DVD

A man is on the telephone. There’s a blood stain on his shirt and a colander of needle marks on his forearm. He struggles to hear what the caller is saying, but the gist gets through: his father is dead. He hangs up the phone, smirks and collapses blissfully on the floor. It sounds like Trainspotting III, but the mood and tone of Sky’s five-part series Patrick Melrose (18)★★★★★ couldn’t be more different. For one thing, our hero is English, and for another he is fabulously moneyed. Not that the show – adapted from Edward St Aubyn’s series of semiautobiographical novels – is a celebration of wealth. On a diet of booze, fags and sundry harder drugs, Patrick is a misery. As Patrick, Benedict Cumberbatch, left, is an unceasing delight. Drunken and bombed, he sustains an injury in every scene, treating us to a slapstick masterclass. For all the laughter, though, this is a dark drama. The look constantly evokes Francis Bacon, and to live with the Melroses is to live in a gorgeous abattoir. You have been warned… The reboot of the Tomb Raider (12) ★★ franchise is indeed tomb-like in its tedium. Directed by Roar Uthaug and starring Alicia Vikander (left, looking like an anabolic steroid), the movie tries gamely to ring the changes. But this time around, Lara Croft isn’t a lara fun.