What’s coming to Disney+ in May? The new series and films to watch from Shardlake to Welcome To Wrexham

The House of Mouse certainly knows how to deliver quality content – it’s been doing it for 100 years.

This May there’s a whole range of new shows and films coming onto Disney+ for people to enjoy. From documentaries about the world’s best-loved bands to reality TV favourites, take a look below to find your next obsession.

Sound the alarm: Sean Bean is starring in new period drama, and if his track record is anything to go by (hello Troy, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones) it’s likely to be fantastic. Based on CJ Sansom’s mystery book series, the show will follow barrister Matthew Shardlake (Arthur Hughes), who, in Henry VIII’s England, is sent to a remote town to solve a crime.

When Hollywood stars Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Welsh football club Wrexham (the third-oldest professional team in the world) in 2020, fans weren’t sure what to think. Would the new celebrity owners fly into the north east Welsh town once in a blue moon to cheer on their failing club; or would they actually try and change the fortunes of the League Two team?

Fantastically, Reynolds and McElhenney fell in love with football, becoming utterly devoted to the sport, the town, and Wrexham AFC: “It’s a living, breathing, screaming nightmare for me,” said Reynolds. “Now I love this sport so much that I hate it. It’s one of the greatest things that’s ever happened to me and genuinely one of the worst.”

Docuseries Welcome To Wrexham, which documents their Herculean efforts, has won five Emmys and a Critic’s Choice Award. Now their endeavours continue as they reach ever higher peaks.

Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970s Oscar-winning documentary, which gave audiences a fly on the wall view of the famous group, was overshadowed by the fact that the band broke up a month before its release. Its contemporary reviews were mixed and until the internet came along, it was near-impossible to find copies of the old film. Now a fully restored version of the film is coming to Disney+ – making a full, high-quality version available to fans for the first time in 50 years (parts of it were used in Peter Jackson’s 2021 docuseries Get Back).

It’s South Korea in the Sixties. Kim San (Byun Yo-han) is an ambitious young graduate who hopes to modernise his beloved country; Uncle Samsik (Parasite star Song Kang-ho) is a fixer who decides to help him. This new K-drama, written and directed by Shin Yeon-shick (The Russian Novel), is about their developing friendship as they attempt to achieve their shared goals.

A total net worth of $2.8 billion, deals with the world’s biggest luxury fashion brands, celebrity friends, extraordinary design homes, high-profile heartthrob boyfriends (including, recently, Timothée Chalamet and Bad Bunny) and access to the world’s most exclusive events; it’s no real wonder that five seasons later, fans of America’s most famous family are still tuning in to watch them eat salad and discuss minutae.

It’s about time... that a deep dive documentary about The Beach Boys, the band that utterly revolutionised pop music in the Sixties, landed on the small screen. Now Disney+ is releasing The Beach Boys, a film bringing together the band’s unforgettable world-famous songs, archival footage and interviews – with members old and new of The Beach Boys – plus big names in the music industry, to unpack the incredible history of the beloved group.