516: Half Man, The Cage, Secret Service, Prisoner

*The episode suffers from some audio issues*. Gary returns to the podcast alongside Matt and Dawn to review four brand new British dramas available this week. Fresh off the massive success of his Netflix series Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd is back with his first original idea for a series. Half Man, available on BBC One and iPlayer, and co-produced by HBO, is the story of toxic masicnility between two men who were brought together when their two mothers fall in love. In a lot of ways, it shares some DNA with the show that catapulted Gadd to stardom, but is that a good thing? Next, we loved the BBC drama The Responder, which starred Martin Freeman as a stressed out police responser struggling to keep his head above water. Writer Tony Shumacker is very good at writing ordinary people in increasingly stressful situations. His new show, The Cage, stars Sheridan Smith and Michael Socha as two employees of a casino who abuse their position to get ahead in their difficult lives. It's another show that feels a lot like the show that proceeded it. Somehow, though, despite strong lead performances, something doesn't click. Next, ITV have a new political thriller in Secret Service. It's a tropey show that feels very much like a show Gary should and would like, but is that the case? Finally, there's Prisoner, a propulsive new thriller on Sky Atlantic. The series puts Big Boys Izuka Hoyle in the spotlight as a prisoner officer who gets caught in the action when trying to transport a prisoner from one place to another.  *The episode suffers from some audio issues*.