ON THE SMALL SCREEN
By Jenny Peters
BAD EDUCATION
HBO
Hugh Jackman, Allison Janney and Ray Romano star in this TV movie that’s part crime caper, part comedy and all kinds of ridiculous. Based on a real happening in Long Island, New York, this group of high-school administrators and teachers tried to pull off a massive embezzlement scheme—and succeeded for a while. With a script written by Mike Makowsky, who went to the school when this brazen attempt happened, this one’s stranger than fiction.
DEADWATER FELL
Acorn TV
David Tennant stars in this disturbing mystery series, as a man whose family dies mysteriously in a house fire. As the community around him comes together, a brutal reality emerges, for someone has set the fire. Written by Grantchester creator Daisy Coulam, the four-part miniseries Deadwater Fell is full of twists, turns, betrayals, and much more. Cush Jumbo and Matthew McNulty co-star.
DEFENDING JACOB
Apple TV+
Based on the best-selling novel, this limited series is a whodunit of a particularly creepy kind. For when the teen son of an assistant district attorney is accused of a senseless murder, the family must face up to the reality that their boy might be a sociopath. With Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery in the parental leads and Jaeden Martell as Jacob, this is one disturbing tale of love versus justice.
HOME BEFORE DARK
Apple TV+
The power of smart girls is an integral part of this mystery thriller based on the real-life journalistic investigation of a nine-year-old. In this limited 10-part series, Brooklynn Prince stars as the kid who’s determined to be a reporter who finds herself investigating a mysterious incident in her journalist dad’s early life. Does she solve the crime? Tune in and find out!
RUN
HBO
Lovers of Fleabag need to race over to HBO to see Run, the latest from the genius minds behind that award-winning show. Vicky Jones is Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s creative partner; she takes the lead on this one from a Waller-Bridge idea. It’s a tale of a long-separated couple who promised to come running if one or the other ever texts the word “RUN”; when that happens, all hell breaks out in this exciting mystery thriller starring Domhnall Gleason, Archie Punjab and Waller-Bridge herself.
THE WALKING DEAD: THE WORLD BEYOND
AMC
Throwing out another spinoff of the original hit show The Walking Dead is a no-brainer for AMC since the first two have been so popular. This time out, the story focuses on younger characters who have always lived with the flesh-eating zombies who walk the earth. Most of the characters are high-school kids, but Julia Ormond also stars in a key role in this continuation of the human vs. zombie story which began in the comics back in 2003.
BELGRAVIA
Epix
Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes returns to television with this historical story of London society in the 1800s. It begins just as the Battle of Waterloo takes place and follows the stories of different members of the British aristocracy as they navigate the post-war times. Tom Wilkinson, Harriet Walter, Alice Eve, and Tamsin Greig lead the stellar cast in what’s sure to be another feather in Fellowes’ cap.
PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS
Showtime
Posited as a “spiritual descendent” of the original Victorian Penny Dreadful series that ran from 2014-16, this new iteration jumps to 1930s Los Angeles. Also created and written by John Logan, this time out, two LAPD detectives (Daniel Zovatto and Nathan Lane) encounter both mysterious and supernatural events that garnered the original multiple awards and nominations in its three-season run.
