There’s also good use of flashbacks to illustrate Lincoln’s doubts and his relationship with Stanton. At one point they debate the necessity of assassination as a tool of war, showing how the noblest of causes still suggests the ugliest of means. No legacy goes unchecked in Manhunt.

Population 11 ★★★
Stan

The dangerous and the absurd are intertwined in this comedic crime mystery about a fish out of water American trying to make sense of a tiny Australian township. Or, as that blow-in, Andy Pruden (Ben Feldman), tells the general store owner, Noel Pinkus (Stephen Curry), “I know you bugged me after your crocodile nearly killed me.” Some surveillance, a run-in with a carnivore – Population 11 renders the laconic crossroads settlement of Budgeegud as an equal opportunity risk.

Andy comes to the town, after an uncomfortable run in, and come-on, from local cop Geraldine Rivers (a scene-stealing Katrina Milosevic) in search of his father, Hugo Pinkus (Darren Gilshenan). Andy’s motivation is somewhat murky, but it doesn’t matter because Hugo, a UFO nut, is missing and the remaining 11 locals are wildly unhelpful. He gets charged $16 for a beer, is whacked with a shovel, and rarely gets the full truth, even with fellow visitor Cassie Crick (Perry Mooney) helping him.

Created by Phil Lloyd (Review with Myles Barlow) and with Trent O’Donnell (No Activity, The Moodys) as lead director, Population 11 uses the real-life case featured in the Netflix documentary Last Stop Larrimah as inspiration. It’s loose and uneasy as opposed to taut and menacing, with 12 half-hour episodes wisely letting the story unfold with more deviations and pungent asides than six hour-long outings.

Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?
BritBox

The latest screen adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1934 detective novel, written and directed by Hugh Laurie, is an impish period delight that plays as a period mix of P.G. Wodehouse and Tintin. When gold caddie Bobby Jones (Will Poulter) comes across a dying man at the bottom of a cliff near his local course, the man mysteriously utters the show’s title as his last words. Aided by childhood friend and toff’s daughter Frankie Derwent (Lucy Boynton), it’s all amateur sleuths and mysterious figures, topped by wry dialogue and Laurie’s old pals as a wildly overqualified supporting cast.

The Girls on the Bus
Binge

A zesty drama about the very different women covering the Democrat primary season of a US presidential campaign feels like a throwback in the uneasy abyss of 2024, even with the piquant mix of relationships and authenticity co-created by former New York Times reporter Amy Chozick and Vampire Diaries co-creator Julie Plec. Supergirl star Melissa Benoist is Sadie McCarthy, a campaign correspondent for a Times-like broadsheet who tends to follow her heart, while her contemporaries, whether groomed veterans or TikTok newcomers, have issues of their own. There is much being finely threaded here. Perhaps too much.

American Conspiracy: The Octopus Murders
Netflix

The overblown title of Netflix’s latest true-crime documentary – at this point there are seemingly two every week – doesn’t bode well for plausibility or rigour. But director Danny Treitz’s investigation of the 19991 death of journalist Danny Casolaro, declared a suicide after being found with slit wrists in a bloody West Virginia hotel room, is as much about the dangers of succumbing to conspiracies as the international surveillance scandal that Casolaro was reportedly investigating. Complete with Casolaro’s original contact, the new deep dive is sceptical but sympathetic. It understands how easily we can all lose our bearings.

Poor Things
Disney+

Headlined by Emma Stone’s revelatory lead performance, which rightfully deserved its Best Actress Academy Award, this macabre, transformative black comedy arrives on streaming as one of 2023’s best films. Greek filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite) continues his assault on period convention and emotional norms, telling the story of Stone’s Bella Baxter, a Frankenstein hybrid of adult body and baby’s brain whose coming of age excursion across a steampunk Europe takes in sexual liberation, a caddish villain (Mark Ruffalo), and scalpel-sharp filleting of the establishment worthy of Bunuel. It’s a vivid cinematic pleasure.

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