More Wonders of the TV World for SoHo

Two top British drama series will screen in SoHo in November: Babylon and the return of The Fall.

SoHo sneak peeked the pilot for Babylon earlier this year and will air the Channel 4 series 8.30 Thursdays from November 6.

A wry take on life in London’s Metropolitan Police Force from Bafta winners Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong (Peep Show, Four Lions), it stars James Nesbitt, Brit Marling (Another Earth), Paterson Joseph (The Leftovers) and Jill Halfpenny (EastEnders).

The Fall picks up with its ice-cold cop (Gillian Anderson) pursuing a blood-curdling serial killer (Jamie Dornan), who becomes “psychologically ever dangerous and destructive” as the net tightens around him.

Said the Daily Mirrior: “There are six episodes instead of five this time around. BBC drama boss Ben Stephenson says it has ‘gone up a huge level’.

“On the basis of the opening episode, he’s not wrong.

“It is far from comfortable viewing, but it is hugely compelling.”

But The Guardian, which attended the same preview screening, wasn’t as convinced: “Its return rises or falls on a moment, midway through the first episode, in which [Dornan’s] character takes hiding in plain sight to a whole new level.

“Ingenious or incredible, it will either have you gasping – like much of the preview audience – or leave you pondering the decline of The Fall.”

The Fall will screen here soon after next month’s launch in the UK (8.30 Mondays from November 17).

Other SoHo highlights in November include the final seasons of The Newsroom (9.30 Thursdays from November 13) and Damages (8.30 Fridays from November 7), and box sets of The Leftovers, Newsroom’s second season, The Knick, seasons one and two of Utopia, and season two of Ray Donovan.

Watch also for the HBO documentary, A Good Job: Stories of the FDNY, in which former firefighter Steve Buscemi goes inside the NY City Fire Department.

According to the publicity, “The film touches on the personal journeys of several current and former firefighters while revisiting some of the FDNY’s milestones, including the integration of women and people of colour, the ‘War Years’ of the ‘60s and ‘70s, the 1966 fire at Wonder Drug, the arsonist-ignited Happy Land Social Club fire of 1990, and the tragedy of 9/11 and its long-lasting impact on the FDNY.”

Said Variety: “In a relatively short amount of time, A Good Job (a reference to a really serious fire) manages to be by turns touching and funny, capturing the camaraderie of firefighters — including the colourful hazing that’s part of hanging around in a firehouse all day — as well as the way danger and death become ever-present handmaidens of the work.”