MY WORLD OF TRUTH

Luchino Visconti's 1963 classic film, The Leopard, is still one of the most opulent, romantic, political-historical epics of all time, with Burt Lancaster as the Prince of Salina, head of a fading aristocratic family, and Alain Delon as his revolutionary nephew, Tancredi. Both are caught between the past and the future in 1860s Sicily during the upheaval that unified Italy into one country. Netflix has adapted Giuseppe di Lampedusa's novel, the basis for the film, into this lavish six-part series, cast largely with Italian actors and shot in locations throughout Sicily. Kim Rossi Stuart plays the Prince, the leopard of the title, clinging to his old ways. Saul Nanni is Tancredi, whose love affair with Angelica (Deva Cassel) forms the romantic centre of the story, even while revolutionaries storm the streets and Tancredi has to choose his own path, with his uncle or with a new order.

The Leopard premieres 5 March on Netflix internationally

In his consistently droll voice, John Mulaney has leap-frogged through genres, from a series of priceless stand-up specials to appearing in – and writing – instant-classic Saturday Night Live sketches like Lobster Diner, and last year's John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA, a series of six live talk-show episodes presented over consecutive nights. At once sending up and using the tropes of an old-time talk show, Everybody's in LA was such a critical and popular hit that Mulaney returns with this 12-episode series, each show live once a week. Everybody's Live promises a similar meta/retro mix as the last run, which had some amazing, funny guests – David Letterman and Bill Hader on the same episode, a surprise appearance by Will Ferrell – viewer call-ins, and offbeat topics like coyotes in Los Angeles. Richard Kind returns in the role of announcer/sidekick, along with Saymo the delivery robot, in a show that is both goofy and satirical. 

Everybody's Live with John Mulaney premieres 12 March on Netflix internationally

Netflix

Peacock

In this drama that mixes elements of the police procedural with a family story of addiction, Amanda Seyfried plays Mickey Fitzgerald, a beat cop in Philadelphia assigned to the neighbourhood where she grew up, a place ravaged by the opioid crisis. When several women are serially murdered, she suspects the case might lead her to her sister, Kacey (Ashleigh Cummings), an addict and sex worker who has disappeared. The show weaves between past and present, with flashbacks to the sisters' fraught relationship and divergent paths, as Mickey deals with life as a single mother and with her increasing obsession with finding Kacey. The show has a lot to live up to. It is based on a bestselling novel by Liz Moore, who cowrote the series with its showrunner, Nikki Toscano. NPR called the book one of the Best of 2020, and if that's not enough, Barack Obama put it on his list of favourite books of the year.

Long Bright River premieres 13 March on Peacock

Apple TV+

Dope Thief

Ridley Scott directed the first episode of this crime series, which becomes more than the typical drugs-and-criminals thriller thanks to its lead actors. Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta, If Beale Street Could Talk) and Wagner Moura (Civil War) play old friends in Philadelphia with a small-time scam. Posing as agents from the Drug Enforcement Agency, they pretend to raid drug houses while really searching for cash to steal. By the end of episode one, they have targeted the wrong meth lab, and are on the run from both real government agents and the dealers whose business they literally blew up in an explosion. Henry and Moura bring unusual sympathy to the characters as the show combines the tension of their life-or-death danger with the stories of the people they care about and try to protect. Henry's character is especially affecting in his love for the stepmother who raised him (Kate Mulgrew). Peter Craig, a co-writer of The Batman and Top Gun: Maverick, created the series, which has a gritty texture that recalls The Wire.

Dope Thief premieres 14 March on Apple TV+ internationally