Soon we’ll find out if hockey romance lightning can strike twice when Canadian Elle Kennedy’s steamy, internationally bestselling coming-of-age book series (following members of an elite college team) makes the leap to the screen with Off-Campus (May 13, Prime). Meanwhile, at the end of the month, the Heated Rivalry team will make their way to the Canadian Screen Awards (May 31, on CBC, Crave, CTV, Global, and STACKTV), to compete in 18 categories, and big-time hockey fan, Mike Myers, will be honoured with the Academy Icon Award. Until then, here is a roundup of May’s must-see TV, the top contenders for your viewing hours.
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed
The premise is classic: a woman is convinced she has witnessed a crime. The contemporary twist is that it relates to a relationship with her regular paid digital hookup (otherwise known as a cam-boy) and his, in turn, with an older benefactor. Canada’s own shapeshifting Emmy-winner Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) plays Paula, a newly divorced mother navigating delicate custody terms with her ex (New Girl’s Jake Johnson). Paula’s attention to detail – she’s a professional fact-checker – serves her well as she mounts her own investigation into what she saw, with the help of inquisitive co-workers and the one detective who believes her (Triangle of Sadness MVP Dolly De Leon). Be warned: this one’s addictive.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Apple TV+ starting May 20 (10 episodes)
The Other Bennet Sister
A sensation when it aired in the U.K. earlier this spring, this bittersweet 10-part BBC adaptation of Janice Hadlow’s Pride & Prejudice continuation novel (from 2020) focuses on Elizabeth Bennet’s socially awkward middle sister, Mary (Ella Bruccoleri of Call the Midwife). She’s bookish, overlooked by her father (Richard E. Grant), dismissed by her domineering mother (Ruth Jones) and, as a peripheral character, neglected by author Jane Austen in the original novel. After suffering on the sidelines through the courtship of her sister and Mr. Darcy, Mary dives into the marriage market of Regency London to avoid a precarious spinster fate. Self-actualization – and the attentions of a charismatic yearner (Dónal Finn) – are on the agenda. With Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) as Mary’s aunt/mentor and a lovely supporting turn by Lucy Briars (who played Mary in the 1995 P&P adaptation), there’s enough heartwarming resonance and period trappings to make it thoroughly diverting.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on BritBox starting May 6 (10 episodes)
Bon Cop, Bad Cop
In the 2006 reluctant-buddy-cop movie of the same name, one detective from Quebec and another from Ontario cross provincial, language and cultural divides to solve a murder. That simple premise led to Canada’s highest-grossing feature film of all time, spawning a 2016 sequel – and now a quasi-rebooted TV series. National treasure Patrick Huard is back as bad boy David Bouchard, but Mission: Impossible’s Henry Czerny steps into the role of his anglo counterpart Martin Ward (originated by Colm Feore in the film). And the action comedy is now trilingual (French, English and Mi’gmaq) as Bouchard and Ward work a case in the Indigenous communities of the Gaspé Peninsula.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Crave starting May 7 (6 episodes)
The Boroughs
Alfre Woodard, Geena Davis, Alfred Molina, Bill Pullman and Clarke Peters are ensemble leads in this new supernatural drama, in which the misfits of a retirement community band together to fight monsters – naturally, it’s from the producers of Stranger Things. “According to some very unofficial napkin math, our stars bring something like 350 years of craft,” the showrunners explain of a series billed as Ghostbusters all grown up. “We wanted to make one that teenagers could watch with their parents and their grandparents that everyone could enjoy.”
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix starting May 21 (8 episodes)
Legends
Successful undercover work requires years of skills training and honed technique in espionage and surveillance. But in this crime thriller, it’s just a motley crew of ordinary customs workers – who’ve taken a cursory boot camp – working the dangerous cases at Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise. British stars Tom Burke and Steve Coogan are among the guileless group sent to infiltrate the criminal underworld of drug smuggling. Like The Gold – made by the same producing company – this 1990s-set series is inspired by a true story of a similar undercover operation.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Netflix starting May 7 (6 episodes)
Spider-Noir
This detective series based on the Marvel comic follows a 1930s gumshoe (Nicolas Cage) “forced to grapple with his past life.” Intriguingly, this is the Oscar-winning actor’s first leading television role. And aesthetically, we’re drawn in by the fact that the series is available to stream in two ways: “Authentic Black & White” and “True-Hue Full Colour.” The representation of tone, contrast and colour in these modes is more complicated than simply flipping the switch on a filter as each medium is acknowledged as having entirely distinct artistic and technical challenges. In fact, from 1939 to 1966, there were separate Academy Award categories for colour cinematography, art direction, costume design, et al. Expect high production values.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Prime starting May 27 (8 episodes)
You’re Killing Me
Acorn TV drops several juicy new crime series for its annual Murder Mystery May event. Dark ’n’ stormy Summerwater, for instance, is based on the acclaimed novella set over a single miserable rainy day at a Scottish holiday camp. But for a more “upbeat” homicide, our pick is this New England cozy You’re Killing Me – a spiritual descendant of Murder She Wrote – starring and executive-produced by Brooke Shields. After the murder of a friend, Shields’s bestselling novelist character joins forces with a big-city transplant detective (Canada’s Tom Cavanagh of The Flash and Ed) to crack the case. It’s an amiable amateur sleuth romp.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Acorn TV starting May 18 (6 episodes)
Vitrerie Joyal (The Glass House)
Amazon MGM Studios first Canadian French-language original series captures a moment in Canadian cultural identity and history. Like his autobiographical series Les beaux malaises, Québécois comedy star and creator Martin Matte draws inspiration close to home for this personal story based on his father’s glazier business in mid-1990s Québec, perched between tradition and progress and struggling to evolve against the backdrop of the referendum on sovereignty. It’s handsomely directed by Empathie’s award-winning Guillaume Lonergan.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Prime starting May 1 (6 episodes)
Star City
Between the Ryan Gosling blockbuster Project Hail Mary and the goodwill from NASA’s Artemis II mission, interest in space exploration is soaring. Spun off from Apple TV+’s “what if” astronaut drama For All Mankind, this alternate-history paranoid thriller revisits the Cold War space race from behind the Iron Curtain, following the perspective of the Soviet mission staff, engineers and cosmonauts (played by BAFTA vets Rhys Ifans and Anna Maxwell Martin).
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Apple TV+ starting May 29 (8 episodes)
M.I.A.
The atmosphere of Michael Mann’s Miami Vice infuses this nocturnal vengeance tale (from the co-creator of Ozark) featuring the shadowy cartels of South Florida. After the brutal murder of her drug-running family members, Etta Tiger Jonze (Shannon Gisela) assumes a new identity in order to exact revenge on each of those responsible for their deaths (cue the elaborate setpieces). Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) is the detective on her trail and Miami Vice alum and acting powerhouse Edward James Olmos gives the project extra cred. This gritty series is bound to be your new binge crime drama.
WHERE TO WATCH: Streaming on Peacock starting May 7 (9 episodes)
