list.co.uk/tv PREVIEWS | TELEVISION
HIGHLIGHTS
KILLING EVE – SEASON 2 BBC One, Jun (date tbc) Full boxset of the multiple BAFTA-winning killer thriller will drop on iPlayer. See preview, left. POLDARK – SERIES 5 BBC One, Jun (date tbc) More brooding period drama starring Aidan Turner and Eleanor Tomlinson in the last season of Poldark.
DEADWOOD THE MOVIE Sky Atlantic, Sat 1 Jun, 9pm The long rumoured Deadwood movie finally becomes reality, wrapping up the much loved, ultra- violent western series after a 13 year absence.
BLACK MIRROR – SEASON 5 Netflix, Wed 5 Jun More freaky sci-fi morality tales and bleak satire from the mind of Charlie Brooker.
BIG LITTLE LIES – SEASON 2 Sky Atlantic, Mon 10 Jun, 2am (and 9pm) Meryl Streep joins the cast as Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley must face the repercussions of their actions. LEGION – SEASON 3 FOX, Thu 4 Jul, 9pm Baffling but beautiful superhero story vaguely based on the X-Men comics. Final season.
STRANGER THINGS – SEASON 3 Netflix, Thu 4 Jul Much-anticipated return of 80s-set sci-fi horror. See preview, page 122.
SUITS – SEASON 9 Netflix, Thu 18 Jul Have you ever met anyone who has actually watched Suits? Anyway it’s famous now Meghan Markle is a thing (even though she’s not actually in it anymore) and this is the final season. PEAKY BLINDERS – SEASON 5 BBC One (date tbc) More retro gang warfare Birmingham-style.
THE HANDMAID’S TALE– SEASON 3 Channel 4 (date tbc) Margaret Atwood’s dystopian vision of a totalitarian regime in America. Elizabeth Moss is outstanding and Yvonne Strahovski’s character has grown in complexity and depth over series two. CATCH 22 Channel 4 (date tbc) Christopher Abbott, Kyle Chandler, Hugh Laurie, and George Clooney lead the cast in this new adaptation of Joseph Heller’s darkly comic WWII novel.
1 Jun–31 Aug 2019 THE LIST 123
DEATH BECOMES HER
As Killing Eve returns, Henry Northmore looks at how its creative force, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, turned the show into such a huge success
P hoebe Waller-Bridge can do no wrong. The second series of Fleabag was a huge critical hit, Waller-Bridge taking the lead role as a hugely complex woman in a beautifully downbeat mix of comedy and drama. She has been announced as script doctor for the as-yet- untitled 25th James Bond movie and the West End live show of Fleabag sold out its entire run in under an hour.
adaptation of Luke Then, of course, there’s Killing Eve, Waller- Bridge’s Jennings’s Codename Villanelle novella series, a dark and bloody thriller featuring Sandra Oh as MI6 officer Eve as she attempts to track down elusive and enigmatic killer Villanelle (Jodie Comer). The thrill of the chase and the violent set pieces had viewers on the edge of their seats in the first series, but it was the obsessive relationship between Eve and Villanelle that had them hooked.
‘I think the kind of cat-and-mouse aspect with females isn’t that common,’ explains Waller- Bridge. ‘Also the fun we had playing with the heightened elements of the show, allowing them to be humorous as well as it being a thriller, is unusual – I hope in a good way. So I guess it’s just a very unusual game of cat and mouse.’ Season 2 picks up directly where the first series finished. It has already premiered in America so a quick internet search will give you all the story details you could desire, but we’re not going to ruin any plot twists here. Due to her packed diary, Waller-Bridge has stayed on as producer but delegated some responsibility for the second series, hiring her friend Emerald Fennell as head
writer (who you can also see starring as a young Camilla Parker-Bowles in season three of The Crown). Oh picked up multiple awards for her portrayal of Eve (including a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award). ‘She has brought the guts, the heart, the courage, the vulnerability, and the intelligence of Eve right to the fore – I cannot imagine anyone else paying this part,’ said Waller-Bridge. ‘She’s so bold, she’s so smart and she’s so across the scripts and cares so much about the character.’
Hollywood Reporter recently name-checked Jodie Comer on their annual list of Rising Young Stars and she beat her co-star Oh to win best actress at the BAFTA television awards. ‘She’s brought so much complexity to this character and so much vulnerability to her that she’s [Villanelle] bizarrely relatable in Jodie’s hands. This wild and otherwise probably fantastical kind of character has been brought down to earth; she’s charming – and you’ll make the mistake of falling in love with her and then she will kill you.’ In a recent interview, Sian Clifford, who plays Fleabag’s uptight sister Claire, suggested that Fleabag is now finished. Thankfully, Waller- Bridge is working with HBO on a new series called Run (starring Domhnall Gleeson and Merritt Wever) and the day after season 2 of Killing Eve was broadcast in the States, season 3 was confirmed, so it appears the chase continues.
Killing Eve season 2, BBC One, June (date tbc), all episodes will be available on iPlayer the same day.