What to Watch brings you a selection of unmissable TV and streaming picks each month, from drama to documentary and comedy across the BBC, Channel 4, Apple TV+, Netflix and more.
Sky TV
Mr Bigstuff
Series two
BAFTA-winner Danny Dyer (Rivals), series creator Ryan Sampson (Brassic, Plebs), and Harriet Webb (Big Boys, I May Destroy You) return for series two of Mr Bigstuff. Series one earned Dyer his first-ever BAFTA TV award for his performance as Lee Campbell, the estranged brother of Glen (played by Sampson). Set in suburban Essex, the series was a huge hit with audiences, becoming Sky Max’s highest-rated new original comedy in three years.
Series two picks up two weeks after the shocking news that the brothers’ dad’s not actually dead, and Lee and Glen are handling it very differently. But, with chaos mounting and questions piling up, the brothers unite on a mission to track him down. Meanwhile, Kirsty’s taking charge in the bedroom and the boardroom, but one poorly timed kiss—and a mysterious blackmailer—threaten to bring it all crashing down. With secrets spilling and tempers flaring, it’s only a matter of time before the family blows up—again.
Mr Bigstuff Series two premieres on Sky and NOW on Thursday, 24 July.
Apple TV+
Smoke
Three years ago, crime writer Dennis Lehane and actor Taron Egerton collaborated on the fantastic Apple TV+ crime drama Black Bird. Now, they are back with another true crime-inspired show that, following a slow-burn opening, quickly ignites to become a red-hot, unmissable thriller.
Exploring the world of arson investigation, Smoke introduces us to Dave (Taron Egerton), an arson investigator still troubled by a blaze that nearly consumed him when he was a frontline firefighter. Dave is investigating two serial arsonists, one who stalks “Trolleytown” and targets people in their houses, and another who enjoys burning down supermarkets and shops. Dave doesn’t want a partner and would rather the police stay out of his investigations, so when police detective Michelle Calderone (Jurnee Smollett) is assigned to work with him, he isn’t exactly thrilled by the support. And to be fair, the maverick Calderone would rather not be there either, as her own past haunts every decision she makes and every opportunity she has to build her career.
During the first two episodes, Smoke regularly feels like an average cop drama with a fiery twist. But hold onto your hats because this hot Apple TV+ drama is about to take more than a few sharp turns. By the fourth episode, everything you initially thought was true goes up in smoke as this beautifully crafted, directed, and performed tinderbox ignites.
Smoke is now showing on Apple TV+ in weekly instalments.
What to Watch – July 2025
ITV
Karen Pirie
Series Two
After her bittersweet success in series one, Karen Pirie (Lauren Lyle) has been promoted to Detective Inspector and seemingly given the authority she has long been fighting for. Just as she’s getting into the swing of her powerful new role, she is assigned an infamous unsolved case that will put her under intense scrutiny, from her boss, from the media, and ultimately, from sinister forces that would rather the past stay in the past.
The 1984 case of Catriona and Adam Grant has confounded investigators and intrigued the public like no other. Catriona (Julia Brown), the charming young heiress to a vast oil fortune, and her two-year-old son Adam, were brutally kidnapped at gunpoint outside a fish and chip shop in Fife. The ransom notes that followed stirred up an uncontrollable press storm, but when the culprits fell silent, the police faltered, and Catriona and Adam were never seen again.
Now, a man’s body has been discovered, with indisputable links to the original kidnapping. With the first piece of evidence in decades, Karen must assemble an unbeatable team alongside her sincere and lovable sidekick, DC Jason ‘Mint’ Murray (Chris Jenks) and the brilliant–but–romantically–complicated DS Phil Parhatka (Zach Wyatt). With the international renown of the kidnapping and the constant pressure from Catriona’s father, Sir Broderick Grant (James Cosmo), the team take on the biggest challenge of their careers to date. As Karen delves deeper into what happened in the autumn of 1984, political grudges and painful secrets reveal themselves, and it soon becomes clear that the past is far from dead.
