The 12 best international series on Showmax this June

Devils S1 | First on Showmax | Binge now

Golden Globe nominee Patrick Dempsey (McDreamy in Grey’s Anatomy) and Alessandro Borghi (Suburra), who’s won acting awards at Venice and Berlin, co-star in this adaptation of the bestselling book by Italian trader Guido Maria Brera – an insider’s look at the world of millionaire bankers.

Sky Italy’s #1 scripted series launch in nearly a year – ahead of both Chernobyl and The New Pope – Devils has already been renewed for a second season.

The series centres on Massimo Ruggero, a charismatic and fearless Italian banker. With a stellar track record on the London trading floor of investment powerhouse, NYL Bank, Massimo is a shoo-in for promotion to vice-CEO. But when Massimo’s fiercest rival turns up dead, Massimo finds himself under suspicion, and uncovers a vast political game plan orchestrated by the devils who rule the world’s financial fate.

Devils’ cast includes Black Reel nominee Malachi Kirby (Roots, Black Mirror), BAFTA nominee Laia Costa (Victoria), and International Emmy winner Lars Mikkelsen (House of Cards, The Witcher).

Emmy nominee Nick Hurran (Sherlock) directs two-thirds of the series, with Emmy and BAFTA winning cinematographer Neville Kidd (Sherlock, Outlander) behind the camera.

Cinematographe calls it “a story of power, secrets and deceptions at the center of a financial thriller as taught as a violin string.”

Motherland: Fort Salem S1 | First on Showmax | Binge now

Motherland: Fort Salem is set in an alternate America where witches ended their persecution by cutting a deal with the government to fight for the country. The series follows three young recruits from basic training to deployment, as they fight terrorist threats with supernatural tactics. 

Cape Town actress Jessica Sutton (Kissing Booth) and Taylor Hickson (Deadly Class, Deadpool) lead the talented young cast, while the series is directed by the likes of Steven A. Adelson (Riverdale), Emmy nominee David Grossman (Desperate Housewives), and BAFTA nominee Haifaa Al-Mansour (Wadjda), created by Eliot Laurence (Claws), and exec produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay (Succession).

Associated Press calls it “ridiculously entertaining”; Den of Geek says it’s “a riveting supernatural drama”; and ComicBook.com says it’s “inventive and ambitious.” 

Robot Chicken S9-10 | First on Showmax | Binge from 1 June 2020

Robot Chicken, Adult Swim’s legendary stop motion sketch comedy, is back with more black comedy, pop culture parody and surreal humour. 

Robot Chicken has won six Emmys, an Annie Award and the Jury Award at Annecy. Most of the characters are voiced by the Emmy-winning series creators Seth Green, Matthew Senreich and Breckin Meyer. Oscar-nominated Ted, Family Guy and The Orville creator Seth MacFarlane is a series regular while the guest cast reads like a who’s-who of geek-out hall-of-famers, from Patrick Stewart, George Takei, Christopher Lloyd and J.K. Simmons to Scarlett Johansson, Tom Hiddleston and Daniel Radcliffe.

Among the upcoming highlights to look forward to, Season 9 takes on Westworld, Star Wars, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Donald Trump, while Season 10 marks the series’ 200th episode. The second half of Season 10 will be released on 13 July 2020, express from the US.  

The Walking Dead also finally gets its turn on the Robot Chicken rotisserie with the Robot Chicken Walking Dead special: Look Who’s Walking. Made in collaboration with The Walking Dead’s creator, Robert Kirkman, and showrunner, Scott M. Gimple, Look Who’s Walking follows Robot Chicken Nerd’s encounter with an aging survivor at The Walking Dead Museum…

Rick and Morty S4 | First on Showmax | Binge now 

Rick Sanchez is a sociopathic genius scientist who lives with his daughter Beth’s family, constantly bringing her, his son-in-law Jerry, granddaughter Summer, and inherently timid grandson Morty on insanely dangerous adventures across the multiverse.

Adult Swim’s half-hour animated comedy is the highest-rated animated series of all time on IMDb, with a 9.2/10 rating, and has won an Emmy, two Annie Awards and a Critics Choice Award, among other honours. Season 4 has a 94% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which praises the season as “both an exciting progression and a delightful return to form that proves more than worth the two-year wait.” 

