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Five things to watch in November
Your small-screen highlights for the month ahead.
The Christmas season may be just around the corner, but before you lose your screen to endless reruns of Home Alone and The Holiday, there is a whole month of stellar small-screen content to lap up. November has, in fact, served up a veritable feast of blockbuster fare, from the reimagined The Day of the Jackal, setting the storied assassin in the modern day, to Dune's prequel series, Dune Prophecy, which bears many of the movie's lavish cinematic touches.
There is also the long-awaited and ambitious dramatisation of the bestselling work of non-fiction Say Nothing, by the acclaimed Patrick Radden Keefe, which tells the true story of the disappearance of a young mother in Northern Ireland at the peak of the troubles. Plus, there are second seasons dropping this month for two huge TV hits: the post-apocalyptic show Silo and the much-beloved black comedy from Sharon Horgan, Bad Sisters.
Postpone your festive viewing and get stuck into these crackers.
1/ The Day of the Jackal
This much-hyped small-screen adaptation of the beloved Frederick Forsyth novel and its famous, award-winning 1973 film, starring Edward Fox, takes the original’s enigmatic central character and weaves him in to a compelling modern narrative. Eddie Redmayne embodies our new, 21st century Jackal, a nameless, faceless gun for hire who is seemingly uncatchable, until a British secret service operative (Lashana Lynch), decides to track him down. It feels a touch like Bond in its scope but has more than a little of the source material’s moral ambiguity and dark cynicism to make this feel fresh and enticing. This 10-part series is appointment television at its bombastic, blockbuster best.
The Day of the Jackal is on Sky and NowTV from 7 November
2/ Say Nothing
Based on the bestselling book by Patrick Radden Keefe, Say Nothing is the riveting true story of the disappearance of Jean McConville, a single mother of 10, in Belfast during the height of the troubles. It cleverly takes Radden Keefe’s work, which itself skilfully straddles the lines between novelistic and non-fiction and brings this haunting period to life. This nine-part limited serves as a window into one of Ireland’s most heartbreaking stories and shines a light on the ‘Disappeared’. Set over four decades, and focusing on the narratives of various family members, IRA operatives and young, radicalised members of Jean’s community. It is a poignant and scarily relevant story about the fatal consequences of division.
Say Nothing is streaming on Disney+ from 14 November
3/ Bad Sisters
Sharon Horgan’s bitingly funny dark comedy is back for another delicious outing with the Garvey sisters. The series picks up two years after the ‘accidental death’ of Grace’s husband and is set primarily during Grace’s second wedding. But whatever joy the future may hold, past secrets, lies and mysterious coincidences come back to haunt them all, and the Garveys are reminded that not all things can stay buried. The writing is just as sharp, and the acting and on-screen chemistry of the five central leads as entertaining as ever. As warm and wry as its first season this is – if not as wickedly original as its predecessor – still a genuine thrill to watch.
Bad Sisters season 2 is streaming on Apple TV+ from 13 November
4/ Silo
It’s another returning hit for Apple TV this month, with the much-awaited second season of the slick sci-fi fantasy, Silo. For those of you in need of a catch up, Silo follows the lives of the final 10,000 people on earth, who live in a mile-deep enclosure protecting them from the world’s new toxic and deadly atmosphere. Within the confines of this community there is an unsolved murder mystery and an even larger question mark – who built the silo? Why are they there? Twisted and compelling, the show also has a cast jam-packed with stars, from Rebecca Ferguson to Common, Tim Robbins and Harriet Walter.
Silo season 2 is streaming on Apple TV+ from 15 November
5/ Dune Prophecy
Could the Dune universe get any bigger? Well, following two gargantuan movies with sand worms and messiahs and an extremely pale Austin Butler, Dune is, in fact, about to get smaller. Or, at least, it is hitting the small screen via a new series, Dune Prophecy. A prequel of sorts, set 10,000 years before the ascension of Paul Atreides, this follows two Harkonnen sisters as they set out on a world-saving adventure and, in the process, establish a mysterious sect – one that will become the Bene Gesserit.
Dune Prophecy is on Sky and NowTV from 18 November
Lead image credit: Apple Tv +
Also read: Tabu returns to Hollywood after 12 years with ‘Dune: Prophecy’, a prequel to the Dune series
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