I was very much looking forward to watching ‘Archie’ when I first heard about it going into production.  The mini series which would show me more about actor Cary Grant (real name Archibald Leach) than I already knew (which wasn’t a lot). I had seen only a short list of Cary Grant films over the years. That list was the following: Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, Notorious, and finally North by Northwest. Yep a short list but with so many movies out there and only a set amount of time to watch them all, there are still huge gaps in my ‘films ive seen’ listings. But I knew of Cary Grant and his iconic status in the history of Hollywood and was very much looking forward to see my knowledge of him expanded by the mini series.

Then I got very excited about this 2023 series as I read that one of my favourite filmmakers Paul Andrew Williams was going to be directing it. I’ve been a fan of Paul’s work since 2007 when I saw London to Brighton, a film that I always end up talking about when the subject of recommendations comes around. Since first seeing London to Brighton, I have followed Paul’s work and to this date in 2023, he hasn’t let me down with any film he has directed, whether its gritty thrillers like Cherry Tree Lane, Bull, or London to Brighton, whether its heart warming and emotion films such as A Song For Marion, whether its his TV work in dramas such as Strangers or Broadchurch, or true life dramas such as A Confession, Murdered by My Boyfriend, or Murdered for Being Different, Paul Andrew Williams in my book, has a 100% success rate when it comes to the films and shows he directs and I had faith that ‘Archie’ would be in safe hands.

And it was. Whether you have heard of Cary Grant or not heard of Cary Grant, ‘Archie’ will take you on a fascinating journey from one of Hollywood’s most famous talents, through their very early years, to his rise into Hollywood.  You don’t need to be an expert Hollywood historian to keep up with this story, its brilliantly told and the series is wonderfully written by Jeff Pope ( The Walk In, Little Boy Blue) and based on the book by Dyan Cannon (You’ll learn more about Dyan in this series) Very easy to follow. I set off with a plan to watch Episode one (of four) each night for four nights. However at the end of night one,  I had finished all four episodes in a single session and knew that ