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Fatma (Netflix)

SERIAL KILLER THRILLER

Never seen any Turkish TV?

This absorbing thriller about an unlikely serial killer is a good place to start.

It begins innocuously enough, as we follow the meek, mildmannered Fatma (Burcu Biricik, left) on a series of cleaning jobs around Istanbul. With her dowdy dress and babushka, she doesn’t look like she could hurt a fly.

Something’s clearly not right, though. She has a haunted look about her and all she talks about is her husband, Zafar, a lowly gangland stooge who has just been released from prison and promptly disappeared. Has he abandoned her? Or worse? Fatma is determined to find out the truth.

Her search takes her into the Istanbul underworld and a confrontation with a thug she’s been told might know of Zafar’s whereabouts. And it’s here that Fatma crosses a line. Halfway through episode one she has killed her first gangster (shot in the chest with a stolen gun), and by the time the credits roll she’s done away with another (pushed under a train).

And it doesn’t stop there. As Fatma’s life begins to unravel and her search for Zafar becomes more desperate, the death toll steadily rises. She’s no longer just a murderer, she has become a serial killer.

But there is something of the vigilante about her killings – none of the victims is a ‘good guy’ − and in flashback we learn of the childhood trauma that drives her vengeance today.

The ingenious, multi-layered plot is worthy of any hit Netflix drama and the twists and turns will keep you gripped all the way to its satisfying dénouement.