Best new movies and TV series on BINGE: January 2023

Each month, new films and TV shows are added to BINGE’s library. Eliza Janssen presents her picks for titles worth watching. For the full list of everything arriving on the platform, scroll down.

Top Picks: TV

Happy Valley: Season 3 (January 12)

The title of this celebrated British cop drama gives away something of its unusual tone. Starring Sarah Lancashire as an ever-capable inspector, the last two season of Happy Valley managed to fit some dark laughs in with its regular atmosphere of murder and grimness. The hard-working protagonist has plenty of doom and gloom to deal with even when she’s off the clock, still suffering from her teen daughter’s suicide and the sweet grandkid she left behind. It’s far less blokey and sterile than many of these crime shows exported from the UK, and Lancashire anchors every bleak moment.

The Last of Us: Season 1 (January 16)

One of the year’s most anticipated series arrives pretty early on BINGE, after angry gamers have been begging for it for years. Created by Chernobyl scribe Craig Mazin and with a double-header cast of GoT fan faves, the post-apocalyptic video game adaptation should outdo the forgotten final seasons of that other zombie show, honing in on the strained father-daughter dynamic between grizzled survivor Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie, his young charge who may just be the key to humanity’s survival (Bella Ramsey). Prepare to cry, scream, and grab for a game controller near you to make these devastating plot turns go any other way (spoiler: it won’t work).

Velma: Season 1 (January 19)

Velma Dinkley has always been the most pivotal member of Hanna-Barbera’s Mystery Machine team. TBH the show should’ve been named after her, not that useless mutt Scooby-Doo. Finally she’s getting her own eponymous mystery-solving series, with Indian-American comedian Mindy Kaling voicing this new “tongue-in-cheek origin story” of the nerdy character. The supporting cast is pretty bomb, too, with plenty of sketch and sitcom talent as the remaining Mystery Inc. members and Weird Al Yankovic playing a character called…Dandruff Tuba. Nice.

Top Picks: Movies

Mulholland Drive (January 1)

Start your year off by sinking into David Lynch’s greatest cinematic nightmare. It’s one of those Hollywood-set movies about movies that sees everything beautiful and sinister and corrupt in the medium, using unparalleled sound design and an agonising lead performance from Naomi Watts to slowly draw us into a sickening dream state. It has my favourite jump scare in all of cinema, and like Betty and Rita, you might find yourself weeping for some subconscious reason at the Club Silencio song sequence.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (January 2)

This searing adaptation of Ken Kesey’s novel was the second film in history to win in all five big categories at the Oscars: Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Actor and Actress for a raucous Jack Nicholson and chilling Louise Fletcher. It’s still that impactful today, and perhaps even more so as we can know recognise the supporting kooks in the mental institution ward: Christopher Lloyd, Danny Devito, and a heartbreaking early Brad Dourif role. PC it ain’t, but Cuckoo’s Nest continues to typify the prison film genre’s pet themes of freedom and friendship, with an added perspective on neurodivergent masculinity.

Top Gun: Maverick (January 19)

If it weren’t for Avatar 2, this would be 2022’s biggest action blockbuster: as it stands, though, it’s certainly the most fist-pumpingly patriotic and bro-y. Now streaming, you can see the epic sequel’s nameless objectified baddies and personable, nicknamed heroes, dropping bombs and doing donuts in the sky in the name of…’Murica? Tom Cruise continues to dazzle us well into middle-age, grinning and charming his way through some of the most terrific action sequences of the 21st century, and Miles Teller is a nice addition to the cast as the son of his fallen buddy Goose. Val Kilmer also puts in an admirable cameo as an older, wiser Iceman.

