Twenty Twenty Six, Britbox and BBC First
Hugh Bonneville and Chelsey Crisp in Twenty Twenty Six.Jack Barnes/Supplied
Is it even possible to satirize the FIFA World Cup 2026™ after its president Gianni Infantino gave Donald Trump an international peace prize in a real-life scene that seemed straight out of Veep?
British TV writer John Morton gives it a go in this new BBC half-hour mockumentary set in the Miami HQ of a completely different, of course, international soccer tournament being hosted this summer by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
At the centre of the football follies is newly appointed World Cup Head of Integrity Ian Fletcher (Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville), a British master of management mealy mouthedness who previously appeared in Morton’s Twenty Twelve (mocking the London Summer Olympic organizing committee) and W1A (skewering higher-ups at the BBC).
The funniest new characters are Eric van Dupuytrens (Alexis Michalik), the inscrutable Belgian chief co-ordinating attaché, and Sarah Campbell (Chelsey Crisp), the earnest and often confused American vice-president of sustainability and climate strategy.
Not every joke lands (the social-media stuff is #dated) but gems include a plotline in which Campbell explores the possibility of powering the BMO Field in Toronto entirely by the poop generated by fans. Now that’s Canadian content. New episodes Fridays on BBC First at 9 p.m. ET/PT and streaming on Britbox.
Jack Tucker: Comedy Standup Hour, YouTube
Zack Tucker in Jack Tucker: Comedy Standup Hour.Dylan Woodley/Supplied
The most and hardest I’ve laughed in recent memory was at a variety show called Stamptown, a cult sensation every August at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival that I caught warming up at Just for Laughs in Montreal last summer. The emcee is Jack Tucker – alter ego of American clown/comedian Zach Zucker – whose stand-up routines are in a constant state of self-referential self-destruction.
Last weekend, Tucker’s first special landed on YouTube, closely capturing the sensory overload of his absolutely mad live performances.
In an hour, Tucker makes it through maybe five jokes from beginning to end – the actual humour coming from an onslaught of asinine asides, meta crowd work and visual gags (that are sometimes, you’ll have to trust me on this, invisible).
Canadian director and co-writer Jonny Woolley’s contributions on live sound design are hard to underestimate. Sound effects, brief musical stings and mistimed bleeps complement/undercut almost every moment, with audio callbacks building hilariously.
Widow’s Bay, Apple TV
Matthew Rhys and Stephen Root in Widow’s Bay.Apple TV/Supplied
This new horror-comedy created by screenwriter Katie Dippold (Ghostbusters, 2016) and directed by Hiro Murai (Atlanta) stars Matthew Rhys as Tom Loftis – the worst New England mayor since the one in Jaws. Eager to increase tourism to his secluded island town, Tom turns a blind eye to increasing paranormal activity, from a zombie-creating fog to the ghost of a clown killer.
It’s nice to see the Welsh actor Rhys (The Americans, The Beast in Me) take a break from conflicted killers and tortured detectives; he’s got great comic timing. British actress Kate O’Flynn – a regular of Mike Leigh’s films – is a supporting stand-out, playing Tom’s colleague Patricia with constant doe-eyed disappointment. The first episode has a impressively high ratio of laughs to jump scares – with a few genius-level sight gags. But beware: Widow’s Bay – new episodes Wednesdays – is diminishing returns.
Our Ocean Table, CBC Gem and TELUS Stream+
This unusual food/travel/environment docuseries explores the twin subjects of Korean cultural identity and ocean sustainability. That might not sound like a hybrid that would work – but the various ingredients combine to make for a delicious half-hour hang-out.
Marine biologist and filmmaker Sonya Lee and journalist and former MuchMusic host Hannah Sung became pals on Instagram through their shared love of BTS, a K-pop band whose music (an on-screen title amusingly explains) the show couldn’t afford to license.
Together, the Korean-Canadian friends travel to both surf and turf to figure out how the dishes of their diaspora can be enjoyed for generations to come – eating spot prawns straight from the sea on a boat off the coast of B.C., and learning about innovative methods of reducing the methane emissions of cattle in Alberta. Key to stitching together the show’s various threads is Sung, a charming presence disarmingly direct with her questions. The episode on seaweed soup Miyeok-guk and Korean moms is particularly recommended; it got me weepy and super hungry. Our Ocean Table launches May 1.
“Wuthering Heights,” Crave
Margot Robbie in "Wuthering Heights."Uncredited/The Associated Press
There are movies that you enthusiastically run out to see at the cinema – and other you wait to catch on streaming out of morbid curiosity. Director Emerald Fennell’s loose adaptation of Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë and starring Margot Robbie as Catherine and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff definitely falls into the latter category.
Like most of the English director’s movies (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn), this one divided critics and inspired what the kids these days euphemistically call “discourse” (including about the promotional team’s request that the title always be put in quotation marks). The Globe and Mail’s Barry Hertz’s verdict was thus: “Fennell’s film is as silly and annoying as its studio’s typographical demand.”
It’s on Crave as of Friday to form your own opinion about – or just fast-forward to the titillating bits.