Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax

Channel 4

Monday, 9.00pm

In 2014, two schoolchildren accused their dad of running a Satanist cult centred around abusing babies. The police initially took the claims seriously, only to find no evidence. As it turned out, the children had been coerced into making the allegations by their mum and her partner.

When recordings of the initial police interviews surfaced online, internet trolls went after around 175 teachers, parents and religious figures supposedly involved in the (entirely fictional) cult. This documentary uses archive footage and testimony from four of the accused mothers – spoken through actors – to piece together the bewildering and often upsetting saga.

Love Rat

Channel 5

Monday, 9.00pm

Emma (Sally Lindsay) is a recent divorcee in need of some rest and relaxation. Whilst taking a trip to Cyprus, she meets Niko (Gerald Kyd), a rich and handsome man who wants Emma to stay with him. All he needs is €225,000. Emma agrees to front him the money, after which he promptly vanishes.

Emma’s estranged daughter, Susie (Imogen King), has no time for her mum’s antics, falling in love with “a millionaire who happens to be short on cash”. Chaos ensues over four agonising episodes.

Invincible

Prime Video

Thursday

The darker-than-dark take on superheroes returns for the second half of its second series. At the end of the first half, which aired in November 2023, protagonist Mark (Steven Yeun) was faced with an impossible choice. Prepare Planet Earth for invasion, or watch it be destroyed by his dad's alien race of space fascists. It's hard to know how the animated series can get weirder or darker, but if any show's capable of it, it's Invincible.

JK Simmons (Juno) lends his voice to patriarch Omni-Man. If you're struggling to keep up, think Watchmen, but the guy from Whiplash is involved, and somehow even scarier.

Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)

Disney+

Friday

You've streamed all her songs. You've seen a meme about her private jet use exactly seven hundred times. You blasted 'Love Story' out your car after crushing a shift at a fine dining restaurant.

Now, Taylor Swift's concert film comes to the silver screen. The tour, which is still ongoing, has broken records and boasts a Wikipedia page devoted solely to its impact. Swift herself has two separate pages dedicated to her cultural influence and public image. To call the singer-songwriter a phenomenon would, somehow, be an understatement. Now, we are invited to come and find out why.

Manhunt

Apple TV+

Friday

It’s 1865, and after a long day of being president, all Abraham Lincoln wants to do is watch the theatre. His night off is cut short when – spoiler alert – he’s shot dead. It falls to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (Tobias Menzies), a close friend of Lincoln’s, to bring the killer to justice.

John Wilkes Booth (Anthony Boyle) is an actor in search of fame. With one gunshot, he gets it, and then some. With America still at war, the eponymous manhunt soon strays into politics that threaten to be every bit as lethal as Booth himself.