Dept. Q, Netflix review - Danish crime thriller finds a new home in Edinburgh

★★★ DEPT Q, NETFLIX Danish crime thriller finds a new home in Edinburgh

Matthew Goode stars as antisocial detective Carl Morck

Netflix’s new detective-noir is a somewhat cosmopolitan beast. It’s written and directed by an American, Scott Frank, derived from a novel, Mercy, by the Danish crime writer Jussi Adler-Olsen, and set in Edinburgh (as well as other flavourful Scottish locations). There are plenty of Scots in the cast too, although it’s the very English Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey, The Crown etc) who takes the lead role of DCI Carl Morck.

The Trunk, Netflix review - stylish, noir-ish Korean drama wrapped around a beguiling love story

★★★★ THE TRUNK, NETFLIX Stylish, noir-ish Korean drama wrapped around a beguiling love story

Unusual psychological study of a stranger paid to save a toxic marriage

The trunk in the title is a luxury item, worth 50 million won – just north of £27,000 – shown sinking in deep water in the opening credits. It weaves through one of the classiest recent collaborations between Netflix and Korean TV, a haunting psychological drama that’s balm to the soul after the mob-handed violence on offer here at home. 

The Potato Lab, Netflix review - a K-drama with heart and wit

★★★★ THE POTATO LAB, NETFLIX A K-drama with heart and wit

Love among Korean potato-researchers is surprisingly funny and ideal for Janeites

When the world’s darkness is too much, there is a Netflix rabbit-hole you can disappear down to a kinder place: the Korean romcoms section. This is a recommendation for romcom fans, a warm indulgent bubble bath of a watch. It's like turning the clock back to more innocent times, while full of contemporary pizzazz. 

Adolescence, Netflix review - Stephen Graham battles the phantom menace of the internet

★★★★ ADOLESCENCE, NETFLIX Stephen Graham battles the phantom menace of the internet

How antisocial networks lead to real-life tragedy

A dictionary definition of adolescence is “the transitional phase of growth and development between childhood and adulthood”, but in this four-part drama it looks more like a nightmare zone of uncontrolled rage, anxiety and sexual confusion.

Drive to Survive, Season 7, Netflix review - speed, scandal and skulduggery in the pitlane

The F1 documentary series is back on the pace

Last year’s sixth season of Drive to Survive radiated an air of diminishing returns. It was as though the novelty of its spy-in-the-paddock ethos was wearing off as the Formula One teams sought to mould the show to suit their own interests, and what once felt spontaneous had begun to seem rehearsed.

Zero Day, Netflix review - can ex-President Robert De Niro save the Land of the Free?

★★★★ ZERO DAY, NETFLIX Can ex-President Robert De Niro save the Land of the Free?

Panic and paranoia run amok as cyber-hackers wreak havoc

It seems that esteemed former US President George Mullen is subsiding gently into retirement on his luxurious country estate, with a publishing contract for his memoirs if he can ever manage to knuckle down and write them, when fate throws a curve-ball.

Surviving Black Hawk Down, Netflix review - the real story behind Ridley Scott's Oscar-winner

Documentary series looks at the 1993 'Battle of Mogadishu' from both sides

Ridley Scott’s 2001 film Black Hawk Down was a technically superb blockbuster bristling with thunderous action sequences and famous actors, though its gung-ho depiction of the heroics of American special forces during the appalling Somalian civil war always felt a little uncomfortable.

American Primeval, Netflix review - nightmare on the Wild Frontier

★★★★ AMERICAN PRIMEVAL, NETFLIX Peter Berg's Western drama is grim but gripping

Peter Berg's Western drama is grim but gripping

It seems The Osmonds may not have been the worst outrage perpetrated on an unsuspecting public by the Mormons. American Primeval is set in the 1850s, and is based around the real-life massacre of settlers travelling from Arkansas to California by the Mormon militia known as as the Nauvoo Legion. This took place at Mountain Meadows, Utah, apparently triggered by rising tensions between the US federal government and Mormon leader Brigham Young.

Best of 2024: TV

BEST OF 2024: TV Stars of stage and big screen all want to be on the telly

Stars of stage and big screen all want to be on the telly

They say cinema is dying (you never know, they may be wrong), but you can’t help noticing the stampede of movie stars towards TV and streaming. Many of 2024’s most memorable shows had a big-screen name attached, even if it was impossible to be entirely certain that it really was Colin Farrell inside all those prosthetics as he romped his way through the gripping second season of The Penguin (Sky Atlantic).

Jamie Foxx, Netflix Special review - doctors and divine intervention

★★★ JAMIE FOXX, NETFLIX SPECIAL Doctors and divine intervention

Comic discusses his recovery from a stroke

In April 2023 the actor and comic Jamie Foxx had a stroke and was lucky to survive. In his latest Netflix Special, What Had Happened Was... he tells us about it, and his recovery. It's fitting, he tells us, that the show was recorded in Atlanta, just 400 yards away from the hospital he was taken to by his sister, who knew something was seriously wrong.