Miracle Workers S1 | First on Showmax | Binge now

When God (Golden Globe winner Steve Buscemi from Fargo and Boardwalk Empire) plans to destroy the Earth, two low-level angels (Daniel Radcliffe from Harry Potter and Geraldine Viswanathan from Bad Education) must convince their boss to save humanity. They bet him they can pull off their most impossible miracle yet: help two humans fall in love.

Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter) was nominated for a 2019 Teen Choice: Comedy Actor award for his performance. The show has a 81% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Variety writing, “Ultimately, the small miracle of Miracle Workers is that it launches past any obvious gimmicks to favour incisive punchlines that find humour and warmth in the most unusual — and undeniably fascinating — places.”

Insecure S4 | Binge now

Created by A Black Lady Sketch Show exec producer Issa Rae and Black-ish exec producer Larry Wilmore, Insecure centres on friends Issa (Rae in a Golden Globe, Emmy and Critics Choice nominated performance) and Molly (Black Reel awards nominee Yvonne Orji). The show has a 96% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics consensus hails Insecure as “an insightful, raunchy, and hilarious journey through the life of a twentysomething black woman that cuts through stereotypes with sharp wit and an effusive spirit.” 

As The Peabody Awards put it, “Rae delivers a ground-breaking series that captures the lives of everyday young black people in Los Angeles with a fresh and authentic take. Breaking away from tired and familiar representations of ‘diversity’ on television, this series offers a fun and intimate portrayal of work, relationships, and the ordinary experiences of the two young black women at its center.” 

Insecure was named TV Program of the Year at the 2018 American Film Institute Awards and was also nominated for two Emmys for cinematography and for Show of the Year at the MTV Movie and TV Awards.

Run S1 | First on Showmax | Binge now

17 years ago, college sweethearts Ruby and Billy made a pact: if either of them ever texted the word “RUN” and the other replied with the same, they would drop everything, board the first train after 5pm out of Grand Central Station, and travel across America together. But they’re about to discover that the reality of taking that leap may not be quite how they pictured it…  

Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee Merritt Wever from Unbelievable, Godless and Nurse Jackie stars as Ruby, opposite Berlin Shooting Star winner Domhnall Gleeson from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker and Ex Machina as Billy.  The cast also includes Emmy and Golden Globe winner, Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), who’s also executive producer; Golden Globe nominee Archie Panjabi (HBO’s upcoming I Know This Much Is True, The Good Wife); Screen Actors Guild nominee Rich Sommer (Mad Men, Glow); and Sundance jury prize winner Tamara Podemski (Coroner). 

From HBO and the team behind Fleabag, Run has an 82% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with NPR hailing the romcom thriller as “the best new show of 2020.”

The Good Karma Hospital S3 | Binge from 1 June 

“Good medicine is like good karma. Help others, and you help yourself.” 

The Good Karma Hospital was inspired by series creator Dan Sefton’s experiences as a doctor in South Africa. The show has 80% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Radio Times UK praising it as a “lovely piece of sun-drenched, colourful escapism.” 

The hospital drama follows junior doctor Ruby Walker (Amrita Acharia from Game of Thrones), who ditches London and a broken heart for a job in an under-funded rural South India hospital run by the tough-as-nails Dr. Lydia Fonseca (BAFTA nominee Amanda Redman from New Tricks). BAFTA winner Phyllis Logan (Downton Abbey, Secrets and Lies), Screen Actor’s Guild nominee Philip Jackson (Brassed Off,  Little Voice) and Neil Morrissey (Men Behaving Badly, Line of Duty) also star. 

Season 3 brings Ruby back to the hospital following a four month absence. She receives a chilly welcome from both Lydia and a wounded Gabriel (James Krishna Floyd from My Brother The Devil), whose aloofness belies the feelings he still has for her.

Billions S5 | Tuesdays at 23:00 from 9 June | Same day as M-Net

It’s adapt or die as the struggle for power becomes a fight for survival in the new season of Billions. Alliances crumble as Bobby Axelrod (Golden Globe winner Damian Lewis from Homeland) and Chuck Rhoades (Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti from Sideways) go head to head once more in the ego-driven world of high finance. 

