If you're curious about the world we live in, then you're going to love what's coming to Netflix this week, because the streamer has loads of new documentaries hitting its library, and even the dramas are mostly period ones!
Every week at What to Watch we round up everything Neflix has joining its library in the next week, to bring you a curated list of what you need to stream. This time around we've selected 7 shows, movies and specials coming out between Saturday, January 27 and Friday, February 2.
As I said documentaries are the name of the game: we've got feature docs, documentary series, historical docu-dramas, period dramas and one funny man talking about his life (which counts, right?). If you prefer your entertainment fictional, don't worry, because there's a little of that too.
I pick this list each week based on what's likely to be hot, what could be a must-watch based on precedent and what you might otherwise have missed that sounds excellent. Despite having lots of documentary, there should be something there for everyone, but if not you've always got last week's new on Netflix round-up to bring more diversity.
So let's find you something to watch!
The Greatest Night in Pop
- Type: documentary movie| releases: Monday, January 29 | for fans of: We Are The World, pop music
In the 1980s, a tragic famine in Ethiopia prompted a super-group of hugely popular musicians to come together and perform a charity song to raise money for aid efforts. No, I'm not talking about the enduring classic "Do They Know it's Christmas?" but its American response, "We Are The World".
Recorded over several nights in January 1985, the song "We Are The World" features huge artists like Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen and more, and as you can imagine organizing a track of this proportion was no easy feat. That's what The Greatest Night in Pop is about: the process of creating the song including planning, recording and release.
At just over 90 minutes, this is a nice, short and sweet music documentary that'll remind you of a different world of 1980s pop. It releases on Netflix on Monday, January 29.
NASCAR: Full Speed
- Type: documentary series| releases: Tuesday, January 30 | for fans of: Netflix sports docs, NASCAR
Netflix's procession of gripping sports documentaries is going to include another motorsports series to join F1: Drive to Survive, with NASCAR's equivalent roaring onto the track.
Full Speed follows NASCAR's 2023 season: what it's like to be a driver going through the emotional ups and downs of championships and playoffs, as well as the lefts and rights of each course. It comes chock-full of interviews with the racers, as well as other participants in the teams.
You'll be able to watch NASCAR: Full Speed on Tuesday, January 30, with its five-episode run all streaming then.
Jack Whitehall: Settle Down
- Type: comedy special| releases: Tuesday, January 30 | for fans of: British comedians
British comedian Jack Whitehall gets his latest stand-up comedy special on Netflix, recorded at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Whitehall, who's had a few previous specials on the streamer as well as a travel show Travels with my Father, will talk about... well, settling down, it's in the name. His comedy will touch on topics from drinking and dogs, to his slow decline from the youngster he's portrayed in classic comedies to a father.
Alexander: The Making of a God
- Type: docudrama series| releases: Wednesday, January 31 | for fans of: ancient history, Netflix docudramas
If you're a sport fan, you've already had a documentary for you this week, and now it's time for the historical fans to get their fix with Alexander: The Making of a God. Like many similar productions on the streamer, it's a docu-drama, mixing interviews and historical narration with re-enactments using real actors.
You can probably tell who this docudrama is about: it centers on Alexander the Great, or Alexander III of Macedon, whose empire spread to include parts of Europe, Africa and Asia. The documentary tells how he came to power, and how he slowly carved out what Netflix Tudum calls "the largest Western empire in history" which is technically true with lots of caveats (the main one being that it was the largest Western empire at the time).
Some of Netflix's docudramas have been controversial in how they adapt history for the dramatic segments, but the documentary parts are reliably interesting and informative.
Will
- Type: movie| releases: Wednesday, January 31 | for fans of: World War Two dramas
A new foreign movie hitting Netflix's library this week is Will... or Will — Netflix has been using both spellings to refer to this Belgian movie.
The film, set in World War Two in Nazi-occupied Antwerp, is about two young police officers for the local constabulary. They find themselves caught between the Nazi forces, who expect their assistance in policing the city, and the local townspeople who they vowed to protect.
Given that logline, this probably won't be a cheery movie, and it comes from a director who worked on Peaky Blinders and The Terror which should give you an idea of what to expect.
Baby Bandito
- Type: TV series | releases: Wednesday, January 31 | for fans of: crime dramas
Time for the regular weekly crime show: this time it's Baby Bandito, a Chilean crime and action drama, which was inspired by a small heist in the country a decade ago.
The story centers on a skater called Kevin, who falls in love with a rich woman, and decides to steal from a gang in order to make money to impress her. This puts a bullseye on their back and they have to travel to Europe to escape.
After the likes of Griselda, The Brothers Sun and Fool Me Once, Netflix has loaded January with plenty of crime dramas. If you're not sick of them yet, Baby Bandito is there for you.
Orion and the Dark
- Type: movie| releases: Friday, February 2 | for fans of: Dreamworks movies
Finally, a... kids' movie? An everyone movie? Orion and the Dark is a new animated feature from Dreamworks, so it'll probably be a little bit of both.
The film is about Orion, an average kid except that he's terrified of everything, anxious about the world and shy to his peers. But when one of his worst fears comes to life, this Dark decides to help Orion adjust to the world, and they go on a trip to get to the bottom of all Orion's issues.
