Why is there such a buzz about..?

Little Fires Everywhere (Amazon Prime)

‘Hands visible, OK honey?’ Mia Warren (Kerry Washington) tells her teenage daughter as a police officer approaches their car, in which they’ve been sleeping.

That’s one of her first lines in the series and the instruction, born of her fear that the cop might use any excuse to abuse two African Americans, could hardly be more apposite, given recent events.

The policeman is there because journalist Elena Richardson (Reese Witherspoon, near right, with Rosemarie DeWitt) spotted the old car with battered-looking luggage tied to the roof on her way into the office and thought it was lowering the tone of the neighbourhood, the smart Shaker Heights, and so – naturally – called the cops.

The lives of the Richardson family – Elena and her husband have four children – and the Warrens become entwined when single mum Mia rents an apartment from Elena and much drama about motherhood ensues. But the reason this layered show, based on the best-selling novel by Celeste Ng, has taken off is because of its exploration of insidious racism and white privilege.

Washington and Witherspoon, two of the most powerful women in TV, co-produce as well as star. They’re friends in real life, but not here. Elena is a buttoned-up control freak and supposed pillar of the community. Mia is a free-spirited, hard-up artist who moves around from town to town. Their scenes together really crackle as the two very different characters clash.