Credit: Signature Entertainment
TV
From The End We Start From to The Jetty: these are the best female-led thrillers to add to your watchlist now
By Amy Beecham
2 years ago
5 min read
Thrillers with a female star are often our favourites and from the sounds of it, we’re about to get an influx of some of the best. Here are the ones you need to look out for, from The End We Start From to Insomnia.
There’s just something about a good thriller that gets us excited. Whether it’s the slow burn, the fast pace, the dynamic characters or the edge-of-your-seat plotlines, there’s something indisputable about the way they have us firmly in their grip.
Thrillers don’t just have to be crime-related, oh no. They can traverse drama, romance, scandal and everything in between. While recent television has been superb, we’ve been missing some female-led dramas that have really kept us guessing, left us obsessed and had us thinking about them long after watching.
Have no fear, though, we’re here to fill you in on the very best that TV and film have to offer in terms of female-led thrillers that have us anticipating a great binge-watch.
With that, scroll on for some of the best female-focused thrillers we’re getting excited about.
The End We Start From
Having gone full Jodie Comer fangirl over her performances in Killing Eve and Prima Facie, we can’t wait to see her next role, as an unnamed new mother trying to survive in post-apocalyptic England. When an environmental crisis sees London submerged by floods, she tries to find shelter and community.
A star-studded cast includes Benedict Cumberbatch, Joel Fry, Katherine Waterson, Mark Strong, Gina McKee and Nina Sosanya. This marks Mahalia Belo’s debut film as director having directed Requiem and The Long Song for the BBC. The film has already been nominated for nine British Independent Film Awards.
Where to Watch: The End We Start From is in cinemas from 19 January.
Vigil season 2
Following a nail-biting season one finale, we couldn’t be happier that BBC’s Vigil will soon be returning to our screens for an equally tense second season.
Suranne Jones is back as military investigator DCI Silva, who must enter the secret world of drone warfare to catch a killer. Rose Leslie will return as her lover, DS Kirsten Longacre, as the two are pulled deeper into the complex case. But as things take a dark turn, who can they trust?
Where to watch: The six-episode season will premiere on Sunday 10 December at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer
Insomnia
Line of Duty’s Vicky McClure will star in Insomnia, a gripping thriller about a woman whose perfect life is turned upside down when she stops sleeping weeks before her 40th birthday.
Knowing her mother experienced a violent psychotic breakdown on the night of her own 40th birthday, Emma (McClure) must discover if she will succumb to the same fate, no matter what it costs.
Where to watch: Insomnia will be released on Paramount in in 2024
Eileen
The news that Anne Hathaway and Ottessa Moshfegh have teamed up for a psychological thriller is like music to our ears, so you can be sure we’re in for a treat with Eileen.
Set during a bitter 1964 Massachusetts winter, young secretary Eileen becomes enchanted by the glamorous new counselor at the prison where she works. Their budding friendship takes a twisted turn when Rebecca reveals a dark secret — throwing Eileen onto a sinister path.
Where to watch: Eileen will be released in cinemas on 1 December
The Jetty
After a fire tears through a holiday home in a small Lancashire town, rookie detective Ember Manning (played by Wilderness’ Jenna Coleman) is tasked with working out how it connects to a podcast journalist investigating a missing persons cold case and an illicit ‘love’ triangle between a man in his 20s and two underage girls. But as Ember gets close to the truth, it threatens to destroy her life – forcing her to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about her past, her present and the town she’s always called home.
Where to watch: A release date for The Jetty is yet to be confirmed, but it’s expected to land on BBC One in early 2024
The Royal Hotel
Starring Inventing Anna’s Julia Garner, The Royal Hotel has been billed as a “tense feminist thriller” – which couldn’t be more up our street.
The film follows American tourists Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Jessica Henwick), two best friends backpacking across Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called The Royal Hotel in a remote Outback mining town. And while the woman who informs them of the gig tells them they should be “OK with a little male attention”, they never expect to find themselves confronted by unruly locals in an unnerving situation that escalates beyond their control.
Where to watch: The Royal Hotel is currently available to stream on Prime Video
Protection
Led by a powerhouse cast of Nadine Marshall, Katherine Kelly and Siobhan Finneran, Protection investigates the dangerous fallout that follows when the witness protection system breaks down.
Not only is it a suspenseful conspiracy thriller, it also explores some complex moral questions about how far we should be prepared to go in order to serve the greater good.
Where to watch: The series will air on ITV and ITVX in 2024
The Killing Kind
A defence barrister must rebuild her life after she becomes obsessed with finding out the truth about a case – no matter the consequences – in crime thriller The Killing Kind. Emma Appleton (Everything I Know About Love) plays barrister Ingrid Lewis who finds herself mixed up romantically with a dangerous client she’s representing, which makes for some seriously tense TV.
Where to watch: The Killing Kind is currently available to stream on Paramount+
Black Doves
What do you get if you combine a slick spy thriller with a tale of love and betrayal? Answer: Netflix’s upcoming series Black Doves, led by Happy Valley favourite Sarah Lancashire.
Also starring Keira Knightley and Ben Wishaw, Black Doves has everything we love: a stellar cast, gripping conspiracies, murky criminal underworlds, difficult moral choices and a whole lot of nail-biting tension. In other words, we can’t wait.
Where to watch: The series is currently filming, which means we can expect a 2024 release date
The Serial Killer’s Wife
Beth Fairchild (Annabel Scholey) has prepared a surprise birthday party for her husband Tom (Jack Farthing), the beloved local doctor. But her world is turned upside down when the party’s interrupted by the police and Tom is arrested for the murder of his former assistant. Cue the secrets and shocking discoveries in this hotly-anticipated series based on the best-selling book of the same name.
Where to watch: The series will be available to watch in December via Paramount+
Images: BBC, ITV, Paramount+, Getty
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