ON DEMAND CHOICE: The Expanse

This incredibly detailed US sci-fi drama begins a weekly run for its new, fifth season on

Amazon today. Here’s our guide to what it’s about, and why it’s worth watching… What’s it about? Based on the novels by It’s worth watching… If you’re looking for a James S. A. Corey, The Expanse is set in a show to get lost in, because you can feel the time when humans have colonised the size of The Expanse from the first episode. solar system, but this is no utopian Star There is so much deftly delivered detail, too, Trek-style future. Humanity is starkly and even the relatively dull political plots, divided between the people of the notably the scheming of the UN’S Chrisjen Earth and the moon (seen as lazy Avasarala (Shohreh Aghdashloo, left), and selfish), the colonists on Mars take on a new dimension as the story (militaristic) and the ‘belters’, who widens. Its ground-level characters, work as miners and hauliers on the though, such as the Blade Runnerragtag stations in the asteroid style private eye played by Thomas belt. Season one is essentially Jane, are where the show’s heart is. a gritty detective story that If you like this, try… Altered introduces us to all this – and Carbon (Netflix), Away (Netflix), brings the Mormons into the Battlestar Galactica (iplayer), story, too – while later seasons Blade Runner (Sky/now TV), have a broader, grander feel. Interstellar (Sky/now TV).