The intrigue moves from bunker to the open world in Season 2 of political thriller Paradise

Paradise 2

Now on Disney+
★★★★☆

Season 1 (2025) of this thriller did something fresh with the old “people sheltering from the apocalypse in a bunker” scenario, seen in science-fiction shows like Silo (2023 to present) and Fallout (2024 to present). Paradise places the story close to the present day while introducing political intrigue that feels compellingly relevant.

Xavier Collins (Oscar-nominated American actor Sterling K. Brown), following the events of the first season, is now out of the bunker that protected the United States’ most powerful men and women from the doomsday event.

The first season of the character-driven drama received four Emmy nominations, including one for Outstanding Drama Series and Best Actor, Drama Series, for Brown.

In the new season, Xavier meets Annie (American actress Shailene Woodley), a survivor who finds the relic-filled Elvis Presley residence, Graceland, to be a great place to weather the apocalypse. Xavier continues his mission of finding his missing wife, while Annie is on a quest of her own.

The big questions raised in the previous season have mostly been answered. Now, the setting is in the wider world instead of a bunker in which reality is controlled by political elites.

Despite the change in scenery, the show has kept its sly sense of humour – Elvis bric-a-brac played a key role in the first episode – and its character-driven thrills that comment on class divisions in present-day US.

The Iris Affair

Now on BBC First (Singtel TV Channel 308) and BBC Player

This eight-episode chase thriller follows Iris Nixon (Irish actress Niamh Algar), a mathematician and cryptologist who discovers that entrepreneur Cameron Beck (BAFTA-winning British actor Tom Hollander) holds a machine that gives him the power to dominate the world. Instead of unlocking the technology for him, Iris goes on the run with it.

The series comes from Neil Cross, creator of crime drama Luther (2010 to 2019), which received multiple Emmy nominations.

Shot on location in the Italian locales of Sardinia, Rome, Florence and the mountains and lakes of Abruzzo, the stylishly mounted show was released overseas in 2025, but launched in Singapore on Feb 12, 2026.

Following its overseas release, the show has earned 100 per cent approval on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

In a review, the British daily newspaper The Guardian says the series “keeps the pedal to the metal but steers with perfect control around timelines, locations, revelations, multiple twists, double crosses, wigs, costume changes, false identities and set pieces, as a tale as entertaining as it is absurd takes thrillingly preposterous shape”.

Algar also earned a Best Actress nomination for her performance as Iris at the 2026 Irish Film And Television Awards.

Scarpetta

Premieres March 11 on Prime Video

The Dr Kay Scarpetta crime novels by American writer Patricia Cornwell have been bestsellers since the 1990s.

Hollywood has tried adapting her books. Two shows – At Risk (2010) and The Front (2010) – were released as television movies. But attempts at kick-starting television or movie franchises, including deals that included actresses Demi Moore and Angelina Jolie, never got off the ground.

Finally, one project has been completed. The eight-episode series stars Australian-American actress Nicole Kidman in the title role of the smart, relentless medical examiner. In flashbacks, viewers will see the younger Kay Scarpetta (British actress Rosy McEwen) at the start of her career.

Kidman plays the present-day investigator, returning to her home town to pursue a murder investigation. Oscar-winning American actress Jamie Lee Curtis portrays her sister, Dorothy Farinelli.