Four to watch this week...
Anatomy Of A Scandal (6 episodes, streaming from April 15 exclusively on Netflix)
Writer and producer David E Kelley kept viewers on the edge of their seats a couple of years ago with The Undoing starring Hugh Grant as a successful oncologist, who is implicated in a murder and faces a trial by media in front of his wife (Nicole Kidman).
There are echoes of that binge-worthy saga in this sixpart psychological thriller which walks the blurred line between justice and privilege, adapted from Sarah Vaughan’s novel by Kelley and co-writer Melissa James Gibson.
MP James Whitehouse (Rupert Friend) is on an upward trajectory in Westminster, flanked by his beautiful wife Sophie (Sienna Miller) and a loving family.
A scandalous secret threatens to derail his rise to power and his fate rests in the hands of prosecuting barrister Kate Woodcroft (Michelle Dockery).
She has the power to destroy the Whitehouse marriage and expose the grubby reality of the political elite. Anatomy Of A Scandal is directed by SJ Clarkson, who helmed key episodes of Life On Mars.
The King (8 episodes, streaming from April 19 exclusively on Now)
Inspector Montalbano star Luca Zingaretti headlines a tense prison drama directed by Giuseppe Gagliardi, which serves time on Sky Atlantic and streams exclusively on Now.
Bruno Testori (Zingaretti) rules the roost at San Michele penitentiary, exercising his own special set of morals and laws to keep some of Italy’s most dangerous inmates in check. His methods are unconventional and his principles warped – Bruno ruthlessly punishes some who cross his path and lavishes others with compassion.
Outside of the prison, Bruno has far less control over his relationship with his ex-wife (Barbora Bobulova).
When a tenacious public prosecutor (Anna Bonaiuto) investigates the network of illegal activity at San Michele, evidence threatens to implicate Bruno.
Unlike the cast of Disney’s Oscar-winning animation Encanto, everyone will be talking about Bruno this week.
Outer Range (8 episodes, streaming from April 15 exclusively on Prime Video)
Wyoming’s sprawling wilderness is no country for an old man, or a middle-aged rancher like Royal Abbott (Josh Brolin).
He is put through the emotional wringer in an unnerving drama from writer and producer Brian Watkins.
Royal, his wife Cecilia (Lili Taylor) and son Perry (Tom Pelphrey) are haunted by the disappearance of daughterin-law Rebecca.
At the family’s lowest ebb, the Tillersons, abrasive owners of a neighbouring ranch, make a concerted bid to claim the Abbotts’ prized land.
A death in the community lights the fuse on betrayal and recriminations, and the arrival of a drifter called Autumn (Imogen Poots) intensifies Royal’s discomfort.
The first two episodes canter onto Prime Video this week and subsequent double bills saddle up at weekly intervals.
Choose Or Die (Cert 15, 95 mins, streaming from April 15 exclusively on Netflix)
Toby Meakins’ feature directorial debut is a horror thriller which welcomes Robert Englund, the actor behind big screen bogeyman Freddie Krueger, as a fictionalised version of himself.
College dropout Kayla (Iola Evans) loses her cleaning job and she faces eviction unless she can magically find money to keep a roof over her head.
When she learns of an unclaimed $125,000 prize for completing an obscure, 1980s survival computer game called Curs>r, Kayla excitedly plays to turn around her life.
She quickly discovers that the game warps reality and poses life or death decisions that have tragic consequences if she tries to prematurely end the game.
As a nightmare whirls around her, Kayla teams up with her good friend Isaac (Asa Butterfield) to break the cycle of mind-bending horror.