Editor's Review

There 9 best TV series on Shomax ranging from Kenyan favourites like Monica S3 and Maisha Mkanda S2 to best international TV shows like Vikings, Tiger, Fargo S4, Room 104 S4, The Good Lord Bird and so much more.

As we kickstart 2021, Shomax has some great series lined up for streaming in the month of January. 

There 9 best TV series on Shomax ranging from Kenyan favourites like Monica S3 and Maisha Mkanda S2 to best international TV shows like Vikings, Tiger, Fargo S4, Room 104 S4, The Good Lord Bird and so much more.

MONICA S3 

For the third season of Monica which premieres exclusively on Showmax on 21 January, Brenda Wairimu’s Monica finds herself juggling her messy romantic life while also seeking a powerful position at the governor’s office. But living a lie is never easy and Monica’s world is about to come crashing down. Also starring Raymond Ofula, Fidel Maithya, Joyce Maina, and Ephy Saint, watch Monica S3 first on Showmax from Thursday 21 January.

MAISHA MKANDA 

John Allan-Namu’s Kalasha-winning investigative series, Maisha Mkanda, is back for a second season and starts on 11th January. This season, Namu and his team at Africa Uncensored continue to bring us compelling stories of ordinary Kenyans from the most inspirational to the most horrifying. In Alika, we follow the story of a little girl who endured years of horrific abuse, the people who saved her and the price they paid for it. In Mlezi, we follow three women who have dedicated their lives to caring for their loved ones who cannot care for themselves while in Cyber Bullying, we get to hear from the victims of cyberbullying in Kenya and the devastating effects it has had on their lives. 

VIKINGS S6B 

The time has come at last to light up the Vikings saga and push it out to sea. The second half of the final season of the groundbreaking historical epic is now streaming first and only on Showmax.  

The end of the saga brings the tumultuous conflict between the Rus and Vikings to a conclusion with grave consequences. Meanwhile, in Iceland, Ubbe (Jordan Patrick Smith from Lovecraft Country) is determined to fulfill his father Ragnar’s dream and sail further west than any Viking has traveled before. And there is unfinished business in England, where the Vikings have established settlements and over-run most of the country – except for Wessex. The King of Wessex, Alfred the Great (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo from Sing Street), is the only Saxon ruler to seriously challenge their complete domination. Now, Ivar the Boneless (Alex Høgh Andersen from the Oscar-nominated A War) must again face, in battle, the king he only knew as a boy. 

 

FARGO S4 | Same day as M-Net, Tuesdays at 23:30 from 12 January

A spin-off of the Coen brothers’ Oscar-winning classic movie, Fargo has won three Golden Globes, six Emmys and a Peabody Award. It’s #36 on IMDb’s Top Rated TV list, with an 8.9/10 score, and holds a 92% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

Season 4, which is Complex’s TV show of the year, is set in Kansas City in 1950, with four-time Emmy-winning comedian Chris Rock starring as Loy Cannon, the head of the African American crime family who trades sons with the head of the Italian mafia as part of a tenuous truce. 

TIGER | First on Showmax | Express from the US | Episode 1 on 11 Jan & Episode 2 on 18 Jan

HBO’s eagerly anticipated Tiger Woods documentary, Tiger, offers a revealing look at the rise, fall, and epic comeback of the global golfing icon. The series paints an intimate picture of the prodigy whose dedication and obsession with the game of golf brought him unimaginable fame and success, but also led him down a dark, spiraling path, and ultimately, to his legendary comeback, culminating in his victory at the 2019 Masters. 

The two-part documentary features never-before-seen-footage and interviews with those who know Tiger Woods best, including golf legend Sir Nick Faldo; Tiger’s first true love, Dina Parr; and Rachel Uchitel, the woman at the centre of the sex scandal that forever altered Tiger’s world.

After six seasons, Vikings still has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an 8.5/10 rating on IMDb, where it’s on their Top Rated TV of All-Time list

 

EUPHORIA SPECIAL | Stream part 1 now and part 2 from 25 January 2021, first on Showmax

Zendaya’s triple-Emmy-winning HBO drama series Euphoria put a surprise in our Christmas stockings at the end of last year with Trouble Don't Last Always, the first episode of a two-part special bridging the COVID-19-enforced gap as we wait for Season 2.  

The first episode picked up directly after the Season 1 finale, following Rue into Christmas in the aftermath of the train station and falling back into old habits. In Part 2, coming to Showmax express from the US this month, we’ll finally get Jules’s side of the story and catch up with her over the holidays as she reflects on the year behind her.  

Written and directed by series creator Sam Levinson, the hour-long first episode has drawn a 96% thumbs-up from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

THE GOOD LORD BIRD S1 | Binge from 15 January

Four-time Oscar nominee Ethan Hawke (Stockholm) stars in The Good Lord Bird as militant slavery abolitionist John Brown, who is credited with instigating the American Civil War. It’s told from the point of view of Henry “Onion” Shackleford, an enslaved boy who joins Brown’s family of abolitionist soldiers.  

Onion is played by rising star Joshua Caleb Johnson, who co-stars along with Grammy winner Daveed Diggs (Blindspotting, Hamilton). The Good Lord Bird is #5 on Rolling Stone’s list of the best TV of the year and has a 97% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

FILTHY RICH | Binge now 

Meet the Monreauxes, a mega-rich Southern family famous for creating a successful Christian television network. This southern stars Kim Cattrall as Margaret Monreauxes, who must take the reins of the family business after the patriarch, Eugene Monreauxes dies in a plane crash. Not before including his three illegitimate children in his will, a secret that comes as news to everybody.

BLACK MONDAY S1-2 | Binge now

Set in 1987, Black Monday is a comedy about a motley crew of ambitious underdogs who cause the worst stock market crash in Wall Street history.  

As the high-rolling Mo, Oscar nominee Don Cheadle (Avengers’ War Machine, Hotel Rwanda) was nominated for 2019 and 2020 Emmys and won two Black Reel Awards, with Regina Hall (Girls Trip, The Hate You Give) nominated for a further two. Emmy nominees Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (The Boys) executive produce (alongside Cheadle) and also directed the pilot.