BECOMING KARL LAGERFELD — DISNEY PLUS
Daniel Brühl takes on the role of legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld in this handsomely produced biopic series. Toiling for decades in the far less glamorous world of ready-to-wear fashion, Lagerfeld decided in the late 1970s, with the help of French business person Pierre Bergé (Alex Lutz), to make his big play for domination of the couture market, whose king was the German’s friendly rival, Yves Saint Laurent, (Arnaud Valois). What followed was a messy battle for fashion’s top spot that saw Lagerfeld take over the reins at Chanel, where he ruled over the empire of high fashion until his death in 2019, becoming one of the industry’s most outspoken and memorably eccentric characters in the process.
STAR WARS: THE ACOLYTE — DISNEY PLUS
Russian Doll director Leslye Headland has lots of imaginative fun playing in the Star Wars sandbox for this series in which Amandla Stenberg stars in two roles as a maverick Jedi and the deadly ninja she must kill in a twisty, thrilling expansion of the story universe of the galaxy far, far away. The events take place a century before the rise of The Empire we all know from way back when. It’s a seemingly peaceful period, until someone starts mysteriously killing off Jedi warriors, leading to the reunification of a former Padawan with her onetime Jedi master in a race to find out who is responsible and restore order to the universe.
HITLER AND THE NAZIS: EVIL ON TRIAL — NETFLIX
Joe Berlinger directs this new and mostly informative docuseries, which examines through archive and re-enactment the life story of history’s most nefarious character from childhood to self-creation as the fuhrer bent on world domination and the elimination of the Jewish race. Using the post-war Nuremberg trials and the writings of US news correspondent William L Shirer as its starting point and featuring a wide range of interviews with some of the many Hitler and World War 2 experts who spend their lives dissecting the seemingly incomprehensible evils of the Nazis, the series brings the main historical points and terrifying atrocities of the era to vivid and often uncomfortable new visual life.
SHERWOOD — BRITBOX
Britbox is shutting down at the end of June but before it leaves you can catch writer James Graham’s excellent social drama/police procedural series from 2022. Starring David Morrissey, Lesley Manville and Adeel Akhtar, it’s the story of what happens when a small Nottinghamshire town is rocked by two murders that, though seemingly unconnected, soon reveal themselves to be linked by painful, traumatic events from the past that have cast dark shadows over the lives of those involved in them. Superbly acted and grittily realised, it offers plenty to think about the relationship between past tragedy and how it can shape miserable social realities.
CLIPPED — DISNEY PLUS
Ed O’Neill stars as US sports owner Donald Sterling in this dramatisation of the scandal that should have brought him down, but failed to. In 2014 Sterling was the subject of outrage from fans, players and the industry at large after a tape emerged of him saying that black people shouldn’t bother to come to the games of his basketball team, the LA Clippers. Laurence Fishburne stars as Clippers coach Doc Rivers, who took on Sterling and supported his team in their efforts to get their bigoted boss to atone for his sins. Jacki Weaver offers excellent support as O’Neill’s conniving wife. It’s not a happy sports story, but it is worth revisiting thanks to strong performances.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.