Netflix in April: 5 top movies and shows coming to the streamer

The advent of a new month means more than just turning over a page on the paper calendars that we're definitely all still using (right?). It's also a chance to look ahead and see what the next few weeks hold for you in streaming terms, since the biggest and best streaming services do now hold an outsized influence on what we get up to most evenings.

If you're a Netflix subscriber, then this April looks like it could provide quite a bumper crop – even by the streaming giant's lofty standards, I think this seems like a seriously packed month. There are some major shows arriving and returning, alongside one of the most exciting-looking original movies it's had coming in years. So, if you want to know about five highlights you shouldn't miss this month, read on.

Pulse

Pulse | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

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• Streaming from: 3 April

Looking to directly compete with HBO's hit The Pitt, Pulse looks like a really compelling story set in a hospital. It has its finger on, erm, the pulse, too – the story centres on a young female doctor who finds herself promoted in controversial circumstances. She steps into the role of a suspended doctor whose suspension came about because they were in a relationship.

That's the sort of extremely messy personal and professional situation that can really fuel great drama, so I'm hoping it kicks off a new success story for Netflix. Not least because lead actress Willa Fitzgerald has been great in everything I've ever seen her in. If you're a lapsed ER addict, pay attention to this one.

Black Mirror Season 7

Black Mirror: Season 7 | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

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• Streaming from: 10 April

Netflix series don't come much more iconic than Black Mirror – it played a pretty clear part in establishing Netflix's capabilities when it came to original material when the streamer took it over years ago. Now, it's back for a seventh run of episodes, each of which will once again be a standalone story that almost certainly edges into very dark territory.

We don't actually have a clear sense of what stories to expect since the season's trailer keeps things deliberately vague, but that's a good thing. After all, a massive part of the fun with Black Mirror is in turning on an episode with no expectations, then coming out roughly an hour later feeling like your whole perspective on life has changed.

You Season 5

YOU: Season 5 | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

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• Streaming from: 24 April

As a marker of how impressive a month this is looking like for Netflix, it has another massive season of TV in the form of You, which is wrapping up after years of successfully creeping people out big-time. The serial killer drama returns to New York as it looks to bring the saga of Joe to a murderous end.

The big question, of course, is whether he'll get away with it, or finally be foiled – either in the form of a lifetime in jail or a bloodier end. My money's on the latter, but it's safe to say that millions of fans will be tuning in to find out what's going to happen in late April.

Ransom Canyon

Ransom Canyon | Official Trailer | Netflix - YouTube

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• Streaming from: 17 April

I can't prove, on any level, that Netflix looked at the success of Yellowstone over the last half-decade and decided that it wanted a slice of that modern-western pie. However, when I watch the trailer for Ransom Canyon, that sure starts to feel like a credible theory to me.

It offers up glimpses of what looks like a fun, melodramatic family saga that's all about land and identity, if that sounds familiar. Expect sweeping romance, explosion of surprising violence, and long arcs that might well span years – if it becomes successful enough to warrant further seasons, of course.

Havoc

HAVOC | Official Teaser | Netflix - YouTube

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• Streaming from: 25 April

When you stick Tom Hardy in the lead role in a gritty action movie written and directed by Gareth Evans, you grab my attention in a big way. Evans' work on The Raid and The Raid 2 is absolutely stellar, and if he can capture any amount of that magic in Havoc then it should be a surefire hit.

The story will follow a down-on-his-luck detective who gets pulled into a bigger conspiracy when he witnesses a drug deal go bad, and it looks like things will be incredibly frenetic from the off. Evans is a master at choreographing the camera during long action sequences, so here's hoping we get plenty when the movie arrives at the end of the month.