What to stream this week: A hot new Aussie medical drama, plus five more picks

This week’s picks include the excellent local medical drama The F Ward, while Anya Taylor-Joy gets lucky with her new action thriller, but Will Ferrell hits his golf comedy, The Hawk, into the rough.The F Ward (Stan*) ★★★★ Let’s get this out of the way: The F Ward is an excellent medical drama, but it’s not merely Australia’s answer to The Pitt. Created by part of the team behind Stan’s award-winning Bump, Dan Edwards and Kelsey Munro’s new six-part series stands on its own, thanks to its deeply dialled-in cast, understated script and fresh premise.Spanning several months, The F Ward opens on day one of its titular program, where a small group of would-be doctors is given a second and final chance at a Sydney hospital, after previously failing their internships.Lola Bond and Ioane Sa’ula both deliver standout performances in the medical drama The F Ward.Each have their own flaws. Passionate to a fault, Jimmy (Ioane Sa’ula) ignores protocol when he sees fit, while ace student Ellie (Lola Bond) is, if anything, too by the book. Privileged party boy Josh (Alex Fitzalan) is too lax; Yosef (Rishab Kern) can’t stitch up patients without vomiting; mother-of-two Lisa (Emily Barclay) struggles to find a balance.“Given past experience, a quarter of you will be gone in six months,” says general surgeon and F Ward founder Gloria, played by UK actor Anna Friel.Wearing orange scrubs in a sea of blues, the interns can’t hide their mix of embarrassment, determination and self-doubt – their colleagues bet on who will be first to fail, and every minor interaction is a test.They don’t really need the extra pressure. The underfunded, understaffed fictional Pines Hospital on Sydney’s Northern Beaches offers up plenty of challenges on the first day alone, including a failing generator in a heavy storm, an overwhelmed emergency room and the return of a “mystery shitter”.Sometimes the pile-on of mishaps can feel ridiculous, as can the grace given to the intern’s mistakes – though compared to Grey’s Anatomy, The F Ward is kitchen-sink realism. (And don’t worry too much about that second point, either.) Its malady of medical issues is neither too cliche or House-levels of convoluted – and for those curious, it’s graphic but not gory, with plenty of wounds and at least one surgery scene each episode.Theo Adade (Tristan Sabutey), Dr Curtis Parker (Dan Wyllie), Toby Hammond (Rupert Clarkin) and Jimmy Seufale (Ioane Sa’ula) treat a patient in emergency.At its core, The F Ward is a character study of smart, talented people whose flaws – be it perfectionism, hot-headedness, a self-protective veneer of cool – keep getting in their own way.It’s hard to pick a standout performance, though it’s a particularly excellent showcase for Sa’ula, who is magnetic in his first lead role, and Bond, who is given the show’s darkest, deepest scenes of guilt and grief as Ellie.The F Ward is a nuanced, well-written medical drama with a premise that could steadily introduce new characters and dynamics; I hope it gets another season.Anya Taylor-Joy stars in Lucky.Lucky (Apple TV) ★★★★It’s a forgivable evil, the flash-forward at the start of a TV series to its final moments. Maybe every third show shouldn’t open with a mystery corpse or a hero at gunpoint, but it’s an easy hook – and it, ideally, it lets the rest of the series breathe.Lucky, a cinematic thriller from Jonathan Tropper (Your Friends and Neighbours), uses the flash-forward to great, delayed effect. A bruised and limping Lucky (Anya Taylor-Joy) weaves between a series of tightly packed trucks, running from an FBI agent before he corners her. Game over.And back we go to some time before, where Lucky and her husband (Drew Starkey) are in Las Vegas for a boozy, ultra-luxurious night out, celebrating after stealing millions of dollars. Come morning, Lucky is alone and their hotel is luxed out with FBI agents; what follows is a breathtaking game of cat and mouse.Taylor-Joy is exceptionally expressive – see her wordless rage in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – and she is largely dialogue free, too, a wonderful display of showing, not telling, how Lucky – whoever she is – thinks on her feet. By mid-episode, we’re at the series’ opening scene. It’s a show of confidence: You’re already hooked, right? And that’s before we get to Annette Bening as a criminal chasing Lucky down, or Timothy Olyphant as her imprisoned dad. Thrilling, assured, thoughtfully made TV.Jimmy Tatro as Lance and Will Ferrell as Lonnie in The Hawk.NetflixThe Hawk (Netflix) ★★ In the mid-2000s, Will Ferrell made four sports comedies back to back, playing an obnoxious soccer coach (Kicking and Screaming), an arrogant NASCAR driver (Talladega Nights), a disgraced ice skater (Blades of Glory) and a terrible basketballer (Semi-Pro). Now he can add narcissistic pro-golfer with The Hawk – a 10-episode comedy and what should be a hole in one, given golf’s a stuffy sport ripe for parody, and a cast including Molly Shannon, Jimmy Tatro and Fortune Feimster. But The Hawk makes it clear why Ferrell hasn’t led many TV shows – his characters are best in short, ridiculous stints.Peggy, Bobby and Hank Hill in King of the Hill. King of the Hill (Disney+) ★★★★Last August, I praised the revival of King of the Hill as one of 2025’s few excellent reboots. Returning after 15 years, the animated, ultra-dry comedy has jumped into the present day and it has kept its premise: Texan family man Hank Hill (voiced by co-creator Mike Judge), baffled by modern Texas but keeping his heart and mind open to new things – then, soccer; now, craft beer – often for the benefit of his eclectic, effeminate son Bobby (Pamela Adlon). Back for season 15, Hank encounters electric cars, sci-fi conventions and more. A simple delight.Hannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer in Ride or Die.Ride Or Die (Amazon Prime Video) ★★★Fun if not predictable, this eight-part buddy action-comedy is buoyed by one very smart script decision: It never gets in the way of its lead duo, the mutli-award-winning actors Hannah Waddingham (Ted Lasso) and Octavia Spencer (The Help). The premise? Waddingham’s a suave assassin who blows her cover to protect her friend Debbie (Spencer), a British politician’s wife. Both are discarded in their middle age, the assassin facing forced retirement, while Debbie’s husband dumps her. Their rage fuels the adventure, which mixes Melissa McCarthy’s physical prowess in Spy with Killing Eve’s sleek kills.From All Sides.From All Sides (SBS On Demand) ★★★Even putting aside the opening scene of a steamy bisexual foursome, SBS is the perfect home for From All Sides – a big-hearted Australian micro-indie about a multi-racial married couple with teenage children living in western Sydney. More so for its late-night hazy charm than its story, as the film zigzags between genres, including erotic thriller, family drama, coming of age and workplace satire, as middle-aged mum Anoushka (Monique Kalmar) spins many plates. Making up for a lack of Indian-Australian representation, director-writer Bina Bhattacharya’s (Here Out West) debut feature is busy but considered and remarkably sweet.*Stan is owned by Nine, the publisher of this masthead. Want more TV? We’ve got you.Newsletter: Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.July streaming guide: All the exciting new shows to watch this month.Australia’s version of The Pitt? Read our review of new local medical drama The F Ward, then check out what the creators had to say about it.Best Irish TV: These six hidden gems are well worth your time (including one with a surprising appearance from Julia Roberts).Treasure & Dirt: This ambitious new ABC show will seriously do your head in. This is why its star, Michael Dorman, was so excited about it.Video: Deputy TV editor Meg Watson on the shows she recommends watching right now (below)