SUCCESSION

You fell in love with that incredible new TV show. And then it ended! Don’t despair — Boyd Hilton recommends the sibling shows to watch next IF YOU LOVED...

BABYLON (BRITBOX)

This 2014 one-series wonder was created by an extraordinary coming together of talents. Succession showrunner Jesse Armstrong and his longtime writing partner Sam Bain worked with director Danny Boyle to make a massively ambitious satirical drama that takes a scalpel to the entire institution of the police force. Tonally, it’s the closest show Armstrong has made to Succession, with each hour-long episode exploring the egomania of those in power, and the bizarre minutiae of daily life at all levels of law enforcement. And what a cast: The OA’S Brit Marling plays an American brought in to handle the force’s PR, and there are juicy roles for James Nesbitt, Daniel Kaluuya and Nicola Walker.

BOB SERVANT (AMAZON PRIME VIDEO)

Brian Cox is clearly having the time of his life playing the monstrous Logan Roy in Succession, and while he’s focused more on eclectic film roles recently, he did a superb job playing the title character in deliciously daft sitcom Bob Servant in 2013. Created by Neil Forsyth (Guilt), Servant is a delusional, egotistical cheeseburger tycoon who battles Rufus Jones’ slick English politician Nick Edwards to become the MP for Broughty Ferry in Scotland. Cox goes joyously over-the-top in a show which only lasted for two underrated series.

VEEP (SKY ON DEMAND/NOW)

There’s Veep DNA all over Succession, not least because Jesse Armstrong and many of his writers wrote for Armando Iannucci’s longrunning US political comedy. But stylistically, the two shows have a lot in common, too. The vérité feel of Veep, combined with heightened, ultra-sweary and witty dialogue (also heavily reminiscent of Iannucci’s British forerunner The Thick Of It) has a similar energy to Succession. And in her own way, Julia Louis-dreyfus’ amoral, ruthlessly power-hungry politician Selina Meyer is as memorable and monstrous as Logan Roy.

MOTHERFATHERSON (BBC IPLAYER)

Around the same time Jesse Armstrong was conceiving Succession, writer Tom Rob Smith (London Spy) created his own drama based around a media conglomerate. In Motherfatherson, there’s also a terrifying patriarch running the business, played with understated menace by Richard Gere, while the legendary Helen Mccrory plays his mostly furious wife. The focus of the 2019 series, though, is on their son and presumed heir, played by Billy Howle, who faces a life-changing crisis which drives the whole narrative into fascinatingly dark, perverse places.

SUCCESSION IS AVAILABLE NOW ON SKY ON DEMAND/NOW