The best TV shows you should stream in March

Another month, another slew of TV shows to keep you entertained across your platform of choice.

While the options can seem daunting, imagine if someone had waded through all the platforms and come up with a best-of list that covers all the major providers?

A mix of old, new, funny and true; our ‘what to watch’ list for March is guaranteed to offer something for everyone. Let us know what you think in the comments section, and don’t forget to tell us what you’re watching.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.

Our top recommendation on Netflix is Jeen-yuhs: A Kanye Trilogy, which gets ★★★.

Even if you don’t especially like Kanye West, you have to concede that he has been, for the best part of 20 years, one of the biggest pop-cultural figures on the planet. This three-part series from co-directors Coodie and Chike goes back to (almost) where it all began, documenting Kanye’s efforts to transition from producer-for-hire in Chicago to rapper in the face of enormous record label indifference. Faith - his mother’s in him, his in himself, his (and Coodie’s) in God - is a constant theme throughout. - Karl Quinn

Read our review.

What else to watch on Netflix:

If you want big beautiful bearded Viking men …Vikings: Valhalla, the sequel series to the enduringly popular Vikings, crashes onto our lounge-room shores on a tide of blood and foam. When the Anglo-Saxon king Aethelred II orders the genocide of every Dane living in England, the Vikings launch a revenge invasion. Series creator Jeb Stuart (Die Hard, The Fugitive) keeps things moving at a decent clip. - Brad Newsome

If you love to hate influencers … Byron Baes drops on March 9 and will have you cringing and bingeing. The controversial reality series sees a bunch of wannabe influencers bring their tanned ambition - and plenty of drama - to Byron Bay.

If you like Toni Collette ... Pieces Of Her (March 4) will be your next crime obsession. Based on the book by Karin Slaughter, Pieces of Her tells the story of Andy (Australia’s Bella Heathcote), a young woman who finds herself at the centre of a mass shooting in a local restaurant. When her mother, Laura (Collette), intervenes and kills the shooter with ruthless efficiency, Andy finds herself drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game that will reveal dark secrets from Laura’s past.

Our top recommendation on Binge is Our Flag Means Death, which gets ★★★★.

The pirate’s life, intoxicating as it may seem, is not for everyone. For all the looting, hooting, pillaging and plundering, there is plenty of violence, not to mention seasickness and plank-walking. You need to be cut out for the pirate’s life; it chooses you. Unless, of course, you’re Stede Bonnet, the well-heeled aristocrat who traded in his life of luxury to be a buccaneer. Based very loosely on a true story, Our Flag Means Death has Flight of the Concords star Rhys Darby as Bonnet, the wannabe pirate. Having decided to chance his luck on the high seas, Bonnet befriends legendary warmonger Blackbeard (Taika Waititi). Waititi also directs the pilot, and the entire series is infused with his off-beat quirky Kiwi-ness, making Our Flag Means Death a rollicking good time. By the end of the first episode, you’ll be hooked.

Read our review.

What else to watch on Binge:

If you ever wondered what it’s like being a doctor … This Is Going To Hurt is a warts-and-all comedy that will make you think twice. Based on Adam Kay’s award-winning memoir of the same name, Bond star Ben Whishaw plays Adam, a young doctor thrown in the deep end of obstetrics and gynaecology. Expect plenty of laughs, some tears and more than a few graphic birth scenes.

If you like period dramas with a side of basketball … Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty debuts on March 7 and rewinds the clock to Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The NBA is on the brink of bankruptcy, but when businessman Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly) buys the Los Angeles Lakers, he turns the team and the league upside down.

Our top recommendation on Stan is Joe vs Carole, which gets ★★★.

Just when you thought you’d had all the Tiger King drama you could possibly handle, along comes Joe vs Carole. The eight-episode series retells the now-infamous feud between Carole “Hey all you cool cats and kittens” Baskin (Kate McKinnon) and Joe Exotic (John Cameron Mitchell). Admittedly, it’s strange seeing actors play Joe and Carole, two real-life figures so outlandish they seem like caricatures. While you may think there’s little to add by revisiting the story, the performances of Mitchell and McKinnon are enough to warrant a second look. Joe vs Carole digs deep into their backstories, exploring how their checkered pasts set the pair on a collision course that ended in Joe’s arrest.

What else to watch on Stan:

If you want to hear a story about a young man from West Philadelphia, born and raised … then Bel-Air is just the ticket. The modern-day remake of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is decidedly darker; the laugh track is gone, and we’re dealing with racial injustice and wealth inequality. The premise is the same: 16-year-old Will (Jabari Banks) relocates from West Philadelphia to live with his wealthy cousins. He quickly learns that while the mean streets of Philly may be dangerous, you can find just as much trouble in the gated communities of Los Angeles.

