Pick of the week
Platform 7
Railway stations are emotional places, evocative of joyous arrivals and tragic farewells. Lisa Evans (Top Boy’s Jasmine Jobson) seems doomed to be stuck in one: after her suicide, her ghost wanders the platforms. But when she meets Edward (Phil Davis), who is also dead, things begin to change. She starts to question her death. How did her seemingly perfect life turn so sour? Adapted from Louise Doughty’s novel, this drama is poignant and intriguing as Lisa drops in on her heartbroken partner, her bereft parents and her guilty best friend. She also starts to wonder about her partner’s oddball housemate. Jobson, who is currently on a roll, is an excellent, sensitive lead.
ITVX, from Thursday 7 December
***
John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial
As well as being tragic, everything about the shooting of John Lennon in December 1980 was peculiar. There was no apparent motive. And the killer, Mark Chapman, didn’t flee but instead stood around seemingly waiting to be arrested. This fascinating series reopens the case – not so much a whodunnit as a whydunnit. It also explores Lennon’s life at that point and the impact of the killing; the amazing footage of the tearful, thousands-strong vigil works as a dark flipside to the hysteria prompted by the Beatles in their first flush of youth.
Apple TV+, from Wednesday 6 December
***
Dodger
A very welcome return for Rhys Thomas and Lucy Montgomery’s excellent kids’ show, which in its witty, knowing reimagining of the Artful Dodger isn’t just for the youngsters. Any adults who drop by will be rewarded with some big-name performers, clearly enjoying themselves hugely: Christopher Eccleston makes a marvellous Fagin and there are cameos from Paul Whitehouse, Nicola Coughlan and Javone Prince. As we rejoin the gang, the coronation of Queen Victoria is looming. Which seems as good a moment as any to try to steal the Crown Jewels.
BBC iPlayer, from Friday 29 November
***
Blood Coast
“I love this city. Because it’s crazy. And to control a crazy place, I need crazy cops.” This new French police drama stars Jeanne Goursaud as Alice Vidal, the officer charged with bringing order to the city of Marseille. A lively place at the best of times, Marseille is struggling with drug wars as a vicious new dealer tries to muscle in on the trade. Cue Vidal’s rogue team of misfits who, in the traditional style of all maverick TV cops, take great pleasure in using unorthodox (and extremely violent and arguably borderline criminal) techniques to get results.
Netflix, from Wednesday 6 December
***
My Life With the Walter Boys
A pretty boilerplate fish-out-of-water teen drama based on a novel by Ali Novak and starring Nikki Rodriguez as Jackie Howard, a 15-year-old New Yorker who loses her family in a tragic accident and is forced to relocate to Colorado. It proceeds along fairly predictable lines – initially, her large, boisterous new family is slightly overwhelming but, via horses, boys and some good old rural warmth and common sense, she begins to enjoy her new life. However, the local mean girls soon begin to resent her big city sophistication.
Netflix, from Thursday 7 December
***
World War II: From the Frontlines
Peter Jackson’s 2018 documentary They Shall Not Grow Old was a lesson in the emotional punch that can be packed by applying modern production techniques to old film footage. This series, narrated by John Boyega, attempts to do something similar with the second world war, using a mix of raw film and first-person testimonies to retell some familiar stories. Expect to feel a renewed sense of gratitude and empathy; it’s amazing how profoundly affecting something as simple as colourisation can be in locating historical events in the realm of the real.
Netflix, from Thursday 7 December
***
High Tides
This drama’s language might be unfamiliar (Flemish) but the premise feels pretty standard: it follows a bunch of rich teens as they negotiate the brink of adulthood, spending summer in a seaside town, looking for love and navigating the pitfalls of friendship. It’s generally a blur of swimming pools, motor boats and flashy mansions. But there’s a subplot involving the mental health problems of one of the group – and her struggles to integrate her issues within normal teenage growing pains – that adds an extra dimension to otherwise generic fare.
Netflix, from Thursday 7 December
