Succession
Sky Atlantic, 18th October. The two-year wait for the third season of the most admired drama on television is finally over. Jesse Armstrong’s satirical masterpiece about the familial war over who will succeed Brian Cox’s Logan Roy at the head of his vast media empire can’t be topped for dark comedy, corporate power games and gratuitous back-stabbing. Admittedly, there are those who can’t stomach its almost wholly despicable characters, but for most, it’s pure wicked pleasure.
The Trick
BBC One, autumn. This feature-length drama revisits the 2009 events that came to be known as “Climategate,” when a server at the University of East Anglia was hacked and thousands of emails from its Climatic Research Unit were released. Climate change sceptics argued that the emails showed the department headed by Professor Phil Jones was manipulating data to strengthen the case that global warming was real. Bafta winner Jason Watkins stars as the climatologist, alongside a superb cast that includes Victoria Hamilton as his wife Ruth; the screenplay is by the Welsh poet and playwright Owen Sheers.
Colin in Black and White
Netflix, 29th October. The American football star Colin Kaepernick began a worldwide movement when he “took the knee” during the playing of the US national anthem in the 2016 NFL season to protest against police brutality and racial inequality. Here, the former quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers has joined forces with the director of Selma, Ava DuVernay, to create a six-part coming-of-age drama that tells Kaepernick’s story, from adopted child to college football prodigy to activist with global reach.
