Welsh Martin Clunes and Not an Olson Twin

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And welcome to Binge Watch, the podcast where we take a look at the hottest new TV and film

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releases on streaming television platforms. I'm Hannah Fernando, the group editor of Woman

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and Woman at Home magazine. And I'm Ian McEwan, writer on TV Satellite Week, TV Times and What's

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on TV magazines. And today we're looking at the new releases that will be available on

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Friday the 24th of January 2025, including Leo Woodle as a math genius

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Apple TV Plus thriller Prime Target and Martin Clunes in the hard-hitting new ITVX drama Out

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There.

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And we'll also be checking out Disney Plus' crime drama High Potential starring Caitlin

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Olsen as a sleuthing single mum, love it, and the return of action-packed Netflix by thriller

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The Night Agent. But first Ian, what is in the news? Coming to ITVX next month, Legacies will

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follow the next generation of supernatural beings at the Salvatore boarding school for the young

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and gifted. What else is in the news Hannah? Well, a new Netflix sports documentary series,

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Rafa, will profile Majorcan tennis superstar Rafael Nadal. Oh my goodness. Amazing. Well,

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the theme for this week, if I had to choose one, Hannah, is Brainiacs. Yes. So we're going

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to start over on Apple TV Plus with a new thriller series, which arrived on Wednesday, the 22nd

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of January, is called Prime Target. And here's a clip. Who are you? People are paying attention

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to you. Your work is the cornerstone to all digital security. Bank accounts, defense systems,

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government records. Do you know how valuable, how dangerous you become? I want to help you.

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I don't need help. Yes, you do. someone built a key that could pick every digital rock in

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the world? We're talking chaos on a global scale. So we seem to be having a bit of a run of dramas

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about high-functioning slightly neurodivergent people, don't we Hannah? In this one we have

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Leo Woodle who was in the TV adaptation of One Day. He plays Edward

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Cambridge University okay so I've got to say oh it's eight episodes by the way to drop this

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week and then it's weekly he's not a very pre-possessing character he's sullen he's moody he's rude

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he's pretty inconsiderate he's rather arrogant but he's incredibly good-looking so he kind

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of gets away with it in my book anyway so he is where he's working on It starts in a rather

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unusual fashion. It starts in Baghdad. And you think this is going to be a completely different

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kind of series. A bomb goes off, and these people fall through to this chamber below. OK, and

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you think, which looks very ancient. And you think, what's that all about? Then we go to

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Cambridge University, people swanning about on bicycles, and the lovely David Morrissey

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as Edward's tutor. who he doesn't really rate, he doesn't kind of think he's up to the job,

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he's kind of testing him a little bit. So we see him having a kind of one night stand, treating

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this girl who's clearly got a crush on him rather rudely, but yes we hear about his research

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into prime numbers, and it becomes apparent that someone is watching him. So we've had

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kind of maths geniuses writing on a blackboard before, haven't we Hannah? I'm thinking...

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Goodwill Hunting with Matt Damon and later on in this episode we'll have someone else doing

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a very similar thing. So yeah it's kind of about Brainiac Maths guy, his research for some reason

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is attracting unwelcome attention so I enjoyed it I have to say I mean I love David Morrissey

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he's terrific it's got Stephen Ray in it as well. Woodall is great in the lead role it's

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an interesting premise so yeah. Recommended what does you think Hannah? Well maths has

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never been my strong point I'm just going to say that it's always been my Achilles heel

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always and You kind of it's like it's like a roadblock for me you know you just got to understand

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it nearly always depends on that person teaching you and When I started to watch this I thought

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oh gosh prime numbers remember those you know you could always what exactly is that? The

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thing is with this is that? Even though I don't like maths I can appreciate someone who is

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very good at maths and be a little bit jealous if I'm honest of them too. This production

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is a classic Apple TV production isn't it? You know it's got, you kind of know you're watching

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something from Apple because it's just the quality of it as much as anything. And I suppose it

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is quite captivating the idea that people are still trying to find something that's groundbreaking.

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why have we not already found it? And he's on the verge of finding a pattern in these prime

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numbers which then has huge consequences. So it is quite interesting and I think if, I know

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you sort of talked about other things that are similar but I don't think we've had anything

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like this for quite a while in terms of that really sort of brainy, you've got to really

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think about it. It feels like a different premise. So I think even if you don't like maths and

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I don't like it simply because I'm not good at it and I'm incredibly competitive. Even

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if you don't like it like me, I think you will enjoy this. I think it's got, it's multi-layered.

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It's interesting. But I'm gonna say you've got to sit down and watch it. It's important that

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you sit there and watch it. You can't be doing something else, I don't think. Over on ITV

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One and as a box set on ITVX became available on Sunday, the 19th of January, and it's been

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heavily trailed. It's a new drama series called Out There. And here's a clip.

