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The Madness opens with journalist ands aspiring TV presenter Muncie Daniels (Colman Domingo – Drive-Away Dolls) waking up in the woods, seemingly not knowing how he got there, but once he makes it to a roadside cafe and finds everyone staring at him, things begin to start becoming clear.
Cue a flashback to Muncie going for a run, and well… I said ‘TV presenter’, but he’s guest-hosting on CNN. Well, someone has to.
While out and about on a run, he comes across the sole neighbour, chills out watching some TV on his laptop… then the power goes out.
As would seem a good idea, he heads over to the neighbour’s place, only to find it looks like Dexter turned up, and got messy! And now whoever did that, want HIM dead!!
I’m only giving the opening premise to this drama, but it’s one of those stories where, when he takes the cops back with him, they’re not exactly helpful – especially since by the time they get back, the body is gone, and he never got the name of the neighbour, so how does he report a murder with no name and no corpse?!
As Toyah once sang, “It’s a mystery”!
And when creepy bad guy people start being creepy, and he’s being fingered as the one who did the deed, the future isn’t as bright as it first seemed, but he has a family to protect, including an estranged daughter who comes back into his life. But this is just the start.
So far, I’ve seen the first two episodes, and The Madness is one of those thrillers where no matter what he does, everything seems to point to him, even though we can see he had nothing to do with it!
It’s also a bit like one of those daft Harlan Coben dramas – like the most recent Fool Me Once, except Richard Armitage isn’t contractually-obliged to appear…
Seriously, though, I will stick with it, as Colman Domingo equips himself well with the material – whilst exhibiting the deepest voice in the world – and it’s packing a punch where it needs to, and the writers are avoiding the usual scripting trap of “our lead character is black, so let’s make it a race thing”, which is a route that around 90% of other TV dramas would’ve gone down.
Thanks to our friends at Netflix for the screener prior to release.
The Madness is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from today.
However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Check out the trailer below:
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 45-55 minutes per episode (8 episodes)
Release date: November 28th 2024
Studio: Netflix
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Clement Virgo, Jessica Lowrey, Quyen Tran
Producers: Chris Hatcher, Felicia Hilario
Creator: Stephen Belber
Writers: Stephen Belber, Jeanine Daniels, Liz Ellis, Dana Kitchens, VJ Boyd, Obehi Janice, Felicia Hilario, Katie Swain, Maurice Williams
Music: Philip Klein
Cast:
Muncie Daniels: Colman Domingo
Elena Powell: Marsha Stephanie Blake
Franco Quinones: John Ortiz
Lucie Snipes: Tamsin Topolski
Demetrius: Thaddeus J Mixson
Kallie: Gabrielle Graham
Kwesi Dupree: Deon Cole
Agent Khalil: Ennis Esmer
Tanner Simon: Hudson Wurster
Blake Simon: Lochlan Miller
Laura Jennings: Bri Neal
Isiah: Stephen McKinley Henderson
Julia Jayne: Alison Wright
Clarence: Eugene Clark
Burt: Rothaford Gray
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.