APPLE TV+, BRITBOX, ACORN TV, SKY & AMAZON
Greyhound
Things went rapidly south the last time Tom Hanks was in charge of an ocean-going vessel – in Captain Phillips. Now he’s heading into choppy waters again as a newly promoted officer commanding a US Navy destroyer (call sign ‘Greyhound’) protecting a convoy of ships crossing the North Atlantic in 1942.
Tom Hanks also wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of a C. S. Forester novel in which he plays a US naval commander protecting a convoy of ships in the the North Atlantic in 1942
During the war, 95 per cent of Britain’s fuel and 70 per cent of its food was imported. And American troops needed to be transported to Europe. Hanks’s Commander Ernest Krause has to outwit a wolfpack of U-boats but it’s his first crossing and he’s battling his own self-doubt as well as the enemy. Hanks wrote the screenplay for this adaptation of a C. S. Forester novel. Apple TV+, from Friday
Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders
When John Malkovich announced he would try out the role of the Belgian super-sleuth with the over-active little grey cells, Christie fans nearly choked on their perfectly symmetrical boiled eggs. But it turned out he wasn’t half bad.
Over three episodes, John Malkovich plays Poirot as an older, haunted obsessive, looking haggard as letters signed ABC arrive at his home predicting murders that then take place
Over three episodes, he plays Poirot as an older, haunted obsessive, looking haggard as letters signed ABC arrive at his home predicting murders that then take place. Acorn TV, from Monday
Greatness Code
How do sportspeople become legends in their own lifetime? Is it through natural-born talent or sheer hard work? This new seven-part documentary series attempts to find out. Each episode focuses on a different superstar, and although it’s perhaps a little US-centric, the profiles are fascinating.
How do sportspeople become legends in their own lifetime? This new seven-part documentary series attempts to find out. Each episode focuses on a different superstar such as Usain Bolt
Among those featured are basketball’s LeBron James, American footballer Tom Brady, US women’s soccer star Alex Morgan and Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. Apple TV+, from Friday
Love/Hate
During its five-series run, Love/Hate won eight Irish Film & Television Awards, despite criticism in some quarters for its graphic violence. At the heart of the tale are four friends working for a local crime lord; the psychological impact of their activities on one member of the gang is also explored. Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gillen, Brian Gleeson, Ruth Negga and Killian Scott are among the cast. BritBox, from Thursday
Stewart Francis: Into The Punset
The brilliant Canadian pun-meister bowed out of live performance last year, with this Dublin gig recorded midway through his swansong tour. Unlike most rat-a-tat one-liner merchants, the relentless pace never dips as the one-man gag machine keeps ’em coming. But all good things must come to an end. As Francis would say, ‘When the pun stops… stop!’ Amazon, available now
Get Shorty
Ray Romano and Chris O’Dowd return for the third series of the black comedy inspired by Elmore Leonard’s novel. The story picks up two years after the events of the previous run, with Miles a free man again, having served his time behind bars.
Ray Romano (above) and Chris O’Dowd return for the third series of the black comedy inspired by Elmore Leonard’s novel. The story picks up two years after the events of the previous run
It should be a period in which he contemplates making a fresh start, but instead he’s focused on just one thing – revenge. Sky/NowTV, from Wednesday (seasons 1-2 also available)
Birdsong
Eddie Redmayne and Clémence Poésy star as young lovers brought together by love and torn apart by the First World War. Sebastian Faulks’s beloved modern classic, adapted as a two-parter by Bafta-winning Abi Morgan (The Hour, Iron Lady), tells the story of Stephen Wraysford, a young Englishman who in 1910 arrives in northern France to stay with the Azaire family and falls in love with Isabelle.
Eddie Redmayne and Clémence Poésy star as young lovers brought together by love and torn apart by the First World War in this two-part adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’s beloved novel
They begin an illicit affair, with huge consequences for them both. Years later in 1916, Stephen finds himself serving on the Western Front in the very area where he experienced his great love, and is haunted by memories. BritBox, from Thursday
Flesh And Bone
If you’re in the mood for something as light and airy as a sugar plum fairy, well, this gritty eight-part dance drama from 2015 definitely isn’t for you. This is more about the brutality and dysfunction of the ballet world than the glamour.
