HAPPY VALLEY

e rst series of this gritty crime drama in 2014 was followed swi ly by a second, but viewers had to wait another seven years for the third instalment, and now it’s dropped, it has been receiving rave reviews. Few series manage to build the tension as well as this Yorkshire-set story about a veteran policewoman, Catherine Cawood (a brilliant Sarah Lancashire) with many domestic troubles trying her best to get by in a community crumbling under the pressures of drugs and organised crime, but Happy Valley does it with aplomb. e repeated connections to the main villain may stretch belief at times, but the story is always handled well, and just when you think Catherine’s life couldn’t get any messier, comes another gut punch. Well worth watching.

DOPESICK Disney+, 1 series

This miniseries based on the book Dopesick: The Dealers, Doctors and Drug Company that Addicted America, is both a riveting and uncomfortable watch, with outstanding performances throughout, not least by the superb Michael Keaton. Focusing on the epicentre of America’s struggle with opioid addiction, it casts a cold eye over the practices and tactics of Purdue pharmaceutical salespeople as they push the dangerously addictive but mis-labelled OxyContin drug on the medical profession, and a sympathetic telling of the lives they a ected when those doctors start prescribing it under the impression it is non-addictive. The sheer scale of the problem they created is hard to imagine, but this retelling works well to show just how much power Big Pharma can have, and it’s frightening.

THE LAST OF US Sky Atlantic, 1 series, another to follow

By now you’ve probably heard that the latest apocalyptic drama to take the TV world by storm is based on a video game that portrays an imagined 2023 where, 20 years a er a mutated fungus has turned almost all of humanity into zombie-like creatures, survivors struggle to get through each day. Sent on a mission to deliver a girl who is immune from infection, and who may or may not hold the answer to restoring society a er its inevitable collapse, smuggler Joel (Pedro Pascal) brings his young cargo (Bella Ramsey) on a dangerous trek across the US. is series takes its inspiration from the compelling and complex world of the video game and runs with it, creating outstanding TV that will pull you in with every twist and turn.

Kingdom

Netflix, 2 series

Fleishman Is In Trouble

Disney+, 1 series

Few actors can portray an uncomfortable man in an awkward situation as well as Jesse Eisenberg, and in this drama series he nails it again as Dr Toby Fleishmann. Recently divorced and using dating apps for the rst time to nd a new romance, and with a new promotion at work, the world is opening up to reveal new possibilities, but then his ex-wife goes missing, leaving him to juggle his job, children and new romantic interests in a chaotic Manhattan. With long-overdue introspection, he begins to realise that he won’t nd out where his ex-wife is until he re-evaluates their marriage, but does he want to? And will that be the end of it? You’ll have to watch to nd out.

The Gold

BBC iPlayer, 1 series

Everyone loves a good heist story, and they don’t come much bigger than the 1983 Brinks-Mat robbery that saw £26million (more than €100million in today’s money) in gold bullion stolen from a warehouse near Heathrow airport and melted down to evade its recovery. So huge was the amount that it is thought any gold jewellery bought in the years a er the heist was likely to have at least some of the stolen amount in it. is dramatic retelling of the events outlines the operation and all those involved in its the , melting and dissemination (many of them men with families to support), from the East End gangsters to the scheming lawyers, as well as the police investigation that tried to catch the perpetrators and the haul before it vanished. A gripping true crime story.

If you’re familiar with these pages, you’ll notice there’s a been a slew of recommendations for South Korean TV series over the last few issues, and for good reason. This was actually the first of many Netflix-produced series from that country, and holds nothing back in presenting a slow-burning drama that starts o as a complex political thriller and turns into an all-out zombie horror. Set in a 16th-century fictional version of Korea, it is full of courtly intrigue and espionage, with a dark and foreboding shadow of rumoured plague on the horizon, that finally creeps out and causes mayhem. If you like Game of Thrones and subtitles, this is for you. After watching it, check out the spin-o feature-length oneo Ashin of the North.

Extraordinary

Disney+, 1 series, another to follow

This o -beat British comedy (featuring a few Irish names) is an enjoyable take on the world of superheroes, and dishes out an enjoyable mixture of laughs and drama. Unlike most stories in the genre where one or perhaps a group of people are endowed with superhuman skills, in Extraordinary, every single person gets one when they turn 18. That is, apart from Jen, a 25-year-old costume shop worker who struggles to deal with the fact that she is unique in the one way she doesn’t want to be. A fun array of superpowers ranging from superstrength to shapeshifting to rewinding time by ten seconds gives the creators a lot of room for gags, making this an enjoyable, non-taxing watch.

The Patient

Disney+, 1 series

Although he is primarily a comic actor, Steve Carell has already more than shown his serious acting credentials in Foxcatcher and The Big Short, and here he is once again superb as a psychotherapist called Alan Strauss who wakes up to find himself imprisoned in the home of serial killer Sam (our own Domhnall Gleeson). While Sam (Gleeson again showing he is one of the world’s best actors) claims he wants Strauss to help curb his homicidal tendencies, but struggles to resist his true nature, they both engage in a battle for the upper hand, each flitting between hope, desperation and acceptance throughout the ordeal, until things start turning really ugly. Squirm-inducing.