GRIPPING NEW DRAMAS WITH SOME VERY BIG NAMES
Aldous Huxley’s dystopian nightmare tops the bill in a season of sizzling thrillers...
BRAVE NEW WORLD
OCTOBER • SKY ONE
The lives of Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd) and Lenina Crowne (Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay) may appear perfect in the Utopian world of New London (above). Soothingly delivered through loudspeakers in their ordered city, where residents all have a ranking, come the words: ‘Everybody in their place – everybody happy now.’ But Bernard and Lenina are restless, and take a trip to the turbulent Savage Lands, where they encounter John and his mother Linda (Demi Moore, left) and become embroiled in a nightmare that engulfs others including the low-ranked CJack60 (Joseph Morgan, right). The nine-part series is based on the 1932 novel by Aldous Huxley.
LIFE
SEPTEMBER • BBC1
Doctor Foster lives on – or at least one of the characters does! The creator of that hugely successful BBC drama, Mike Bartlett, has taken the long-suffering Anna Baker (left) – a woman who was serially cheated on by her husband – and transported her to
Manchester for this six-part series. Still played by Victoria Hamilton, she’s started a new life as Belle, a Pilates teacher and one of the residents of a house converted into four flats. We follow the lives and loves of Belle and the people in the other properties, including Gail (Alison Steadman) and her husband Henry
(Peter Davison), and Helen (Elaine Paige).
RATCHED
18 SEPTEMBER • NETFLIX
Award-winning 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, set in a mental institution, remains a cult classic. Little wonder then that producers have decided to revisit the story – but in a novel way. This is the ‘origin’ tale of Nurse Ratched (Sarah Paulson), who uses her position in the psychiatric hospital to intimidate her patients. The story delves into Ratched’s past to reveal how she went from sweet nurse to stony-faced monster and boasts a cast of eccentric characters such as heiress Lenore Osgood (Sharon
Stone, right) and her pet monkey.