Best international series to stream this April on Showmax

Here are some new titles to watch over the long Easter weekend. Happy Showmaxing!

Final seasons of Succession & Barry; new seasons of Yellowjackets, Gangs of London; first seasons of Irma Vep

YELLOWJACKETS S2 | First on Showmax | Stream the first episode, with more every Tuesday

Yellowjackets follows a high school girls’ soccer team that survives a plane crash in the 90s. The Yellowjackets barely made it through summer, but now, as winter begins to bite, we’ll see if hunger and desperation turn into full-on psychosis. Meanwhile, 25 years later, each survivor must determine if the darkness is coming for them or from them.

Yellowjackets’ first season was named Best Horror at the 2022 Critics Choice Super Awards and Best Drama at the 2022 Critics Choice Awards. It was also nominated for seven Emmys, including Outstanding Drama Series.

The new season sees Melanie Lynskey (Candy, The Last of Us) back in her Critics Choice and Critics Choice Super-winning role as Shauna, alongside Oscar nominee Juliette Lewis (Natural Born Killers) as Natalie, Christina Ricci (Wednesday) in her Emmy-nominated role as Misty, multi-award winner Tawny Cypress (The Blacklist: Redemption) in her Black Reel-nominated role as Taissa, and Jasmin Savoy Brown (Scream, The Leftovers) in her GALECA- and Queerties-nominated role as the young Taissa. This season also introduces Critics Choice winner Elijah Wood (Frodo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings trilogy) as Walter, a citizen detective who seems to know more than he should.

Season 2 is again a hit with the critics, with a 96% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As The Guardian says, “Juliette Lewis is sublime, Christina Ricci finds her perfect co-star [Elijah Wood], and you’re constantly kept on your toes with parallel timelines and tons of creepy thrills. What a follow-up!… This wonderfully imaginative sequel is even better than last time.”

SUCCESSION S4 | First On Showmax | Binge the first two episodes, with more every Monday

Created by Oscar nominee Jesse Armstrong (Veep), Succession has already won over 100 awards, including the Emmys for Outstanding Drama Series in both 2020 and 2022.

In Season 4 of HBO’s smash hit series, the sale of Waystar Royco to tech visionary Lukas Matsson (Emmy winner Alexander Skarsgård from Big Little Lies) is looming ever closer. It’s a prospect that provokes existential angst and familial division among the Roys as they anticipate their diminished cultural and political influence once the deal is completed.

Matthew Macfadyen and Jeremy Strong return to their Emmy-winning roles as Tom Wambsgans and Kendall Roy respectively this season, alongside Brian Cox as Logan Roy, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin as Roy siblings Shiv and Roman, Nicholas Braun as Greg Hirsch, and J Smith-Cameron as Gerri Kellman – all Emmy-nominated performances.

Season 4 has a rare 100% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Vulture calling the family drama series “a shining example of the best qualities of TV” and Indiewire hailing it as “the end all, be all of TV.”

BARRY S4 | First on Showmax | Mondays from 24 April

In the fourth and final season of HBO’s dark comedy Barry, Cousineau is hailed as a hero as Barry’s arrest has shocking consequences.

Bill Hader has already won two Emmys and two Critics Choice Awards as conflicted hitman-turned-actor Barry Berkman, the title character. As his acting coach Gene Cousineau, Henry Winkler has also picked up an Emmy and two Critics Choice Awards. Anthony Carrigan, Sarah Goldberg and Stephen Root also return in their Emmy-nominated roles as Noho Hank, Sally and Fuches.

Hader directs all episodes this season, with his co-creator, 23-time Emmy nominee Alec Berg (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Silicon Valley), once again co-executive producing.

Barry has won nine Emmys and 50 awards for its first three seasons. Variety hailed Season 3 of Barry as “a masterpiece…funnier and sharper than ever,” with “a remarkable performance by Hader’.” The Daily Beast called it, “the best show on TV,” and L.A. Times, “a masterclass… one of TV’s best suspense-filled thrillers.”

GANGS OF LONDON S2 | Mondays from 10 April

London is for the taking. Who will rise?