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It's okay, Nathan. Your secret's safe with me. How are we gonna get rid of him, Dad? Stop!

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Please! Kill him. Sometimes in farming, you have to kill a healthy animal for the betterment

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of the herd. Yes, so this stars the very brilliant and my favourite Martin Klund and when his

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name's in something it's certainly worth a watch. He's just, I don't know, he's just great isn't

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he? This is something quite different for him though because this is about County lines drug

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dealing so really we've seen him I mean we've seen him in loads of things and he's brilliant

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in loads of things but of course Doc Martin is probably the most current in our minds and

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he's sort of he's that kind of unusual tricky awkward character In this he plays someone

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different because it sort of deals with a subject, as I say, county lines, drug dealing, which

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is absolutely terrifying. And if I'm honest with you, I don't think I knew an awful lot

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about it. So I found this quite, you know, this educated me to a degree of kind of how horrific

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and a horrible business this really is. And this is just a family of two. Mother passed

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away. So it's just Martin and his son.

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living together and he gets caught up. So I mean, I think the wife has died about two years

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ago, really sad, really awful. And he kind of just goes, I suppose goes off the rails, but

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when you watch it, you realize how easily you fall into this drugs gang without really wanting

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to, and then regretting it, but not being able to get out of it. So. You know, Martin said

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when he took this part, the reason he took it is because it was so well investigated, so

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well interrogated, it's really authentic and I kind of believe that it is. It is action

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packed, it is scary and I think any parent thinks they're sort of living out on the sticks and

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it's absolutely fine and you know nobody can be harmed, you couldn't be further from the

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truth. So for me, I thought it was, from what I've seen so far... again an absolutely brilliant

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Martin Clunes piece of work and everyone in it to be honest with you and not only that

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it shows a different side to the countryside than you've perhaps seen. What do you think

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Ian? Yeah I really liked it and like you I'm a big fan of Martin Clunes he's very talented

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I mean he's great at comedy but he's really good in this at straight drama and he's also

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doing a Welsh accent which is not for the faint-hearted and manages it very well, yeah, so he's a Welsh

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farmer called Nathan, and his son is played by Louis Ashbourne Circus. So as well as the

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county lines thing, it also looks at how difficult life is for farmers. It's hard to make a profit,

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there are big corporations coming in and buying up land, so that's also going on in the background.

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Meanwhile, there's someone is flying a drone over his land. shoots one of them down at one

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point. You think what's going on there? He breaks up a teenage party at one point with a shotgun.

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The whole thing is given a kind of blue wash. It's really nicely made. It's actually made

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by the production company that Clunes runs with his wife. I really liked it. Interesting subject

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matter and Clunes is great in the lead. Over on Netflix, arriving on Thursday the 23rd of

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January, we have a second season of action thriller The Night Agent. And here's a clip.

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I cannot trust anyone. So you can watch this second season I think without having seen the

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first but I did go back and watch some of the first season and it's really good. So it stars

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Gabriel Basso as an FBI agent called Peter Sutherland and in season one after sort of a versing a

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bomb attack he was given a job manning this White House spy phone that is only supposed

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to ring in extreme circumstances. It did ring and then he got involved in a whole espionage

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plot, which went right up to the top of government and politics and a threat on the life of the

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president. So as we pick up in season two, he's now a field agent. That's kind of like his

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reward. He's in Thailand, but spoiler alert, his cover is blown. And again, it's the situation

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where there's a mole, there's someone on the inside who can't be trusted, therefore you

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can't trust anyone. And so he kind of has to go on the run AWOL. I think Basso is great

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in this because he brings, I think he brings quite a lot of depth, which could be a fairly

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two-dimensional role. And he is, you know, he does get beaten up quite a lot. He suffers

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a lot in this role. He's a real kind of action hero as well. Yeah, I think it's very well

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made. The show runner for it is Sean Ryan, who made that brilliant series, The Shield. So

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I just thought this would be another kind of by the numbers FBI thriller, but it was much

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better than I expected and I really enjoyed it. What did you think, Hannah? It's, you know

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what? I keep talking about this and I sound like a broken record, but I do think it's important

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when you're investing time in these things to know that you need to, you know, this isn't

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just something that you can just kind of jump in and out of. It is good, but it's quite,

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you know, you've got to follow it, haven't you? And I think the whole conspiracy part of this

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is what's interesting. You know, the idea of what's going on at the highest level of the

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US government. dare I suggest it is quite sort of you know it's eye opening and the idea of

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having you know thinking that phone would never ring and then it did I enjoyed what I've enjoyed

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what I've seen so far but to be honest with you I think that it's not something I would

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naturally you know go to and think do you know what I really want to watch this but I it's

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definitely worth a watch but just you know put everything to one side and sit down and enjoy

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it. We're going to finish on Disney Plus with A new crime drama series that arrived on Thursday

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the 23rd of January is called High Potential and here's a clip. You're a single mom with

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three kids pretending to be a cop. I am consulting. You got a dead body, you got to go.

