I recently watched Chernobyl. 

It’s hard to stop watching once you start. It’s also hard not to look at Eskom and have a minor panic about what it would mean if Eskom failed in any way that wasn’t solely financial.

Surely I’m not the only Capetonian who has had a look at Koeberg Nuclear Power Station and wondered what could go wrong?

If you haven’t watched Chernobyl yet, you’re missing out on one of the greatest series to grace our screens in a long time.

Check out the trailer, followed by four more new series that you’ll be tempted to binge in one sitting.

Chernobyl

Chernobyl, IMDB’s highest-rated TV series of all time, is now available to binge on Showmax.

The five-part HBO series dramatises the story of the 1986 nuclear accident, one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history, and of the brave men and women who made incredible sacrifices to save not just the Soviet Union but the whole of Europe from unimaginable disaster.

Rotten Tomatoes recently hailed Chernobyl as “TV’s most scary offering in years… where history and reality are more terrifying than zombies”.

It really is terrifying – but so well done. Don’t miss this one.

Good Trouble Season One

You can binge this one now on Showmax.

In a spinoff from the multi-award-winning The Fosters, Callie (six-time Teen Choice nominee Maia Mitchell) and Mariana Foster (three-time Teen Choice nominee Cierra Ramirez) move to Los Angeles and begin their lives as young adults.

Mariana tackles the male-dominated world of tech and Callie faces the harsh realities of the legal system clerking for a federal judge. Faced with new neighbours, new challenges and, of course, new romances, the sisters must depend on one another to navigate the City of Angels.

Warrior Season One

New episode weekly on Showmax and DStv Catch Up.

Warrior is a gritty, action-packed crime drama set during the brutal Tong Wars of San Francisco’s Chinatown in the second half of the 19th century.

The series follows Ah Sahm (Andrew Koji), a martial arts prodigy who emigrates from China to San Francisco under mysterious circumstances and becomes a hatchet man for one of Chinatown’s most powerful organised crime families.

Filmed in Cape Town, the show is based on an idea by martial arts legend Bruce Lee and is created by Jonathan Tropper (Banshee), with Fast and Furious director Justin Lin as an executive producer.

It was also named one of Rolling Stone’s best TV shows of 2019 so far.

Euphoria Season One

First on Showmax. Binge episodes one to five on July 15, 2019, and watch the last three express from the US.

This is an HBO adaptation of an Israeli TV series of the same name.

Euphoria has been described as “Kids meets Trainspotting“. Zendaya (K.C. Undercover, Spider-Man: Homecoming and The Greatest Showman) stars as a drug-addicted 17-year-old named Rue, opposite the likes of Maude Apatow (This Is 40, Knocked Up) and Eric Dane (aka McSteamy in Grey’s Anatomy).

Writers Guild of America nominee Sam Levinson (Wizard of Lies) wrote the screenplay, while Drake is one of the executive producers.

Gentleman Jack 

New episode weekly. Binge on Showmax from July 16, 2019.

Set in 1832, Gentleman Jack focuses on real-life English landowner Anne Lister (BAFTA Award winner Suranne Jones from Doctor Foster) and her determination to transform the fate of her faded ancestral home, Shibden Hall, by reopening her coal mines and marrying well.

However, the charismatic, single-minded Lister – who dresses in black from head-to-toe and has charmed her way into high society – has no intention of marrying a man.

Instead, she is determined to stay true to her nature by marrying Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle from Peaky Blinders and Bodyguard), a sheltered heiress who happens to be a seriously wealthy woman. A remarkable and unlikely love story, Gentleman Jack was created, written and co-directed by four-time BAFTA Award-winner Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley, Last Tango in Halifax).

You can view these and other great local and international shows on Showmax, which is free for DStv Premium subscribers.

Don’t have DStv? Sign up for a FREE two-week trial, and binge to your heart’s content.

Boom – that’s your July viewing sorted.