Anne Rice’s An Interview with a Vampire comes to the UK, Futurama enters its 12th series, and father-son-duo Rob and John Owen Lowe are back for a second eccentric series at Dragon Enterprises.
Futurama: Series 12
Monday
Disney+
If Disenchantment is the past, and The Simpsons is the present, then Futurama is Matt Groening’s version of the future.
First airing in 1999, and with several stops and starts, the cartoon is now in its 12th series. One-eyed mutant human Leela (Katey Sagal, Smart House) and human Phillip J. Fry (Billy West, Space Jam) have been steadily building a relationship since series one, when Fry found himself in the year 3000, and Leela put him to work as a delivery boy.
Series 12 promises to revisit a classic episode – series seven’s finale. Titled Meanwhile, the episode saw Fry proposing to Leela whilst frozen in time, with them spending the rest of eternity together.
Unstable: Series Two
Thursday
Netflix
Rob Lowe (The Outsiders) returns as unstable entrepreneur Ellis Dragon. When his eccentricities become too unpredictable, the board of Dragon Enterprises start trying to push Ellis out. John Owen Lowe (Holiday in the Wild) steps in as Jackson Dragon, Ellis’ son, who is far more down to earth than his dad raised him to be.
Fleabag’s Sian Clifford plays Dragon’s CFO, who, in series two, is hoping Jackson will step up to the executive plate and take his dad’s position – much to Ellis’ distaste.
Celebrity Send Off
Thursday
Channel 4 (streaming)
ex-Olympian Kriss Akabusi and his daughter (Credit: Channel 4)
For the youthful ones among us who are blissfully ignorant of the Happy Mondays, you might need a bit of an introduction to Shaun Ryder and Bez. Shaun was the lead singer and potential leader of the late 80s ‘Madchester’ scene, and now frequents Gogglebox alongside Bez.
It’s hard to describe Bez. Not really a musician, but very much a part of the band, Bez was more of a maraca laden hype man. The duo have appeared together on Celebrity Gogglebox and now will be taking on a trickier challenge: Bez will be planning Shaun’s funeral.
Bez goes quite out of the box (or out of the casket?) with his planning, considering sending Shaun to space, putting his ashes in a drone, and a ‘rave to the grave.’
Interview With a Vampire
Thursday
BBC Two, 9.00pm
Anne Rice’s famous novel is brought to life for a second series. Journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian, Reptile) interviews vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson, Game of Thrones), who – nearly 50 years after they first met – finally wishes to tell the writer the truth.
In series one Louis recapped his toxic relationship with the vampire that turned him, Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid, The Newsreader). The struggling couple also turned a young girl, Claudia (Delainey Hayles, Holby City), to try and save the relationship, but it was to no avail.
In series two Louis and Claudia have escaped Lestat and fallen into the arms of the Theatre de Vampires in Paris. Although Claudia thrives, much preferring Paris to New Orleans, it is soon revealed that Lestat lingers on, as he is remembered as the finest performer the theatre has ever seen.
Miriam Margolyes: A New Australian Adventure
Friday
BBC Two, 9.00pm
Miriam Margolyes’ last trip to Australia resulted in a viral video, as she met the sistergirls of Tiwi Island. Where she initially made a faux pas, telling the group of trans women they would need to shave their beards to be considered female, the clip turned out to be a beautiful moment of acceptance and understanding.
This series Margolyes will be tackling the relaxed attitudes to soft drugs in Nimbin, initially feeling she had prejudice towards people who smoke marijuana or use other class Cs. Can the people of Nimbin change her mind on drug legalisation? We’ll have to watch to find out.
