What to stream this week: Emma Thompson’s detective thriller, plus five more picks

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Don’t miss Mick Herron’s Slow Horses TV sibling, Down Cemetery Road, plus Colin Farrell’s gambling thriller set in Macau, a reboot of The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and a new Netflix comedy from Sydney’s cheeky siblings Theodore and Nathan Saidden.

Down Cemetery Road ★★★★(Apple TV)

Even before Emma Thompson’s bolshy private investigator Zoe Boehm dismisses her husband with the line, “picking you up from the f--- up creche”, the sardonic DNA of this conspiratorial drama is apparent. The setting is Oxford, not London, but the characters are speaking fluent Mick Herron. Slow Horses, the MI5 thriller adapted from the British author’s series of novels, has been pound-for-pound the most entertaining television of the past five years, and now Herron’s earlier books, centred on Boehm, are on-screen and off colour.

Emma Thompson plays Zoe, a private eye investigating the disappearance of a young girl, in Down Cemetery Road.

It is a fine show: acerbic, empathetic, and disgusted by the cruel whims of the powerful. Creator Morwenna Banks, a long-time writer on Slow Horses, has done first-rate work updating the 2003 text. The only real problem Down Cemetery Road has is that the obvious comparison is Slow Horses, which stacks the deck against the newcomer. But once you lean into the considerable differences, whether in the protagonists’ place in the world or the narrative structure, it comes into its own.

Notably, it’s about outsiders who won’t back down. Sarah Trafford (Ruth Wilson) is a married art restorer whose tense dinner party literally erupts when a neighbouring house explodes. When Sarah spies a child being rescued from the ruins, but subsequently can’t find any trace of her, her inquiries impulsively lead her to the local private eye firm of Zoe and her estranged husband, Joe Silverman (Adam Godley). Joe is intrigued, Zoe dismissive, until the stakes are changed for them.

From the start the show reveals the government’s covert involvement, directed by the caustic head of British military intelligence, C (Darren Boyd), and his “serious Voldemort vibes”. The real mystery is what motivates Zoe and Sarah to risk their lives – past regrets, angry defiance and a need to take up contested space pass between the pair, who are, thankfully, not simply turned into mismatched partners. The plot keeps them moving and separated, using the supporting cast as a means of illumination and, in the case of dead-eyed assassin Amos (Fehinti Balogun), considerable risk.

Ruth Wilson as art restorer Sarah Trafford in Down Cemetery Road.

There will be criticism of an eight-episode season, as opposed to the non-stop momentum of a Slow Horses six, but it gives emotional depth and telling process to Zoe and Sarah; a cat-and-mouse chase between the former and Amos on a train is a gripping set-piece and a reminder of the imbalance between the amateurs and the professionals. And any decision that gives us more Emma Thompson is the right one. Watching one of the finest actors of her generation update the hard-nosed private eye canon is a rare gift. Revel in it.

Colin Farrell in Ballad of a Small Player.

Ballad of a Small Player ★★★ (Netflix)

After directing consecutive features nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards – All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave – the Swiss/Austrian filmmaker Edward Berger sidesteps into this moody psychological thriller. Colin Farrell plays Lord Freddy Doyle, a British toff experiencing an existential crisis at the luxury hotels and rapacious casinos of Macau. With bad luck at the baccarat tables, Doyle is set adrift.

Adapted from Lawrence Osborne’s 2014 novel of the same name, the movie is a spectral character study told with visual excess. With the city’s Hungry Ghost Festival unfolding, Doyle’s panic suggests karmic retribution even before Tilda Swinton’s gawky tourist starts shadowing him. Seeking credit from a moneylender, Dao Ming (Fala Chen), Doyle is a forlorn figure amidst grand nocturnal tableaus – even the fountains at a casino sparkle and erupt in choreographed grandeur as he plays desperate new games.

The film’s plot is fable-like, with latter twists plainly transparent, and Farrell’s performance is detailed and touching, revealing all of Doyle’s layers. But Berger frames all that with a maximalist zeal that is often striking but rarely comprehensive. It’s as if he watched Martin Scorsese’s Casino and hungered to one up its compositions. It’s a flawed, intriguing film, and no matter the moment, Berger is determined to deliver more. Even the end credits include a final unnecessary flourish to admire.

Lazarus ★★(Amazon Prime Video)

The non-stop output of American mystery novelist and television creator Harlan Coben has always risked repetition, which might be why Coben’s latest collaboration with Danny Brocklehurst grafts a supernatural approach onto their familiar uncovering crimes from the past format.

It doesn’t help. With Sam Claflin as clinical psychiatrist Joel Lazarus, and Bill Nighy as his father and fellow professional Jonathan, this spectral thriller suffers from obvious dialogue and a ludicrous plot. The actors give their all, and frankly it’s not enough. The only consolation is that this is the silliest Harlan Coben show yet.

Maika Monroe as Polly Murphy in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle ★★★ (Disney+)

This is a capable remake of Curtis Hanson’s 1992 maternal thriller, about a young woman who gains malicious entry to an unsuspecting family’s home as the nanny to their young children. Here, Maika Monroe plays the initially helpful interloper, Polly Murphy, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead as the mother she looks to supplant. Mexican director Michelle Garza Cervera is alert to the wealth imbalance between the two women, prescription drug paranoia and the misguided rituals that equate employment with extended family. It’s smart, but also entertaining – Polly’s plotting is comprehensive and crazy.

Son of a Donkey ★★½ (Netflix)

The self-sufficient creative team of siblings Theodore and Nathan Saidden – the Coen brothers of Australian ethnic stereotypes and teen-friendly crude humour – have successfully grown from one platform to the next (YouTube, the ABC locally, and now Netflix globally) since 2008.

I’m not convinced they’ve evolved creatively, but it may well be a case of if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it when it comes to their low-budget mash-up of deliberately ludicrous posturing, crazy plots, Benny Hill drag and sly social criticism. They’re giving their sizable fan base what they want, but perhaps not what they need.

My Bungalow Bliss ★★★ (Shelter)

Consider this thoughtful Irish renovation series a welcome antidote to the McMansion excesses of the genre. It focuses on the bungalows built in the hundreds of thousands across Ireland in the 1970s, which transformed the country’s housing stock. Now, as host Hugh Wallace explains, those homes (and their sometimes-misguided extensions) require updating for 21st century living – i.e. no more walled off kitchen. Each episode is a collaboration between the home-owners and a different architect, with plausible pricing and a smidge of social history on the way to the final reveal.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.

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