New to Netflix July 2020: the series and films you can stream in the UK this month - from Baby-Sitters Club to Umbrella Academy

It’s a big month for comic book fans on Netflix, as the streaming service offers up intriguing looking films based on Manga, graphic novels and illustrated stories.

If panels and speech-bubbles aren’t your thing though, there’s still plenty to get excited about, from adaptations of teen novels getting the Netflix treatment 30 years on, to Hollywood stars taking life by the (cow’s) udders.

Here’s what to look out for on Netflix in July 2020:

Warrior Nun

Inspired by a series of Manga novels of the same name, Warrior Nun revolves around a 19 year-old woman who wakes up in a morgue with a new lease on life and a divine artefact embedded in her back.

She discovers she is now part of an ancient order that has been tasked with fighting demons on Earth, and powerful forces representing both heaven and hell want to find and control her.

2 July

The Baby-Sitters Club

Based on the 1980’s best-selling book series of the same name, The Baby-Sitters Club follows the friendship and adventures of Kristy, Mary-Anne, Claudia, Stacey, and Dawn, a group of middle-schoolers who start a babysitting business in the town of Stoneybrook, Connecticut.

Clueless’ Alicia Silverstone plays selfless single-mother Elizabeth in a show created by GLOW’s Rachel Shukert, and directed by Broad City’s Lucia Aniello.

3 July

Down to Earth with Zac Efron

We’ve already had the Gwyneth Paltrow-fronted Goop Lab exploring alternative lifestyle options, and now it’s the turn of teenage heartthrob turned wellness guru Zac Efron to showcase healthy and sustainable ways of living.

The Hollywood star has been travelling (pre-lockdown) around the world, trying his hand at everything from beekeeping to cattle rearing. Expect this one to be a surprisingly soothing watch.

10 July

The Old Guard

More graphic novel inspired action on Netflix, as Charlize Theron leads a covert group of tight-knit mercenaries with a mysterious inability to die in action-thriller, The Old Guard.

The titular group have fought to protect the mortal world for centuries, but when the team is recruited to take on an emergency mission and their extraordinary abilities are suddenly exposed, it’s up to the newest members of the team to eliminate those who seek to replicate and monetise their powers.

10 July

Cursed

Based on an upcoming graphic novel, Cursed is a re-imagining of Arthurian legend told through the eyes of a teenage heroine with a mysterious gift destined to become the powerful (and tragic) Lady of the Lake.

After her mother's death, she finds an unexpected partner in Arthur, a young mercenary on a quest to find Merlin and deliver an ancient sword.

So far, so standard Netflix/YA fare. But the illustrated novel the show is based on comes from Frank Miller, the acclaimed comic book writer behind Sin City and 300.

17 July

Kissing Game

At any other time, this Portugese-language thriller may have been filed under ‘esoteric teen sci-fi’ you’ll probably never get around to watching, but in the age of coronavirus, it takes on an interesting new guise.

In a cattle-ranching town in Brazil's countryside, adolescents panic when they are threatened by the outbreak of a contagious infection transmitted by kissing.

In addition to the common dramas from the coming of age, teenagers in a rural town live with the panic of the virus and the fear that their secrets will be discovered.

17 July

The Umbrella Academy (Season 2)

Based on the graphic novel of the same name (we told you July was a comic-book heavy month on Netflix) by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way, Season 2 sees the Umbrella Academy finding a way to reunite to figure out what caused the doomsday of the first series.

Across 10 time twisting episodes, will the be able to put a stop to it and return to the present timeline while being hunted by a trio of ruthless Swedish assassins?

31 July