On the surface of it, the appeal of Industry (BBC One) is a puzzle. At its best, the banking-and-wanking saga is as stressful as drinking 10 double espressos in a row then having to speak in public, naked, with no time to prepare. I barely understand the dialogue, particularly when it comes to the financial side. Any talk of trades, heavy with numbers and acronyms, is baffling. It makes the most technical of medical dramas sound like a Peppa Pig book. And it is stuffed, bloated even, with unpleasant characters doing terrible things to one another and the world.
That didn’t stop Succession, however, and Industry ploughs a similar furrow, churning up gruesomely gripping backstabbing and betrayals at lightning speed. It returns for a second run having pulled off a masterly season one finale, in which Harper (a still-brilliant Myha’la Herrold) managed to blow up the fragile bonds she made as a graduate. After an act of spectacularly self-serving sabotage, she was left with only two allies at Pierpoint investment bank: her manipulative ex-boss, Eric, and the overall big boss, Adler.
