The Rig to Live to Lead: the seven best shows to stream this week

Martin Compston stars in a horror thriller about the oil industry, while Prince Harry and Meghan Markle return with a documentary about ‘people who have made brave choices’

Pick of the week

The Rig

Like Vigil before it, this six-part horror thriller starring Martin Compston makes a berserk drama out of isolation; the sense of barely functional individuals trapped under unimaginable duress. As you might have guessed, The Rig is not under water but towering over it – when the Kinloch Bravo platform is cut off from the mainland and enveloped by a thick fog, inexplicable things start to happen. A terrible accident is the trigger for revelations about the oil industry’s future, the care of duty between employers and workers and humanity’s relationship with the planet. “If you keep punching holes in the earth” says Mark Bonner’s Alwyn Evans, “eventually the earth’s going to punch back”.
Prime Video, from Friday 6 January

The Lying Life of Adults

The novel this adaptation is based on was Elena Ferrante’s first after her wildly successful Neapolitan quartet. Those books were beautifully adapted for television so expectations are high for this series. It’s a story about the torments of coming of age – Giovanna (Valeria Golino) is a shy, often difficult teen who finds it tough to trust her parents after overhearing them talking about her. Why are they comparing her to the black sheep aunt? A journey of discovery ensues and soon Giovanna is getting a crash course in the ugly compromises of adulthood. This won’t disappoint fans of the novel.
Netflix, from Wednesday 4 January

Live to Lead

Much more of this and Jeremy Clarkson will be setting up the stocks in the town square. Following on from their internet-breaking personal documentary, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s latest series as part of their Netflix deal consists of interviews and profiles with “people who have made brave choices”. Whether or not you feel the outcast Windsors belong in that category themselves, expect to hear from New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, social justice advocate Bryan Stevenson and the late, great Ruth Bader Ginsburg among others.
Netflix, out now

Kaleidoscope

Does it speak of narrative weakness or strength if a story’s threads can be picked up at any stage? This intriguing crime thriller created by Eric Garcia is designed to be watchable in any order – the episode prompts will vary for everyone. Essentially, Kaleidoscope is a slick, stylish heist thriller: as a crew of expert thieves is gathered to crack a vault, viewers are fed a mixture of prequel and sequel as well as the heist itself. It’s hard not to suspect that but for the central conceit, it would have been a slightly generic affair, but the idea is undeniably audacious.
Netflix, fromNew Year’s Day

MADOFF: The Monster of Wall Street

Fraudster Bernie Madoff became the embodiment of the febrile atmosphere of pre-financial crisis Wall Street. This four-part documentary, which aspires to the atmosphere and pacing of a fictional thriller, tells his story and wonders if his criminality was an aberration or merely the inevitable result of a toxic culture. “He could live with himself as a liar”, says one insider, “much more easily than he could live with himself as a failure”. As we see Madoff’s gigantic Ponzi scheme thrive in the context of Wall Street, those words seem more universally applicable.
Netflix, from Wednesday 4 January

Reservation Dogs

Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo’s big-hearted comedy about a group of indigenous American teens in Oklahoma returns for a second series. The show maintains a perfect balance between laughs and genuinely touching explorations of change and identity loss. As we rejoin the (disintegrating) gang, Jackie (Elva Guerra) is worried. She believes she’s been cursed and is to blame for the misfortunes of her friends. What unfolds is a soulful exploration of belonging – but with lashings of physical comedy and goofy stoner humour thrown in for good measure.
Disney+, from Wednesday 4 January

Copenhagen Cowboy

Danish director Nicholas Winding Refn returns to TV with this self-consciously dark and doomy thriller. All of his trademark visual flourishes are here – a deadly, enigmatic hero, the city coming sinisterly alive under night-time neon lights, a slight sense of style triumphing over content. But Angela Budalovic is poised and charismatic as Miu, a woman forced to enter the Danish criminal underworld in search of vengeance against an unnamed nemesis. As she immerses herself in this violent realm, the true nature of her mission starts to become clear.
Netflix, from Friday 6 January

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