What to Watch in January 2025

Your guide to all the best new films and TV shows coming to screens in January....

Film

A Complete Unknown (January 17)

A must-see for any discerning Bob Dylan fan, this fascinating biopic of the pioneering folk musician is based on the 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric! by Elijah Wald and focusses on the early years of his career, beginning with his arrival in New York City and culminating in the events surrounding his controversial 1965 performance at the Newport Folk Festival, at which he premiered his new ‘electric’ sound.

Timothée Chalamet stars as the young Dylan and has already picked up several award nominations for his acclaimed performance, while other key players include Edward Norton as Dylan’s folk hero Pete Seeger, Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Scoot McNairy as Woody Guthrie and Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash. James Mangold, fresh from his last outing with India Jones and the Dial of Destiny, serves as director and also as co-writer alongside Jay Cocks, whose other credits include the Martin Scorsese films Silence and Gangs of New York.

Due to arrive in cinemas on January 17, A Complete Unknown joins a long list of recent musical biopics depicting everyone from Elvis Presley to Freddie Mercury, but it’s one of the better examples and certainly worth any music fan’s time.

The Brutalist (January 24)

Winner of three awards at this year’s Golden Globes, including Best Film and Best Actor for its leading man Adrien Brody, this extraordinary period drama from director Brady Corbet follows the story of László Tóth, a Hungarian-Jewish architect and holocaust survivor who emigrates to America after the war to begin a new life.

Detailing his struggles to build a reputation for himself amidst various trials such as heroin addiction and a wealthy yet abusive client (portrayed with palpable menace by Guy Pearce), The Brutalist is a thought-provoking and beautifully constructed rumination on the harsh realities of achieving the ‘American dream’ for the country’s immigrants. The trailer below gives little away, but don’t be surprised if the recent award wins are the first of many.

A Real Pain (January 8)

Best known for his on-screen roles in films such as The Social Network, Now You See Me and Justice League, Jesse Eisenberg has been quietly adding further strings to his bow - firstly as a writer for the theatre, with three published plays to his name already and a fourth on the way – and more recently as a director and screenwriter too, having made his debut in both capacities with 2022’s When You Finish Saving the World.

His second outing as writer-director is set to land in cinemas this month and co-stars Eisenberg alongside Succession’s Kieran Culkin, who just picked up a Golden Globe for his supporting role. The pair star as two estranged American-Jewish cousins who embark on a trip to Poland together to visit the hometown of their recently-deceased grandmother. While on a holocaust tour led by a British guide (Will Sharpe), the pair clash repeatedly, but the film charts their awkward, moving and frequently hilarious journey toward reconciliation – with themselves as well as each other.

Saturday Night (January 31)

As awards season looms large in the early months of the year, the cinema listings are often abnormally weighted with worthy dramas and heavy subject matter. While these films are undoubtedly worth your attention, light relief can sometimes be hard to find at the tail end of these cold winters.

Fortunately, help is at hand in the form of this riotous dramatic retelling of a momentous night in television history. Saturday Night Live has been a permanent fixture of America’s primetime entertainment schedule for five decades now and, in celebration of its 50^th anniversary, Jason Reitman directs this depiction of the chaotic events leading up the show’s first broadcast in 1975. Featuring an impressive ensemble cast that includes Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Dylan O’Brien, JK Simmons and Willem Defoe, Saturday Night offers an entertaining peek behind the curtain of one of television’s most enduring shows.

Presence (January 24)

Part thriller, part horror, Presence is an intriguing new film from director Steven Soderbergh and written by David Koepp, whose impressive screenwriting resumé incudes films such as Jurassic Park, Death Becomes Her and The Mummy.

Starring Lucy Liu, Julia Fox, Chris Sullivan and Callina Liang, the film tells the story of a family who move into a house in the suburbs, but a series of strange incidents soon leads them to believe that they are not alone in their new home. A slow-burning thriller packed with suspense, Presence is a tense and sometimes disturbing watch, but it’s a gripping one too.

