10 / 10. Take me to the hole! Hilarious and offbeat, two great female leads, my favourite new show this year

Killing Eve is based on the novel series by Luke Jennings, and in season 1, the darkly comedic show follows Eve Polastri, a British intelligence officer, tasked with capturing psychopathic assassin Villanelle, who leaves a gruesome trail of murders across various countries. As Eve hunts down Villanelle, the hunter becomes the hunted and they develop a dark obsession with each other.

Killing Eve is refreshingly offbeat, hilarious and original, which considering it’s about a psychopathic assassin, seems a strange statement, until you watch it. One of the best shows of recent years.

This was recommended to me by a friend as a MUST watch, knowing that I studied forensic psychology, notably psychopaths and serial killers, at University. I feel that Jodie Comers’ Villanelle is an accurate portrayal of a psychopath and homicide enthusiast, much like Dexter, but without the inner monologue, who has happily fallen into her dream job as an assassin for hire.

Even Villanelle’s facial expressions are great, feigning normality and trying to not look bored by everything that isn’t murder and death. I’d assume there is some neurodivergence sprinkled in there as well.

Her nemesis Eve is brilliantly portrayed by Sandra Oh who is so at ease on screen and endearing you feel like you know her, and an interesting cat and mouse game forms between her and Villanelle. You never know what is going to happen and find yourself rooting for both sides, which is a great feat of acting, story-telling and direction.

Also excellent are Fiona Shaw as Carolyn Martens and Kim Bodnia as Konstantin.