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5 hours ago
5
Pick of the week
Your Friends and Neighbours
No one does problematic but sneakily likable middle-aged man like Jon Hamm and his charisma carries this black comedy about financier-turned-burglar Andrew “Coop” Cooper. Despite being offered his old job back, Coop has decided to continue with his riskily enjoyable crisis. While he emerged from season one’s explosive climax smelling of roses, he’s soon on a collision course with his squeeze/nemesis Samantha Levitt. And worryingly, age is catching up with Coop as a back spasm curtails his latest robbing spree. Every now and then, the show edges towards a satire on jaded suburban overconsumption. But it is slightly too keen to have its aspirational cake and eat it, so remains a flimsy (albeit fun) romp.
Apple TV, from Friday 3 April
Portobello
Imagine if at the height of his fame, Noel Edmonds had been accused of being involved in organised crime? Something roughly equivalent happened in early 80s Italy when Enzo Tortora, host of the popular variety show Portobello, was convicted of being a member of the Camorra. This irresistibly strange story is a perfect fit for HBO’s first Italian original series: its culturally specific nuances are done full justice by director Marco Bellocchio. Fabrizio Gifuni plays Tortora as a helpless stooge who is terrified as a bizarre, grudge-driven conspiracy takes on unstoppable momentum.
HBO Max, out now
Boom Box: Beats and Betrayal
When a recording studio called Boom Box opened in Edmonton, north London in 2009, it seemed to offer the youth of a deprived area the chance to make something of themselves. “It was the light at the end of the tunnel,” says Junior, who recorded music there. But Boom Box was too good to be true. This four-part series – a mixture of first person testimony and dramatised reconstructions – tells the morally ambiguous story of the studio which turned out to be an elaborate police sting. Was it innovative detective work? Or racially slanted entrapment?
HBO Max, out now
If It’s Tuesday, It’s Murder
A breezy crime-fighting adventure through the tourist traps of Lisbon in this light-hearted comedy drama about a group of Spanish tourists whose week-long Portuguese holiday takes an unexpected turn. One of their number is murdered on the first day of their trip but rather than take the sensible option and return home, the remainder of the group decide to turn detective and track down the killer. As you can probably deduce, plausibility isn’t a priority across the seven episodes but there are moments of oddball humour if you can overlook the ludicrous premise.
Disney+, from Tuesday
Love on the Spectrum
Shows like Love on the Spectrum (and Channel 4’s The Undateables before it) tread a very fine line in showcasing the warmth and humour of the people they feature without ever making them the butt of the joke. Love on the Spectrum is into its fourth season now and its exploration of the emotional issues facing neurodivergent people remains pretty surefooted. As we return, there’s anxiety for several participants as scenarios including first dates and meetings with possible in-laws are encountered. But there’s the prospect of some wedding bells too.
Netflix, from Wednesday 1 April
Dear Killer Nannies
It’s understandable that Juan Pablo “Juampi” Escobar has a conflicted relationship with his family’s past. As the son of the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, he had an unusual childhood. He and his sister enjoyed wealth but almost no freedom, living under the constant supervision of their father’s murderous henchmen. This visceral drama offers a new twist on Escobar Sr’s story, told from the perspective of Juampi, as he gradually stops seeing his father as the Robin Hood of Medellín and begins to reckon with the reality of his life as a violent criminal.
Disney+, from Wednesday 1 April
The Real Housewives of Rhode Island
Television’s latest gang of overgrown Mean Girls are the women of “The Ocean State”. Rhode Island, apparently, is a place “where nobody tells anybody the truth, everyone lies to each other’s faces and then talks shit behind their back”. Which sounds like the very opposite of fun but, as we quickly learn, one person’s dreams are someone else’s anxiety nightmares. At the centre of the action is Rulla, a new arrival in this world of private boats and polo matches. Soon, she and her husband are the focus of all manner of unsavoury rumours.
Hayu, from Friday 3 April
