This week we have Guy Ritchie’s brilliant documentary about an audacious diamond heist and a biopic based on Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. There’s also tech satire in the shape of HBO’s Silicon Valley, Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston in The Essex Serpent and Jenna Coleman delivering a powerful performance in The Cry.
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Silicon Valley (HBO Max)
As the tech world becomes more and more important in our lives, it feels as if this excellent and perhaps underrated comedy about the Californian tech community — which ran from 2014 to 2019 — could still have legs. Starring Thomas Middleditch as the nerdy but technically brilliant Richard Hendricks, a young man who founds a start-up only to find out the brilliant idea is just the start, it takes us on a hilarious and wild ride through his attempts to get his product to market. Although it sounds like a dry and boring subject, it’s far from it. There are laugh-out-loud moments throughout as a world of hubris, silliness and downright stupidity is lampooned with aplomb.
The Diamond Heist (Netflix)
Guy Ritchie executive produces this very addictive three-part documentary about the audacious, failed plot to steal £350 million in diamonds from London’s Millennium Dome. Told through the voices of many of the people involved in planning the raid and trying to stop it, this documentary is so much more than just your average retelling of a crime story — it has the energy, tension and liveliness of the best Ritchie films. You’ll be on the edge of your seat throughout.
Pam and Tommy (Disney+)
Lily James stars as Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson in this entertaining drama about the story behind the most infamous sex tape of the 1990s. The eight-part series, created by Robert Siegel and adapted from the article by Amanda Chicago Lewis, looks at what happened to Anderson and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, the couple who married just four days after meeting each other and then made even more headlines around the world after a private tape of them having sex on their honeymoon went very public.
The Essex Serpent (Apple TV)
Based on Sarah Perry’s novel of the same name, this gothic romance drama is another that perhaps was missed by many as it was released during the streaming rush of the early 2020s, when there was more content than ever being produced. Starring the always brilliant Claire Danes as London widow Cora Seaborne who moves to the Essex coast to investigate stories of a mythical serpent, the drama takes a turn when she forms an unlikely relationship with the local parson (Tom Hiddleston) and the people of the area turn on her thinking she has brought tragedy to their community.
The Cry (BBC iPlayer)
Available on AMC+ in the US
Jenna Coleman delivers one of the best performances of her career in this fine psychological thriller based on Helen FitzGerald’s 2013 novel. Coleman plays Joanna, a primary school teacher from Glasgow who travels to Australia with her fiancé, Alistair, and baby to visit his parents and fight for custody of his daughter from his Australian ex-wife. However, when their baby, Noah, goes missing in mysterious circumstances, Joanna comes under scrutiny as her psychological state begins to deteriorate.
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