasion to their liking, with its spy thriller sensibilities attempting to recapture the magic of 2014's acclaimed Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Samuel L Jackson and Ben Mendelsohn lead the cast as longtime allies Nick Fury and Talos, the latter of whom is a shape-shifting Skrull who settled on Earth in the 1990s with many more of his people. However, some have now become disillusioned with humanity, after a promise to find them a new homeworld went entirely unfulfilled.

A revolutionary by the name of Gravik (Kingsley Ben-Adir) is taking matters into his own hands – and the consequences could be dire.

Watch out for performances from Academy Award winner Olivia Colman and Game of Thrones icon Emilia Clarke, who are making their Marvel debuts here.

Rob Lowe leads an emergency-procedural drama that was co-created by Ryan Murphy and which adds plenty of character drama, via a diverse supporting cast, to its sequences of death-defying, or often quirky, rescue. As season four resumes, Owen (Lowe) – a New York firefighter, 9/11 hero and cancer survivor relocated to Austin, Texas with his troubled adult son – is worried that his wealthy new girlfriend is treating him like an escort. But could she be useful for his charity fundraising? An elderly woman, meanwhile, baffles paramedics until they deduce she has 12 contact lenses stuck in her eye.

Jack Seale

Television loves a movie spin-off/sequel these days, but they rarely have such a direct link to the original film: 26 years since the film The Full Monty introduced us to a gang of ex-steelworkers in Sheffield, forming a striptease troupe to try to make ends meet, the same characters are back, played by the same actors. As the first episode makes clear with its montage of real-life politicians emptily promising to improve life in the post-industrial North, the underlying theme of people left to cope with their dwindling prospects remains. As the lads and their loved ones get into a series of light comedy-drama scrapes, the portrayal of a society that has simply abandoned these characters is unflinching. Sometimes that's an uneasy mix, but when The Full Monty is funny it's hilarious, and when it's hard-hitting it's devastating.

Jack Seale

From Australia, a highly atmospheric psychological thriller inspired by the real New Age group the Family. Teresa Palmer (A Discovery of Witches) plays a woman whose youth was spent as a member of a cult, with a mysterious female leader (Miranda Otto) and an army of spookily blond children - an organisation which may now be linked to the disappearance of a schoolgirl. Guy Pearce co-stars in a drama that scores strongly on creepy, crepuscular visuals.

Jack Seale

They're back! Or at least, the house band from the original Muppet Show have a new spin-off series. Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem have been on tour ever since, but have never recorded an album. Could this be an opportunity for struggling record executive Nora (Lilly Singh) to score her big break? When the Mayhem move in, Nora realises she has taken on a unique project. Not all the Muppets' recent TV reboots have worked, but this jovial musical sitcom is a hoot, ably mixing human and puppet characters and studding its script with sly gags about the golden era of rock and roll. Look out for some great self-deprecating celebrity cameos too.

Jack Seale

The American remake of Ghosts wasn't great, but this sitcom's spin on only one character being able to see the dead people creates breezy, likeable comedy. Gina Rodriguez, once of Jane the Virgin fame, is a reporter who has just taken an ill-advised career break and has been demoted to writing obituaries, which is upsetting enough before the subjects of her tributes start haunting her and offering much-needed life advice. Rodriguez is nicely energetic in the lead, and plenty of the jokes about pretentious or monstrous journalists hit the target.

Jack Seale

Many people will undoubtedly tune into this new action-comedy series for the on-screen reunion of the Everything Everywhere All At Once cast (Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu and James Hong all star) but the focus of the series should really be on the two young leads, Ben Wang as Jin Wang and Jimmy Liu as Wei-Chen.

When Wei-Chen comes to Ben’s school as an exchange student, Ben is unhelpfully urged by teachers to make friends with Wei-Chen because he too is from a Chinese family. But boy is he in for a shock. You see, Wei-Chen isn’t from this world at all and is actually on a mission to stop an epic uprising against Heaven. It’s a heartfelt and hilarious tale but is also poignant and action-packed – we’d expect no less from the director of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, after all.

Morgan Cormack

This National Geographic drama has been released in weekly episode instalments, making for the perfect kind of release for such a thought-provoking and important look into real historical events.

The new series stars Bel Powley, who many will recognise from Everything I Know About Love, as Miep Gies, a secretary who helped to hide Otto Frank and his family from the Nazis in the Second World War. The series explores the responsibility and pressure that Miep and her husband Jan (Joe Cole) were under as they strive to protect the Franks and others during one of the darkest moments in history.

Morgan Cormack

Octavia E Butler’s revered 1979 novel is updated to the present day and expanded to create an intense science-fiction drama. Black wannabe screenwriter Dana (Mallori Johnson) is in the process of starting a new life, having moved to Hollywood for work and started a relationship with her white boyfriend Kevin (Micah Stock). But then dreams, visions or perhaps time travel pitches her onto a 19th-century slave plantation. The metaphor about the legacy of slavery and how it affects the black experience today transfers strongly to the screen; fans of the book may however balk at some of the plot and character additions.

Jack Seale

Some of the scripting, directing and songwriting talent behind Hamilton, The Book of Mormon and Tick, Tick… Boom! is involved in this fresh new musical comedy, set in New York in 1999. Mae Whitman is Lindsay, a wannabe writer whose big move to the city is complicated by meeting the charming Miguel (Carlos Valdes). What makes navigating romance more difficult for them both is that their inner voices, the thoughts and feelings that plague them with self-doubt and indecision, are very talkative – which we at home know, because they’re characters we can see and hear. It’s a neat idea that gives an old romcom set-up a new twist.

