European TV

Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK

Oops. I forgot I’d bookmarked a few shows last week and forgot to include them, so let’s play catch-up this week. There haven’t been any new acquisitions this week, but we do have a lot of premiere dates. One change is that Das Boot is no longer going to air from November 23, but from a later date instead.

What I massively overlooked is that Walter actually unleashed three new French shows on us without notice last Friday: Duel En Ville, Contact and State Conspiracy. That’s on top of Japanese-American chiller Crow’s Blood. It’s also picked up for airing at some point Shades of Guilt:

Premiere dates

My Brilliant Friend (US: HBO; UK: Sky Atlantic)
Premiere date: Monday, November 19, 9pm

My Brilliant Friend is HBO’s first foreign language mini-series, and is based on Elena Ferrante’s bestselling book of the same name. Set in a dangerous and fascinating Naples, the story follows the lives of two girls over six decades of their friendship. After receiving a phone call, Elena Greco discovers the most important and significant figure in her life, Raffaella ‘Lila’ Cerullo, has gone missing.

Knowing this disappearance has been a long time coming, Elena, now a writer, finally sits down to put the story of their intertwining lives on paper, starting from the 1950s where the two first met at school, in an attempt to describe the mystery of Lila – her brilliant friend, and in a way, worst enemy.

Blood (Ireland: Virgin Media Television; UK: Channel 5)
Premiere date: Monday, November 19, 9pm

Blood explores family, memory, and the impact the past can have on the present. Cat Hogan is an isolated woman on the run from her past, a past she is forced to confront when the sudden ‘accidental’ death of her mother, Mary, draws her back to the family she has spent the last ten years trying to avoid. Cat has always been the black sheep of the family and now this uncomfortable reunion awakens sinister demons from the past and shines a suspicious light on her mother’s death. However much she wants to believe her death was innocent, her suspicions start to mount against her father when she begins to notice discrepancies in his stories.

Set over the week following Mary’s death, Cat tries to uncover the truth, looking to the past to understand the present. The audience will constantly question whether Cat is paranoid or has in fact discovered a terrible truth about her father. Nothing and no one can be taken at face value. In Blood, the ‘truth’ depends on who you ask. The six episode drama series, penned by Sophie Petzal, stars Adrian Dunbar, and the cast also includes Carolina Main, Ingrid Craigie, Diarmuid Noyes, Gráinne Keenan, Cillian Ó Gairbhí and Mark O’Regan.

Kidding (US: Showtime; UK: Sky Atlantic)
Premiere date: Thursday, November 29

Jim Carrey plays a beloved children’s TV host whose life falls apart when one of his children is killed in a car accident. Carrey’s character bottles up all his emotions and the question is: when is he going to explode.

I never found out, as I gave up after the second episode. To me, it was just sad things happening to nice people, rather than anything that was actually funny. But not a bad show, and one that’s got a great cast.

Episode reviews: 1, 2

Acceptable Risk (Ireland: RTÉ; UK: Universal)
Premiere date: Thursday, December 6, 9pm

Acceptable Risk tells the story of Sarah Manning, who, following the murder of a husband, comes to realise that she knows nothing about his past. While coping with her grief in her home in Dublin, Sarah questions who Lee actually was and what he did in his work for a powerful global organization. And why did Lee, a salesman, need to carry a gun?

The growing suspicion that Lee’s death may be connected to the death of her first husband leads Sarah to confront a powerful conspiracy of corporate, police and political interests, extending from Dublin to Montreal, in which her own family may be complicit. The drama stars Elaine Cassidy. Angeline Ball, Morten Suurballe, Lisa Dwyer Hogg and Geordie Johnson.

Dogs of Berlin (Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, December 7

After the death of a renowned German-Turkish soccer player, two very different cops each face off against the German underworld, and each is forced to face their own criminal activities. Fahri Yardim (The Physician) plays policeman Erol Birkan, and Felix Kramer (Dark) plays rival cop Kurt Grimmer. Netflix says: “This show is: gritty.” Gosh.

Plan Coeur (The Hook-Up Plan) (Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, December 7

In a misguided attempt to build up perpetually single Elsa’s confidence, her friends hire a male escort. A comedy series set in Paris starring Marc Ruchmann, Zita Hanrot and Sabrina Ouazani.

Champaign ILL (YouTube Premium)
Premiere date: Friday, December 12

After the death of their best friend, a wildly famous rap icon, Alf and Ronnie lose their lavish lifestyle and are forced to return home to Champaign, Illinois. In order to get back what they’ve lost, they must figure out how to leave their destructive behavior behind and get back on top. Stars Adam Pally and Sam Richardson and guest stars Jay Pharoah.

Kingdom (Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, January 25 2019

Korean drama in which as deceased king rises and a mysterious plague begins to spread. The prince must face a new breed of enemies to unveil the evil and save his people.