BBC Audio Desert Island Discs Abdulrazak Gurnah, writer.txt

Task to The Paper: 12 of the best TV shows to watch this September

From a new FBI thriller by the creator of Mare of Easttown to a sequel to The loteria ferOffice and a sports comedy starring Hollywood A-lister Glen Powell.

The US version of The Office is still beloved 20 years after it started. This spin-off has the same DNA and the same mockumentary style but is tailored to the totally changed media landscape. The documentary crew that followed Dunder Mifflin in the original is now focused on a different company that creates paper products, including toilet tissue, cardboard and a newspaper, The Toledo Truth Teller. The series follows the newspaper's bare-bones staff, some of them just part-time because they work for those other departments. Domhnall Gleeson plays Ned, the idealistic new editor of the Truth Teller, who wants to give it some journalistic integrity. The one holdover character from the old series is Oscar (Oscar Nu?ez) who insists he does not want to be part of another documentary, even though he keeps saying so on camera. And Tim Key keeps his British accent as Ken, a corporate yes-man who might as well be an homage to Ricky Gervais' craven David Brent in the original British Office. The series, like Ned, seems nostalgic for print but has adapted to the new world on-screen and off. The spinoff, unlike its predecessor, is not on a network but a streamer, with all 10 episodes dropping at once.

The Paper premieres 4 September on Peacock in the US and 5 September on Sky Max in the UK

Mark Ruffalo stars in this series, which is a detective show and a family melodrama in one. He plays Tom Brandis, an FBI agent in Philadelphia leading a task force investigating who is stealing cash from the drug houses of a powerful gang. Tom's own life is falling apart. He is recently widowed, a former priest who drinks too much and whose son is in serious jeopardy. His two daughters disagree on whether their troubled brother should receive a tough sentence. That's the soapy side. On a parallel track we follow the men who are robbing the drug houses. Tom Pelphrey gives a star-making performance as Robbie, an unusually empathetic criminal who is in far over his head. He is raising two small children with the help of his resentful niece, Maeve, played in an equally strong performance by Emilia Jones, who broke out as the hearing child of deaf parents in Oscar-winner Coda. The show is the work of Brad Ingelsby, who also created Mare of Easttown, and it has a similar gritty feel and absorbing trajectory.

Task premieres 7 September on HBO and HBO Max in the US and 8 September on Sky Atlantic in the UK

If The Arconia were a real apartment building, it would single-handedly cause the homicide rate in New York City to skyrocket. Of course, it is only the setting for this gleeful comedy starring Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez as Charles, Oliver and Mabel, the friends and podcasters who can solve crimes but apparently don't have the sense to move out of "the murder building". At the end of last season, they discovered that their doorman, Lester, had been killed. As they investigate in season five, they cross paths with mobsters, power brokers, and their always suspect neighbours. Another round of guest stars joins them, including Bobby Cannavale, Keegan Michael-Key, Renée Zellweger, Christoph Waltz, Beanie Feldstein, Logan Lerman and Dianne Wiest. And regulars from previous seasons pop in, including Da'Vine Joy Randolph as the New York detective who can be a thorn in the trio's side and vice versa, and best of all that great comedian (really) Meryl Streep as Loretta, now Oliver's wife, who enthusiastically says in the trailer, "Let's talk murder!"

Only Murders in the Building premieres 9 September on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK

It's not unusual for a mother to think no one is good enough to marry her son, but that idea takes a sinister turn in this thriller. Robin Wright stars as rich, successful Laura, whose son, Daniel (Laurie Davidson) introduces her to his fiancée, Cherry, played by Olivia Cooke. Laura thinks Cherry is hiding something and is not what she seems. (Perhaps she saw Cooke as the scheming Alicent in House of the Dragon?) As Laura's suspicions grow, we are led to wonder if she is being jealous, overprotective and paranoid – and looking down on the upwardly-mobile Cherry. Or maybe, she's absolutely right. Wright also directs several episodes of the show, which is based on Michelle Francis' 2017 novel.

