Main image: Ripley/Netflix
Renegade Nell
Disney +
It’s 1705 and Nell Jackson, aka Renegade Nell, and her sisters are on the run, alongside their gutsy sidekick, Billy Blind. Boxed into a corner, the endlessly plucky Nell has been framed for murder, and her only chance of survival is highway robbery – and with it, the ensuing notoriety. But, soon realises Nell, there’s a more noble aspect to the role she’s been thrust into than simply relieving unsuspecting travellers of their riches: she must defeat a plot against the Queen of England and thus save the country. From the director of Sex Education and the pen of the wildly brilliant Sally Wainwright (writer of gritty masterpiece, Happy Valley), its pedigree is stellar, its writing unerring and its lead performance from Louisa Harland inarguably on point. Stream it.
Ripley
Netflix
If you had asked us a few years ago whether there was anyone who should – or indeed could – reprise the nuanced role of the covetous consummate usurper, Tom Ripley, we’d have said that Matt Damon’s definitive turn was best left well alone. That, though, was before we’d witnessed the stellar ascent of Andrew Scott – aka Fleabag’s ‘hot priest’ and Sherlock’s brilliantly fun Moriarty. He can, it seems, do anything; his comic timing was unimprovable as Gary Essendine in Noel Coward’s Present Laughter; and now, as Ripley, we expect our bones to be suitably chilled. Also starring the always-great Johnny Flynn and Dakota Fanning, watch riveted to see whether or not he will get away with murder. Even if you don’t fall under Ripley’s spell, few could resist the charms of the Italian setting. Streaming from 4 April.
A Gentleman In Moscow
Paramount +
Starring Ewan McGregor as the well-heeled Count Alexander Rostov, A Gentleman In Moscow tells the story of the aristocrat’s fate following the Russian Revolution when, for the first time in his life, he finds his privilege counting against him. Facing a Soviet tribunal, he swerves execution but is sentenced to living out his days within the opulent walls of the Hotel Metropol, where he must forge a new life. Think The Terminal meets The Grand Budapest Hotel. We’re excited. Stream it.
Mary & George
Sky
Oscar-winner Julianne Moore plays Mary Villiers, a mother who grooms her exceptionally handsome son, George, to seduce King James I of England/James VI of Scotland (played by Tony Curran) in order to advance the family’s position and thus secure their fortune. Writing in The Guardian, Lucy Mangan eulogises, ‘It has the narrative rigour of The Favourite, the disciplined panache of The Great, just a dash of The Tudors’ excess and enough sex to keep Bridgerton fans happy too. This is a great combination.’ We’re sold. Streaming from 5 April.
Sugar
Apple TV
Apple TV has been responsible for quite a few our favourite shows in recent years, chief amongst them the Gary Oldman-starring adaptation of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses (if you haven’t watched it, you absolutely must do so immediately). Its newest release is the eight-episode Sugar, a noir detective which stars Colin Farrell as a private detective. Farrell plays the titular John Sugar, a PI investigating the disappearance of Olivia Siegel, the granddaughter of a powerful Hollywood producer and, in the process, uncovering some pretty unsavoury truths about the Siegel family. Gripping stuff. Streaming from 5 April.