In the second season of Gangs of London, a new, darker era of chaos and turbulent power struggles comes to London. One year after the death of Sean Wallace, the surviving Wallaces are scattered, the Dumanis broken and estranged, and ex-undercover cop Elliot Finch (Critics Choice Super nominee Sopé Dìrísù from His House) is now being forced to work for the Investors. As the Investors look down on a city sliding into chaos, they decide enough is enough and bring in reinforcements to restore control. Old favourites and new players fight back against the new order, forcing sworn enemies to work together and family members to betray each other.

Nominated in Season 1 for Best Drama at the BAFTAs and an Emmy for its stunts, Gangs of London is created by Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery (The Raid) and stars BAFTA nominees Paapa Essiedu (I May Destroy You), and Lucian Msamati (His Dark Materials, Game of Thrones), as well as multi-award winners like Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark in Game of Thrones). BAFTA nominee Waleed Zuaiter (Baghdad Central, Altered Carbon) joins the cast this season.

Gangs of London has an 85% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In their four-star Season 2 review, The Independent (UK) says, “The series’ pleasures are unchanged by the years: impeccably choreographed fight scenes, quick-twitch pacing, and clever, immersive direction that takes suspense as its watchword.”

IRMA VEP | Binge from Friday, 7 April

Winner of Rotten Tomatoes’ Golden Tomato Award for the best limited series of 2022, Irma Vep stars Oscar winner Alicia Vikander as Mira, an American movie star disillusioned with her career and recent breakup who travels to France to star as Irma Vep in a remake of the French silent film classic, Les Vampires.

“The Golden Tomato Award here goes to creator Olivier Assayas’ sophisticated entertainment-industry satire that is a remake of his film about a remake,” says Rotten Tomatoes, calling the series “catnip for cinephiles and a welcome spotlight for the spellbinding Alicia Vikander.” Irma Vep has a 95% critics’ rating on the site.

Directed by Cannes and Venice winner Olivier Assayas (Clouds of Sils Maria), the eight-part limited series is based on his 1996 French film of the same name, which starred Maggie Cheung.

THE CLEANING LADY S2 | Binge from Thursday, 6 April 2023

The Cleaning Lady follows a whip-smart Cambodian doctor (Elodie Yung from The Hitman’s Bodyguard and The Defenders), who comes to the US for medical treatment to save her son. When the system fails and pushes her into hiding, she becomes a cleaner for the mob and starts playing the game by her own rules.

The Cleaning Lady won the 2022 Women’s Image Network Award for Drama Series and was nominated for a 2022 Hollywood Critics Association Television Award for Best Broadcast Network Series: Drama. The series has been compared to Breaking Bad, with Paste saying, “The Cleaning Lady is a fast-paced portrayal of a woman pushed to the edge and forced to contend with hard decisions for the wellbeing of her family… Yung’s central performance is filled with warmth, determination, and grit.”

Adan Canto (Designated Survivor) and Teen Choice Award winner Oliver Hudson (Nashville) return, with Emmy nominee Naveen Andrews (The Dropout, Lost) joining the cast this season.

Based on the Argentine series La Chica que Limpia, the Warners Bros. Television production has already been renewed for a third season by Fox.

LITVINENKO | Binge from Monday, 17 April

In the British true-crime drama Litvinenko, Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian spy and Kremlin critic, dies in a London hospital bed, but not before accusing President Vladimir Putin of his murder.

BAFTA winner David Tennant (Doctor Who, Broadchurch) stars as Litvinenko, with Margarita Levieva (The Deuce, Adventureland) as his wife, Marina.

Directed by BAFTA nominee Jim Field Smith (Truth Seekers, The Wrong Mans) and written by Black Reel nominee George Kay (Lupin), the four-part series also stars the likes of BAFTA nominee Barry Sloane (The Bay, Revenge), BAFTA Scotland winner Mark Bonnar (Shetland, Guilt), Sam Troughton (Mank, Chernobyl) and Simon Paisley Day (This England, Brexit: The Uncivil War).

Den of Geek calls it, “Line of Duty with a Russian twist”… “a bold, powerful, furious statement on high-scale corruption,” and, “an important, relevant drama.”

HOME ECONOMICS S1 | Binge from Wednesday, 26 April

The heartwarming – and often awkward – sitcom Home Economics centres on three grown-up siblings at vastly different ends of the financial spectrum, who find that family is still family – no matter who’s getting the cheque.

Season 1 has an 82% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with TVLine calling it, “a breezy watch with a casually zany hangout energy.”

