Something about autumn just makes me want to watch detectives go above and beyond to crack a case they’ve been told is unsolvable. I wonder what exactly it is: the crunch of leaves, soup in a flask, a pocket full of conkers? The sentence “Oi, detective – my office, now!”, someone going for a run late at night and happening upon a crucial clue, pulling up CCTV footage from a shopping mall? It just works. Pull a blanket over your feet and let’s go through this autopsy. It’s autumn, baby!
Anyway, Netflix’s Bodies is here (from 19 October), which comes with the perfect promise “it has Stephen Graham in it”. I do not need to tell you that Stephen Graham is one of the best actors we’ve ever had and, crucially, has immaculate taste in projects (“What about Venom 2? And that Pirates of the Caribbean film?” Not now! Shut up!), but that does sort of misrepresent what makes Bodies such a strong offering. For the first couple of episodes at least, he is only there in passing, doing that thing where he holds his mouth stoically shut and inhales very deeply while standing up straight. What makes Bodies so interesting is the murder procedural is being told in four different timelines – 1890, 1941, 2023 and, gasp, 2053 – each with four completely different visual feels and four different but excellent lead performances. You’re following a lot of gears and they click neatly together, and it scratches a very satisfying itch when they do.
