TV

Thursday 21 May 2026

What to watch this week, from The Elon Musk Show to Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed

The Observer’s TV critic Barbara Ellen on the best new shows airing and streaming

The Elon Musk Show: The Next Chapter

BBC Two

If you want to see what Elon Musk has been getting up to, look no further than the news cycle. The South African businessman owner of everything from Tesla to X to SpaceX has fingers in myriad pies, including those political, having previously served in US president Donald Trump’s administration. Musk is also poised to become the first trillionaire. Marian Mohamed updates her 2022 docuseries, The Elon Musk Show, but can anyone seriously keep up? 

Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed

Apple TV

Leftfield thriller about a working mother who witnesses a crime while video-chatting with a “camboy” sex worker online. Starring Tatiana Maslany and Murray Bartlett, it’s a tad congested but fun.

Ponies

Sky Atlantic

Blackly comic dramedy set in 1970s Moscow: Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) play young widows of spies who become spies themselves.

The Boroughs

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Netflix

From the Stranger Things stable, forget the kids; now it’s the turn of the elderly residents of a retirement village to battle otherworldly menace. Starring Bill Pullman, Geena Davis, and Clarke Peters.

Illustration by Charlotte Durance

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