The week of 20 to 26 July 2026 brings a genuinely varied slate of new television to UK screens, spanning five of the country’s most-used services: Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Paramount+ and Sky/NOW TV. Viewers can expect a documentary farewell to a beloved teen drama, a time-bending journey into the ashes of Pompeii, the long-awaited return of two flagship dramas from the Star Trek and Nordic-noir traditions, a darkly comic character study starring Sebastian Stan, and the UK premieres of two acclaimed American series. Whatever the mood — nostalgic, cerebral, chilling or comforting — there is something arriving this week to match it. Below is a rundown of seven of the standout titles, one from every major platform, along with what each one is actually about.

Netflix: Heartstopper: Ending on a Hi (24 July)

A week after the release of the finale film Heartstopper Forever, Netflix follows up with Heartstopper: Ending on a Hi, a 35-minute behind-the-scenes special that serves as a farewell to the phenomenon. Directed by Luke Hyams, the documentary combines never-before-seen footage from across all three seasons and the final film with fresh interviews from the cast, creator Alice Oseman and executive producer Patrick Walters. Rather than simply retracing the plot, it widens the lens to the show’s cultural impact, drawing on the voices of fans who found something of themselves in Charlie and Nick’s story. Netflix has described it as “a love letter to the community it brought together,” and it functions as a warm, reflective coda for anyone who has followed the series from its beginnings as a webcomic to a global streaming success.

Prime Video: A Different Man (21 July)

Landing on Prime Video on 21 July is A Different Man, the acclaimed dark comedy-thriller from writer-director Aaron Schimberg. Sebastian Stan stars as Edward, an aspiring actor who undergoes a radical experimental medical procedure to transform his facial appearance, hoping it will finally bring him the life and career he has always wanted. Instead, his new face becomes its own kind of trap: when a stage production is built around his old identity and a charismatic newcomer, played by Adam Pearson, threatens to eclipse him, Edward is consumed by an obsession with reclaiming what he believes he has lost. Renate Reinsve co-stars as the playwright at the centre of the unravelling. Stan won a Golden Globe for the performance, and the film’s unsettling, satirical take on identity and self-image has made it one of the most talked-about titles of the past year — now available to stream for UK Prime subscribers.

Disney+: Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston (23 July)

Disney+ and National Geographic team up for Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston, a three-part series that blends cinematic scripted drama with investigative documentary storytelling. Hiddleston plays a kind of time detective, guided by archaeologists, historians, geologists and disaster experts as he travels back to ancient Rome in the hours before and during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Rather than retelling the familiar story of instant annihilation, the series uncovers new evidence suggesting many of Pompeii’s residents had a real chance to survive — and follows three ordinary people caught in the disaster’s path: a teenage apprentice, a powerful businesswoman and a mysterious Praetorian Guard, each forced into impossible choices as the mountain erupts around them. It is a striking format for a factual series, and one that promises to challenge assumptions many viewers have long held about the city’s final hours.

Paramount+: The Crow Girl, Season 2 (20 July)

The dark British crime drama The Crow Girl returns for a second run on 20 July, with Eve Myles and Katherine Kelly reprising their roles as DCI Jeanette Kilburn and Dr Sophia Craven. Picking up the morning after the events of series one, Jeanette has ended her marriage and is now in a relationship with Sophia — but their personal lives are quickly overtaken by a new case. The discovery of a mummified body sealed inside a church wall and a second body hidden in a freezer point to a chilling connection with the deaths of young male asylum seekers. As Jeanette digs deeper, Sophia grows suspicious that Victoria Burkeman, an unstable former patient, may be involved, and the investigation drags both women into what the show describes as a disturbing web of historic abuse and buried truths. It is bleak, tightly plotted Nordic-noir-influenced television, and the six new episodes look set to push the central relationship to breaking point.

Paramount+: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Season 4 (23 July)

Also on Paramount+ this week, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds begins its fourth season on 23 July, with new episodes released weekly. Anson Mount returns as Captain Christopher Pike, leading the crew of the USS Enterprise on a fresh run of adventures that the studio promises will be as emotional as they are spectacular. Paul Wesley reprises his take on a young James T. Kirk, and the season leans further into the show’s willingness to experiment with genre: episodes this year include a Western-style excursion across a galactic desert complete with a T-rex, and a Muppet-style instalment produced with the help of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Beneath the playfulness, the crew continues to grapple with old rivalries and new threats as they strive, in classic Star Trek fashion, toward a hopeful future. With a fifth and final season already confirmed, this run carries the added weight of moving the story toward its conclusion.

Sky/NOW TV: CIA (23 July) and Station Eleven (24 July)

Sky and NOW TV round out the week with two notable UK premieres. On 23 July at 9pm, Sky Witness debuts CIA, the latest procedural from Dick Wolf’s crime-drama empire. Nick Gehlfuss stars as by-the-book FBI Special Agent Bill Goodman, who is loaned out to a clandestine joint CIA/FBI task force and partnered with Colin Glass, a secretive and roguish CIA operative played by Tom Ellis. Their mismatched partnership drives a series built on the same procedural engine as Wolf’s FBI and Chicago franchises, but with an espionage edge. The following day, 24 July, Sky Atlantic gives UK viewers their first look at Station Eleven, the Emmy-nominated American drama that has built a considerable reputation since its original US broadcast. Adapted from Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, it follows a troupe of travelling actors and musicians attempting to preserve art and community twenty years after a devastating pandemic has collapsed civilisation, weaving together timelines before, during and after the collapse. Its UK arrival on Sky Atlantic gives audiences here a chance to catch up with one of the more acclaimed prestige dramas of recent years.

A Week Worth Clearing Space For

Taken together, this is an unusually strong seven days for UK viewers, with something for nearly every taste. Fans winding down from Heartstopper’s finale get a fitting send-off on Netflix, Star Trek loyalists get a fresh season to dig into on Paramount+ alongside the return of The Crow Girl’s grim, gripping mystery, Disney+ offers a genuinely inventive spin on ancient history, Prime Video brings a prize-winning piece of prestige cinema to the small screen, and Sky/NOW TV delivers two very different but equally well-regarded imports. As ever with UK streaming, exact release times can shift slightly by platform and device, so it is worth checking each service on the day for the precise drop time in your region.