PARANORMAL Season One

Haunt Like An Egyptian

UK/US Netflix, streaming now Creator Amr Salama

Cast Ahmed Amin, Samma Ibrahim,

Aya Samaha, Razane Jammal

When we first meet Dr Refaat Ismail (Ahmed Amin), he’s struggling with a maze, bemoaning his uselessness as he tries and fails to draw his way through a child’s labyrinth puzzle. Then he spills a cup of coffee all over it.

That pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Ismail, the man battling the supernatural in Netflix’s first Arabic language original series. Based on the novels of prolific Egyptian author Ahmed Khaled Tawfik, Paranormal is a gently spooky exploration of ’60s Cairo via Arabic mythology – and yes, there’s an episode with a Pharaoh.

The monster-of-the-week structure is reminiscent of Supernatural, only with a grumpy middle-aged professor instead of two hot brothers, or The X-files

– especially once Ismail’s red-headed university pal starts helping with the investigations. But the monsters also function as metaphors for Ismail’s inner turmoil, including his strained relationship with his bossy sister Raeefa (Samma Ibrahim), his lack of interest in his fiancée Huwaida (Aya Samaha), and his longsuppressed feelings for Maggie (Razane Jammal). Each adventure pushes the reluctant Ismail closer to a spiritual and emotional breakthrough – though it’ll probably take another series to make any serious progress there.

You’ll have to be willing to forgive some wobbly special effects to fully enjoy the series, because the CGI budget clearly wasn’t anywhere near generous enough to cover the more ambitious moments. Same goes for the wig department, as poor Jammal is lumbered with a mess of red waves forever sliding down her face. The writing makes it all worthwhile, though. It’s not hard to see why Ismail is such a beloved character in his native Egypt: he’s a compelling mess of a man, a darkly funny narrator to whom human emotions often seem as absurd as monsters.

Stand-up comedian Ahmed Amin got his start in showbusiness through 30-second comedy videos posted to Facebook.

“I wish I had a proper torch, like that Mulder.”