3 to watch this week. .
Munich: The Edge Of War (Cert 12, streaming from January 21 exclusively on Netflix)
In the autumn of 1938, Europe stands on the precipice of conflict.
Adolf Hitler (Ulrich Matthes) is preparing to invade Czechoslovakia, which would initiate hostilities across the continent.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain (Jeremy Irons) attempts a diplomatic resolution by asking Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini to intervene.
An emergency conference in Munich involving delegations from Germany, Britain, Italy and France signals the possibility of a peaceful resolution over disputed territory.
British civil servant Hugh Legat (George MacKay) is asked to join the British delegation so he can secretly meet with his old university chum, German diplomat Paul von Hartmann (Jannis Niewohner), who is in possession of secret documents revealing Hitler’s grand plan.
Bidding farewell to his wife, Pamela (Jessica Brown Findlay), and young son, Hugh nervously prepares to commit an act of espionage on foreign soil for the greater good.
Adapted from Robert Harris’s international bestseller, Munich: The Edge Of War is a compelling spy thriller that confidently sustains tension even with grim knowledge of real-life events that unfolded one year after the 1938 Munich Agreement was signed.
German director Christian Schwochow sombrely depicts escalating tensions in his homeland as the Third Reich inspires frenzied fanaticism and Jews are mercilessly persecuted.
MacKay delivers a solid performance as a family man in the eye of a storm, but Niewohner steals every scene as the proud patriot, weighed down by guilt that he once fervently banged a drum for Hitler’s nationalist rhetoric.
The Gilded Age (Nine episodes, starts streaming from January 25 exclusively on NOW)
Downton Abbey scribe Julian Fellowes is one of the creative minds behind this lavish period drama set in 1882, a period of immense economic and social change, which glides onto Sky Atlantic this week and streams exclusively on Now.
The key protagonist is Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson), the penniless, orphaned daughter of a Southern general from rural Pennsylvania, who moves in with her rigidly conventional, socialite aunts Agnes van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and Ada Brook (Cynthia Nixon) in New York City.
With the help of Peggy Scott (Denee Benton), an African American woman posing as her maid, Marian becomes entwined in the lives of wealthy neighbours as she chooses between adhering to the rules or forging her own path.
Morgan Spector and Carrie Coon co-star as a railroad tycoon and his resourceful wife, who are determined to leverage their wealth to secure a solid footing in polite society.
The Sinner – Season 4 (Eight episodes, streaming from January 26 exclusively on Netflix)
The first series of whodunnit The Sinner based on German crime writer Petra Hammesfahr’s novel full of rug-pulling twists was one of the surprise TV hits of 2017, providing Bill Pullman with a plum role as Detective Harry Ambrose.
A fourth and final helping of the anthology percolates on Netflix.
When a tragedy occurs involving the daughter of a prominent island family, retired detective Ambrose pledges to assist the investigation.
He becomes immersed in a tantalising mystery that turns his life and that of the residents of the Northern Maine tourist idyll upside down.
Frances Fisher co-stars as matriarch Meg Muldoon and Cindy Cheung plays Stephanie Lam, a mother fiercely protective of her son.
Ronin Wong serves up suspicion as restaurateur Mike Lam while Neal Huff features as a kind-hearted lobsterman.