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New on Netflix in January 2015: Best films and TV shows on UK service

Film fans will soon be able to watch the likes of Les Miserables and The Fighter

Tuesday 30 December 2014 15:44 GMT

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables

New Year, new Netflix releases. Here are some of the best films, TV shows and documentaries hitting the streaming service in January to kick start your 2015. Who said anything about exercise? We're staying on the sofa.

Film

Aladdin – 24/01

Yes, Disney’s animated classic complete with magic carpet is finally coming to Netflix. At last you can sing along to “A Whole New World” at the top of your lungs as the genie helps a street urchin win Princess Jasmine’s love.

Disney favourite Aladdin from 1992

Les Miserables – 14/01

Rebellion is in the air in this 2012 musical film set in post-revolutionary France. Starring Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean alongside Russell Crowe, Anne Hathaway and Amanda Seyfried, Les Mis picked up three Oscars.

Anne Hathaway as Fantine in Les Miserables

The Fighter – 21/01

Another Oscar triumph, Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale star as boxer Micky Ward and his trainer brother Dicky in this powerful sporting biopic.

Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter

Locke – 01/01

Tom Hardy plays dedicated family man and successful construction manager Ivan Locke in this compelling movie based on one phone call that threatens to changes everything.

Tom Hardy fights to keep his cool in Locke

The Quiet Ones – 01/01

Horror fans may enjoy this scary movie about a university professor and his students, who conduct an experiment on a young woman only to awake dark, terrifying forces.

Disturbed: Olivia Cooke in The Quiet Ones

Joe – 01/01

When an ex-con meets a 15-year-old boy he is forced to decide – redemption or ruin? Nicolas Cage and Tye Sheridan play the leads in this award-winning 2013 drama.

Nicholas Cage and Tye Sheridan in Joe

Skyline – 22/01

The whole human race is at risk of being swallowed up by an invading alien force in this bizarre sci-fi thriller featuring Eric Balfour and Scottie Thompson.

Eric Balfour in 2010's Skyline

The Omen – 02/01

Gregory Peck and Lee Remick star in this classic 1976 horror flick about the mysterious deaths surrounding a US ambassador and his devil child son.

Harvey Stephens as devil child Damien Thorn in The Omen

TV

Sons of Anarchy, Season 6 – 02/01

Jax struggles to hold SAMCRO together after Tara and Clay’s arrests while Toric offers the duo deals in exchange for them giving the motorcycle club.

Charlie Hunnam stars as Jax in Sons of Anarchy

The Office US, Season 9 – 06/01

Dwight and Jim are intimidated by the latest additions to the office in the final series of the hit sitcom. Nellie’s life is made miserable by Andy after she takes his job.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Show all 26

1/2626 Netflix shows you need to watch

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Breaking Bad / Talking Bad

If 37 of your friends haven't convinced you to watch this masterpiece by now, I'm not going to be able to. If not the best TV series of all time then certainly the most entertaining, Breaking Bad tells the story of a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher who throws his hand in and decides to cook crystal meth instead. If you're a devout fan and missing the series, its sister discussion show Talking Bad is also on Netflix and may be worth checking out, if just to reminisce on the weekly theorising that gripped us.

Frank Ockenfels/AMC

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Orange is the New Black

Taylor Schilling plays a middle class woman who is forced to trade her comfortable New York apartment and Mad Men boxsets for a tough, tyrannically-run women's prison, but it’s the supporting cast you'll stick around for. As well as being very funny, OITNB packs an emotional punch as you learn how the rest of the Litchfield inmates came to be incarcerated, challenging your preconceptions of them. Season 1 is up now, and season 2 is right around the corner (arrives 6 June).

