Nine of the best TV shows you can watch this December

7. Amadeus

The 1984 film Amadeus, in which composer Antonio Salieri admits to jealously (and imaginatively) causing the death of his more talented rival, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, won the Academy Award for Best Picture and is now considered a classic. But there’s a lot to be said for this lavish, more expansive adaptation, especially for Will Sharp’s intelligent performance as Mozart. Whereas Tom Hulse made the film’s character a laughing fool, Sharpe portrays him as a free-spirited, selfish but self-aware artist. Paul Bettany plays Salieri, the role played by Murray Abraham in the film, and Rory Kinnear plays Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. The series looks grand as it takes us to the royal court of Vienna in the 18th century, and of course it is full of great music. Joe Barton, first-rate writer on Black Doves and Giri/Haji, has reworked Peter Shaffer’s 1979 play.

Amadeus premieres on December 21 on Sky Atlantic and Now in the UK

Netflix

8. Stranger Things

This is really the end, they really mean it, but the residents of Hawkins, Indiana and the Upside Down are certainly taking their time leaving. The fifth and final season begins airing in late November, three more episodes will arrive on Christmas Day, and the final episode will premiere on Netflix internationally and will be released in theaters in the US and Canada on December 31. “We’re doing everything we wanted to do with the Demogorgons, the Mind Flayer, Vecna, and the Upside Down,” Matt Dover, who created the show with his brother Ross, told Variety. If these names sound like nonsense to you, the good news is that you don’t have to care anymore. And if you’re a fan, you can head into 2026 knowing all your questions have been answered. “That’s a complete story. It is,” Matt Dover confirmed finishedBut the Duffer brothers have a show with different characters in the works, so even if the evil Vecna ​​is foiled for good – hmmm.

Five episodes of Stranger Things premiere November 26 on Netflix internationally, with three more episodes coming December 25, and then the finale on December 31.

peacock

9. Copenhagen test

Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings) steps out of the Marvel universe into this sci-fi espionage thriller set in the very near future, as American intelligence analyst, Alexander Hale. One day he discovered that his brain had been hacked. Yes, his mind. Whoever made his way now has access to everything Hill sees and hears. He sets out to find the perpetrators while trying to stop them from reading his mind, and along the way he must prove that he is not a double agent. “The audience will follow us through this kind of impossible tightrope of this kind of espionage on the Truman Show,” Liu said. Melissa Barrera and Brian d’Arcy James also star in the series, which stars horror master James Wan, co-creator of the Saw and Insidious franchises, as executive producer.

The Copenhagen Test premieres December 27 on Peacock in the US

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