What to watch in April 2022: best TV shows on Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, NOW TV, BBC, and Channel 4

New month, new television: with the start of April comes a whole host of new offerings to look out for.

Here’s your guide to what’s on TV across April 2022, with a look at all the highlights across both terrestrial channels and the major streaming networks.

We’ve also selected our top picks and the best of the rest to give you an idea of what to watch this month.

BBC One

Top Picks

Gentleman Jack (April 10)

Suranne Jones returns for Gentleman Jack’s second season, as Anne Lister and Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle) discover that married life presents some challenges of its own. Sally Wainwright writes and executive produces all eight episodes.

Doctor Who (April 17)

The Sea Devils return after fifty years in this Doctor Who easter special that blends sci-fi drama with historical fact, as the Doctor comes face to face with real-life Chinese pirates from the 19^th century. It’s Jodie Whittaker’s penultimate episode ahead of her regeneration in October – fingers crossed Cush Jumbo will be the next Doctor – so worth tuning in while she’s still got the TARDIS keys.

Best of the Rest

The Split (April 4)

BBC One’s divorce drama returns for its third and final season, as Nicola Walker and Stephen Mangan’s married protagonists have to negotiate their own split from each other.

BBC Two

Top Picks

The Fall of the House of Maxwell (April 4)

A three-part documentary about newspaper magnate and one-time Labour MP Robert Maxwell, his nine children (including Ghislaine), and his mysterious death at sea in 1991.

Best of the Rest

Gazza (BBC Two)

A two-part documentary about footballer Paul Gascoigne, from his days at the top of the game to his career off the pitch.

Channel 4

Top Picks

Derry Girls (April 12)

Derry Girls is returning – and, sadly, for the last time.

Best of the Rest

Hullraisers (April 12)

Lucy Beaumont (Meet the Richardson) adapts Israeli series Little Mom into this series about three working-class women from Hull juggling their work, family, and friends. Craig Parkinson (Line of Duty) and Shobna Gulati (Coronation Street) guest star.

Travel Man (April 4)

Joe Lycett takes comedians on short international holidays. James Acaster (Basque Country), Aisling Bea (Croatia), Katherine Parkinson and Mo Gilligan are his guests for this series.

Sky & NOW TV

Top Picks

Barry S3 (April 24)

Bill Hader’s assassin-turned-wannabe-actor returns, and his quest for forgiveness continues, when Barry’s third season begins on April 24. It’s smart and funny and so full of empathy – the second season was a huge step up from the first, and if that same trajectory continues this looks set to be a real all-timer.

Best of the Rest

The Rising (April 22)

This zombie drama from Doctor Who’s Pete McTighe sees a dead woman (Clara Rugaard) come back to life – and realise she was murdered. As she starts to remember fragments of her life, she becomes determined to solve her own murder.

Julia (April 12)

Sarah Lancashire (Happy Valley) and David Hyde Pierce (Frasier) star in this biopic of famous television chef Julia Child, looking at how she revolutionised public television in America.

Netflix

Top Picks

Russian Doll (April 20)

When the first series of Russian Doll was released in February 2019, it immediately announced itself as one of the best television shows of the year – and now it’s back. Whether it’ll be able to repeat that feat remains to be seen – that first series, brilliant though it was, felt like a limited series rather than something that was meant to return – but if it’s even half as good as the first series it’s one to pay close attention to.

Heartstopper (April 22)

Think of this coming-of-age romance between two gay teenagers as somewhere between Love Simon and Sex Education. Alice Oseman has adapted her own graphic novels into this Netflix series, and the result is a really sweet and endearing children’s programme that has an obvious all-ages appeal – one of the most likable shows of the year so far.

Returning Favourites

There are a number of Netflix dramas returning with new episodes across April, with Spanish thriller Elite season 5 arriving April 8, Better Call Saul Season 6 Part 1 arriving April 19, and the final seasons of Ozark and Grace and Frankie arriving on April 29.

Disney+

Top Picks

Moon Knight

Technically a March debut, but hey, most of the episodes air in April so it technically counts. Oscar Isaac stars as Steven Grant, a down-on-his luck museum employee with dissociative identity disorder – meaning Steven doesn’t realise he’s moonlighting as a superhero. This goofy Marvel slapstick is a nice change of pace compared to the rest of the MCU.

Apple TV+

Top Picks

The Shining Girls (April 29)

Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) stars in this “metaphysical thriller” as Kirby Mazrachi, a Chicago newspaper archivist whose journalistic ambitions were put on hold after a traumatic assault. When Kirby learns that a recent murder mirrors her own case, she partners with seasoned-yet-troubled reporter Dan Velazquez (Narcos) to uncover her attacker’s identity.

Best of the Rest

Slow Horses (April 1)

Slow Horses is about the administrative division of MI5 – a dull purgatory for field agents who make career-ending mistakes. Expected to quit out of boredom and frustration, a new conspiracy takes root and sees the Slough House employees drawn into a dangerous gambit. Gary Oldman stars.

Roar (April 15)

Featuring a unique blend of magical realism, familiar domestic and professional scenarios, and futuristic worlds, this eight-episode anthology mirror the dilemmas of ordinary women in accessible yet surprising ways. Nicole Kidman, Cynthia Erivo, Issa Rae, Merritt Wever, Alison Brie, Betty Gilpin, Meera Syal, Fivel Stewart and Kara Hayward star.

Amazon Prime Video

Top Picks

Hacks (April 1)

Hacks is about the relationship between legendary standup Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and young comedy writer Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder), each at opposite ends of their career. One of the most acclaimed new comedies of 2021 in the US, it’s finally available in the UK from April 1.

Outer Range (April 15)

Josh Brolin stars in this story of a rancher, fighting for his land and family, who discovers an unfathomable mystery at the edge of Wyoming’s wilderness.