What To Watch This Week: Oct 27-Nov 2, 2025

The President’s Challenge Night 2025 (mewatch, Channel 5, Mediacorp Entertainment on YouTube, Mediacorp’s TikTok, Nov 2)

Highlights of this year’s fundraiser include performances by headliners Michael Learns to Rock (they’ll be doing a 25-minute set…kidding), preschoolers from Kinderland Marching Band, and President Tharman Shanmugaratnam in a “piano pong” showcase with Zoe Tay and former table tennis athlete Ethan Poh. With Steven Chia and Sonia Chew as hosts. All proceeds go toward 60 programmes backed by President’s Challenge 2025; more info here. By the way, when is Jet Li going to grace his presence? Asking for a friend.

IT: Welcome to Derry (HBO Max, Oct 27)

Bill Skarsgård slips back into his Pennywise grin in this IT prequel exploring the clown’s origins. (Yes, just what the world needs right now...another clown.) Set in the 1960s, the eight-part series stars Jovan Adepo (Overlord) as an Airforce pilot who returns to the titular hometown, only to face both small-town racism and a lurking, otherworldly evil. Just another Tuesday.

Photo: Brooke Palmer/HBO Max

Physical Asia (Netflix, Oct 28)

Physical 100 goes regional! This time South Korea’s toughest contenders face off against elite athletes from Japan, Thailand, Mongolia, , Türkiye, Indonesia, Australia and the Philippines — whose squad is led by boxer (and former senator) Manny Pacquiao. The twist? If one team member fails, the whole team goes home. Hey, Netflix, what is it going to take to get Singapore into Season 2? Asking for a friend, again.  

Photos: Casa De Foto/Netflix

30 Coins, Season 2 (HBO Max, Oct 29)

It’s finally here! Paul Giamatti joins the cast of this trippy Spanish supernatural series as an evil mogul (is there any other kind?) caught in a race-against-time search for the eponymous relic — the very bribe Judas Iscariot received to betray Jesus. Bad news: the powers that be didn’t renew it another season. Sigh.

Down Cemetery Road (Apple TV, Oct 29)

Riding on the success of Slow Horses, Apple TV adapts another Mick Herron novel — this time his debut. The Affair’s Ruth Wilson stars as suburban resident who becomes obsessed with finding a missing girl after an explosion rocks her neighbourhood. She hires a private eye (Emma Thompson) to help unravel the mystery. The eight-part series launches with a two-episode premiere. 

Photos: Apple TV

Ballad of a Small Player (Netflix, Oct 29)

From director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front, Conclave) comes this Macau-set drama — an adaptation of Lawrence Osbourne’s novel — starring Colin Farrell as a down-on-his-luck gambler whose life gets upended by two women: a hotel guest (Tilda Swinton) and a casino hostess (Fala Chen).

Photos: Netflix

Star Wars: Visions, Volume 3 (Disney+, Oct 29)

The Force is animated once more. This new collection of Star Wars-inspired anime shorts from Japan features three continuing stories —  including ‘The Duel: Payback’, a follow-up to Volume 1’s ‘The Duel’ — and six new adventures. One standout, ‘Yuko’s Treasure’, follows a bear droid named Billy. Can Uniqlo make a T-shirt of him already?