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Oh, this is right up my street Ian. I really enjoyed what I've seen of this. This is based

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on a French series. It's 13 parts and it's set in LA. It follows the life of a single mom

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Morgan Gilroy. She is a cleaner and she's absolutely brilliant. From the minute she hits the screens,

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she just fills you with joy because she's got so much going on. Just say she's a single mom.

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She's, you know, trying to keep everything going at home whilst also trying to hold down a job.

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And she's just having great fun while she's cleaning up after other people and just going

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about her business. And she's completely unfiltered. And I think that's what's really nice about

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her. She just sort of gets on with absolutely everything. But she's cleaning in this office,

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and it's where they're looking at sort of what's gone on with a particular crime. She gets involved,

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they look back at the videotapes to see what's going on, and she's kind of changed some of

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the people that she thinks are the perpetrators. And they look back at the video cam to see

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what's going on and it's her dancing away and straight away you just adore this character,

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she's so much fun. But what they realise and what's so brilliant is of course everyone's

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like, who is this absolute lunatic? What is she doing? Why is she tampering with something

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so important when she's here to clean? You know, kind of know your place. But of course actually

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she's got this really incredible ability which is recognised by one... of the women at the

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very top who says, you know what, she's got an exceptional IQ. We need her, she's working

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things out. And so they take her on board, EQ her, seeing coming to a whodunnit crime scene

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with a baby and a pram and just lots of, it's really funny in places and really silly and

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really incredible and unbelievable. But it just has this sort of different vibe about it, which

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makes it really viewable, you're really warm to her, it's a lot of fun and the fun character,

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I don't know, it just puts a smile on your face, I really enjoyed it. What did you think Ian?

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Yeah I really liked it I must say and it's that main character Morgan played by Caitlin Olsen,

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she's just irresistible isn't she, she's got a touch of the Erin Brockovich's about her

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because of the way she dresses. and as you say she's got no filter, she's absolutely hilarious,

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she's a force of nature and we see her like her car's breaking down so she's on the bus

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with all the kids and a shopping trolley full of groceries and yes and her getting involved

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with the LAPD is where the clash of these two worlds and then the fact that she's just totally

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herself in every situation but she has this great talent for spotting things, a bit like

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Patience which we reviewed recently, she sees things that the police don't notice. So yeah,

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unexpectedly I absolutely loved it. A quick round up of the rest of this week's new arrivals.

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So a couple on Paramount Plus we have Beacon 23, second and final series of the sci-fi thriller

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set aboard a space station. You also have the movie Star Trek Section 31 in which Michel

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Yeoh reprises her role as Philippa Georgiou. On iPlayer you have Alan Carr and Amanda Holden

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in Amanda and Alan's Spanish Job, which is a second series of their renovation show. And

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on Disney Plus we have a six part political satire called Whiskey on the Rocks. This is

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A Soviet submarine ran aground on the coast of Sweden and nearly sparked a very serious

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Cold War incident that could have resulted in nuclear war. It's kind of in the style of Armando

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Iannucci's work, particularly The Death of Stalin, and it stars Wallander's

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Thorbjorn Falzinn who is trying to keep the peace with Leonid Brezhnev and President Reagan

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rattling their sabres. So yes, I've watched episode 1 of that and it's highly recommended.

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Now Hannah, we've got to that time where we find out what you've been binge watching over

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the last week, so tell all! Well, let me tell you, I have been binge watching The Traitors.

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I want to binge watch it more. I want it on every single night. It's not, that's annoying

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me. I've even got to the point where I've watched it twice to see what more I could see. I'm

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absolutely obsessed with it. How about you, Ian? Well, I haven't been watching The Traitors

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because I still don't get what all the fuss is about, but I know a lot of people absolutely

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love it. I've been watching, of course, a lot of documentaries, The Fake Grooming Scandal

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on Channel 4. The Amazon review killer on Channel 4 enjoyed both of them. And they also had a

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documentary series about Marilyn Manson, didn't they, and allegations against him. Now we've

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just got time to look ahead to next week's offering. So what is on the binge watch menu, Hannah?

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Well, I can tell you that Steve Coogan and Harriet Walter will play broadcaster Brian Walden and

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former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the Channel 4 drama, Brian and Maggie.

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Apple TV Plus documentary series, Vietnam, The War That Changed America, looks back at the

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controversial conflicts. So, we look forward to those and much, much more. But in the meantime,

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listeners...