The Zone: What to listen, read, watch and stream this week

Now Streaming 

We Are Who We Are
BBC iPlayer
Ther drama focuses on two American kids who live on a fictional US military base in Chioggia, Italy in 2016. The series explores friendship, first love, identity, and immerses the audience in all the messy exhilaration and anguish of being a teenager – a story which could happen anywhere in the world, but in this case, happens in this little slice of America in Italy.

Industry
BBC iPlayer
Prove your worth. Five graduates want a job at a top investment bank - but the boundaries between colleague, lover and enemy blur.

Blumhouse’s Fantasy Island
Now TV
Dreams quickly turn into nightmares on a magical island resort in this horror adaption of the popular 70s TV show. With Michael Pena, Michael Rooker and Lucy Hale.

For Life
Now TV
US legal drama starring Nicholas Pinnock stars as wrongly imprisoned inmate Aaron Wallace, who becomes a lawyer while incarcerated and embarks on a quest for justice.

The Christmas Chronicles: Part Two
Netflix
Kurt Russell returns as Santa Claus, who has to prevent a mysterious troublemaker from stealing the Christmas star

Angela’s Christmas Wish
Netflix
Animated film about a girl who hopes to bring her family together for Christmas – a follow up to 2017’s Angela’s Christmas

Jojo Rabbit
Now TV
Hitler Youth cadet Jojo Betzler firmly believes in the ideals of Nazism manifested by his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler. However, his foundations are shaken when he finds a Jewish girl in his house.

The Hunt
Now TV
Eleven people wake up in a forest clearing with no idea how they got there. They later find out that they are part of a game in which rich elites hunt and kill humans for sport. But when Crystal – one of the selected victims – begins to fight back, it looks as though the hunters are to become the hunted.
 
The Good Lord Bird
Now TV
Based on the novel by writer and musician James McBride, this miniseries is set in the mid-19th century in the years preceding the American Civil War. The story is told from the point of view of a young slave who finds himself among John Brown’s group of abolitionist soldiers and becomes involved in the famous 1859 raid at Harpers Ferry.

The Princess Switch: Switched Again
Netflix
Vanessa Hudgens returns for a sequel to the 2018 film – this time playing three different characters.

Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square
Netflix
Festive musical film starring the iconic singer, about a woman planning to sell a small town without regard for the people who live there.

James May: Oh Cook
Amazon Prime
James May, aka Captain Slow is set to return to Prime Video with his brand-new cookery series, James May: Oh Cook.He’ll be cooking up some delicious recipes that will transport us to the Far East, the Med and the local pub –all from the comfort of your own home.
 
Military Wives
Amazon Prime
Following a group of women in England whose partners are away serving in Afghanistan. Faced with the men's absences, they form a choir and quickly find themselves at the centre of a media sensation. The story celebrates a band of misfit women who form a choir on a military base

Now Reading

Dearly: Poems
Margaret Atwood

By turns moving, playful and wise, the poems gathered in Dearly are about absences and endings, ageing and retrospection, but also about gifts and renewals. They explore bodies and minds in transition, as well as the everyday objects and rituals that embed us in the present. Werewolves, sirens and dreams make their appearance, as do various forms of animal life and fragments of our damaged environment.
Before she became one of the world’s most important and loved novelists, Atwood was a poet. Dearly is her first collection in over a decade. It brings together many of her most recognisable and celebrated themes, but distilled – from minutely perfect descriptions of the natural world to startlingly witty encounters with aliens, from pressing political issues to myth and legend.

The Art of Rest: How to Find Respite in the Modern Age
Claudia Hammond

Much of value has been written about sleep, but rest is different; it is how we unwind, calm our minds and recharge our bodies. The Art of Rest draws on ground-breaking research Claudia Hammond collaborated on: 'The Rest Test', the largest global survey into rest ever undertaken, completed by 18,000 people across 135 different countries.
The survey revealed how people get rest and how it is directly linked to your sense of wellbeing.
Counting down through the top ten activities which people find most restful, Hammond explains why rest matters, examines the science behind the results to establish what really works and offers a roadmap for a new, more restful and balanced life.

Now Listening 

I’m Not A Monster
BBC Sound – BBC Panorama and Frontline PBS
How did an American family end up in the heart of the ISIS caliphate?
Over four years, journalist Josh Baker unravels a dangerous story where nothing is as it seems.

How to Vaccinate the World
BBC Radio 4
Scientists are racing to create a vaccine to end the COVID-19 pandemic. But creating a workable vaccine is just the start. Tim Harford is your guide to this epic global understanding.

Tales by the Fireside
Joe Fireside

Weekly stories for both adults and children, specially crafted to help you sleep.
Old favourites, new creations, and interesting information carefully selected and lovingly read for you with the sole intention of giving you a good night’s sleep.

Top TV Picks

(BBC Pictures) 

Nativity!
BBC Two, Saturday
A primary school teacher is given the job of directing a nativity play and is determined to outdo a rival from a nearby private school.
When he dishonestly claims his ex-girlfriend is a Hollywood producer and is coming to see the show with an eye on making a film, he finds himself becoming a local celebrity. Comedy, starring Martin Freeman and Ashley Jensen.

Earth: One Amazing Day
BBC Two, Saturday
Feature-length wildlife documentary from the same team that made David Attenborough’s award-winning Planet Earth and Blue Planet documentaries, charting the story of life on Earth over the course of a single day. The film introduces viewers to a cast of characters including a baby zebra desperate to cross a swollen river, a penguin heroically undertaking a death-defying daily commute to feed its family, a family of sperm whales that like to snooze vertically and a sloth on the lookout for love. Narrated by Robert Redford

Tyson Fury: The Gypsy King
ITV, Sunday
The heavyweight celebrates a victory over Tom Schwarz in Las Vegas by enjoying a night of heavy drinking back home in Morecambe and video-calling rival Anthony Joshua.
This angers his wife Paris, who is reminded of his alcohol abuse during his years of depression, and Fury looks to make amends by treating the family to a day out in Blackpool and booking a family holiday.
The boxer then heads to Marbella with trainer Ben Davison, before preparing to face his next opponent Otto Wallin back in Vegas, in what proves to be a challenging fight

Anton Ferdinand: Football, Racism & Me
BBC One, Monday
The former professional footballer goes on a deeply personal journey to explore the issue of racial abuse in the game, talking about his own highly-publicised 2011 incident with ex-England captain John Terry. Anton confronts how the ripple effects of the incident and the online abuse he experienced not only affected his own mental health and career but also the lives of his loved ones. He reveals where he believes players are still being failed by the system, and the ways in which football urgently needs to change.

Great British Christmas Menu
BBC Two, Tuesday
Andi Oliver oversees proceedings as previous winners of the culinary contest prepare a feast for the heroes of the pandemic – beginning with a course of canapes.
In a twist on previous series, the eight cooks will be split into two teams of four and will judge the other group’s efforts in a blind taste test. Michelin-starred chef Lisa Goodwin-Allen will be joining the teams in the kitchen.