New in streaming October 2023: Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Prime Video, Disney Plus, Apple TV Plus, NOW, ITVX

Despite having a very similar premise to The Bear, Boiling Point came first… sort of. The latter culinary drama started as a 90-minute adrenaline rush set inside a London restaurant kitchen, filmed in one shot to capture that pressure. Two years after the film's release, a sequel series is coming to the BBC. Was this extension inspired by The Bear’s success? It's possible…

Changing hands from former head chef Andy (Stephen Graham), the series follows his mentee Carly (Vinette Robinson). While the hospitality industry is in crisis, she opens a new restaurant with her old kitchen staff. Balancing the creation of decent dishes with the maintenance of difficult finances, Boiling Point lives up to its name.

George Kay’s thievish thriller Lupin dropped during a universal moment. The first part of the series arrived on Netflix four days after Boris Johnson announced another lockdown, keeping people inside again. It was perfect timing for this flawed but escapist treasure, loosely based on the Maurice Leblanc novels. Assane Diop (Omar Sy) models himself on France’s infamous gentleman thief Arsène Lupin, but with a modern flair.

After exposing his nemesis Hubert Pellegrini (Hervé Pierre) at the end of part two, Assane is on the run after being framed for murder. As the most wanted man in France, he goes into hiding. But being away from his ex-wife Claire (Ludivine Sagnier) and son Raoul (Etan Simon) is too much, and he returns to Paris with an offer for them: leave the country and start again elsewhere.

Read our review of part two.

The successful BBC/HBO series Industry (and The Wolf of Wall Street before it) showed the world of high finance as one with a high sex drive. Sex is like a reliever to the anxiety of stock trading. It’s no surprise, then, that Netflix bought the psycho-sexual financial thriller Fair Play for a massive $20 million, following the film's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. Let’s hope it's worth the investment.

Bridgerton’s Phoebe Dynevor stars as Emily, a financial analyst at One Crest Capital who’s secretly engaged to fellow hedge fund colleague Luke (Alden Ehrenreich). But their power dynamic shifts when the firm’s founder Campbell (Eddie Marsen) offers a coveted promotion to Emily and not to Luke, pushing their hidden relationship to its limits.

Bonnie Garmus’s debut novel Lessons in Chemistry continues to pile on the tables in bookshops everywhere. Its summer-read popularity is more than demonstrated by the quick turnaround for a TV adaptation: only 18 months elapsing between the book and the series. Brie Larson takes a break from the Marvel and Fast and Furious franchises to play a disrespected scientist in the early 60s who becomes a TV chef.

Elizabeth Zott (Larson) is a skilled chemist, but the prominence of men and patriarchal values in the field leads to her sacking. Reluctant but with a desire for revenge, Elizabeth accepts a job as a TV cooking host – using her knowledge and experience to teach housewives more than the kitchen allows.

The character of Dr Frasier Crane, as played by Kelsey Grammer, first appeared on the screen via the Cheers bar in 1984. It became his regular Boston haunt before the classic sitcom concluded in 1993. But Frasier didn’t need to mourn for long: he moved across to the country to Seattle in Washington state for his own spin-off. Sitting alongside Friends and Seinfeld, Frasier became a historic staple in the golden decade for American TV network NBC. And now, after almost 20 years of silence from the clumsy elite psychiatrist, he returns for a new series.

Dr Crane has returned to his televisual roots in Boston, Massachusetts, to surprise his son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), subsequently moving there. But because of their differing personalities and lifestyles, Freddy isn’t overly delighted to see his father. The series also stars another staple in sitcom culture: Nicholas Lyndhurst, aka Rodney from Only Fools and Horses.

Paul Tomalin’s first TV writing job was on Torchwood, the bloody and sexy Doctor Who spin-off about the dashing time agent Captain Jack Harkness. Eighteen years later, everything comes full circle: Tomalin’s new genre-bending crime/sci-fi drama Bodies investigates four murders… of one man… over 160 years. Confused? You should be.

The same dead man appears in London’s East End over four different time periods: 1890, 1941, 2023 and 2053. Much like Cloud Atlas, these periods clang together in a confusing, concurrent investigation across past, present and future. Each year has its own detective, all with a part to play in uncovering what exactly is going on. The only consistency is the political leader Mannix (Stephen Graham), who may have something to do with the murder.

Sunday 1 October
Boiling Point (BBC iPlayer)
Dear Mama (Disney+)
Donyale Luna: Supermodel (NOW)
Strip (Paramount+)

Tuesday 3 October
After Everything (Prime Video)
Make Me Scream (Prime Video)

Wednesday 4 October
Beckham (Netflix)
Race to the Summit (Netflix)

Thursday 5 October
Soldier (BBC iPlayer)
Loki, season 2 (Disney+)
Everything Now (Netflix)
Lupin Part 3 (Netflix)
Bargain (Paramount+)

Friday 6 October
A Deadly Invitation (Netflix)
Ballerina (Netflix)
Fair Play (Netflix)
Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe (Prime Video)
Totally Killer (Prime Video)

Sunday 8 October
House of Kardashian (NOW)

Tuesday 10 October
Last One Standing, season 2 (Netflix)
Mr Dress Up: The Magic of Make-Believe (Prime Video)

Wednesday 11 October
Once Upon a Star (Netflix)
Das Boot, series 4 (NOW)
Awareness (Prime Video)

Thursday 12 October
C*A*U*G*H*T (ITVX)
The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)
GOOD NIGHT WORLD (Netflix)
COBRA: Rebellion (NOW)

Friday 13 October
Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV+)
Goosebumps (Disney+)
The Conference (Netflix)
Frasier (Paramount+)
The Burial (Prime Video)
Everybody Loves Diamonds (Prime Video)

Tuesday 17 October
The Devil on Trial (Netflix)

Thursday 19 October
Bodies (Netflix)
Crypto Boy (Netflix)
Neon (Netflix)
The Burning Girls (Paramount+)

Friday 20 October
The Pigeon Tunnel (Apple TV+)
Creature (Netflix)
Doona! (Netflix)
Elite, season 7 (Netflix)
Old Dads (Netflix)
Surviving Paradise (Netflix)
Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose (Prime Video)
Upload, season 3 (Prime Video)

Wednesday 25 October
Lions of Sicily (Disney+)
Life on Our Planet (Netflix)

Thursday 26 October
The Other Mrs Jordan – Catching the Ultimate Conman (ITVX)
PLUTO (Netflix)

Friday 27 October
Pain Hustlers (Netflix)
Sister Death (Netflix)
Tore (Netflix)

Saturday 28 October
Fellow Travellers (Paramount+)

TBC
Bosch: Legacy, season 2 (Amazon Freevee)
Breeders, series 4 (NOW)
The Greatest Show Never Made (Prime Video)