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Sexy Beast is an 8-part TV series based on the 2000 hit movie, which starred Ray Winstone in the lead as Gal Dove.
Now with Gal portrayed by James McArdle (Andor) as a very smooth talker, instead of seeing where they got to, we catch up with his roots, alongside best friend Don Logan, obviously not with Ben Kingsley in the role, but with a barnstorming performance from Emun Elliott (Prometheus).
In the film, Gal is married to Deedee (Amanda Redman), but here, he’s dating Marjorie (Eliza Bennett), with Deedee just coming on to his horizon in the form of Sarah Greene (Bad Sisters), her character stuck starring in low-rent adult flicks, even though like all the greats, she just wants to direct.
Still, his pursuits don’t particularly change, since in the movie, while he’s retired to Spain, he’s still being drawn back into criminal activity, whereas for the TV series, we get to see challenging heists, such as stealing a rare item – owned by Sir Stephen Eaton (Julian Rhind-Tutt – Napoleon) – from an armoured van, and breaking open a safe – which isn’t as easy as it might sound.
Again, comparing the two, whereas Ian McShane is London crime boss Teddy Bass, orchestrating what needs to be done in order to rob from the rich to give to them, here, he’s Steven Moyer (Detour), looking similarly cool as a cucumber. This series also mirrors the movie’s 2.39:1 theatrical widescreen aspect ratio, for continuity.
So far I’ve watched the first two episodes, and I spent some time trying to work out the period it’s set in, since it feels like everyone’s about 20 years younger, although it did appear to be set in the late 80s/early 90s, given the songs featured like Londonbeat’s I’ve Been Thinking About You, and Depeche Mode’s Personal Jesus, even though the look of it has more of a ’70s feel, and with some tunes from that era maybe the the later music is just be poetic licence?
Well, it turns out it IS the ’90s in this series, so not as much of an age gap as I thought. That said, if this is the ’90s and the film was 2000, then that also ties in with the fact that I see that Mr McArdle is just 10 years younger than Ray Winstone was at the time. Ten years goes quick. Then again, the ’90s feel like about 5 minutes ago.
As Julia Fordham sang in her 1989 tune, “Where Does The Time Go?”… and that was 35 years ago!
However, don’t let time slip away too soon, as you need to get stuck into this new prequel Paramount+ series, which is as full of extreme violence as it is fruity language.
I’m certainly looking forward to more of Don being like a constant powder keg waiting to go off any minute, and I like when the sound goes all spatial when he goes off on one. Jeez, if you thought Ben Kingsley was mad, Emun’s even more off the scale! This also seems fuelled by the moments when Tamsin Greig (Nights in the Garden of Spain: Talking Heads) comes into play as Cecilia, Don’s older sister, who’s rather controlling.
The only downside is that there’s some muffled dialogue in this, but no subtitles on the preview, so I’m looking forward to seeing it once it goes live.
Thanks to our friends at Paramount+ for the screener prior to release.
Sexy Beast is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Paramount+ from January 25th.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45-60 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: January 25th 2024
Studio: Paramount+
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Michael Caleo, Alex Eslam, Stephen Moyer, David Caffrey
Producers: Matt Barber, James Levison, Jan R Martin, Alec Stern
Developed for TV by: Michael Caleo
Writers: Michael Caleo, Jennifer Cacicio, Alastair Galbraith, Juliet Lashinsky-Revene, Ollie Masters, Ed McCardie, Lee Patterson, Tony Hamilton Shannon
Music: Nathan Micay
Cast:
Gal Dove: James McArdle
Don Logan: Emun Elliott
Deedee Harrison: Sarah Greene
Teddy Bass: Stephen Moyer
Cecilia Logan: Tamsin Greig
Marjorie Kern: Eliza Bennett
Aitch: John Dagleish
Stan Higgins: Paul Kaye
Ann Marie Dove: Clea Martin
Dominic McGraw: Peter Ferdinando
Mace Grant: Robbie Gee
Freddie McGraw: Nicholas Nunn
Alan ‘Two Guns’ Graves: Lex Shrapnel
Bloco: Barry Castagnola
Tommy Dove: Stanley Morgan
Ricky Sidhu: Nitin Ganatra
Bert Dove: David Kennedy
Maddie Dove: Cally Lawrence
Dutch: Michael Obiora
Sir Stephen Eaton: Julian Rhind-Tutt
Aunt Babe: Clare Burt
Sandy: Megan Morgan
Arabella Thornton: Hannah van der Westhuysen
Kath Kern: Nicola Wright
Roger Riley: Ralph Brown
Gordy: Andy Eadie
Rico: Javier Ramos
Simon: Tommy Garside
Keith Kern: Colin Mace
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.