By Nina Heyn

They are baaaack…. These recommendations are for some of the shows that have been renewed due to popular demand (or the streamers’ fall slate planning—you pick the reason). The list is led by the always brilliant Slow Horses in its sixth iteration (and there are more Mick Herron books to adapt). Most of the others are shows I have previously recommended, but they are still the most intelligent options in the streaming space. If you have to lose an hour of your life watching a TV show, you might as well not lose any brain cells in the process, which is why I am pointing toward some great examples of smart options in the sea of action entertainment.

BLUE LIGHTS (Season 4, UK/AUSTRALIA)

This show has now played three full seasons in the U.S., with the fourth making its way to U.S. platforms from the UK. One of the solid hits in the cop show genre, this is a show with heart-tugging moments of both love and death. Through four seasons, we can watch a team of street cops in contemporary Belfast dealing with domestic violence, increasing street crime, and major drug smuggling in a world of social unrest and hostility. The rookies we saw in the early episodes mature fast through their exposure to random violence and human dramas. This being Belfast, the tragic history of “The Troubles” casts a long shadow on the actions of all characters, bubbling up to the surface in most dramatic fashion. There also fascinating twists in character development—some characters we hate on sight turn out to be good guys and vice versa.

SLOW HORSES (Season 6, UK/U.S.)

In Season 6, we are already quite familiar with the team led by Jackson Lamb, a veteran spy who hides a razor-sharp mind beneath a sloppy exterior and always turns out to be the one who somehow saves the day. This time, he faces the monumental task of keeping his team of “slow horses” alive when they are being hunted down one by one in revenge for a dark op in Russia that misidentified their unit as being responsible. Lamb works on unraveling the plot while old characters come back and others perish—there is never a dull moment in this spy puzzle that is merciless in its criticism of the wheeling and dealing that goes on behind the official exterior of state politics.

Spoiler alert: The fate of the pivotal character of River Cartwright is left unknown in the season’s cliffhanger ending. Given that the actor who portrays him, Jack Lowden, is one of the three lead candidates for the new Bond, this mysterious ending is leaving an opening for future casting. As the show seasons get added on, their plots start /diverging slightly from Mick Herron’s original novels, which is most evident in this season, but the show has not lost any of its sharp edge.

THE DIPLOMAT (Season 4, U.S./UK)

In the last season, we left the power couple of Kate (a U.S. ambassador to the UK) and her politician husband Hal at a crossroads, both personal and political. Their marriage is more on the rocks than ever, as evidenced by their endless bickering, while politically they each have a different career trajectory and muddled loyalties. In Season 4, Kate has to juggle being an ambassador and a second lady while her husband could potentially be the next president. Or could he? The action bits are as entertaining as ever, with both the British and U.S. governments coping with major transitions of power and the small issue of a wayward nuclear weapon. The marital spats feel a little tedious after a while, but the acting is as brilliant as always. Interestingly, the show is created by a female writer, Debora Cahn, and the latest season highlights the difficulties three women (the president, the ambassador, and the CIA station chief) face in maintaining their authority in a world dominated by powerful men. The fact that they sometimes succeed places the plot in the realm of fiction, underscored by the idea that the British PM seems to be in office for four years straight, when in reality we know that the only thing lasting at 10 Downing Street is Larry the Cat.

LUDWIG (Season 2, UK)

There have been several shows about genius people on the spectrum (e.g. Astrid and Raphaëlle, The Queen’s Gambit), but this one is probably the most clever and amusing. The premise is that John is replacing his missing twin brother James in the role of a police detective. John has a quirky mind that does not help him communicate well but leads him to brilliant solutions of crime puzzles. “Missing detectives, multiple murders, and high-ranking cover-ups” is the way one of the characters describes the challenges faced by this amateur detective who can see patterns and puzzles where no one else spots them. Beethoven’s music, especially Sonata No. 17, rewritten in fantastic variations by composers Nathan Klein and Finn Keane, makes watching this smart show even better.

THE GENTLEMEN (Season 2, U.S./UK)

This show about an aristocrat (wolfish-grinning Theo James) having to fund his estate through marijuana growing was pretty outrageous in its first outing, and it is even more out there in the next one. Directed by Guy Ritchie (the man who brought you the refreshingly modern Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr.), the story of the lord who discovers his talent for crime is an irreverent tale set in the world of genteel afternoon tea and gin cocktails served by butlers at exotic locations, and in-between bursts of gangster violence. Season 3 is now in production.

THE GILDED AGE (Season 4, U.S.)

The perfect cast, led by Christine Baranski and Carrie Coon, returns for another serving of the history of New York’s most powerful families at the turn of the last century. Marriages are arranged and others crumble, the social niceties are swept aside when pursuing power, and power is undermined when direct conflict would be social suicide. All is set in a world of impeccably designed costumes and décor that are as sumptuous as they are correct for the period and location—eat your heart out, Bridgerton!

LUPIN (Season 4, France/ U.S.)

After a three-year break, Lupin returns for Season 4. The gentleman thief Assane Diop (a modern version of the literary and film character Arsène Lupin, who is as iconic in France as Sherlock is in the UK) is free again to prove his innocence. He has a mysterious adversary and a copycat that he has to unmask while evading the manhunt against him. Lupin does everything with flair, so the show includes spectacular jumps off (what else?) the Eiffel Tower and some chases across Paris streets on a black horse. While the Paris reality is a bit grimmer, especially with the recent riots and museum heists, this is just the adventure show that channels the spirit of Dumas’ novels and superhero movies at the same time.

MAIGRET (Season 2, UK/France)

The new version of the adventures of the iconic French Inspector Maigret has gained quite a lot of fans (this Franco-British co-production is shot on locations in France but in English with British actors), and it was renewed for the second season which has just premiered. Maigret returns to deal with complicated crimes and suspicious suicides while coping with his personal grief and an unjust investigation from his superiors. Benjamin Wainwright, who portrays Jules Maigret, is young and fit; he looks like the antithesis of the old, taciturn Maigret figures as embodied by Jean Gabin and Bruno Cremer.