Series Review: The End Of The F****** World (S1 E1-8/8), All4

This is the second comedy/crime drama to appear on Channel 4’s streaming service All4 this year (Search Party being the other one – see our review of that here), and it’s a sub-genre, when done right, can be fun and very watchable. Now The End Of The F******* World is here, which tells the story of two teens who go on a roadtrip, one of which believes he’s a psychopath. We enlisted the help of Luke, over at the Custard TV website, who told us what he thought…

Peaky Blinders series four transmission date confirmed

Yes, it’s another biggie for November, which is shaping up to be the biggest and busiest time for this site in its short history. Peaky Blinders – the early 20th-century gangster drama with the awful Brummie accents – is back for another good-looking series. Cillian Murphy and the rest of the main cast return (there are some notable additions in this series), and now we know which day it’ll air.

John Simm crime drama White Dragon begins filming for ITV

We do like a bit of John Simm here at The Killing Times, and throughout his career he’s been involved in some stand-out dramas, many of them in the crime genre. Now for his next one. Created and written by screenwriting newcomers Mark Denton and Jonny Stockwood, White Dragon has been commissioned by ITV’s Head of Drama, Polly Hill, from Two Brothers Pictures, the drama indie established by award winning writers and producers, Harry Williams and Jack Williams (Liar, The Missing, Fleabag). The series will be produced in conjunction with Amazon Prime. The good news is that it has started filming.

Review: Inspector George Gently (Gently And The New Age), Monday 30th October, BBC One

NB: SPOILERS INSIDE

After a decade and 23 episodes, George Gently shuffled gruffly towards the end of his line tonight. Our George has always been a paragon of truth and justice in a world that often crumbled around him, with long-standing cultural and social mores shifting around his feet like quicksand. Over the years Gently (Martin Shaw) and his sidekick John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby) have formed one of television’s best police partnerships – Gently a world-weary father figure who has experienced war and tragedy in his long life; Bacchus an emotional, impulsive man eager to impress. Now their journey was at an end, and the only real question was whether Gently would walk off into the sunset or whether he would meet his maker.

Eve Myles drama Un Bore Mercher starts on S4C this weekend

Ever since Hinterland (Y Gwyll) helped to put Welsh-language drama on the map, there’s been an increased interest in the country’s crime drama output. We’ve already had Bang (which is available to catch up with on the BBC’s iPlayer), but this weekend comes another new series – Un Bore Mercher, starring Eve Myles.

Series Review: Stranger Things (S2 E1-9/9), Netflix

NB: Spoilers Inside

How do you follow up the biggest TV hit of 2016? That’s the question that’s been tantalising fans of Stranger Things since it crept onto Netflix a year ago. What started out as a word-of-mouth cult show soon mutated into a genuine internet phenomenon, making superstars of the cast of child actors and kick-starting a miniature revival of all things 1980s. A near-perfect blend of mystery, thriller and horror neatly wrapped up in the comforting warmth of pop culture nostalgia, it clearly struck a chord with viewers and critics alike, making it into Netflix’s top 10 most binge-watched shows. Now it’s back, and with a four-season arc planned, how do you improve on a formula many felt was flawless in the first place? Where’s Eleven now? Did Will get over that nasty cough? What was that thing in the sky? Will Joyce be bulk buying fairy lights this season? There’s many mysteries left to solve as we go upside down once again…

The 10 Best Crime Dramas This Week (Monday 30th October – Sunday 5th November)

It’s a huge week this coming week in terms of quality, perhaps the biggest we’ve ever seen since we started the site. There’s the new Netflix series Alias Grace, based on the Margaret Atwood novel; the return of I Know Who You Are; Babylon Berlin, Sky’s expensive-looking, Weimar-era crime drama; The Frankenstein Chronicles’ second series; and the last ever episode of George Gently. Probably best if you don’t leave the house this week. Enjoy!

Review: Gunpowder (S1 E2/3), Saturday 28th October, BBC One

With last week’s episode setting the historical background, explaining the politics and introducing the main conspirators, we can now look forward to the details of the plot – barrels and barrels of gunpowder will certainly be involved. 

Review: Jordskott (S2 E2/8), Thursday 26th October, ITV Encore

Last week’s series two opener of Jordskott – the bonkers Swedish crime drama with supernatural overtones – gave us something darker and more disturbing in tone: we saw a zombiefied man emerge from the lake in Stockholm and some sort of human trafficking ring at work. In the middle of it all was Moa Gammel’s Eva Thörnblad, trying to make sense of it all. She wasn’t the only one.

First Look: Modus series 2

Last year;s first series of Modus was… well, you can read the reviews to what we thought about it (here). But the news that series two of the Swedish crime drama had drafted in big names like Kim Cattrall, Greg Wise and Bill Campbell but us all sit up and take notice. The series is set to start in Sweden next Thursday (2nd November) on CMore, and materials have been released ahead of its transmission.