HBO

Channel 4 and HBO commission debut series from Booker Prize-winner Marlon James

The six-part crime noir follows the police detective Millie-Jean Black, who is forced to quit Scotland Yard and move back to Jamaica.

Upon her return, she begins working missing persons cases for the Jamaican force. She soon picks up an investigation that works its way from downtown Kingston all the way up to the plantations of the post-colonial elite.

When the case goes global, it propels her back to the UK where soon everyone is out to get Millie Black.

Our obsession with Succession

(credit: Macall B. Polay/HBO)

In August 2020, as the pandemic raged in the US, a tweet by LA-based writer Julia Claire went viral: “Do people understand that if they don’t wear their masks and physically distance, we’re never going to get a third season of Succession???”

Now, after a two-year delay, HBO’s hit show has finally returned with all the familial backstabbing, billion-­dollar machinations and poetic profanity we have come to love from the media magnate Logan Roy and his squabbling, super-rich children.

Succession renewed for fourth series

(credit: HBO/ Sky)

Created by Jesse Armstrong (Peep Show), the series follows ageing media mogul Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and his children Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Roman (Kieran Culkin), Shiv (Sarah Snook) and Connor (Alan Ruck) as they jockey for position in the race to be named successor of the family media empire Waystar Royco.

Succession’s third series is currently airing on Sky and NOW in the UK, with the Roy family entering a full-blown civil war after son Kendall’s whistle-blowing about the conglomerate’s historical sex offences sending the company into a tailspin.

HBO's content chief Casey Bloys on preparing for the future with HBO Max

HBO Max, which launched in the US in May 2020, is set to roll out across Europe. The streaming service is scheduled to arrive in the Nordics and Spain this month, with other European countries to follow in the first quarter of 2022. But the UK is not included, because HBO content – including big-hitters such as Succession, Gangs of London and The White Lotus – is distributed exclusively via Sky until 2025. 

Michelle De Swarte to lead Sister’s comedy horror The Baby

Michelle De Swarte (credit: Leo Cackett)

Written by debut screenwriter Siân Robins-Grace, who has acted as a co-producer on Sex Education, De Swarte will play 38-year old Natasha, the friend who has never made long-term plans and spends her life doing things on her own terms. When she’s suddenly landed with a baby, her solipsistic life dramatically implodes. With controlling, manipulative and violent powers, the baby soon turns Natasha’s life into a living hell.

As Natasha begins to discover the baby’s truly deadly nature, she makes increasingly desperate attempts to escape, but the baby simply won’t let her.

Industry renewed for a second series

Myha'la Herrold as Harper in Industry (credit: BBC)

The series, which aired on BBC Two in the UK and HBO in America, follows a group of young graduates vying for a permanent position at the cut-throat investment bank, Pierpoint & Co.

Industry’s first series centres around Harper (Myha’la Herrold, an American fish-out-of-water struggling to find her feet in London’s fast-paced financial district. She is forced to go above and beyond to prove her mettle among a cohort of hyper-competitive graduates.

Nicole Kassell announced as lead director for The Baby

Nicole Kassell (Credit: Sky)

Kassell will also act as an executive producer for the eight-part series, having recently directed and executive produced dystopian superhero drama Watchmen.

The Baby, co-created by screenwriter Siân Robins-Grace (Sex Education) and Lucy Gaymer, takes a stark and unflinching look at the anxiety over the dilemma of whether or not to have children and what the supposed joy of motherhood really looks like. 

Konrad Kay and Mickey Down on Industry, working with Lena Dunham and getting fired from finance

Such was the case for Konrad Kay, the co-creator of the new HBO and BBC drama Industry. After three years at a top American investment bank, Kay was ultimately sacked for being ‘the worst salesman the bank had ever seen’.

“I think my boss actually said that to me almost word for word,” he laughs, “but I didn’t leave under a cloud, we were really good mates. I thought it was totally fair”.