The Affair, Sky Atlantic, 9pm
Winner of two Golden Globes earlier this year - Best Drama, and Best Actress for Ruth Wilson of Luther fame - this taut, 10-part psychodrama about marriage, family and the repercussions of infidelity finally comes to Sky Atlantic. Starring alongside Wilson is another Brit, Dominic West, who plays New York schoolteacher Noah Solloway, a man who has just written his first novel and seems to have life on a plate: he has a beautiful wife, a beautiful house, his health, four children and a wealthy father-in-law whose house on Long Island has tennis courts, a swimming pool and a sauna. It's there that he and wife Helen (Maura Tierney) are headed for their summer holidays at the start of episode one, with their children in tow.
But even as the car is being packed, there are hints that all is not going to run smoothly or end well. For a start, eldest son Martin pretends to hang himself using a hidden harness - "I thought you'd be proud of me," he says. "I researched it on the internet" - and then over the action we start to hear what sounds like a police interview, in which Noah is asked questions like: "Can you tell us a bit about who you were back then?". Cue drum roll.
What causes Noah's life to unravel is a chance encounter with waitress Alison Bailey (Wilson) at the Long Island resort where the family is to spend the summer. They meet on the first day. Later, during a late night walk on the beach, he encounters her alone and walks her back to her house. To say there is chemistry is an understatement.
The Affair is written by Sarah Treem and Israeli director Hagai Levi, who collaborated on the US version of Levi's (really rather good) drama, In Treatment. In its telling of the same story from both Noah and Alison's points of view, each different in some crucial aspects, there's something of Gone Girl about it, though it isn't without its moments of black comedy - using the Johnny Cash song Jackson for the end credits is just one example. On the evidence of this opening episode, The Affair is well worth the accolades which have so far been piled upon it.
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