What to watch this weekend

By Helena Kealey on 17/5/2018

What to watch this weekend has never been a harder question to answer. Channel 4's The Handmaid's Tale season two is likely to be the most provocative and important drama of the year, and is airing at the same time as Hugh Grant's juicy new BBC drama about the true story of a murderous homosexual MP. What should you watch? Both. Obviously. But at a push, we recommend sitting down with A Very English Scandal and binge-watching The Handmaid's Tale a little later in the month. Cry with me: why have the programmers done this to us?

The Handmaid's Tale, Channel 4

With blisteringly positive reviews coming out of the USA where season two of The Handmaid's Tale aired earlier this year, and in a time fraught with #metoo allegations and the rise of powerful, sexually predatory men, The Handmaid's Tale is likely to be the most important and controversial drama of the year.

Set in a dystopian future born on the back of female repression, the ten-part series goes further than Margaret Atwood's original novel by the same name – which was the basis for the first series – and takes Offred (Elisabeth Moss) into unchartered territory as she struggles for any modicum of control over her body.

A Very English Scandal, BBC One

Sex, politics and celebrities. What more in the way of drama could you ask for? Well, ask no more.

Notting Hill actor and celebrity Hugh Grant is returning to the small screen since for the first time since 1993, alongside James Bond's Ben Whishaw to star in the three-part BBC One drama A Very English Scandal about a murderous MP – based on a true story.