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Perry Mason (Sky/NOW)

Defence lawyer Perry Mason was originally a character in detective fiction but is now best remembered from the popular TV series that ran from the 1950s until the 1960s. In that show, Mason (Raymond Burr) usually proves a client innocent of the murder with which they were charged – and he often discovers the real perpetrator.

But this noir, Chandler-esque reimagining – a prequel of sorts – is very different and bears the same relationship to the original as, say, Christopher Nolan’s brooding Batman films do to the daft 1960s TV series. It’s set in Los Angeles in 1931. First World War veteran Mason (Matthew Rhys, right) is a cynical private investigator with a serious drinking habit who sports a permanent five o’clock shadow. He’s eking out a living exposing the sexual shenanigans of Hollywood stars and starlets when he’s hired to investigate the murder of a baby.

Although the series is prefaced with the standard warning ‘Contains scenes some viewers may find distressing’, there was much social-media discussion about whether we really needed to see the dead infant, eyelids gruesomely sewn open. As his investigation progresses, Mason tangles with crooked cops, seedy establishment figures and religious fanatics.

The show looks fantastic – no expense has been spared recreating 1930s LA – and the cast is fabulous, with Shea Whigham as Mason’s sidekick, John Lithgow as the lawyer employing them and Scottish actress Gayle Rankin a standout as the dead child’s mother.