Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
THE ROOKIE: FEDS
MUM JOINS THE FBI
After a two-episode introduction in the last series of The Rookie, this new spin-off show follows feisty middle-aged mother – and ex-guidance counsellor – Simone (Niecy Nash-betts, above with Kevin Zegers) as she embarks on her new career as the oldest rookie in the LA office of the FBI. It’s got the same mix of gentle wit, neatly drawn characters and solid action as the original (there are also cameos from the original cast to enjoy), but the new show also wastes no time in establishing its own identity. Simone is a much more in-your-face character than Nathan Fillion’s John Nolan, and her refusal to be sidelined for being too old, too black or too female gives the show some real fizz. Her corookie Brendon (Zegers), an ex-actor who once played a vampire cop, adds an enjoyably ridiculous layer to it all.
US SERIAL KILLER COMES TO THE UK
Charming stalker-killer
Joe (Penn Badgley, below) is on the hunt again as this brilliantly amoral anti-hero drama returns. At the end of the previous run (spoiler alert), Joe fled the US for Paris, and this first half of the fourth series (the second is due on 10 March) picks up with him in London, where he’s taken a teaching job and is ultimately pulled into high society, where the show takes on a whodunnit quality. There’s some familiar British talent in the new cast such as Ghosts’ Charlotte Ritchie – how will she handle being haunted by someone decidedly more physical than the spirits she usually shares the screen with? Look out for Sean Pertwee, too.