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“Every family has a history that they don’t necessarily know, and these are all pretty dramatic ones,” says Jane Seymour, host of Acorn TV’s first unscripted series, Relative Secrets, which investigates the darkest ancestral mysteries of everyday American families. It’s the second original project on the streamer for Seymour, who stars as a literary professor turned detective in comedy-drama Harry Wild, which has just been renewed for a fifth season. The June 2 premiere (available to stream) pulled us in with the tale of a woman in West Virginia who is the daughter of a serial killer, Robert Carr. Until her father was caught when she was 12 years old, young Donna lived out of the family car with her mother, brother, and father as the deadly dad moved them from state to state. Donna was desperate to dig into her family history to see if she could find...

Quick, think of an English king famous for having insatiable appetites, beef with the pope, and a romantic life so messy that hooking up with him was a shortcut to either limitless political power or the Tower of London. If you’re thinking of Henry VIII, he of six wives and the whole “divorced, beheaded, died” thing, come on. The Tudors don’t have a monopoly on bizarre, sexy royal drama. Frankly, they’ve had enough time in the spotlight.

Starz’s “Mary & George” finally shifts that spotlight to the Jacobean era — named for King James I of England and VI of Scotland, who became king when the Tudor line ended and who transformed the English court into what happens when the VIP section of a Scottish gay bar takes over the government. And that’s just the beginning of the story. Here’s what you need to know...

Mary & George offers a comical and scandalous look at 17th-century English royalty, with a stellar cast bringing real-life characters to the small screen. The Starz miniseries, led by Julianne Moore and Nicholas Galitzine, delves into the historical love affair between George Villiers and King James VI. With a large ensemble including Tony Curran, the series offers a mix of drama and comedy in British history, akin to popular royal dramas like The Great.

Mary & George takes a comical and scandalous look at 17th-century English royalty, with a dazzling cast portraying various real-life characters. The Starz miniseries, which released its first episode in the United States on April 5, 2024, boasts a large cast to bring the drama of British history to the small screen. Created by D.C. Moore (Not Safe for Work), Mary & George has been hailed a replacement for series like The Tudors, with the sort of comedy...

For a title as harmless as Mary and George, the Julianne Moore – Nicholas Galitzine-led historical drama turns out to be unimaginably violent and incredibly salacious. Based on the infamous romance between George Villiers, aka the first Duke of Buckingham, and King James (of Scotland and England), Mary and George tells three decades of story within the span of seven episodes at breakneck speed—the kind of approach that we’ve seen in HBO’s House of The Dragon. And while the series matches the extremely violent nature of the HBO show, it also has a very Bridgerton-like soapiness going on. The result is insanely entertaining, seven-hour binge-worthy television that keeps you at the edge of your seat till the very last minute. Nicholas Galitzine is electrifying as George, while Julianne Moore plays Mary with the same energy of her film Sharper (2023), which, in many ways, had a thematically similar plot.

“I Am Slave” director Gabriel Range’s “Stardust,” that chronicles the young David Bowie’s first visit to the U.S. in 1971, a trip that inspired the invention of his iconic alter ego Ziggy Stardust, will open the 28th Raindance Film Festival.

Like several other festivals this year, Raindance will be a hybrid version comprised of a strong online presence with some physical events and screenings. The festival’s 50-strong film program will be available online across the U.K. while live events will be confined to London. The films will be free, though financial contributions will be encouraged, 28% of which will be donated to charitable causes.

Range will participate in a physical red carpet event for “Stardust” in London, and in-person activity will also include an out-of-competition gala screening of Akabane Hiroshi’s Japanese film “Twiceborn,” with both events taking place at London’s The May Fair hotel.

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