Until midnight Wednesday, Rialto Channel remains unlocked for all SKY Basic Subscribers so you can catch the first episode of the international crime thriller The Last Panthers. The series stars Oscar nominees John Hurt and Samantha Morton, French actor Tahar Rahim (A Prophet) and Croatian actor Goran Bogdan. Recently I had the pleasure of talking to Morton about working on this groundbreaking series and the impact it’s had. You can read that interview here.

And, here are a few picks for the week...

The Last Panthers: Episode 1… Tuesday 28^th June, 8.30pm

The Last Panthers is a six part television crime series written by Jack Thorne (This is England) and directed by Johan Renck (Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead).

It tells the real life story of a Serbian criminal gang known as the Pink Panthers, who at the beginning of the millennium terrorized European jewellers with daring daylight robberies, until they mysteriously disappeared a decade later. The series picks up their story in present day Marseilles, when a diamond heist goes terribly wrong, and a 6 year-old girl is killed by a stray bullet in the getaway. It’s a simple but horrifying scene, and warns you of Renck’s approach to portraying the horror of life in the criminal underworld as unflinchingly real, violent and dangerous.

The heist introduces us to a fascinating and diverse group of characters who are all intent on finding the stolen diamonds or solving the murder case. Within each episode, however, subplots reveal the often-tragic personal stories that define the core characters.

There’s Naomi (Morton), a British insurance loss adjuster who previously worked for the UN during the Bosnian war, and her nefarious boss Tom (Hurt) who launch their own investigation into the theft of the diamonds.

In Marseille, French-Algerian cop Khalil, played by Tahar Rahim, in his first television role, attempts to find whoever killed the girl by tracing the murder weapon. It’s an investigation that sees Khalil go head to head with local gun and drug smugglers, including his brother Mokhtar (Kamel Labroudi). 

And at the heart of the story is Serbian gang member Milan (Goran Bogdan), whose actions are driven by a brother in desperate need of expensive surgery.

The series is sophisticated and excellently written, and cleverly navigates various plotlines that take us on a grim journey across Europe. With Renck at the helm, The Last Panthers has a moody, cinematic atmosphere and the acting is superb all round. On a slightly quirkier note, one of my colleagues commented The Last Panthers has the best collection of noses ever gathered in a television series. Watch, and you’ll see she’s right on the money.

The Ground We Won  … Wednesday 29^th June, 8.30pm

For a country mad about rugby, very few films have ever been made about it. The Ground We Won is a visually beautiful, moving, funny and confronting documentary that captures a year in the life of the Reporoa rugby team. It’s a film about life on the land, friendship, growing up and male identity, and is the work of award-winning husband and wife filmmaking duo Christopher Pryor and Miriam Smith (How Far Is Heaven). The Ground We Won was released last year, and was described as "visually ravishing" (The Herald's Peter Calder), "strikingly beautiful" (Metro) and "pure social-commentary gold" (The Listener). It’s a must see.

Boulevard  … Saturday 2^nd July, 8.30pm

This is Robin Williams final screen role and it’s an interesting affair. Written by Douglas Soesbe and directed by Dito Montiel (A Guide to Recognising Your Saints), Boulevard tells the story of Nolan Mack (Williams), a married closeted 60 year old bank clerk who befriends a young street hustler called Leo (Roberto Aguire), and decides its time to come out of the closet. Williams is quiet and almost dour as Nolan, even as his life is being turned upside down, and it’s up to his wife Joy (Kathy Baker) to add some emotion to proceedings as she vents her frustration and anger at what’s unfolding.

There are some nice moments, such as Nolan telling his dying, homophobic father about the moment he realised he was gay as a 12 year old, and some nice ideas, such as you’re never too old to be yourself and find happiness, and yet a sense of sadness prevails, and it’s hard not to be thinking about what might have been going through Williams head during this shoot.

This is a dignified performance from the comedian, and a reminder that he wasn’t just “Robert Ne Niro for nine year olds” who did kids movies, but a versatile actor who could make us feel as much as he could make us laugh.