Karen Pirie (series two) premieres on ITV and ITVX on Sunday, 20th July.
Prime Video
Heads of State
Like Deep Cover, Prime has released a cracking comedy-action movie straight to streaming, and like Deep Cover, it deserves a big-screen outing.
In Heads of State, the UK Prime Minister, Sam Clarke (Idris Elba), and U.S. President Will Derringer (John Cena) turn a not-so-friendly special relationship on its head when they become the targets of a powerful and ruthless foreign adversary. This adversary is more than a match for the two leaders’ security forces, but together, they just might stand a chance.
Allied with the brilliant MI6 agent Noel Bisset (Priyanka Chopra Jonas), Clark and Derringer go on the run, attempting to constructively work with each other for long enough to thwart a global conspiracy that threatens the entire free world. Heads of State also stars Paddy Considine, Stephen Root, Carla Gugino, Jack Quaid and Sarah Niles and is directed by Ilya Naishuller.
Streaming on Prime Video Now.
BBC
BBC Proms
The BBC Proms opens on Friday, 18 July, with Petroc Trelawny and Georgia Mann presenting the First Night of the Proms, broadcast that same evening on BBC Two. Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Chorus, with tenor Caspar Singh, baritone Gerald Finley and violinist Lisa Batiashvili – including the world premiere of The Elements by Master of the King’s Music Errollyn Wallen, commissioned by the BBC.
BBC Proms 2025 features The Great American Songbook and Beyond with Samara Joy, Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, The Traitors Prom presented by Claudia Winkleman, The Planets and Star Wars, CBeebies Prom: A Magical Bedtime Story, and so much more.
BBC Proms airs across BBC TV and Radio from Friday, 18 July.
What to Watch – July 2025
BBC
Live Aid at 40: When Rock ’n’ Roll Took on the World
This July, BBC Two and Radio 2 will commemorate the 40th anniversary of Live Aid, which took place on Saturday, July 13, 1985. BBC Two and BBC iPlayer will broadcast Live Aid at 40, revealing the behind-the-scenes story of the 1985 concert. Exclusive interviews feature iconic figures such as Bob Geldof, Bono, and Sting, alongside world leaders and Birhan Woldu, the woman who, as a dying child, became the enduring image of the Wembley concert and the famine.
Emma Hindley, BBC Commissioning Editor, said, “The series takes the audience on an irresistible and entertaining ride through the 40 years since the biggest live concert ever was shown on TV. Featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews with an array of stars of rock & pop, Live Aid at 40 revels in the music, unravels the politics and explores the legacy of Live Aid.”
Also coming to BBC Two in July is Live Aid: The Concert. On a dazzling summer’s day in 1985, the UK came to a standstill to watch a concert on the BBC – 16 hours of music performed by some of the world’s greatest artists, including David Bowie, Madonna, George Michael, Mick Jagger, Patti LaBelle, Phil Collins, Queen, Spandau Ballet, Sade, Sting, Status Quo, Tina Turner and U2. The concert was Live Aid, brought together by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure following the success of the Band Aid single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”
Approximately two billion people watched the broadcast in more than 100 countries. Now, for the first time since 1985, BBC Two gives viewers a chance to relive over 6.5 hours of extended highlights of the London and Philadelphia concerts, in addition to backstage footage, including interviews with Bono, Brian May, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Howard Jones, Roger Daltrey, Spandau Ballet, Sting, The Style Council and a transatlantic interview with Phil Collins on Concorde.
Jonathan Rothery, Head of BBC Popular Music TV, said, “This summer we’re delighted to be giving viewers a chance to relive one of the biggest concerts in history for the first time on TV since it was originally broadcast on the BBC. By providing over 6.5 hours of footage that was captured on the day Live Aid took place, we want viewers to feel transported back to 1985 and to enjoy all those classic songs that we all still know and love to this day as they were performed on that stage.”
Live Aid at 40: When Rock ’n’ Roll Took on the World airs on BBC Two and iPlayer.
