For All Mankind (Apple TV)+ Season 3

Private industry introduces space tourism and spearheads the race to Mars as the next generation of astronauts emerges. This leads to an incredible waste of resources and a dangerous acceleration of the space race, with three very different ships trying to be first to the red planet. Naturally disaster ensues and the competitors must eventually find ways to work together to survive. Meanwhile on the political scene Jimmy Carter and the Bushes are erased from the US presidency and Clinton is sidelined by a former astronaut and the first female president. Space exploration has spurred innovation and technology that has solved the energy crisis and mitigated climate change, but the politicians have failed to manage the transition well, leading to social disruption. Alt history and sci fi requires some suspension of disbelief from the start, but storylines must be credible within the created world to enable the audience to go with it. Unfortunately this season jumps the shark, with some truly silly story storylines involving drug abuse and pregnancy in space and North Korea. This is a pity because there are some wonderful elements to this show – the science and engineering, the tension and danger, the interplay between the personal and political and the work would be enough without the extreme soap that leaves a bad taste. Season 4 focuses on the Mars colony, but as Apple has hiked its subscription fees by 30 percent it won’t feature here.