If you’ve been pining for MacGruber since 2010 … then it’s your lucky day. This sequel series, which brings back most of the main contributors, remains an intermittently hilarious satire of tough-guy movie tropes and macho posturing. Will Forte’s mullet-sporting American super-spy is a man permanently betrayed by his confidence, striding into excruciatingly embarrassing scenarios. Kristen Wiig and Laurence Fishburne also return.

Our top recommendation on Amazon Prime is Picard, which gets ★★★.

There is a moment in the first episode of Picard where Patrick Stewart, returning to his much-loved Star Trek role of Jean-Luc Picard, screams: “I am much too old for your bullshit!” It’s a fair enough statement, too. At 81, Stewart has every right to be enjoying retirement. But there’s a relentless determination with the Star Trek cast (let’s not forget, William Shatner became the oldest person to visit space last year), and Stewart shows no signs of slowing down. Picking up where we left off, Picard has dodged death and is now back in synth form.

Read why Patrick Stewart will never say goodbye to Picard.

What else to watch on Amazon Prime:

If you enjoy seeing people crash and burn …WeWork: Or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn is a documentary charting the rise and fall of the WeWork corporation and its rockstar leader Adam Neumann. Worth watching just to marvel at how quickly you can lose $47 billion.

If you’re excited about the rom-com renaissance … I Want You Back is a paint by numbers addition to the genre, but it hits all the marks. Peter (Charlie Day) and Emma (Jenny Slate) have both been dumped by their partners. After meeting in the stairwell at work (each having a quiet sob), they decide to team up and help each other win back their partners. You can probably guess how it ends, but that’s not the point! Rom-coms are back, baby!

Our top recommendation on Apple TV+ is The Problem with Jon Stewart, which gets ★★★★.

The world is weighed down with problems right now, so who better to help make sense of it than Jon Stewart? Luckily for us, the former Daily Show host delivers a second season of his late-night current affairs program, The Problem with Jon Stewart. Stewart is joined by an array of experts as he tackles one issue each week. This season, expect to see Stewart and his team go deep on the stock market, climate change, what news to trust, and how to achieve racial equality.

What else to watch on Apple TV+:

If letter writing is your favourite lost art … Dear returns for a heart-warming second season. Nine famous faces read letters from strangers whose lives they’ve inspired. A guaranteed tear-jerker, season two sees Sandra Oh, Viola Davis, Jane Fonda, Malala Yousafzai, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar learn of the positive impact they’ve had on people they’ve never met.

If you’d watch anything starring Samuel L. Jackson … The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey (March 11) finds him in top form as a man suffering from dementia, but haunted by the hazy sins of his past. When an experimental new treatment promises to restore Ptolemy’s memories temporarily, he must wade back into long-forgotten trauma.

Our top recommendation on Disney+ is The Dropout, which gets ★★★★.

If you haven’t watched The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (Binge), go and binge it, then do a whole lot of Googling. Before long, you too will be obsessed with the wild story of Elizabeth Holmes, the Standford dropout who became the world’s youngest self-made billionaire. Holmes built her wealth off the back of Theranos, a groundbreaking medical company that promised to revolutionise blood testing. The only problem? Holmes’ company was built on a series of lies. In The Dropout, Amanda Seyfried plays Holmes, donning the turtleneck and dropping the voice a few octaves to deliver a haunting performance. We follow her as she goes from promising young university student to ruthless businesswoman.

Read our review.

What else to watch on Disney+:

If you loved How I Met Your Mother … How I Met Your Father is basically the same show, except in reverse. Rather than listening to Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) recount his courtship, here we follow Sophie (Hilary Duff) as she tells her son the story of how she met his father. Fun fact: future Sophie is played by ex-Sex and the City star Kim Cattrall.

If you feel pretty, oh so pretty … Steven Spielberg’s big-screen adaptation of West Side Story drops onto Disney this month. The film is nominated for seven Oscars at the 94th Academy Awards, including an eighth best director nomination for Spielberg, making him the first person to be nominated for the award over six different decades.

If you think you’ve been on a bad Tinder date … think again. Fresh is a dark take on the world of dating, where your first date might just be your last. The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and drops on Disney+ this month. Come for the twisted premise and stay for the crush-worthy cast, including Normal People star Daisy Edgar-Jones and Sebastian Stan.

Our top recommendation on Paramount+ is We Need to Talk About Cosby, which gets ★★★★.