Billions has a 91% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a score of 8.4/10 on IMDB. Paul Giamatti was nominated for a 2020 Critics Choice Award for Best Actor, with Asia Kate Dillon nominated for Best Supporting Actor. The series has also been nominated for two GLAAD Media awards for Outstanding Drama Series.

Asia Kate Dillon (John Wick: Chapter 3 and Orange Is The New Black) and Critics Choice nominee Maggie Siff (Sons of Anarchy) both return, as Taylor Mason and Wendy Rhoades respectively, while Season 5 ushers in a new threat to Axe’s rule in the form of social impact pioneer Mike Prince (played by Golden Globe nominee Corey Stoll from House of Cards). Golden Globe winner Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife, Hot Zone) also joins the cast as Ivy League sociology professor and bestselling author Catherine Brant.

As NewsDay says, “What other show has this many first-rate New York actors (and a first-rate British one) who can juggle dialogue so rococo it leaves the listener with vertigo? What other drama is this funny?”

The Plot Against America S1 | Mondays at 23:30 | Same day as M-Net | Binge from 15 June

From the award-winning creators of The Wire, David Simon and Ed Burns, comes The Plot Against America, an alternate history story in which Franklin D Roosevelt loses the U.S. presidential election of 1940 to Nazi sympathiser Charles Lindbergh. What follows is the terrifying and tension-building tale of the country’s turn to fascism, told through the eyes of a working-class Jewish family in New Jersey in the build-up to World War 2.

Starring Emmy nominee Zoe Kazan (The Big Sick, Olive Kitteridge), Oscar nominee Winona Ryder (Stranger Things), Golden Globe nominee John Turturro (The Night Of) and Morgan Spector (Homeland, Boardwalk Empire), The Plot Against America is based on the acclaimed novel by Pulitzer Prize winner Philip Roth.

The Plot Against America has an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads: “A cautionary tale that hits close to home, The Plot Against America’s handsomely realized revisionist history is disturbingly relevant, making it difficult, but essential viewing.”

Betty S1 | Mondays at 22:30 from 22 June | Same day as 1Magic

Based on Crystal Moselle’s critically acclaimed feature Skate Kitchen, HBO’s new six-episode half-hour series Betty follows a diverse group of young women navigating their lives through New York’s predominantly male-oriented skateboarding scene. Dede Lovelace, Moonbear, Nina Moran, Ajani Russell, and Rachelle Vinberg, who all starred in the original film, return for the series. 

Betty has a 95% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics consensus is, “Earnest, audacious, and effortlessly cool, Betty captures the spirit of skating and friendship with style.”

Moselle’s debut documentary Wolfpack earned her the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, Best Documentary at Edinburgh, and a Cinema Eye Honors Award, as well as an MTV Movie Awards Best Documentary nomination, while Skate Kitchen earned Moselle a Best of Next nomination at Sundance and an Honourable Mention at Outfest.  

The Outsider S1 | New episodes 2330 every Thursday | Same day as M-Net | Binge from 25 June

Police detective Ralph Anderson (Golden Globe nominee Ben Mendelsohn from Bloodline and Rogue One) is still grieving the death of his own son when the mutilated body of 11-year-old Frankie Peterson is found in the Georgia woods. The mysterious circumstances surrounding the horrifying crime lead Ralph to bring in unorthodox private investigator Holly Gibney (Cynthia Erivo, nominated for two Oscars and two Golden Globes this year for Harriet) to help explain the unexplainable.   

The cast also includes Golden Globe winner Jason Bateman (Ozark), Emmy nominee Bill Camp (Joker, The Night Of), Oscar nominee Mare Winningham (The Affair, American Horror Story), BAFTA winner Paddy Considine (In America), Critics Choice nominee Julianne Nicholson (Masters of Sex, I, Tonya), and Screen Actors Guild nominee Yul Vázquez (Russian Doll). 

This hit HBO miniseries is based on the best-selling novel by Stephen King, topped IMDb’s Most Popular Show list earlier this year, and has an 82% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Creator Richard Price was behind the Emmy-winning The Night Of and the show’s directors include Bateman, who won an Emmy for directing Ozark, and Andrew Bernstein, who won a Directors Guild of America award for The West Wing.