The Greatest to Blade Runner 2099: 12 of the best TV shows to watch this November

From a drama about Muhammad Ali's early years to Amy Poehler's latest sitcom and a Blade Runner small-screen spin-off – these are the best series to watch and stream.

HBO

1. The Gilded Age

The fourth season of Julian Fellowes' addictive period drama picks up soon after the previous season ended and answers some burning, melodramatic questions. Will the nouveau riche George Russell (Morgan Spector), having moved out of their ostentatious mansion, go home to his manipulative social-climbing wife, Bertha (Carrie Coon)? Will the pedigreed Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) topple Bertha from the top of the social ladder? She's certainly going to try. Subplots swirl around them as Peggy (Denée Benton) tries to maintain her career as a writer while dealing with her intrusive mother-in-law-to-be (Phylicia Rashad), while Marian (Louisa Jacobson) and Larry's (Harry Richardson) on-and-off romance gets especially thorny. Last season's ratings were among the show's highest, so there may even be an appetite for the upcoming Voices of the Gilded Age: The Christmas Album, featuring songs from the Broadway-veteran cast. If you've ever wanted to hear Baranski sing We Need a Little Christmas or Brian Stokes Mitchell do It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year, here you go.

The Gilded Age premieres 1 November on HBO in the US and 2 November on Sky Atlantic in the UK

Prime Video

2. The Greatest

Muhammad Ali was one of the greatest boxers of all time and has also been one of the most often depicted on screen, from Will Smith in the 2001 film Ali to documentaries by Antoine Fuqua and Ken Burns. This dramatic series sets itself apart by focusing on his childhood and the early years of his career, when he was still known as Cassius Clay, in a story that moves from his boyhood in the Jim Crow South to the 1960 Olympics, through to the 1964 fight that made him the world champion. Newcomer Jaalen Best plays Ali in the show, which has the cooperation of the Ali family and counts his widow, Lonnie Ali, and Michael B Jordan as executive producers. "The Greatest is [about] his pathway to growth, at home with his brother and his parents. It's a granular deep dive into Muhammad's life," Lonnie Ali told Esquire. Meanwhile the series' creator, Ben Watkins (showrunner of the Alex Cross series), teased that despite its family ties, the details on screen "aren't always flattering".

The Greatest premieres 4 November on Prime Video internationally

Apple TV

3. Stick

For some reason, middle-aged former golf champions trying to make a comeback are a mini-trend in sitcoms. Will Ferrell's character set out to do it as the title character in the tongue-in-cheek Netflix series Hawk. And in the second season of Apple TV's Stick, a comedy that leans toward the heartwarming, Owen Wilson's character – Pryce Cahill, known as Stick – attempts to come out of retirement too. The cast has always been this show's biggest draw, and that is enhanced this season with Rhea Seehorn of Pluribus and Better Call Saul in a supporting role as Stick's new coach. Timothy Olyphant returns as his former rival, who nudges him to try to become the oldest player ever to win the US Open tournament, with Judy Greer as Stick's ex-wife and Marc Maron as his friend and caddie, Mitts. Apparently the burgeoning television golf world requires cringe-making nicknames.

Stick premieres 4 November on Apple TV internationally

Netflix

4. Black Doves

Keira Knightley and Ben Whishaw return in the second season of this thoroughly improbable but always entertaining action-espionage series. Knightley plays Helen Webb, whose husband (Andrew Buchan) is about to become the UK's prime minister – a situation that is not great for him because she has been leaking information for a decade to the shadowy Black Doves organisation, set on undermining governments around the world. Whishaw plays her best friend, Sam, a hitman who helps her get out of the scrapes while getting into some himself. In the new season, Helen's Black Doves handler, Mrs Reed, played by Sarah Lancashire, seems to go missing, although Lancashire herself remains a major part of the show. Marital drama plays out in the background of the shootouts and power plays. The new PM might not be fit to govern since he hasn't noticed his wife spying right under his nose. Or maybe she's just that clever. The series creator, Joe Barton, captured its droll tone when calling the characters "our murderous little spy family". 

Black Doves premieres 5 November on Netflix internationally

Channel 4

(Credit: Channel 4)

5. It Gets Worse

Leo Reich, who broke through with his HBO stand-up comedy special Literally Who Cares? in 2023, created and stars in this acerbic series about three Gen Z university friends struggling through their early 20s, characters Reich has described as "self-involved and quite objectionable". He plays the self-absorbed Ethan, supported by his parents. His best friends are by-the-rules Abi (Emily Fairn) and would-be writer Sam (Olivia Gray). It's a sign of Reich's rising star that he has enticed some big names to join in. Andrew Scott appears in an episode, Lena Dunham has a cameo as Abi's boss and the series' unlikely narrator is the novelist Zadie Smith. The show is not just another Friends knockoff. It was a hit at the recent London Film Festival, with the Financial Times calling it "a witty Gen Z sex comedy" and the Guardian describing the series as "profound and properly funny" and Reich as "the future of TV comedy".

It Gets Worse is currently on Channel 4 in the UK and premieres 6 November on Paramount+ in the US