What to Watch: The Penguin, Nightsleeper, A Very Royal Scandal, Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

The Penguin

Friday, streaming on Binge

Remember when Irish actor Colin Farrell was just a teen heart-throb? We’re talking 20-odd years ago, back when he was a mainstay in weekly magazines thanks to high-profile romances with the likes of Angelina Jolie and Lindsay Lohan — roles in big budget movies like Phone Booth, Alexander and Miami Vice only increased the hype.

Those days feel a very long time ago now, especially while watching Farrell playing infamous comic book villain, The Penguin, a role he first inhabited in the 2022 film The Batman, and which he now brings to the small screen via HBO’s intriguingly watchable, darkly-drawn eight-part TV spin-off.

In this he’s bloated, pockmarked and walks with a waddle — hardly teen heart-throb material — and yet there’s something utterly mesmeric about Farrell’s performance and it’s impossible to turn away from.

And though he’s ostensibly playing one of the greatest villains of all time, he imbues his performance with such nuance and vulnerability, you can’t help but root for his character, even when he’s out there doing some truly heinous things.

This is a role, and a series (it directly follows the 2022 film, picking up in the aftermath of events that took place in that), tailor-made for Farrell’s enormous talents — his performance is right up there with Gandolfini’s in The Sopranos, it’s THAT good.

The ensemble cast are also terrific, especially Cristin Milioti and Michael Kelly, who is always so sinister and believable in every morally dubious role he takes on.

Farrell’s transformation is complete: he’s now right up there with the greats of the small screen — long may he waddle.

Nightsleeper

Sunday, streaming on Stan

This nailbiting real-time train drama gives whole new meaning to the term, ‘Mind The Gap’. Described as “Speed meets 24 with a dash of Bodyguard and Hijack”, it tells the story of the hacking of a driverless sleeper train from Glasgow to London by cyberterrorists and the two people — one aboard, one in a control room — desperate to save the lives of the passengers aboard. Get ready to bite all your nails down to the quick.

A Very Royal Scandal

Thursday, streaming on Prime Video

If you think the story behind this three-parter sounds familiar, that’s because it is: Scoop, the film starring Gillian Anderson which came out earlier this year, mined exactly the same territory. Which is to say it went deep on what went down when Prince Andrew met with BBC Reporter Emily Maitlis. In this, Michael Sheen and Ruth Wilson step to the fore, with Maitlis serving as EP. You won’t want to miss it.

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story

Thursday, streaming on Netflix

This series is a retelling of the story of the high-profile case involving two brothers, Lyle and Erik Menendez, who brutally murdered their parents (played by Javier Bardem and Chloe Sevigny) in the 1990s. It’s the second in Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s Monster anthology, following from their award-winning, Dahmer. Fans of grizzly crime stories — and Murphy’s unique storytelling — won’t be able to look away.

The Contestant

Friday, Disney

This film tells the incredible true story of a Japanese man in the 90s who lived for 15 months “trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone … and completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV in Japan, to over 15 million viewers a week!” We had to directly quote that last bit, because we knew you wouldn’t believe us otherwise. This is truly the most bonkers story imaginable.