Gifted young dancer Claire (Sarah Hay) joins a prestigious New York City ballet company and finds out that it’s not all pirouettes and curtain calls. She has to deal with a druggy prima ballerina, jealous rivals in the corps and a volatile, capricious tyrant of an artistic director. Amazon, available now
NETFLIX & BBC iPLAYER
Stateless
This is a passion project for one of its producers, Cate Blanchett, who is an ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The six-part series focuses on four strangers in a grim immigration detention centre in the middle of the Australian desert.
This series focuses on four strangers in a grim immigration detention centre in the middle of the Australian desert and is a passion project for star and co-producer, Cate Blanchett
They include asylum-seeker Ameer, a young Afghan father who became separated from his family when fleeing the Taliban, and Sofie, a mentally fragile German-born Australian, who is estranged from her family and has just left a creepy cult (run by Dominic West and Blanchett). This storyline is based on a notorious real-life case in which a woman was detained for months in such a centre. Hard-hitting, thought-provoking TV. Netflix, from Wednesday
Homemade
We’re getting increasingly accustomed to watching what might be termed ‘minimal’ dramas and comedies, ie those either shot by the actors themselves in the comfort of their own homes, or by a small crew. Isolation Stories, Staged and the revamped Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads are just a few. Now there’s Homemade, an anthology series comprised of small, personal stories made by actors and directors using whatever equipment they happen to have at hand. Among those contributing are Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kristen Stewart and Gurinder Chadha. Netflix, available now
The Deep Blue Sea
Four years ago, Helen McCrory delivered a tour-de-force performance as Hester Collyer, the unhappily married wife of a High Court judge, in what is regarded by some as Terence Rattigan’s best play – and now there’s a chance for us all to see it. Tom Burke, who’s become known since then for his role in J. K. Rowling’s Strike series, also stars as a former RAF pilot with whom Hester has an affair in the hope of filling an emotional void in her life. National Theatre/YouTube, from Thursday
The Old Guard
Charlize Theron, Chiwetel Ejiofor and KiKi Layne star in a fantasy action film, based on a series of graphic novels, about a small band of soldiers who, in the words of their leader, Andy (played by Charlize Theron), ‘have an extremely rare skill set’; when they are killed, they are restored to full health within seconds.
Andy – short for Andromache of Scythia – is actually millennia old. Throughout history they’ve protected the innocent in various conflicts and succeeded in keeping a low profile but now they’ve been discovered and are in danger of being captured and used as weapons. Netflix, from Friday
Trump In Tweets
Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address is still taught in schools. Donald Trump’s tweets are unlikely to be similarly venerated by future Americans. ‘Windmills are the greatest threat to eagles.’ ‘My great and unmatched wisdom.’ ‘The Chinese Virus.’ ‘Lightbulbs cause cancer.’ ‘Frank Luntz is a low-class slob.’
In Trump In Tweets, BBC3 explores how America’s President went from a technophobe to a serial tweeter, ‘weaponising’ the medium of social media to powerful political effect. BBC3/iPlayer, from Monday, 6am
Why is there such a buzz about..?
The Sinner (Netflix)
The first season opens with a shocking murder when Cora (Jessica Biel), a seemingly normal woman, stabs to death a man she doesn’t know on a crowded lakeside beach in broad daylight. It’s a random attack. It makes no sense. ‘Everyone knows she did it. No one knows why,’ the ad said, but over the course of eight episodes rumpled Detective Harry Ambrose (Bill Pullman), a man separated from his wife and not without his own issues, works out why.
In the second season, Ambrose investigates the poisoning of a married couple by their 13-year-old son. Again, it’s a dark and disturbing psychological whydunnit with plenty of twists and turns.
The first season of The Sinner opens with a shocking murder when Cora (Jessica Biel, above), a seemingly normal woman, stabs to death a man she doesn’t know on a beach
The third season sees the detective looking into a car accident in which the driver was killed. The dead man’s old college friend – their acquaintance had only just been renewed – was in the passenger seat and survived. A tragedy, but might there be more to it? Ambrose has his suspicions.
If there is a connection between the three seasons, other than Pullman’s character, it is extreme belief systems – religious, psychological and philosophical – and their unhappy consequences.
What fans love, along with Pullman’s performance, is the gradual unravelling of the mystery through flashbacks explaining why the suspect’s psyche is in the fractured state it is. The new season is perhaps a case of diminishing returns but The Sinner is still consistently compelling, surprising and sometimes shocking.
Neil Armstrong