The Girlfriend premieres 10 September on Prime Video internationally

No matter now convoluted the plot – the old UBA television network merged with NBN and is now UBN, got it? – this series' intrigue, sexual liaisons and backstabbing are still captivating. In its fourth season, the show makes some starry additions to the cast, with Marion Cotillard in a major role and Jeremy Irons in a smaller one. Along with her job on air, Alex (Jennifer Aniston) is now a UBN executive. Stella (Greta Lee) is her boss, Celine (Cotillard) is everyone's boss, and the entire network is gearing up to host the 2024 Olympics. Bradley (Reese Witherspoon), last seen turning herself into the FBI after covering up her loser brother's involvement in the US Capitol riots, is not in jail. And former UBA CEO Cory (Billy Crudup) is in professional jail, having being fired, and now trying desperately to become a Hollywood producer. The new UBN is just as messy as the old company. As Cory says in this season's trailer, "Sounds like the drama at the network is juicier than the drama on the network."

The Morning Show premieres 17 September on Apple TV+ internationally

One of the most promising shows of the season has Jude Law as Jake, and Jason Bateman as his brother Vince. Together they once started an upscale restaurant and club called Black Rabbit, which Jake now runs alone. Then Vince returns to the scene, trailing gambling debts. Jake has financial troubles of his own, and soon the brothers are embroiled with dangerous loan sharks. Shot and set on New York's Lower East Side, the show's atmosphere is central, but Bateman has said, "It's really about these brothers who love each other but don't match – one's a screwup and the other is much more buttoned-up." Bateman, who also directed episodes of his thrilling series Ozark, directs the first two episodes here, and his Ozark co-star Laura Linney directs two. He told Nicolle Wallace, on her podcast, The Best People, that he thinks Black Rabbit is the best thing he's ever done. Even allowing for hyperbole, that's saying a lot.

Black Rabbit premieres 18 September on Netflix internationally

Sterlin Harjo's Reservation Dogs, about Indigenous American teenagers who grew up on a reservation, received endless praise during its run from 2021 to 2023. The Hollywood Reporter listed it as one of the Best TV Shows of the 21st Century (So Far) and noted that its plots "shrug off centuries of stereotypes". Harjo stays in his home state of Oklahoma but takes on a very different subject here. Ethan Hawke, always dynamic, stars as Lee Raybon, a citizen journalist in Tulsa, who likes to call himself a "truthstorian". Determined to reveal corruption in the city, he writes an exposé of the powerful local Washberg family and finds out more than anyone expected. Tim Blake Nelson plays the outcast of the Washburn family and Jeanne Tripplehorn plays his wife. Kyle MacLachlan is the Washburn brother running for governor, which means that bad press is the very last thing he needs. For someone who works in a rare bookstore, Raybon finds himself in an exceptional amount of danger.

The Lowdown premieres 23 September on FX and 24 September on Hulu in the US and at a future date on Disney+ internationally

Thank goodness Mick Herron has written plenty of Slough House novels, because they have led to many wry, suspenseful seasons of one of the best shows on television. In season five, the member of the Slow Horses team in the most trouble is Roddy Ho (Christopher Chung), the computer genius. And he must be a tech genius, because after this season you may wonder how this gullible guy ever got to be an MI5 agent otherwise. It makes perfect sense that he'd eventually be exiled to Slough House, the punishment for MI5's brilliant problem children. Roddy takes centre stage in a notably garish wardrobe. Chung told GamesRadar+: "I may even throw in a dance move or two." But he is still surrounded by his endearing but messed-up colleagues, played by a sublime cast. Gary Oldman is the one-of-a-kind Jackson Lamb, greasier and presumably smellier than ever. Jack Lowden is the energetic River Cartwright, itching to be released from the Slow Horses team and get back into MI5's good graces. And? Kristin Scott Thomas is their ambitious MI5 boss, Diana Taverner.

