The week in TV: Sirens, The Bombing of Pan Am 103 and more

Sirens
Netflix

The Bombing of Pan Am 103
BBC One

Backlash: The Murder of George Floyd
BBC Two

Tucci in Italy
Disney+

What would modern television do without the twin entities of wealth and wellness to take a swing at? Sirens, the new five-parter on Netflix directed by Nicole Kassell (Watchmen), is based on creator Molly Smith Metzler’s 2011 play Elemeno Pea. Yet still the influence of The White Lotus is felt everywhere.

Julianne Moore plays Michaela, a trophy wife with the dark soul of a cult leader. “Kiki” to her friends, or should one say acolytes, she wafts around the bird sanctuary of the beach estate of her husband, Peter (a spliff-toting Kevin Bacon), spouting philanthropy-laced gobbledygook and dispensing beatific smiles that never quite reach her hard eyes. Devoted personal assistant Simone (Milly Alcock) mists Kiki’s lingerie with lavender, joins her for rich-lady yoga, and accepts gum from Kiki’s own mouth to freshen her breath. It’s only with the disruptive arrival of Simone’s sister Devon, a straight-talking, hypersexual fast-food waitress (Meghann Fahy, who appeared in The White Lotus), that the beautiful world starts shattering.

Simone, the product of acute childhood damage, hates Devon crashing in (“She shows up periodically to smear her hot-mess disaster sauce all over me!”). But Devon, who sacrificed herself to raise Simone and is now struggling with their father who has dementia, isn’t backing down (“Wake up, Simone, you’re the help!”). Then there’s Kiki, a high-end monster full of control freakery and pretension (“Let’s save some wildlife, bitches!”). What is one to make of the darker rumours swirling around her concerning the fate of Peter’s first wife?

Sirens is a study of the seduction of affluence. It’s also about the brand of inner serenity that comes with conditions attached. The result is impressive (darkness with lashings of gloss to take the edge off), but it’s not perfect. At times it sacrifices cynical bite for froth, and the ending verges on pat. Still, all three female leads give stellar performances that spark off each other, and among the increasing number of shows about the poisoned well of great privilege, this one is sharp and nimble with a wicked sense of humour.

On BBC One, The Bombing of Pan Am 103 deals with the Lockerbie bombing, which remains the deadliest terrorist attack on British soil. On 21 December 1988, a bomb exploded on a plane that left Heathrow bound for New York over the small Scottish town of Lockerbie, resulting in the deaths of 270 people including 190 Americans, 43 Britons, and, overall, victims from 21 countries.

Earlier this year, the Sky Atlantic series Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, starring Colin Firth, placed prime focus on Jim Swire, whose daughter was among the passengers. This new six-part drama from novelist Jonathan Lee starts with the horror erupting in Lockerbie (streets engulfed in flames; bodies and suitcases littering the countryside), going on to operate almost as an international conspiracy thriller. Who made and planted the bomb? Who must be brought to justice?

The investigation involves Scottish detective Ed McCusker (Connor Swindells), whose boss, DCS John Orr (Peter Mullan), is initially furious at interference from England, and from FBI agent Dick Marquise (Suits’s Patrick J Adams). From there, it’s a decades-spanning, head-spinning maze of countries (Malta, Germany, Libya and more) and painstakingly gathered evidence (Toshiba radios, Samsonite suitcases) as well as setbacks, breakthroughs, murky diplomacy and false accusations.

With a cast including Eddie Marsan and Phyllis Logan, the story rightly highlights the decency of Lockerbie locals who stayed with bodies until they could be collected, and washed bloodstained belongings so they could be returned to relatives. Just as some of the humanising backstories become repetitive, in common with the Sky drama, The Bombing of Pan Am 103 eventually flags under the sheer weight of detail that comes with such a complicated, controversial, still ongoing case. While Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted in 2001 of being central to the plot (he died in 2012), Libyan Abu Agila Masud, accused of making the bomb, now awaits trial in the US. Despite the difficulties, this is a robust, heartfelt account, with Swindells demonstrating maturity and depth in the central role.

Kwabena Oppong’s ambitious documentary Backlash: The Murder of George Floyd (BBC Two) marks the five-year anniversary of another grimly unforgettable event. On 25 May 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Floyd died after arresting police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nine minutes. (In 2021, Chauvin was sentenced to 22 years in prison.) The footage, some used here (Floyd pleading: “I can’t breathe”) remains devastating. “It was reminiscent to me of a lynching,” says Minnesota civil rights lawyer Nekima Levy Armstrong.

The film documents the subsequent global uproar. It includes the rise to prominence of Black Lives Matter, symbolic knee-bending and mass protests (including the dumping of the statue of transatlantic slave trader Edward Colston into Bristol harbour). Then, of course, the pushback: Nigel Farage, the culture wars and “all lives matter”.

The UK’s own cases of police brutality are examined, and one striking detail is the blanket lack of surprise about Floyd’s murder. A strong roster of interviewees includes Floyd’s uncle Selwyn Jones; Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race author Reni Eddo-Lodge; and former Met police assistant commissioner Neil Basu. Oppong gives his documentary far too much to do, but a lot of ground is covered.

Rejoice all those still missing foodie travelogue Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy (cancelled in 2022). The Italian American actor-gastronome returns in Tucci in Italy (Disney+) to glide around incomprehensibly picturesque Lombardy, Tuscany et al. Tucci explores culinary delights (gnocchi, ragu, caviar) and relishes every mouthful of food so fervently (“Unbelievable!”, “Amazing!”, “Beyond food!”) you start hoping there’s a Roget’s Thesaurus to hand in case he runs out of superlatives.

Tucci in Italy occasionally exudes the bland, stilted whiff of an infomercial or in-flight magazine. It works best when the actor veers off the beaten track: looking into the marvels that are Italian roadside restaurants; talking to a gay couple fighting for parental rights. For those of us who love Italy, it’s tasty enough.

Long Bright River (Channel 4)

Amanda Seyfried convinces as a troubled cop in this intense Philadelphia-based crime drama that feels like a mashup of Mare of Easttown and Dopesick.

Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story (BBC Two)

A razzle-dazzle of a documentary in which incomparable star of stage and screen Liza Minnelli reminisces about her mother, Judy Garland, fabled choreographer Bob Fosse, ex-husbands, the lot.

Code of Silence (ITV1)

Rose Ayling-Ellis stars as a deaf canteen worker whose lip-reading skills help police detectives in an undercover operation in this twisty new thriller. With Andrew Buchan and Charlotte Ritchie.

Photographs by Netflix; BBC/Rogan Productions/AP