The Celebrity Traitors is now in the rear view mirror (here’s my recap of what happened in the tense final), so it’s time to find your next favourite show. But never fear, we have plenty more recommendations here.
This week we have a tense parenting thriller starring Succession’s Sarah Snook and Dakota Fanning and we’re reunited with Celebrity Traitor historian David Olusoga as his new series Empire arrives. There’s more backstabbing and alliances in season two of Squid Game: The Challenge, Breaking Bad’s Vince Gilligan has a new show, and a Danish thriller that’s got everyone talking is on the menu.
Here’s your weekend watchlist…
All Her Fault (Sky/Now)
When Marissa Irvine (Sarah Snook) arrives to pick up her five-year-old son, Milo, from his first playdate with a boy from the new school he attends, a woman who she’s never seen before answers the door and denies all knowledge of knowing Milo. And so begins a nightmare scenario for any parent as she attempts to work out what’s happened and find her son. A tense thriller set against the backdrop of a wealthy American community, this new drama is based on the book by Andrea Mara and co-stars Jake Lacey, Dakota Fanning and Michael Peña.
Squid Game: The Challenge (Netflix)
Those missing the plotting of The Celebrity Traitors can settle in for the second season of Netflix’s reality hit as the Squid Game challenge returns with another $4.56 million prize up for grabs. Once again, 456 players battle it out through a series of oversized children’s games to take home the prize — it’s not particularly cerebral but it’s a lot of fun. There’s a global cast going for gold in the series inspired by the South Korean horror show that ended this year, and more than 50 Brits worth keeping an eye out for. Let the (squid) games begin …
• What it was like to play Squid Game for real — by the surviving Brits
Empire (BBC iPlayer)
Fresh from his stint in the Highlands alongside Joe Marler et al, David Olusoga is back to his day job of being a historian in this new show about the rise of the British Empire that once ruled a fifth of the globe and its legacy on the world. We begin in Elizabethan England where Britain was a relatively poor country compared with its seafaring neighbours of Spain and Portugal and learn of the early expansion of the British sphere of influence to the tobacco plantations of the Americas.
• David Olusoga: ‘I’m told I hate Britain — but these are silly arguments’
Pluribus (Apple TV+)
Vince Gilligan is the creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, two of the finest dramas of the 21st century, so it’s fair to say there’s a serious weight of expectation attached to his new project, Pluribus. Although the show is set against the familiar dusty backdrop of Albuquerque in New Mexico and stars BCS alumna Rhea Seehorn, this is a very different programme in tone to Gilligan’s previous hits. Set in a world where a virus has made everyone relentlessly happy, seemingly the only person not affected, the miserable Carol (Seehorn), must save the planet in this sci-fi adventure. I said it was different. Here’s my full five star review.
The Asset (Netflix)
A word-of-mouth hit that has been winning over fans for a couple of weeks, this Danish crime thriller follows the story of a struggling police cadet, Tea (Clara Dessau), who goes undercover to infiltrate a drug gang. Her mission: to befriend the girlfriend of a narcotics kingpin by posing as a luxury jeweller and gather critical intelligence in the authorities fight against organised crime. However, things become complicated and lines are blurred when she starts to grow closer to Ashley (Maria Cordsen) and witnesses her treatment at the hands of the gang.
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