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Pick of the week
Slow Horses
There are various blasts from the past as this sour and salty espionage drama returns for season six – although some have more staying power than others. In a development that might hint at a show approaching the end of its natural lifespan (although it’s been renewed for a seventh season), someone is killing former occupants of Slough House. Gary Oldman’s Jackson Lamb is typically unsentimental about this but other Horses are more concerned – particularly given the return of an old antagonist who proved to be a ruthless and relentless foe with a connection to the team. Slow Horses feels unlikely to surprise us at this point but it’s still pungently scripted and beautifully performed.
Apple TV, from Wednesday 16 September
Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story
It’s an unspoken rule of fact-based fiction that the older the source material, the wilder the approach can be. This suits Ryan Murphy fine – the latest instalment of his never-knowingly-understated Monster anthology deals with Lizzie Borden (Ella Beatty), a woman who was accused of killing her father and stepmother with an axe in 1892. Borden was acquitted and lived the rest of her life in the same town, so whether she deserves to be posthumously labelled a “monster” is highly debatable. Still, various theories around the murders are tried out for lurid size.
Netflix, from Thursday 17 September
Neagley
Jack Reacher’s female protege gets her own story in a drama which shares plenty of stylistic and narrative DNA with its parent show. Ex-military PI Frances Neagley (Maria Sten) is, you guessed it, a lone wolf. She’s awkward, persistent and formidable. She’s investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, which looks like a drug-related suicide but may be linked to a sinister cult. She’s battling both the police department and the cult leaders – but fortunately, she’s got some extra muscle she can call on if necessary …
Prime Video, from Wednesday 16 September
Golden Axe
You’d imagine that people who are old enough to have fond memories of the 1989 Sega adventure game Golden Axe might now be too old to watch a cheesily animated version of that game. This series attempts to address that potential problem by undercutting the essential silliness of the scenario (three warriors attempt to save the land of Yuria from the giant Death Adder) with self-aware humour. It doesn’t really land: the comedy is never quite cutting enough to work as self-parody, while the plotting is too leaden to sustain much in the way of drama.
Paramount+, from Wednesday 16 September
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City of Blood
Set in the near future, this German drama (clunkily dubbed in English) is a pick’n’mix of modern apocalyptic scenarios. Pandemics. Economic collapse. Rampant inequality. And it’s boiling hot. Berlin is a medieval nightmare (but thankfully, banging techno seems to have survived). We see this world through the eyes of two sisters, Bea and Phoebe. Bea was adopted by a rich couple whereas Phoebe deals blood to survive. When they are reunited, they uncover a terrible secret underpinning society. It’s incoherent but the berserk relish of the world-building has appeal.
Disney+, from Wednesday 16 September
The Doll
The 1890 novel by Bolesław Prus is considered to be one of Poland’s greatest ever works of fiction. It’s a love story of sorts, exploring the desire of thwarted, working-class Stanisław to move into Warsaw’s high society – which to him is represented by the beautiful, elusive, frequently scornful figure of Izabela, with whom he is obsessed. This adaptation will appeal to fans of the more pointed and polemical end of period dramas: it’s a lavish and imaginatively staged affair with an edge of darkness and danger as Stanisław spirals into paranoia.
Netflix, from Wednesday 16 September
MobLand
This shonky gangland drama returns, still charmingly unaware of its own absurdity. Conrad and Maeve (Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren, chewing the scenery with real ferocity) are still nominally in charge of the Harrigan empire but a comically bloody shootout could be the catalyst for change. Meanwhile, Harry and Jan (Tom Hardy and Joanne Froggatt) are separating but their daughter Gina is establishing a criminal operation of her own. Oh, and there’s a flimsy subplot involving YouTubers which is the only indication MobLand was written this side of 1997.
Paramount+, from Friday 18 September