Emmy winner Topher Grace (BlacKkKlansman, Spider-Man 3’s Venom) stars as eldest brother, family man and struggling author Tom, while YouTuber Jimmy Tatro (American Vandal) plays the super-wealthy youngest sibling, Connor, with Caitlin McGee (Mythic Quest) as middle child Sarah, a child therapist barely earning enough to feed her two adopted kids.

Sarah’s wife, Denise, is played by Sasheer Zamata (Woke), who was nominated for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series at the Women’s Image Network Awards, where Home Economics was also up for Outstanding Comedy Series.

The show’s impressive support cast also includes the likes of award-winning Mexican actress Karla Souza (How to get Away with Murder); six-time Emmy-nominated Nailed It! host, Nicole Byer; award-winner Lidia Porto (Get Shorty, Vida, Better Things); and Screen Actors Guild Award winner Justine Lupe (Willa in Succession).

TRANSPLANT S2 | Binge now

Dr Bash is back in Season 2 of the acclaimed Canadian hospital drama, Transplant. This season, the appearance of a woman from his past is set to upend life for Dr Bashir Hamed (Hamza Haq from Jett and This Life) as he tries to rebuild his career in the ER unit at York Memorial Hospital in Toronto after fleeing the Syrian Civil War.

In 2022, the series added eight Canadian Screen Awards to to its numerous accolades, including Best Drama Series, Best Lead Actor (Haq), Actress (multi-award winner Laurence Leboeuf from Three Pines), and Supporting Actress (BAFTA nominee and former BJJ World Champion Ayisha Issa from 12 Monkeys) in a Drama Series, as well as Best Writing for series creator Joseph Kay (This Life).

Already renewed for Season 3, the show sees BAFTA nominee John Hannah (The Victim, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) return as ER head Dr Jed Bishop, while Canadian Screen Award nominees Atticus Mitchell (The Hardy Boys, Fargo) and Gord Rand (Orphan Black) are among the new cast members this season.

Wall Street Journal called Transplant “the best medical show on American television”, with Globe and Mail praising its depiction of the “terror and frustrations that immigrants experience, trying to use their skills in a new country”, and Haq’s performance as “a solid leading man, giving Bashir a frazzled soulfulness, but never making him saintly.”

STREAM THE 2023 BAFTA NOMINEES ON SHOWMAX
The BAFTA TV Awards will celebrate the best of British television on 14 May 2023. Showmax is the African home of the two most nominated shows overall – The Responder and This Is Going To Hurt, which each have six nominations.

All the nominees on Showmax:
• The Responder, nominated for Best Drama Series, Actor (Martin Freeman), Supporting Actor (Josh Finan) Supporting Actress (Adelayo Adedayo), Writer (Tony Schumacher) and Original Music (Matthew Herbert)
• This Is Going To Hurt, nominated for Best Mini-Series, Actor (Ben Whishaw), Director (Lucy Forbes), Writer (Adam Kay), Editing (Selina Macarthur) and Casting (Nina Gold, Martin Ware)
• The English, nominated for Best Director (Hugo Blick), Actor (Chaske Spencer), Costume Design (Phoebe de Gaye), Original Music (Federico Jusid) and Production Design (Chris Roope)
• House of the Dragon, nominated for Make Up & Hair Design, Sound, and Special, Visual and Graphic Effects
• The White Lotus: Sicily, nominated for Best International and Supporting Actor (Will Sharpe)
• Julia, nominated for Leading Actress (Sarah Lancashire)
• Gangs of London, nominated for Make Up & Hair Design
• His Dark Materials, nominated for Special, Visual and Graphic Effects
• The Elon Musk Show, nominated for Original Music: Factual

EVERYTHING ON SHOWMAX IN APRIL 2023
To see everything on Showmax in April 2023, including The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, nominated as Best Comedy at the Critics Choice Awards and Best Action at the Critics Choice Super Awards, and Janet Jackson., nominated for a Black Reel Award for Outstanding Documentary, click here.

HIGH-RES PICS
Have you signed up for our new image library, Bynder? Sign up here for access to images from across the MultiChoice group.

Alternatively, download pics below:
• Yellowjackets here
• Succession here
• Barry here
• Gangs of London here
• Irma Vep here
• The Cleaning Lady here
• Litvinenko here
• Home Economics here
• Transplant here