Hilarious whodunnits, Hollywood satire, gritty crime drama and a tender friendship pact are highlights of the month’s new scripted series – all of which more than hold their own against returning favourites like Marvel’s Daredevil: Born Again (Mar 4, Disney+), The Wheel of Time (Mar. 13, Prime) and the final seasons of The Righteous Gemstones (Mar. 9, Crave) and Bosch: Legacy (Mar. 27, Prime).
Douglas is Cancelled
Hugh Bonneville’s roles as Paddington Bear’s kindly adoptive papa and earnest Downton Abbey Lord Grantham belie his talent for deadpan satire (like “head of values” in W1A, the BBC’s mockumentary about itself). This dark comedy casts Bonneville, 61, as a veteran British news anchor whose ill-considered sexist joke goes viral and causes his downfall. Created by Emmy-winning showrunner Steven Moffat (Sherlock, the Doctor Who revival), the exploration of cancel culture pushes boundaries with what the actor calls provocative, uncomfortable humour.
Where to Watch: Streaming on BritBox starting Mar. 6 (4 episodes)
Dope Thief
Does filmmaker Ridley Scott, 87, ever relax? Fresh from Gladiator II, he executive produces this gritty, engrossing caper based on a noted 2009 crime debut and also directs the first episode. Best friends Ray and Manny are small-time crooks whose specialty con is impersonating DEA agents. When they accidentally connect to a major score, they find themselves in the crosshairs of an equally major kingpin. Oscar-nominated character actor Bryan Tyree Henry (42, Causeway) stars; watch for Kate Mulgrew, 69, and Mission: Impossible stalwart Ving Rhames, 65, in supporting roles.
Where to Watch: Streaming on AppleTV+ starting Mar. 14 (8 episodes)
Good American Family
Grey’s Anatomy veteran Ellen Pompeo, 55, is the driving force and star of this true crime drama inspired by the story of Natalie Grace, the Ukrainian orphan adopted by an Indiana couple later charged with parental neglect. The truth may be more complex than its tabloid fodder: the parents claim she was a con artist, an adult masquerading as a child – a facet the series explores through multiple narrative points of view to challenge storytelling bias and perspective.
Where to Watch: Streaming on Disney+ starting Mar. 19 (8 episodes)
The Residence
An alternate reality where the worst thing happening at the White House is a comedic murder mystery? The “screwball whodunnit” is from hit-making American television producer Shonda Rhimes’s Shondaland and stars Orange is the New Black’s Uzo Aduba, 44, as a detective investigating a homicide at a State Dinner alongside special agent Randall Park, 50. The eccentric characters and inner workings are drawn from Kate Andersen Brower’s 2015 bestseller The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House, with SNL alums Jane Curtin, 77, and Al Franken, 73, among the 157 suspects, and Kylie Minogue, 56, making a cameo.
Where to Watch: Streaming on Netflix starting Mar. 20 (8 episodes)
Ludwig
Comedian and Peep Show star David Mitchell, 50, is the titular introverted crossword setter John – nom de plume ‘Ludwig’ Taylor – in this crime cozy tinged with humour (it was an instant hit in UK). When his identical twin brother James mysteriously disappears – and faster than you can say “Inspector Morse” – sister-in-law Lucy (Anna Maxwell Martin, 47) recruits Ludwig to assume his identity as a DCI in the Cambridge constabulary. Ludwig’s gift for solving cyphers and puzzles generates a high case-solving rate in this show influenced by golden age British mysteries.
Where to Watch: Streaming on BritBox starting Mar. 20 (6 episodes)
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
It’s been a decade since the BBC/PBS Masterpiece’s sumptuous historical drama of Hilary Mantel’s Booker-winning novel, charting Thomas Cromwell’s rise to power in the court of Henry VIII. Oscar winner Mark Rylance (65, Bridge of Spies) and Emmy winner Damian Lewis (54. Homeland) reprise their roles as the English statesman and capricious king for the final book in Mantel’s trilogy. The Tudor power play picks up in 1536 at the execution of the King’s second wife, Anne Boleyn (Claire Foy, 40) and has a high thespian count: 77-year-old Jonathan Pryce’s Cardinal Wolsey is joined by Timothy Spall, 67, as the Duke of Norfolk and Dame Harriet Walter, 74, as the treasonous Lady Margaret Pole.
Where to Watch: Streaming on PBS starting Mar. 23 (6 episodes)
The Studio
Like The Player, The Day of the Locust and Entourage before it, this satire of present-day Hollywood goes meta. Co-created by Seth Rogen, 42 (with Evan Goldberg), the Canadian actor also stars as a newly-minted studio head flanked by two Catherines the Great. Emmy-winning comedy genius and fellow Canuck Catherine O’Hara, 70, is the deposed studio boss/mentor while Kathryn Hahn, 51, plays its truth-telling marketing maven. Amid the confabs, industry gossip and celebrity name-dropping, there’s real star wattage: watch for Martin Scorsese, 82, and other boldface as entertaining versions of themselves.
Where to Watch: Streaming on AppleTV+ starting Mar. 26 (10 episodes)
Truelove
This is my “just trust me” pick, one The Guardian has declared “an exquisite drama about bumping off your best mates.” Standouts Lindsay Duncan (74, Under the Tuscan Sun), a former police chief, and ex-special forces veteran Clarke Peters (72, The Wire), both find retired life boring. Reunited at a funeral of a pal who experienced a slow, painful decline, their group of old friends vow to give one another a more dignified death – when the time comes. With a core cast in their 70s (including Phil Davis, 71, of Vera Drake and Quadrophenia), the ensemble tackles thorny ethical ground and is praised for breaking the rules for older characters on screen: “flipping ageist tropes on their head in a series which promises thrilling twists and turns, irreverent humour and passionate romance.”
Where to Watch: Streaming on AcornTV starting Mar. 31 (6 episodes)
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