Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
THE HOT LIST
THE BEST OF STREAMING AND TV
POWER GAMES DARK WATERS Sky Store and major streaming platforms now
MARK Ruffalo takes time out from Hulking around in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for this hard-hitting look at a battle between a big US corporation and a small community. Ruffalo plays corporate defence attorney Rob Bilott who agrees to investigate a chemical leak in a small town and discovers a cover-up, pitting him against one of the biggest companies in the US. A slow-burn thriller with the case lasting more than 20 years, it’s a damning indictment of big corporations and the lengths they’ll go to protect their interests. Anne Hathaway, Bill Camp and Tim Robbins co-star.
13TH Netflix
AVA DuVernay’s powerful documentary is an in-depth look at the US prison system which reveals a long and enduring history of racism. The 13th of the title refers to the 13th Amendment to the US constitution which abolished slavery but DuVernay’s film argues that one system of oppression has just been replaced with another, with a disproportionate number of African Americans being criminalised and ending up in the penal system. Using archive footage and interviews with activists, academics and politicians, 13th also looks at how incarcerating large amounts of people has become big business.
PERRY’S EARLY YEARS PERRY MASON Sky Atlantic, Mondays, 9pm and on catch-up
REMEMBER the old Perry Mason TV series with Raymond Burr? Made in the 1950s and 1960s, it was enduringly popular and was repeated well into the 1970s and 1980s. Now it’s had a makeover with Matthew Rhys playing the lead character. Set in 1932, this series looks at the origins of the famous defence lawyer when he was a down-at-heel private investigator haunted by his wartime experiences and the break-up of his marriage.
DRAWING on the characters from Erle Stanley Gardner’s novels, this grittier take on Mason looks promising and will appeal to fans of film noir and lovers of writers like Raymond Chandler.
INTIMATE PORTRAITS TALKING HEADS BBC iPlayer
A REBOOT of Alan Bennett’s series of monologue portraits is particularly appropriate in lockdown given social distancing imperatives but also because it’s been a time of reflection and people having to deal with their own situations in a more intense way than ever. The twelve half-hour programmes feature the likes of Imelda Staunton, Jodie Comer, Martin Freeman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maxine Peake and Sarah Lancashire and are all available on iPlayer now.
LA GOTHIC PENNY DREADFUL: CITY OF ANGELS Sky Atlantic, from July 1
FRANKENSTEIN, Dracula, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde were all invoked in the Victorian gothic of the original Penny Dreadful series starring Josh Hartnett, Timothy Dalton and Eva Green and it all made for great over-the-top entertainment. Now Penny Dreadful fastforwards to late 1930s Los Angeles, where a shocking murder and its investigation exposes the social and political tensions of the city. Natalie Dormer and Rory Kinnear star.