Netflix

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Trailer Park Boys

A seven season micro-budget mockumentary might sound like hard work, but actually you'll find yourself chomping your way through this hidden gem in no time. It centres on the recidivists and down and outs of a Canadian trailer park, whose daily struggles include scraping enough money together to buy smokes, repelling cats who piss on their weed plants and trying not to pass out drunk in the street. You'll instantly feel bonded to protagonists Julian and Ricky, while their neighbour Bubbles is comedy gold. Each episode is only 20 minutes, get binging.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Californication

Take one part Bret Easton Ellis novel, one part Showtime series Weeds, shake and pour over ice and you have Californication. It focuses on Hank Moody (David Duchovny), a struggling writer stumbling from bed to bed around LA. A love letter to dissolution, it took a nose dive at season 6, but the first five seasons are irresistible.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Louie (US only)

Start by watching Louis C.K's stand-up Live at the Beacon Theater (also on Netflix) then plough on into this series. It sees the comedian play a semi-autobiographical version of himself gigging, raising his two kids and trying to cope with the world of dating far later in life than he expected to. It doesn't pack a high laughs-per-minute ratio, but that's not really what he's going for in this series. It's more Woody Allen territory really (indeed he went on to star in Blue Jasmine last year), and has a surprising emotional depth. Season 2 is shaky, but worth sticking through for season 3 which is brilliant and incredibly thoughtful.

FX

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Adventure Time

Kids' TV is enjoying a golden age over on Cartoon Network right now, led by this surreal animation about a boy and his shape-shifting dog who live in the Land of Ooo, a world populated by candy people. Adventure Time has a massive following among adults, and is way funnier than most comedies actually aimed at them. Algebraic!

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

House of Cards

For too long US political dramas were all flags slowly unfurling in the wind to bugle calls and overblown final-hour speeches, but this Netflix original takes a much dimmer view of Washington. Kevin Spacey plays conniving congressman Frank Underwood, who will walk over anyone's dead body (maybe literally?) to get into power. Season 2 is even better than the first and watching it is like sitting down to eat a 16oz steak, so dense is the political plotting.

Netflix

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Archer

Secret spy agency headed by a James Bond-like figure called Sterling Archer may sound like kind of a lame concept, but this cartoon is frequently hilarious. The dialogue is taut, with the cast forever finishing each other's sentences, the characters are unhinged and the voice cast is excellent.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Arrested Development

Living in a pre-fab show house with his shallow, avaricious family, Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) is surrounded by fakery. When patriarch George goes to prison Michael must take charge of the family business, which turns out to be something of a poisoned chalice. Very funny and very innovative, though the latest season, a half-Netflix original, may be too meta and ambitious for its own good.

Netflix/AP

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Episodes

Matt Le Blanc plays Matt Le Blanc, who lands a part in a US adaptation of a successful UK sitcom, much to the disappointment of its creators (Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig) who were hoping to cast someone a little more highbrow. Sounds like one of those brilliant premises that a show could never live up to beyond the pilot, but Episodes doesn't try and trade off this gag forever, instead going in some surprising and very funny directions. Watching Le Blanc send up himself is glorious.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Like watching a standard ABC sitcom if the entire cast were on amphetamines. Worth trying out a few episodes just to see Danny DeVito running amok.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

RuPaul Drag Race

America's next top model. For drag queens! Forget Keeping Up Wth The Kardashians and E! Fashion Police, reality TV slop must doesn't get much better or more absurd than this.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Various Louis Theroux documentaries

There is a ton of Louis Theroux documentaries on Netflix, from his quirky weird weekends in pro wrestling to more serious looks at crimes and drugs. Acting the simpleton, he is a master at establishing a rapport with interviewees, lulling them into a false sense of security and very often giving them enough rope to hang themselves. 'The City Addicted To Crystal Meth' is one of the best on the service.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Peep Show (US only)

This list features prisoners, drug addicts and mobsters, and yet the plight of Mark and Jez seems somehow sadder than all of these combined. The pair live in a sh*t flat, pursue sh*t jobs and sh*t relationships, only getting through the day with the thought of the Muller Corner yogurt waiting for them in the fridge. Peep Show is flawless in its depiction of mid-Twenties 5-hours-sleep and office-kitchen-catch-ups boredom and is unrelenting in the dark and depressing situations it places its characters in.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

TED Talks: Life Hacks

TED may be accused of reductionism when it comes to its explanation of complex science topics, but its Life Hacks series is silly, fun and eminently watchable. Seriously, if it's been a long day and you just need something to switch off to, a 3-minute video entitled 'How to tie your shoes' should help.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

