NETFLIX
Thursday saw the debut of Netflix’s newest crime drama The Gentlemen. The series, created by Guy Ritchie and adapted from the 2019 movie of the same name, opens on Eddie Halstead, son of the Duke of Halstead, summoned back to his family’s estate as his father passes. Eddie, the second born, expects to inherit nothing. Though his father’s will entitles him and leaves his older brother suddenly dependent on his Eddie’s goodwill.
With Eddie installed as the new Duke of Halstead he quickly learns of his father’s flaws and the only real source of income in his entire portfolio – an estate that generates far more money than seems possible. Like the original film, that property is secretly a weed farm and generates millions in revenue. Ritchie directs the first two episodes, and those episodes feature much of his style. There’s quick cuts, slow motion and shaky cams, written text on screen to translate the criminal shorthand used in at least one scene. This does give The Gentlemen a fascinating visual style that recalls some of Ritchie’s stronger works.
The cast is quite solid. Eddie is portrayed by Theo James (Golden Boy, the TV The Time Traveller’s Wife, The White Lotus), Daniel Ings (Eddie the Eagle, Sex Education, I Hate Suzie) plays brother Fred, Kaya Scodelario (Skins, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, The Pale Horse) as Susie Glass the drug lord and Eddie’s business partner, Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad, The Get Down, Godfather of Harlem) as Stanley Johnston a mysterious businessman who wishes to buy the estate, Vinnie Jones (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Galavant, Law & Order: Organized Crime) as Halstead Manor’s groundskeeper, Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy, John Wick 2, The Tick, Miracle Workers, White House Plumbers) as one of the heads of a rival crime family and Gaia Weiss (Mary Queen of Scots, Vikings, Marie Antoinette) as Princess Roseanne.
The Gentlemen is a stylish, clever and fun crime series – a near-perfect adaptation of Guy Ritchie’s style to TV. All episodes are now available.
PRIME VIDEO
The first of March debuted Apple TV+’s newest comedy series The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin. This series, starring Noel Fielding (a recurring presence on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown and Taskmaster, The Mighty Boosh, The IT Crowd) as a heavily fictionalised version of 1700s’ highwayman Dick Turpin.
Turpin is the son of a butcher who has no interest or ability in his father’s trade but is keen on fashion and is brought into a highway robbery that ends with him shooting the gang leader and becoming the head of the Essex Gang and beginning his own career as a highwayman. Dick Turpin is designed very much to suit Fielding’s style of comedy. It’s a show that can, at will, include magic and ghosts but never spend too much time worrying about its logic.
Fielding’s take on Turpin is a flamboyant man who cares much too much about appearances and is generally quite good-natured. He wants to reinvent highway robbery to a more romantic ideal. The show offers Turpin’s perspective and showcases how he navigates his new world.
Fielding for his part has surrounded himself with a strong cast, including a few familiar faces from his comedic circle. Ellie White (Damned, Wonka, The Other One), Marc Wootton (High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman, Counterfeit Cat, High & Dry), Duayne Boachie (Hollyoaks, The Re-Up, You Don’t Know Me) and Dolly Wells (2020’s Dracula, Inside Man, Some Girls) also star.
The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin also features appearances by Greg Davies (Taskmaster, The Inbetweeners, Cuckoo, The Cleaner), Tamsin Greig (Black Books, Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal, Episodes, Sexy Beast), Jessica Hynes (Spaced, Paddington 2, Years and Years), Mark Heap (Spaced, Green Wing, Upstart Crow) and Joe Wilkinson (8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Sex Education, Outsiders) all make appearances.
New episodes drop every Friday.
DISNEY+
Disney+ has just dropped the second season of Extraordinary, a Brit-com set in a world where everyone gains superpowers as they enter adulthood. Everyone has a special ability. Everyone except for Jen – played by Máiréad Tyers (Belfast, Dead Shot) – who at 25 has yet to gain a single ability.
Jen works at a dead end job, lives with her best friend and struggles to make ends meet. She’s also the black sheep of her family and overshadowed by her younger sister who once she turns 18 gains her very own superpower. Jen’s roommate and best friend is Carrie – Sofia Oxenham (the 2020 Dracula series, Cursed) – Carrie is soft-spoken, dedicated and struggling in her relationship with Kash – Bilal Hasna (Layla, Dead Hot) – a directionless mess who can rewind time and has the terrible idea to play superhero.
When Jen adopts a stray cat, she quickly learns that the cat is a shapeshifter – Luke Rollason (Becoming Elizabeth, Industry) – who got himself stuck and now struggles to remember how to function as a human being. Jen lets him stay with her as they slowly try to figure out how to reintegrate him and return him to his old life.
The idea of Extraordinary – that everyone has powers – doesn’t lead to a world filled with colourful superheroes. Instead, we have a world much like our own, just one in which everyone has a unique and impressive ability like communicating with the dead, turning into cats, rewinding time, or flying. Extraordinary makes the extraordinary mundane, and does it to an incredible comedic effect.
Extraordinary has two seasons available.
