Each month, new films and TV shows are added to Disney+‘s UK library. Here’s Eliza Janssen’s recommendations for the titles most worth watching. Scroll down for the full list of everything arriving on the platform.
Top picks
Koala Man (January 9)
That zany Adult Swim style animation meets your average Aussie suburb in renegade animator Michael Cusack’s silly new comedy. There’s big Aussie names (Sarah Snook! Hugo Weaving! Hugh Jackman as recurring character Big Greg, a “local fishing celebrity”!) and one of my favourite comedians, Demi Lardner, as Koala Man’s daughter. For you see, this Down Under superhero is just a slightly unhinged dad, trying and failing to improve his family’s modest lives by whacking on a shoddy koala helmet. Looks pretty fair dinkum.
Welcome to Chippendales: Limited Series (January 11)
This miniseries on the rise and dramatic fall of a male striptease revue entrepreneur promises to peel back the sexy, sweaty layers of an unlikely migrant success story. Kumail Nanjiani stars as Somen “Steve” Banerjee, an Indian immigrant who made it big by getting hot dudes to wear only a bow tie and cuffs on stage: but what goes up must come down. The rest of the cast is pretty fab too, including Juliette Lewis, Murray Bartlett, the very hard-working Dan Stevens and Andrew Rannells. You can leave your hat on while watching, if you like.
Extraordinary (January 25)
Chuck together Netflix’s renaissance of young Brit rom-coms like Sex Education and the X-Men and you get something like this: the charming sitcom shenanigans of a powerless young woman in a world where everyone else has sick superheroic abilities. Her hook-up can fly, and her mates can time-travel, channel the dead, and turn into pets. All she can do is hope that, at age 25, she’s a late bloomer…and that the real superpower is “being yourself”. Luckily, because this is a snappy and self-aware comedy, other characters quickly shut that dumb idea down in the promising show’s trailer.
All new titles arriving on Disney+ UK in January
January 1
Modern Family: Season 10
January 4
The Menu
Reservation Dogs: Season 2
Bob’s Burgers: Season 13 Premiere
January 6
If These Walls Could Sing
January 9
Tokyo Revengers: Season 2
Koala Man: Season 1
January 11
Welcome to Chippendales: Limited Series
Chasing Waves
Snowfall: Season 5
January 13
The Territory
The Flagmakers
Retrograde
Little Demon: Season 1
January 20
Idina Menzel: Which Way to the Stage?
January 25
Extraordinary: Season 1
