Forget about the beach/mountain/bender you were planning to be on right now and focus on these new treats coming to your TV in July

Cursed

A new take on the legend of King Arthur, Cursed tells the story of Excalibur, Merlin and the knights who say “Ni” (not really) as seen through the eyes of a gifted young woman who eventually becomes the Lady of the Lake. The inimitable Peter Mullan stars as the big bad king trying to hunt her and her kin down.

S1/ Netflix, 17 July

Japan Sinks: 2020

Think this year couldn’t get any worse? How about a series of earthquakes turning your life quite literally upside down? That’s the story in the Ronseal-named Japan Sinks: 2020, a new 10-part Netflix anime series in which a family attempts to escape a ravaged Tokyo before the whole country falls into the ocean. Cheery stuff!

S1/ Netflix, 9 July

Muppets Now

The first new show featuring Jim Henson’s fuzzy creations in over four years, Disney’s 10-minute improvised sitcom series stars a host of old favourites and a gaggle of new faces. While the likes of Frank Oz are no longer involved, the interesting format might just bring back the chaotic Muppets of old. We can but hope.

S1/ Disney+, 31 July

The Old Guard

Working as a mercenary when you literally cannot die? That sounds like an extremely lucrative career… and in this adaptation of the popular graphic novel, Charlize Theron and co have been raking in the readies for a few hundred years. But when their powers of immortality are exposed, the crew seek vengeance in classic action-flick fashion…

Film/ Netflix, 10 July

The Umbrella Academy

The superpowered Hargreeves siblings find themselves back in the 1960s, scattered, and once again facing an apocalypse - the apparent result of their messing with the timeline. Can they reunite and avert annihilation once more? Probably, yes - but you’ll have to watch the second season of this graphic novel adaptation to be sure.

S2/ Netflix, 31 July

It Chapter Two

You’ll find scares aplenty in this sequel to 2017’s It adaptation. The kids who defeated Pennywise back in the ’80s have now grown up and left town, but the terrifying demon-clown isn’t resting in peace. This thoughtful reworking of the Stephen King classic will get you shivering no matter how warm it is outside.

Film/ Now TV, 10 July

DON’T MISS THIS

The Plot Against America S1 / Now TV, 14 July

Philip Roth’s alternative history novel gets the HBO treatment in this glossy six-part miniseries from David Simon. Set in the 1930s, it chronicles the USA’s descent into fascism via the election of real-life Nazi sympathiser Charles Lindbergh, as seen from the perspective of a working-class Jewish family in New Jersey. You don’t have to be a genius to see why HBO chose to make this series in 2020; but as with Simon’s masterpiece The Wire, it clothes its powerful political message in a riveting story. Plus Winona’s in it.