The story of Bill Cosby’s disgrace and downfall, from “America’s Dad” and star of one of the most successful TV comedies of all time to convicted sexual predator (albeit one whose conviction was overturned on a technicality), is well known. Cosby’s conviction was overturned in June 2021 on the basis that he had been granted immunity against the 2005 deposition ever being used against him. This four-part documentary is more interested in how he got away with it when he’d been making jokes about drugging women to have sex with them for decades, and in what has become one of the great dilemmas of our times: can you condemn the artist but still love the art? - Karl Quinn

Read our review.

What else to watch on Paramount+:

If you’re excited about NCIS Sydney … then do your homework by revisiting the original NCIS. You might be shocked at just how many crimes take place in the navy, but you’ll never be disappointed to join Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) as he cracks the case.

If you just want some old school drama … Melrose Place remains the benchmark for so-bad-it’s-good soap opera television. No judgement if you decide to skip straight to season two when Amanda Woodward (Heather Locklear) turns up.

If you can’t get enough of cons and swindles … Catfish will scratch your itch in all the right places. The show (which helped popularise the term ‘catfish’) follows suspicious lovers as they look to track down the identities of other online partners.

Our top recommendation on ABC iview is Troppo, which gets ★★★½.

One of the great paradoxes of this golden age of TV drama is the stuff that succeeds best internationally is the stuff that feels most local. And nowhere is that more so than with crime. Think Scandi-noir, the quaint English charms of Morse and co, the Baltimore projects of The Wire. Clearly aiming for a slice of that action, Troppo never misses an opportunity to remind us that it’s set in far north Queensland, where crocs pose as much of a danger as crims, and mangroves promise to swallow the unwary. You may struggle to remember the plot in six months, but you’ll remember the place.

Read our review.

What else to watch on ABC iview:

If you love art history … The Exhibitionists is a captivating and frequently gobsmacking introduction to some of the greatest artists you’ve never heard of. You’ll be desperate to know more about each of the featured artists: Jane Sutherland, Vivienne Bins, Karla Dickens, Nora Heysen, Dorrit Black, Julie Rrap, Janet Cumbrae Stewart and Emily Kame Kngwarreye.

If well-dressed assassins are your thing … Killing Eve returns to ABC for a fourth and final season. Few hitwomen present as well as Villanelle (Jodie Comer), the stylish killer at the heart of Killing Eve. The fourth season presents the last chapter of the push-pull battle between Villanelle and Eva Polastri (Sandra Oh).

If you don’t mind getting a little wacky … I’m Wanita tells the story of Wanita Bahtiyar, Australia’s Queen of Honky Tonk. Wanita, might not be as famous as Kasey Chambers but her fans are obsessive, lining the steps of her Tamworth house, “Honkytonkville”, with flowers when director Matthew Walker’s award-winning documentary premiered last year. - Bridget McManus

Our top recommendation on SBS on Demand is Iron Chef, which gets ★★★★

If you haven’t had the pleasure of being acquainted with the glory that is Iron Chef, now is your chance: SBS on Demand is plating up the first three seasons. Hosted by the charismatic Chairman (Takeshi) Kaga, Iron Chef pits amateur foodies against one of three of Japan’s top chefs. The two chefs have 60 minutes to serve up as many dishes as possible, with one tasty twist: all must feature a special ingredient, dramatically unveiled by Chairman Kaga.

What else to watch on SBS on Demand:

If you liked the first two seasons of Tin Star … then you should watch the third and final season, which hits SBS on Demand on March 5. Tim Roth returns as former detective Jim Worth who must return to the UK to face all he’s left behind.

If you’re a Wellington Paranormal fan … the fourth and final season is currently screening on SBS on Demand. While we’ll be sad to see the back of Officers Kylie Minogue (Mike Minogue) and O’Leary (Karen O’Leary), there are still plenty of spooks to be had in their final hit-out.

Our top recommendation across is Puberty Blues on 10Play, which gets ★★★★.

With so much going wrong in the modern world, there’s never been a better time to escape to the past. Let’s travel back to the late 1970s, an era when the humble Chiko Roll was considered a delicacy, and people still seriously used the word “moll”. Under the watchful eye of director Emma Freeman, the TV adaptation of Kathy Lette’s iconic novel is a touching love letter to growing up.

If you’re still fascinated by the Britney story … then Controlling Britney Spears on 9Now* is a sequel to the New York Times′ initial documentary Framing Britney Spears. The sequel digs deeper into the intricacies of Spear’s conservatorship and also features interviews with her friends, staff and inner circle.

If you want Mr Bean playing a hapless police officer … British comedy The Thin Blue Line is on 7Plus. The series stars Rowan Atkinson as Inspector Raymond Fowler, an old-fashioned policeman in the fictional English town of Gasforth.

* Nine is the owner of Stan, 9Now and this masthead.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.