PROFESSOR T, MORE4, 9pm
I SAW a news report last night about a Swedish female journalist who took a trip on a private submarine and never returned. The owner of the strange sub claims he dropped her off at one of Copenhagen’s many islands but there has been no sign of her.
The reporter remarked how the story seemed made for a Scandinavian crime series, and I’m surprised such a plot hasn’t been done already. Everything else has.
This new series is yet another foreign crime drama, though it’s from sensible Belgium, not the chilly north. A rape has occurred at Antwerp University and the crime seems identical to one which happened 10 years ago. The rapist was never caught, so is he in action once again? The professor of the title is criminology lecturer Jasper Teerlinck. The detectives ask for his help – naturally, he’s a maverick who plays by his own rules.
MARVEL’S THE DEFENDERS, NETFLIX
ANYTHING cinema can do, TV is trying to do better. Massive blockbusters, famous names, thrilling action? You can get it all now from the comfort of your sofa. You can even recreate the cinema experience of having annoying people sitting next to you and noisily crunching popcorn by living with a boyfriend and greedy dog.
Netflix are bringing Hollywood superheroes to the small screen in this new series, which has been described by Marvel as “the most ambitious TV project ever”.
The show brings a group of individual superheroes together – Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Daredevil – and puts them up against a criminal gang called The Hand.
But when we initially see The Hand we don’t see cartoon baddies dressed in black and waving guns. Instead, we see an elegant woman called Alexandra, played by Sigourney Weaver.
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Callum Baird, Editor of The National
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