From Netflix's new female-led Western with Lena Headey and Gillian Anderson to the return of post-apocalyptic hit Fallout and the final ever episodes of Stranger Things.

On horseback and wearing big hats, Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey play two widowed matriarchs fighting over land and power in the American Old West of 1854. Headey is Fiona Nolan, owner of a cattle ranch and head of a tightly knit chosen family of outcasts. Anderson is the wealthy Constance Van Ness, determined to protect the mining fortune she inherited from her husband, which to her means taking Fiona's land. Christopher Keyser, the series' executive producer, has said that "in the middle of murder and revenge and a bit of illicit romance", the show delves into questions about family, moral choices, and survival. The title tells you that its sympathies lie with Fiona's family, The Abandons. But Constance's attitude and Anderson's delivery are also quite entertaining. When Fiona speaks up for her God-given rights, Constance icily replies: "If I knew I was getting a sermon, I would have worn my Sunday finery."

The Abandons premieres 4 December on Netflix internationally

Russell T Davies, who so brilliantly reinvigorated Doctor Who in 2023, has created this socially charged sci-fi spinoff as part of the Whoniverse. When the ancient species called Homo Aqua – the aliens formerly known as Sea Devils to Doctor Who fans – rise out of the ocean and engage with humans, they set off a global crisis. Russell Tovey, as Barclay, an agent of UNIT (United Intelligence Task Force) has to try to calm things down. Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Salt, the creature who is the aquatic ambassador to humans, and Jemma Redgrave is Kate Lethbridge-Stewart, the head of UNIT. "This is a huge, spectacular Christmas treat, with heroes and monsters and battles and romance, in a world on the edge of disaster," Davies has said. But it also has a message about the dangers of today. "We're already in a climate war. This just dramatises it," he told Radio Times about the threat from the sea.

The War Between the Land and the Sea premieres 7 December on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK and in 2026 on Disney internationally

Diane Kruger stars in this psychological thriller as Jess, part of a friend group with three other women who met over a decade before, when they were pregnant at the same time. Her life starts to unravel when she takes her small daughter to the hospital where Liz (Jo Joyner), one of those friends, happens to be the doctor on emergency call. When Jess can't explain how her child's serious head injury happened, Liz informs social services, and the suspicion and suspense ramps up all around. The show is based on Sarah Vaughan's bestselling 2020 novel of the same name, about loyalty, betrayal and motherhood, but its true appeal may lie elsewhere. When the series premiered in the UK earlier this year, the Telegraph called it "undeniably bingeable, mainly thanks to the madly luxurious lifestyle on display".

Little Disasters premieres 11 December on Paramount in the US and Canada and is........

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