Trust (2017 Danny Boyle)

Danny, what's with all the tilted camera angles? And does this split screen stuff really add anything? (I found it quite distracting.) Several directors actually, some who wisely forsake the Titanic going down treatment. Look how it's used in Brief Encounter, for example, or The Third Man. Or Dead of Night, come to that.

Created and written (with help) by Simon Beaufoy. It's an excellent ten part series.

Impressive acting from all the cast: Donald Sutherland, Hilary Swank, Harris Dickinson as the young Paul (tangibly fragile but written to have a keen survival instinct), Michael Esper his father, Brendan Fraser, Anna Chancellor, Charlotte Riley, Luca Marinelli (scary as the psycho kidnapper), 'Ndrangheta boss Nicola Rignanese, sympathetic kidnapper Francesco Collela, go-between Nicolo Senni. Interesting side story about butler Silas Carson (Phantom Thread, Unforgotten). Plus Laura and Sarah Bellini.

In an audacious ending, we learn (from to-camera narrator Brendan Fraser) that Getty's money has helped build the port of Gioia Tauro in Calabria, where an estimated 80% of Europe's cocaine arrives... and the port is shaped like an ear (well, this is a slight twist - it's actually the port of Reggio di Calabria that looks like an ear, but as a bit of scriptwriting goes, how am I to argue?).

It's a great series, despite slanting. We so feared for Paul Jr in episode nine... There's a flash forward that spells his end..? As the narrator says, ''Google it'...

Shot by Christopher Ross and Monika Lenczewska for FX.

And yes, I will credit all the editors: Elliot Graham (Molly's Game, Steve Jobs, Restless, Milk), Mags Arnold (The Trip series), Tom Hemmings (Doctor Foster, Murdered by My Boyfriend, My Mad Fat Diary), Morten Hølbjerg and Simona Paggi (La Vita è Bella).