The Rook

Secret agent drama The Rook takes the best parts of your favourite action spy shows, mixes them together and comes up with a charming-but-deadly storyline with supernatural undertones.

Myfanwy Thomas (Emma Greenwall, Mandy Milkovich in Shameless) wakes up in the middle of a neatly arranged group of bodies with no idea of who she is or how she got there – the same as Jaimie Alexander’s character Jane Doe in Blindspot. Turns out she’s a “rook”, an agent in the British super-secret service. She might’ve wiped her own memory, leaving clues to why (or who else could’ve done it) so that she can piece together her past. Her colleagues also have chess-related names, like The Queen, The King, Bishop and so-forth.

The miniseries is based on Daniel O’Malley’s book of the same name and it’s been turned into a show by Stephenie Meyer (the author of best-selling vampire romance novels The Twilight Saga). There’s a bit of hanky panky, but it’s all very prim and proper, dictated by the Queen’s English Charm.

You won’t need James Bond-like action for this to be enjoyable, says pastemagazine.com: “Emma’s gripping portrayal shifts between videos of her past (an agent fearing for her life) and the realities of the present (a bundle of stress, fear, and desperation). Myfanwy’s growing confidence and agency is as fun to watch as any of the special effect work. It’d be easy to get lost in the plot’s periphery without her.”

New episodes of The Rook come to Showmax express from M-Net every Monday at 21:00.