New launches Four to watch this week...
Signora Volpe (3 episodes, starts streaming from May 2 exclusively on Acorn TV)
Emilia Fox is an active participant in solving a murder rather than a silent witness when she takes the lead role in a threepart Acorn TV mystery created and written by Midsomer Murders compatriots Rachel Cuperman and Sally Griffiths.
The case unspools in weekly instalments.
High-ranking British spy Sylvia Fox (Fox) has become disillusioned with the intrigues of MI6 headquarters in London.
She escapes the psychological games by attending the wedding of her niece Alice (Issy Knopfler) in Umbria in the heart of Italy.
The festivities are cut short when the bridegroom vanishes and a body surfaces in a lake at the bottom of his garden.
Carabinieri Captain Giovanni Riva (Giovanni Cirfiera) is less than thrilled by Sylvia interfering in his investigation and she strengthens ties to the region by reconnecting with her estranged sister Isabel Vitale (Tara Fitzgerald).
Clark (6 episodes, streaming from May 5 exclusively on Netflix)
Bill Skarsgard, who sent chills down the spine as Pennywise the clown in the two-part film adaptation of Stephen King’s It, portrays a more charming villain in a Swedish series directed by Jonas Akerlund.
Inspired by the infamous Swedish bank robber, who gave rise to the expression Stockholm Syndrome, the six-part
drama draws inspiration from truths and lies in Clark Olofsson’s autobiography to chart his love affair with the Sweden people despite dozens of bank robberies and various counts of drug trafficking, attempted murder, assault and theft.
The Dry (8 episodes, streaming from May 5 exclusively on BritBox)
Fresh from the Oscar-winning Belfast, Ciaran Hinds stars in a comedy drama written by Bafta-nominated Irish playwright Nancy Harris under the direction of Paddy Breathnach.
The Dry centres on recovering alcoholic Shiv Sheridan (Roisin Gallagher), who loses
her job in London and returns home to Dublin, full of high hopes and good intentions.
She must deal with her dysfunctional family, who are in denial about their issues, while maintaining her sobriety.
Pom Boyd, who popped up in last year’s offbeat comedy Frank Of Ireland, also stars alongside Siobhan Cullen and Moe Dunford.
Grace And Frankie – Season 7 Part 2 (12 episodes, streaming from April 29)
Following the success of Friends, producer Marta Kauffman worked her magic again with this Emmy Awardnominated comedy drama cocreated by Howard J Morris, which celebrates the antics of women behaving badly.
Jane Fonda plays Grace Hanson, a retired cosmetics mogul with a scalpel-sharp tongue, who forges a sisterly bond with offbeat art teacher Frankie Bergstein (Lily Tomlin) after their respective husbands (Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston) fall in love with each other.
The Covid pandemic affected production of the seventh and final series.
The opening four episodes surfaced on Netflix in August last year and now the concluding 12 instalments materialise, allowing Grace and Frankie to live their madcap lives, fearlessly and unapologetically.