TV

SAS Rogue Heroes – Season 2 (Jan 1, BBC Once / iPlayer)

If you enjoyed the first season of Steven Knight’s riveting drama, which tells the origin story of the British Army’s elite task force the Special Air Service (SAS), then you’ll be pleased to know that the story continues on BBC One and iPlayer this month – and kicks off in fine fashion with Liutenant Paddy Mayne (Jack O ‘Connell) engaging a destructive bar-room brawl. From there we’re thrown straight into the unit’s next mission – nothing short of the liberation of Europe from the Nazis, starting with a daring raid in Sicily.

Returning alongside O’Connell are Connor Swindells, Sofia Boutella and Dominic West, while new additions to the cast for the show’s second run include Gwilym Lee, Mark Rowley and Jack Barton.

Severance – Season 2 (Jan 17, Apple TV+)

One of the best shows Apple’s streaming platform has produced so far, Severance returns for its second season this month and, after the startling events of the first season’s finale, there’s sure to be trouble brewing for the employees of Lumon Industries.

Adam Scott, Britt Lower, Patricia Arquette, John Turturro and Christopher Walken all return for the show’s second run, while new additions to the cast include Sarak Bock and Gwendoline Christie. Will we get answers to some of the burning questions raised in season one? We’ll find out when the show returns on January 17.

Lockerbie – A Search for Truth (Jan 2, Sky Atlantic / NOW)

This new series written by David Harrower and directed by duo Otto Bathurst and Jim Loach examines the story behind the fateful bombing of PanAm flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, causing the deaths of 270 people, in December 1988.

Based on the 2021 book by Jim Swire – the father of one of the victims and the protagonist of the series – the story follows Swire’s attempts to find out the truth about who was really behind the bombing. Over the course of several years, Swire begins to believe that the man convicted for the bombing – a Libyan named Abdelbaset al-Megrahi – is simply a fall guy for the real perpetrators; an assertion that drives a wedge between himself and the other victims’ families.

Colin Firth takes the starring role in this absorbing tale alongside Catherine McCormack, Mark Bonnar, Sam Troughton and Ardalan Esmaili. Available on Sky Atlantic and Now from January 2, this is a fascinating look inside the murky legal process behind the trial and the impact of the bombing on the families of those who lost their lives.

American Primeval (Jan 9, Netflix)

Written by Mark L. Smith and directed by Peter Berg, this new miniseries from Netflix is set in 1857 in the American West and follows the events of the ‘Utah war’, a year-long armed conflict between Mormon settlers and the US government – one of many territorial skirmishes in the country’s ‘Old West’ in the period leading up to the American Civil War.

Starring Taylor Kitsch, Betty Gilpin, Kim Coates, Jai Courtney and Dane DeHaan, this authentic yet brutal depiction of life in the nation’s formative years doesn’t pull its punches, but if you’ve enjoyed other recent western-type series such as Deadwood and Yellowstone, you’ll probably find plenty to like about American Primeval too.

Prime Target (Jan 22, Apple TV+)

Our final TV highlight this month is not only one of the most intriguing prospects coming to screens in January, it’s also one of the most mysterious. Prime Target is due to premiere on Apple TV+ in just a couple of weeks and, despite the proximity of its debut episode, Apple have yet to release even a teaser trailer for the new show as yet.

What we do know is that the new thriller series is being produced by Ridley Scott, with White Lotus star Leo Woodall in the starring role. The story revolves around a post-graduate mathematician on the verge of discovering a pattern hidden in sequences of prime numbers. If he succeeds, this knowledge will essentially grant him access to any computer in the world. However, he soon discovers that someone out there is out to put a stop to his work at any cost.

Starring alongside Woodall is a cast that includes Quintessa Swindell, Stephen Rea, Sidse Babett Knudsen and David Morrissey, Prime Target arrives in January 22^nd. We can’t wait.