To celebrate meeting my deadline and handing in the latest draft of my new book, I have spent much of this week finding new (to me) shows to binge watch before starting on something new on Monday. Because the law is that you can’t start a new project on a Tuesday, or something… Anyway, here are three shows that you may or may not have heard of that I think are worth checking out.
Alex Rider - Amazon Freevee
You may think this is an odd choice but you’d be wrong. Adapted from three of the children’s books by Anthony Horowitz (they use Point Blanc, Eagle Strike and Scorpia if you’re interested), the three seasons form a complete trilogy so you can binge watch the entire story over a weekend. I haven’t read the books but from online reviews they’ve aged Alex up a bit so think of it as sixth form spies rather than a kids show. The basic premise is that Alex Rider (Otto Farrant) is living a normal life in London until his uncle is killed in a ‘car crash’. Suspicious, Alex starts to investigate and finds The Department, a secret arm of the British intelligence services and his uncle’s real employer. At the time of his murder, Uncle Ian had been following up on a lead at a shadowy reform school in the Alps called Point Blanc. Who better for The Department to send in undercover than Alex? The cast is great: Stephen Dillane as Alan Blunt, head of The Department; Vicky McClure as Alex’s handler, Mrs Jones plus some great baddies played by Toby Stephens (Season 2) and Sofia Helin (Season 3). You also can’t miss Shelley Conn’s channelling of Priti Patel as an incompetent and mercenary Home Secretary in the final season.
Kaos - Netflix
Brand new on Netflix is this black comedy based on Greek myth. I will watch pretty much anything starring Jeff Goldblum but there’s an all-star cast including Stephen Dillane (again - see above), Janet McTeer, Nabhaan Rizwan, Mat Fraser - the list goes on. Plus there is a kitten called Dennis. If you enjoy Greek mythology but aren’t too tied to things being exactly as you remember it, this is for you. I’m only halfway through but basically the plot is that there’s a prophecy, Zeus is freaking out that his reign is about to end, and there are three humans who have a key part to play. The first thing you might notice is the setting. It was actually shot in Spain and Italy rather than Greece (the story is mostly set in a fictional version of Krete, with aesthetics that bring to mind Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet). For example, the stunning Plaza de España in Seville is Minos’ palace. The script is masterful, bringing together what could be quite an unwieldy number of characters and slotting them in so that you feel that they all get the necessary screen time while the story moves on at pace. This is very much worth your time.
Will Trent - Disney +
I’ve been saving this up as Disney + in their wisdom decided to release episodes of Season 2 weekly in the UK. With only one episode left to come out, I decided to make a start. If you’re not familiar, Will Trent is an agent in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, based on the character from the Karin Slaughter novels. The titular character, played by Ramón Rodriguez, is severely dyslexic and struggles with reading but has found ways around this to become known for his crime solving abilities. He also grew up in care, having been abandoned as a newborn baby. This is a police procedural so you know what you’re getting - a new case each week - but there are threads that carry through, often involving the past of various regular characters. If you enjoy this kind of show, I think you’d like this too.
Congrats on meeting your deadline!