Never mind that the new Bond and Marvel films have been delayed until next year, streaming services are firing up hard and fast, says streaming columnist NICK OVERALL.

FOXTEL Group’s Binge has had ads for its new series plastered throughout the news over the last few weeks and with solid reason considering it stars – Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant.

It’s a new thriller called “The Undoing” about an estranged wife and husband caught up in a head scratcher of a criminal case. Might be best to leave it as vague as that; I went into it blind and think it’s probably the most beneficial way to experience it.

It’s a bit stock standard, but there’s just enough to its strange “Eyes Wide Shut-esque” atmosphere to hold some intriguing promise. At the time of writing there’s only one episode out so it’s a weekly waiting game for more… a bit of a novelty itself by today’s standards.

TO compete, Netflix has rising star Anya Taylor-Joy starring in “The Queen’s Gambit”, which follows the life of an orphan chess prodigy throughout the Cold War era in a quest to become the greatest player in the world.

A fictional story, but from there are certainly influences of real-life figures. Beth Harmon, the lead character played by Taylor-Joy, seems like a female Bobby Fischer, the American world champion of chess, winning a game dubbed “the match of the century” during, yep, the Cold War.

Such was the international attention on Fischer’s talents as he faced-off against the Soviet Union’s greatest player, the countries engaged in some intense one-upmanship, hoping their player would be tactically supreme.

If you’re interested in that story, Tobey Maguire plays Fischer in the film “Pawn Sacrifice” detailing his life and the battle of a different kind – though no less fraught – with the Russians. 

Who would have thought watching chess could be so riveting? 

“The Queen’s Gambit” has received near universal acclaim and rocketed to the number one spot on Netflix’s trending charts over the last week. 

AMAZON Prime has been taking as much ad space as possible on traditional television screens with its new, big show “Truth Seekers”, a comedy about a team of ghost hunters who stumble across a conspiracy that could spell Armageddon.

What Amazon is really riding on with the series is the comedy duo of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. They’re renowned for their work in the modern classics “Shaun Of The Dead” and “Hot Fuzz”, which of course have pride of place in Amazon Prime’s catalogue, too. 

So why the simultaneous release of three big shows trying to soak up as much attention as possible? Well there’s a very good reason; they’re going up against the current king of streaming, Disney’s “The Mandalorian”, its “Star Wars” Western spin-off.

It only took two weeks after the release of its first season last year to become the most watched show across all platforms by a long shot, and now season two has just fired up for more of the story the world’s been craving.

The platforms competing against Disney+ may stand a small chance in getting the November views rolling in, but the house of mouse is undoubtedly the winner with this one. It’s got a streaming monster on its side, and its name is #BabyYoda.

More of Nick Overall on Twitter @nick_overall