All titles arriving on BINGE in January

January 1

Lizzo: Live In Concert
Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Open Season 3
Labyrinth
Mulholland Drive
Jurassic World: Dominion

January 2

Happy Valley: Season 3 Premiere
Call The Midwife: Season 12 Premiere
Taskmaster UK 2023 New Year Treat
One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest
Horrid Henry The Movie

January 3

Silent Witness: Season 26 Premiere
Bake Off: The Professionals: Season 7 Premiere
Taskmaster: Seasons 7 – 9
Taskmaster: Seasons 12 – 14
Taskmaster: Champion of Champions 2
Tacoma FD: Seasons 1 – 3
The Horne Section: Season 1
WWE Raw: Season 2023 Premiere
WWE Raw Talk, Season 2023 Premiere
How To Talk To Girls At Parties
Boiler Room

January 4

Afterburn: Season 23 Premiere
WWE Nxt: Season 2023 Premiere
S.W.A.T.: Seasons 1 – 5

January 5

The Carrie Diaries: Seasons 1-2
WWE SmackDown Highlights: Season 2023 Premiere
Miz & Mrs: Season 3
Messyness: Season 2
Kids Behind Bars: Life Or Parole: Season 2

January 6

Sex Diaries: Season 1
Kendra Sells Hollywood: Season 1 Premiere
WWE Raw Highlights: Season 2023 Premiere
Bottom Line: Season 2023 Premiere
No Way Out: Season 1
Why Do The Brits Win Every War: Season 1
A Long Way Down

January 7

Death In Paradise: Season 12 Premiere
WWE SmackDown: Season 2023 Premiere
This Week in WWE: Season 2023 Premiere
WWE The Smackdown Lowdown: Season 2023 Premiere
The Frozen Ground
Brooklyn
Calvary
Carol
The Son Of Bigfoot

January 8

The Great North: Season 3 Premiere
WWE NXT Level Up: Season 2023 Premiere

January 9

NCIS: Season 18
Who Killed Biggie & Tupac?: Season 1
WWE Crown Jewel: Season 1
WWE Rivalries: Season 1
Black Mass
Happy Death Day 2U

January 10

The Great Canadian Bake Off: Season 3 Premiere
C.B. Strike. Troubled Blood: Season 3
Earth’s Great Rivers: Season 2
Astro Boy: Seasons 1-2
The Critic: Seasons 1-2
Barred 2022
Spider-Man All Roads Lead To No Way Home

January 11

The Spectacular Spider-Man: Season 1
24 Hours In Emergency: Season 14
River: Season 1
Swamp People: Season 13
WWE Battleground: Season 1
WWE Fastlane: Season 1
Dogfight

January 12

Velma: Season 1 Premiere
Secrets Of The London Underground: Season 1
WWE Backlash: Season 1
WWE Summerslam: Season 1
WWE Elimination Chamber: Season 1
WWE Wrestlemania: Season 1
The Boss Baby
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie

January 13

Buffering: Season 1
Not Going Out: Seasons 1-12
Grand Designs UK: Season 20
Superstar Ink: Season 1
Endangered (2021)
WWE Clash Of Champions: Season 1
WWE Extreme Rules: Season 1
Charlotte Gray
Half Baked
The Snowman

January 14

Siesta Key: Season 5 Premiere

January 15

Vardy v Rooney: A Courtroom Drama: Season 1
Minions: The Rise Of Gru
The Secret Garden (1993)
Alone Together
Forrest Gump

January 16

The Last Of Us: Season 1 Premiere

January 17

Teen Mom: Family Reunion: Season 2 Premiere
Teen Mom Girls’ Night In: Season 2 Premiere
Wipeout: Season 9
Law & Order: SVU: Season 19

January 18

My Years With The Queen
Fear Factor USA 2.0: Season 1
Table For 3: Seasons 1-6
Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood: Season 3
WWE Payback: Season 1
WWE Money In The Bank: Season 1

January 19

In Your House: Seasons 1-3
Top Gun: Maverick

January 20

The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent

January 23

Broadchurch: Season 1

January 24

Law & Order: Criminal Intent: Seasons 1-5
24 Hours In Emergency: Season 6
Vincent: Season 2
Darcey & Stacey: Season 2
WCW The Great American Bash: Season 1
Dragons’ Den: Season 19