Slow Horses premieres 24 September on Apple TV+ internationally

Any new show from Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders) is welcome, and this family saga sounds especially enticing. The story of the real-life Guinness family, heirs to the brewing company's fortune, is set in Dublin in the 1860s and begins shortly after the death of Sir Benjamin Guinness, who first made the company a roaring success. The drama involves his four grown children, notably Arthur (Anthony Boyle, Masters of the Air) and Edward (Louis Partridge, Enola Holmes), who together run the company. "Their father very deliberately chained Arthur and Edward together in responsibility for the brewery. You'll find out why," Knight has teased. James Norton plays Sean Rafferty, whose fate intersects with the Guinnesses. Knight has called the 19th Century characters "naturally wild", and Netflix describes them as "powerful and debauched" – just what you want in a family epic. And there are many generations ahead going all the way to the present, if the series were to continue: the model and fashionista Daphne Guinness is Benjamin's direct descendant.

House of Guinness premieres 25 September on Netflix internationally

In this thriller set in a small town, Toni Colette plays Evelyn Wade, the head of Tall Pines Academy, a facility for troubled teens. The series was created by Mae Martin, better known as a comedian (and for their Netflix rom-com show Feel Good), who throws some humour in along with the chills. Martin also stars, playing a local police officer, Alex, who suspects that something strange is going on at that school. You think? The creepy way Evelyn praises the school's "groundbreaking therapeutic techniques" in the trailer is definitely a red flag. The inspiration for the series was personal for Martin. "I was a wayward teen in the early 2000s and my best friend was sent to one of these troubled teen institutes," they said. "She came back and had just the craziest stories about it." The cast also includes Patrick J Adams (Suits) and Sarah Gadon (Alias Grace). And we may be seeing a trend, with Mary Louise Parker as the head of a sinister school in the current series The Institute: stars playing the worst headmistresses ever.

Wayward premieres 25 September on Netflix internationally

Jessica Chastain stars in this timely thriller as Jodie, whose intuitive skills make her excellent at her top-secret job: tracing white supremacists and other hate groups on-line in order to prevent any violent attacks. She should be safely infiltrating the groups from her desk, interacting with them using a false persona, but her work becomes more immediate than she expected. The show reveals its strain on her home life, which includes two children and a husband in the military. And along with glimpses of the chilling videos the hate groups post, some scenes take us deep into the off-line world of one particular terror group Jodie is tracking. She is certain they are planning something major, and we know before she does that she is right. In a surreal touch, Jeremy Bobb plays the man Jodie pretends to be, and we sometimes see him at a computer instead of her. The ambitious series was created by Melissa James Gibson, a writer on The Americans. And it is not just a fictional idea. Jodie is based on a real person profiled in a 2019 article in Cosmopolitan headlined, "Is It Possible to Stop a Mass Shooting Before it Happens?"

The Savant premieres 26 September on Apple TV+ internationally

Glen Powell has plenty of big film options, especially after last year's summer blockbuster hit Twisters, but here he is in this goofy, warm-hearted series. He plays Russ Holliday, a college football player banned for losing his temper in a way so awful it became a viral video. Eight years later, he puts on a wig and tries out for a different college team, pretending to be a genial guy named Chad Powers. The show is based on an episode of famous football star Eli Manning's ESPN series Eli's Places, in which he disguised himself as the fictional Chad Powers and tried out for a college team. Powell has said that viewers knowing it was Manning in disguise all along was a key inspiration in making the series, which he created with Michael Waldron (Loki). He describes their thinking as, "Let's use the lie at the centre of this thing, which creates inherent fun conflict." Or, as he put it: "We're going to Tootsie this thing. Let's Mrs. Doubtfire it." It looks like they Ted Lasso'd it too. That warm-hearted sports comedy was based on an even less likely source, a character in a television promo.

Chad Powers premieres 30 September on Hulu in the US and Disney+ internationally

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