Movie stars used to turn to TV roles only when their careers were on the decline, but today it’s common to see major film actors working on television shows without losing their big-screen exposure. Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Vince Vaughn, and Rachel McAdams were among the players appearing on the anthology series True Detective, with Farrell subsequently headlining the comic book-spawned miniseries The Penguin and two eight-episode runs of the neo-noir Sugar; Kevin Costner rode the range for five seasons of the modern-day western Yellowstone. Sylvester Stallone is the lead of the ongoing crime drama Tulsa King and Harrison Ford plays a main character on the comedy Shrinking. Meanwhile, Pierce Brosnan, Helen Mirren, and Gary Oldman are currently doing some of their best, most memorable work on television.
‘MobLand’
A serpentine, casually violent anatomy of gang war and family dynamics in contemporary England, MobLand, created by Ronan Bennett, continues to excite and startle as it careens through its second season. Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren play Conrad and Maeve Harrigan, a married couple at the head of a criminal enterprise that’s under siege by rivals and the police. It’s unlikely these venerable co-stars have previously played characters as dark, destructive, and vicious as Conrad and Maeve, and they are clearly relishing the opportunity. It’s beyond playing against type; it thoroughly upends what audiences expect from Brosnan and Mirren.
After years spent and blood spilled as he built his empire, the aging Conrad is prone to bursts of irrational fury that undermine his power, even as he tries to keep his headstrong son Kevin (Paddy Considine) and cunning illegitimate daughter Seraphina (Mandeep Dhillon) from gaining control of the business. Brosnan, whose four-movie stint as suave, deadly secret agent James Bond brought him millions of fans, has never portrayed such an unhinged figure. Mirren’s Maeve is cold and conniving, a latter-day Lady Macbeth willing to eliminate her adulterous and increasingly unstable husband if it will elevate her own status. With her offhand vulgarity and ruthless approach to her kin, such as using Kevin’s loose-cannon son Eddie (Anson Boon) as a weapon against Conrad, Maeve is the antithesis of most roles essayed by distinguished Royal Shakespeare Company alum Mirren.
The top-billed cast member on MobLand is Tom Hardy, also effortlessly shifting from the movies to television. As the Harrigans’ constantly-on-alert fixer Harry Da Souza, Hardy projects expertise, insight, and resilience, except when it comes to Harry’s own family. Harry’s neglect of his wife, Jan, (Joanne Froggatt of Downtown Abbey) and daughter Gina (Teddie Allen) have undermined any harmony at home. Alienated and unhappy, Jan and Gina are more problems for Harry to fix, and they won’t be solved by dispatching them in the manner he deals with the Harrigans’s enemies. Prodigious character actor Toby Jones adds his delightfully eccentric presence to MobLand as a shrewd ex-cop determined to bring down the Harrigans by any means necessary, and Lara Pulver’s muted glamour is ideal for her portrayal of Kevin’s disaffected wife, Bella, whose own wayward love life has created ongoing complications for the entire clan.
With its serious star power and nifty scripts co-written by Jez Butterworth (creator of the espionage series The Agency), MobLand is appointment viewing, although it’s wise to brace yourself for the shocks that are in store. The danger and brutal action come at a fast and furious pace, especially in Season 2, which features a spiraling conflict with drug lord Frankie Cooper (Johnny Flynn), whose unexpected intellect and offhandedly lethal tendencies make him a formidable foe; a renewed police investigation of the Harrigans, led by super-competent DCI Kavanagh (Ophelia Lovibond); and Machiavellian behind-the-scenes manipulation by U.S. diplomat and cartel boss “Kat” McAllister (Janet McTeer).
New episodes of MobLand premiere every Friday on Paramount+.
‘Slow Horses’
As for Gary Oldman, he continues to shine as slovenly spymaster Jackson Lamb on Slow Horses in its sixth serialized adaptation of author Mick Herron’s espionage novels about the misfits of MI5’s Slough House annex. The latest mystery in the series concerns a pair of assassins cutting down Lamb’s former Slough House agents one by one. When the active unit at Slough House (a.k.a. the Slow Horses) is targeted as well, Lamb and his charges, including the conflicted legacy operative River Cartwright (Jack Lowden), must find a way to stop the killings and learn who’s responsible for the carnage. It’s a daunting task, especially when two significant figures from River’s past show up unexpectedly, and the by-the-book director general of MI5, Diana Taverner (Kristin Scott Thomas), Lamb’s disapproving boss, is being excoriated by the public and her government superiors for an ill-considered appearance on a TV talk show.
Lamb’s gross antics, on display to any and all comers, may distract peers and adversaries from his ultra-effective abilities as head of Slough House. They underestimate him and his oddball unit at their own risk. Consistently one of the most satisfying and addictive programs on television, Slow Horses continues its outstanding spate of seasons with this latest one. And Oldman’s gleeful, greasy Lamb is a major asset, ably supported by Lowden, Scott Thomas, and those playing the rest of the Horses in all their wonderful weirdness. Long may they spy!
New episodes of Slow Horses premiere Wednesdays on Apple TV.
