New to SoHo and Sky Go in April

Made for Love, a black comedy about divorce and revenge, will debut on SoHo two weeks after its April 1 US premiere on HBO Max.

The News York Daily News dubbed it “a larger-than-life story of mind control wrapped around a tale of finding and losing love — with a sex doll and dolphins thrown into the chaotic mix“.

It stars Cristin Milioti, Ray Romano and Billy Magnussen in an adaptation of Alissa Nutting’s 2017 novel about a thirtysomething woman on the run after 10 years in a suffocating marriage to an unstable, needy, possibly sociopathic tech billionaire.

Variety questioned the wisdom of opening Made for Love right in the middle of the story without explanation, then flashing back in time:

So many shows are now defaulting to this method of jolting things into immediate action that very few of them end up justifying the choice. Instead, they unnecessarily complicate their narratives in the hopes that the wrinkles will be interesting enough to grab your attention. Whether or not they deserve to keep that attention is, however, another question entirely. From its disorienting opening onward, Made for Love struggles to maintain this balancing act enough that the gambit hardly seems worth it.

The series will air 9.00 Thursdays from April 22 and also will be available on Sky Go.

Also new to SoHo and Sky Go next month will be:

➢ The Nevers (8.30 Mondays from April 12): This series, about a Victorian underclass of “Touched” people who suddenly manifest abnormal abilities, can be streamed a day earlier on Sky Go and Neon;

➢ Mare of Easttown (9.30 Mondays from April 19): Premiering within hours of its HBO launch, this seven-part murder-mystery stars Kate Winslet as a small-town homicide detective whose life “starts to crumble around her as past traumas come back to the forefront and she uncovers the dark side of a close community“;

➢ City on a Hill (S2, 9.30 Thursdays from April 22): Centres on a federal housing project in a Boston neighbourhood that is plagued with drug violence;

➢ Breeders (S2, 8.30 Thursdays from April 15): Returns with Martin Freeman and Daisy Haggard as the run-ragged parents of children significantly older than S1’s (The AV Club thought it “a calmer, stronger season”);

➢ Shameless: Hall of Shame (S11, 9.30 Tuesdays from April 20): The final six episodes will juxtapose new scenes with a retrospective look back at each character’s journey;

➢ A Black Lady Sketch Show (S2, 8.00 Thursdays from April 29).