My Brilliant Career gets a reboot and a modern take

What to watch in August, from Aussie nostalgia to grizzly neon drama Wed 5 Aug 2026 at 4:30am Welcome to what to watch, where we take you through what's on the box in August. This month is a mixed bag of fresh drama, an ecological thriller and the highly anticipated TV adaptation of classic Australian story My Brilliant Career. Plus, Scream King Ryan Murphy teams up with American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis to deliver a slick new nightmare. Here's what we're watching this month. After Us What's it about? In a time of rising fascism and increasing technological threat, it's sometimes hard to remember that our world is also rocketing towards ecological collapse. French mini-series After Us (also known as Phoenix) will help you remember. It's the eve of the Business Economic Ecologic forum (BEE for short), where the leaders of four of Europe's most powerful sectors — chemicals, fast fashion, banking, and oil — are gathering to announce their commitment to rewinding climate change. The jewel in their proposal is a fantastical new technology called Ice Back. It's a machine which promises to convert the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere into snow in order to reduce greenhouse gasses and re-form melted glaciers. The group intends to pledge 12 billion euros to the project which, in reality, will do less to fight climate change and more to line CEO pockets. Fed up with the non-results from protesting, a group of young European activists kidnap the children of the four business leaders. Their demands are simple: keep the 12 billion pledge but dump the greenwashing and give the money to a real organisation fighting climate change. From there the tight thriller unspools into a mess of attempted corporate strong-arming and radical climate action, as the sharp series asks if violence is ever justified in the face of cataclysmic environmental ruin. Perfect for: Keeping the spark alive for the future Where to watch: After Us premieres August 9 on SBS and SBS On Demand Falling What's it about? Falling might just win the prize for most tender meet-cute of the year. Sister Anna (Keely Hawes), cloistered in a convent outside of Bristol since the age of 16, is preparing a meal for the visiting Father David (Paapa Essiedu). During a moral argument, she burns her hand on a pot, and he holds it under cold water. That simple touch — water running over their joined hands, cold English light spilling through the windows like a sign from the heavens — is enough to upend both of their lives. Coming off the back of his smash hit Adolescence and his remake of Lord of the Flies, Jack Thorne was inspired to write his very first love story for television by a news article about a real-life nun and a priest falling in love. (Possibly this one). But don't come into Falling thinking this is another "hot priest" show (see: Fleabag), or even a simple love story. Among the swathes of yearning, there are dark moments here. Both characters are wrestling with deep questions about their faith and their purpose, and the world outside is cruel and unrelenting. Continually bathed in that celestial light, Essiedu is truly mesmerising any time he's on screen — he can convey a startling range of emotions through his eyes alone. Hawes infuses her deer-like vulnerability with a quiet thread of steel, and their scenes together make you hold your breath. Occasionally weighed down by slightly overwrought speeches and the odd cliche, this series is still a compelling slow burn. Bolstering the leads are some brilliant side characters, particularly David's sister Susan (Sophie Stone). The intimate conversations between the siblings, signed in BSL, feel lived in and real. This is a show all about love, but not just romance. The people around these two lost souls repeatedly show that belonging and community can be found both inside and outside a church. Perfect for: Fans of I May Destroy You, Normal People, or anyone who wants some heartbreak with their hot priest Where to watch: Falling premieres August 16 on ABC and ABC iview My Brilliant Career What's it about? There's a bittersweetness to the My Brilliant Career reboot landing on streaming weeks after the sad death of Sam Neill, the man who set so many hearts swooning in the original 1979 film. Bitter because you're forced to reckon with the passing of time, sweet because the 2026 revamp of Miles Franklin's classic story is another gem in showrunner Liz Doran's (The Secret Life of Us, Please Like Me) own brilliant career. Sybylla (Philippa Northeast) is a young woman in 1890s Australia with perpetually ruddy cheeks, messy hair and a deep desire to rise above the societal station for women at the time. Disappointed in the opportunities her poor farming family can offer, Sybylla is sent to live with her well-to-do Granny (Anna Chancellor) in the hopes she will cast off her ideas of being a writer/artist/bohemian and settle with a suitor. The mantle of Harry Beecham is taken up by Slow Horses star Christopher Chung, just as rugged and charming as his predecessor. Northeast sparks brightly as the fierce and ferocious Sybylla, while Doran infuses the series with modern updates and a sharp soundtrack which allow it to stand confidently against the movie. Perfect for: People who want a Bridgerton vibe with Aussie accents Where to watch: My Brilliant Career premieres on August 13 on Netflix The Shards What's it about? It's always a relief when Ryan Murphy turns his hand toward fiction as opposed to injecting his trademark lasciviousness into real-life tales of misery. Even more so when the American Horror Story provocateur grabs onto source material that seems to be tailor-made for his dark, bombastic style: American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis's 2023 The Shards. A fictional autobiography about Ellis's own senior year at an LA private high school, Bret (Igby Rigney) lands a soft spot for mysterious new student Robert (Homer Gere). The self-confident teen's summer romance plans are put on hold when a serial killer called The Trawler starts hacking his way through the young and beautiful of LA — and the call could be coming from inside the house! Ellis's too-cool-for-school first person narration courtesy of Bret latches onto the neon-lit, oil slick 80's LA Murphy has created. Fans of his more bloody outings should be reassured the gore is there. The Shards also provides an excellent opportunity to rubberneck at the next generation of nepo babies with Richard Gere's son Homer taking on one of his first meatier parts, and Kaia Gerber, daughter of Cindy Crawford, clocking in for her third Murphy collab. Perfect for: Feeling like one of the cool kids Where to watch: The Shards premieres on August 6 on Disney+ Two Weeks in August What's it about?The White Lotus: The French Riviera won't be opening its doors for at least another six months, so if you're itching for some Mike White-esque bad people-go-on-vacation time, Two Weeks in August might just be the scratch you need. The accommodations aren't quite as luxurious as The White Lotus, but the scandals are just as hot and belaboured mum Zoe (Jessica Raine) is honestly just happy to get away from the pressures of her life. Her and her dour husband Dan (Damien Molony), head on the two-week Greek beach vacay with their friends from university and a couple of ring-ins (a much younger second wife, a lazy au pair). An infidelity involving Dan and Jess, the second wife (Antonia Thomas) is the catalyst for barbed words, drug trips and run-ins with insufferably hilarious rich people. All the while the rage inside "people-pleaser" Zoe (or maybe she's just the only one who's not terminally selfish) bubbles along to the point of boiling over. It's delicious to see some wonderful British bit players (You might know Molony from gone-too-soon sitcom Crashing, Thomas from Misfits or Hugh Skinner from Fleabag), stretch their legs into some truly sticky characters. But it is Raine as Zoe who steals the show, whether doing some incredible eye acting or having visions of Greek mythology (very apt for our Odyssey times) that ground the salacious story. Perfect for: Some guilt-less judging of deplorable people Where to watch: Two Weeks in August premieres on August 12 on Binge