I'm Alan Partridge

Far and away Steve Coogan's best character, Partridge more than stands the test of time. After his mock chat show came this more conventional sitcom, which is unwaveringly brilliant and comes loads with the infamous 'Dan!' scene.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

The Thick of It

Exposing the absurdity of politics in a very different way to House of Cards is The Thick Of It, which follows politicians on both sides of the spectrum bumbling to put together some kind of coherent policy. Peter Capaldi is gifted some wonderfully vicious lines as master of spin Malcolm Tucker, but for me it’s the long-suffering politicians in front of the camera who bring the belly laughs. Spawned the good but not quite as good US version, Veep.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Portlandia

Mocking hipsters is like shooting fish in a barrel, but goddamn Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein are nailing those fish. Nailing them right in the face. From the 'Women and Women First' hyper-feminist bookstore to a great cameo from Jason Sudeikis as a cult leader, the first three seasons have enough high points to make up for the sketches that don't land, and Portland serves as a pleasing, lush backdrop.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Pokémon

Deadly serious here. Maybe you're forgetting how insanely trippy this show is? There are 100 episodes of the stuff on Netflix, so wilfully regress next time you're sick off work/school with this kaleidoscopic headf*ck.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

The Good Wife

Often overlooked, but a confident and riveting drama. Alicia (Julianna Margulies) returns to her prior career as a lawyer after a scandal brings down her politician husband (Chris Noth).

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Lilyhammer

Steve Van Zandt plays a mobster (essential reprising his role of Sil from The Sopranos) who goes into witness protection in the wintery climes of Norway, his "New Yoik" ways soon rubbing up against the Lilyhammer locals' simple, country life. Not fantastic, but more original than a lot of the Scandi dramas out there.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

The Bridge

Speaking of which, this is like The Killing, but with actually interesting characters. Seriously, The Killing is awful.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

30 Rock (US only)

The zingers come at lightning speed in this much-loved comedy about the backstage workings of a Saturday Night Live-type sketch show. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are equally brilliant in the lead roles of showrunner Liz Lemon and NBC president Jack Donaghy and the satire on pop culture is always absolutely pin point accurate.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Freaks and Geeks (US only)

Legendary teen comedy on which Judd Apatow cut his teeth. If nothing else, an answer to the question 'What did Jason Segal, Seth Rogen and James Franco look like in the 90s?'

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Tod Margaret (US only)

British and American comedy collide in this effort from David Cross, who teams up with Arrested Development co-star Will Arnett to tell the story of an in-over-his-head American tasked with taking over a sales team in London.

26 Netflix shows you need to watch

Parks and Recreation (US only)

Just when you thought The Office US had exhausted workplace comedy, this charming sitcom came along centring on the petty bureaucracy of a fictional small town in Indiana. Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari, Chris Pratt and Rashida Jones are among its excellent cast, which has spawned about a million GIFs and 30-second YouTube clips such is its quotable brilliance.

The Good Wife, Season 5 – 31/01

Cary and Alicia embark on a mission to set up their own firm after leaving Lockhart & Gardner. Elsewhere, new Governor Peter Florrick makes Eli his new chief of staff.

Documentaries

Music for Mandela – 01/01

This movie focuses on the important role that music played in the life of one of our most iconic leaders.

Late South African leader Nelson Mandela (AFP PHOTO / ALEXANDER JOEALEXANDER JOE/AFP/Getty Images)

Brasslands – 01/02

Watch half a million people arrive in a tiny Serbian village for the 50th anniversary of the world’s largest trumpet festival.

Other releases

The Legend of Hercules – 01/01

Blue Ruin – 01/01

The Mighty Quinn – 01/01

Postman Pat: The Movie – 01/01

Sabotage – 01/01

Killing Season – 01/01

The Believers – 01/01

See No Evil 2 – 01/01

Samurai Jack, Season 3 – 01/01

Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Seasons 2 and 3 – 01/01

Van Helsing – 02/01

The Informant – 02/01

Curious George, Seasons 1 to 4 – 02/01

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me – 14/01

The Adventures of Puss in Boots – 16/01

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