Jack Seale

If you’re a fan of a workplace comedy, then you need to start streaming Disney Plus mockumentary Abbott Elementary.

Created by and starring Quinta Brunson, the series follows teachers working in an underfunded state school based in Philadelphia as they try their best to teach their students with the few resources they have whilst navigating teachers’ lounge politics and educational bureaucracy.

With the likes of Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter and Sheryl Lee Ralph making up the ensemble cast, Abbott Elementary is your classic “nicecore” sitcom (the genre of television made popular by Ted Lasso), full of heart-warming moments, witty repartee and important criticisms of the American education system.

Writer Tracy McMillan has drawn on her own experiences for this bittersweet half-hour dramedy. Kerry Washington is a relationship therapist and single mother whose already chaotic attempts to achieve perfection in all aspects of her life are thrown into total disarray when her father (Delroy Lindo) moves in, having just completed a prison sentence. Strong lead performances power a show with plenty to say about modern family relationships and whether it matters when cherished life plans are forced to change.

Jack Seale

Police procedural dramas continue to be some of the biggest hitters on TV and this time round, this new series follows Special Agent Will Trent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations.

Played by Ramón Rodríguez (The Wire), Trent has the highest clearance of anyone in the GBI and is intent on making a difference in his career, ensuring that no person is abandoned like he was as a child in the overwhelmed Atlanta foster care system.

Based on the bestselling novels by Karin Slaughter, the series is gripping from the offset, especially in the way that Trent is framed as the (at first) disliked cop. But we soon follow him and his small team as they solve crimes and explore parts of their own personal lives.

Morgan Cormack

Writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner brings her own much-discussed 2019 novel to the small screen, making heavy use of narration to create the not-unpleasant feeling that we are watching a book. Manhattan doctor and dad of two Toby Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg) has just emerged from a bad marriage to the apparently hideous Rachel (Claire Danes); he is just starting to enjoy a new life of one-night stands and rekindled old friendships when a mysterious event causes him to re-evaluate.

What seems like naughty fun proves to be an astute, bracingly honest take on class and careers as well as life and love in one’s 40s.

Jack Seale

From executive producers Tracee Ellis Ross and Michaela Angela Davis, this new docuseries has just landed on Disney+ UK and is a must-watch celebration of Black beauty and identity.

In the series, beauty ideals, society and history are interrogated through the lens of Black hair, making for an honest and multi-layered look into the complexities of Black hair culture. As well as being an incredibly important and necessary look into Black women’s identity, creativity and contributions to society, the series also features stories from notable Black female figures such as Oprah Winfrey, Issa Rae, Chlöe Bailey, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Marsai Martin and Chika.

Morgan Cormack

The National Treasure movies, released in 2004 and 2007, enjoyed good box-office returns despite critics dismissing them as a samey take on Indiana Jones/Da Vinci Code relic-hunting. Now there’s a new adventurous antequarian to follow: the previously unknown Lisette Alexis is Jess, a crack puzzle-solver whose curiosity and murky family history lead her into a world of secret rooms, dusty books and priceless artefacts from the highest echelons of American history. Harvey Keitel reprises his film role, with Catherine Zeta-Jones lending a cheesy but energetic enterprise some extra star pizazz.

Jack Seale

It’s taken a while to get to the UK but the fourth season of Good Trouble is here and it’s set to be another heavy dose of big life decisions, lies and deceit. What more could we want?

While the series picks back up with Callie and Mariana as they embark on the next adventure in their lives in Los Angeles, we also continue to follow their group of friends as they all navigate life’s highs and lows, romances, challenges and much more. In this season, Mariana is tackling the male-dominated world of tech and Callie faces the harsh realities of the legal system as she becomes the clerk for a federal judge. With episodes landing each week, we know this is one series we’ll be counting down the days till streaming.

Morgan Cormack

Hilary Swank earned a Golden Globe nod for her performance in this US crime drama, which has finally made it to our shores courtesy of Disney Plus. The two-time Academy Award nominee plays Eileen Fitzgerald, a journalist who leaves a formidable career in New York City behind to start afresh in the snowy state of Alaska.

Joining the staff at a local daily newspaper, she seeks to redeem herself for past failings – both personal and professional – focusing her efforts on reports of missing and murdered Indigenous women; a storyline inspired by real cases reported by journalists in the city of Anchorage.

Grace Dove (The Revenant) co-stars as reporter Roz Friendly, a Native American who lost a family member to one such unsolved crime and is deeply invested in seeking justice.

It’s a hard-hitting subject matter, but Alaska Daily gives it the respect it deserves, delivering a thought-provoking story that raises awareness of a shocking issue and sums up the importance of quality journalism – particularly in small or remote communities.

Sometimes all you want from a TV show is a heavy dose of nostalgia, laughs and some great animation. That’s where the new The Proud Family series comes in.

If you watched the original, you’ll know that the coming-of-age comedy was a popular hit and in this new series, we see the same hilarious mishaps, issues and heartwarming moments revived once more. This is the second season of the new series, which follows 16-year-old Penny as she is navigating life in the 2020s.

Morgan Cormack