The Crowded Room
With seventies curly hair and high school shyness: Tom Holland as Danny Sullivan.
(Photo: Apple TV+)
What happens: Danny Sullivan is in custody after a shooting at New York’s Rockefeller Center. Tom Holland, known as Marvel’s Spider-Man, plays him with seventies messy hair and high school shyness. Danny claims his girlfriend Ariana (Sasha Lane) shot her, but she can’t be found. In long sessions, psychiatrist Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried) tries to get inside the confused young man’s mind. Great revelations await there.
Secret Star: Showrunner and veteran screenwriter Akiva Goldsman, who proves that great stories sometimes take a run-up of episodes.
Not suitable for: Adrenaline junkies whose hand twitches too quickly on the remote control. Tobias Kniebe
Ten episodes, on AppleTV+.
Flaesh, ARD
Tattooist Hanadi Chawaf at work.
(Photo: MDR/Jan Rosemann)
What happens: In each of four episodes, two tattoo artists are presented who deal with one topic: Are tattoos art? Do they have a psychological power? What about women in the industry and what role does cultural appropriation play? Relevant topics – and aesthetically a real pleasure.
Secret star: The tattoo artist Hanadi from Hamburg, whose Syrian family used to threaten her that she would go to hell if she got a tattoo. Consequently, her first tattoo became a bat with the insignia straight to hellbecause: “I don’t want to sit in heaven with Mullah. Thanks, no.”
Not suitable for: All those who think that tattoos first and foremost lower their chances on the job market. Livia Sarai Lergenmuller
Four episodes in the ARD media library.
sleeping dogs
Are you on to a conspiracy or insane? Luise von Finckh as Jule Andergast and Max Riemelt as Mike Atlas.
(Photo: Anne Wilk/Netflix)
What happens: When Mike Atlas was still in the police force, he was considered a “truffle pig” because he discovered tracks that nobody else found. But now he’s living on the streets, his last case took a toll on him. But in order to roll it up again, he has to stand up to former colleagues and the chief public prosecutor. Luckily he doesn’t have to do this alone.
Secret Star: Martin Wuttke is a wonderfully nasty gangster lawyer with a Schleckfrize and Berlin snout.
Not suitable for: impatient. It takes a few episodes for the plot to unfold. Caroline Gasteiger
Six episodes, on Netflix.
Emilia Schüle as Marie Antoinette and Oscar Lesage as her confidante Chartres.
(Photo: Disney Channel)
What happens: The Austrian Archduchess Marie Antoinette comes to Versailles to meet the Dauphin Louis XVI. to marry. What awaits them is a cranky husband, scheming courtiers, a family to run away from – and sex.
Secret Star: Marie Antoinette’s pug being sent back to Austria at the border before it even arrives in Versailles. But endured it with pug-like humility.
Not suitable for: teetotalers of all stripes. Caroline Gasteiger
Eight episodes, on Disney Plus.
Here you fight with your eyes alone: Idris Elba in “Hijack”.
(Photo: Apple TV+)
What happens: Seven hour flight from Dubai to London. Shortly after takeoff, a terrorist commando takes control of the plane, nasty Brits, with bloody brutality. But the company finds itself in absurd turbulence faster and faster. Idris Elba is mainly to blame for this, a professional negotiator for major economic deals, who brings all his tricks against the hijackers into play on board.
Secret Star: Eve Myles as Alice, a member of Air Traffic Control in London. “This is my flight,” she declares categorically, letting neither detectives nor politicians deter her.
Not suitable for: Spectators whose mood is determined by claustrophobia and fatalism. Fritz Goettler
Ten episodes, Wednesdays, on AppleTV+.
You can find more series recommendations here.