Live Aid: The Concert airs on BBC Two in two parts on Saturday, 12th July.
What to Watch – July 2025
Netflix
Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers
Attack on London: Hunting The 7/7 Bombers is the story of one of the most devastating terror attacks on British soil and the ensuing three weeks of panic, paranoia and manhunts that changed Britain forever – told by those who lived it. On 7th July 2005, four British men detonated suicide bombs on the London transport system, killing 52 and injuring over 700. A failed second attack, two weeks later, triggered Britain’s biggest-ever manhunt and led to the fatal police shooting of an innocent man. As the country struggled to make sense of these shocking events, the authorities raced against the clock to stop further attacks.
Through exclusive interviews, unseen archives and powerful first-person accounts – including survivors, victim’s families, people who knew the bombers, police investigators, the lead explosives expert, the Prime Minister, the head of MI5, the family of Jean Charles de Menezes, key firearms officers, citizen heroes, and journalists and campaigners trying to uncover the truth behind those frenzied weeks – this gripping, immersive series puts us back inside the events, minute by minute, tracing the shockwaves of the attacks and the hunt to find those responsible. How and why did this happen?
From the BAFTA award-winning team behind Gun No. 6 and 24 Hours in Police Custody, on the 20th anniversary of 7/7, this 360-degree landmark series sheds new light on those unprecedented weeks and their impact today.
Streaming on Netflix now.
ITV
Noel Edmonds’ Kiwi Adventure
For our international readers who might be thinking, “Who the hell is Noel Edmonds?” Noel is a TV legend in the UK, an innovator whose past TV successes continue to shape modern output. Noel is a showman through and through, and it’s always been tricky to separate the man from his TV persona. In recent years, Noel’s newfound passion for crystal healing, cosmic ordering, and energy systems has been met with laughs and derision. However, Noel, like a Weeble, may wobble, but he never falls down. Following his 2018 I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here appearance, he is back with a documentary (I use that word loosely) exploring his escape with his wife Liz (or Earth Angel) to an 800-acre patch of New Zealand where he intends to create a wellness centre, pub, energy garden and more; hell he even has a vineyard!
The truth is, love him or loathe him, Noel Edmonds understands great TV, and his Kiwi Adventure is just that. It’s almost as if Noel has taken the Crinkley Bottom set from his ’90s House Party and transported it to a tranquil corner of New Zealand, where the community have become his unwitting guests. It’s addictive, bonkers and brilliant TV, and it’s Noel, the showman, in all his glory as this white elephant of a retirement project teeters on the verge of disaster.
Don’t expect a documentary that finally allows you a glimpse of the real Noel Edmonds. After all, I’m not even sure the vivacious Noel knows who he is after all those years entertaining a nation; instead, just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Streaming on ITV X now.
MGM+
The Institute
In a brutalist building hidden from public view, deep in the Maine countryside, The Institute houses a group of exceptional young people from across the country, but none of these youngsters are there by choice; they are prisoners stolen from their families due to their abilities. Like Danny Torrance and Carrie White, these kids ‘shine’ and The Institute, led by the mysterious Ms Sigsby (Mary-Louise Parker), is determined to capture, test and harness that ‘shine’ at any cost to their young guinea pigs.
Young genius Luke (Joe Freeman) is the latest kid to find himself trapped in The Institute, stolen from his parents and the safety of his bedroom in the middle of the night after his telekinetic abilities were spotted by one of The Institute’s undercover officers. Meanwhile, in the nearby town, a once decorated police officer, Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes), has chosen a quiet Maine town as a bolt-hole and an escape from a past that continues to haunt his every choice, unaware of the horrors unfolding just a few miles away.
From director/executive producer Jack Bender (Mr. Mercedes, Under the Dome) and Benjamin Cavell (The Stand), the MGM+ Studios eight-part series is based on Stephen King’s 2019 novel.
The Institute premieres on MGM+ on Sunday, July 13th
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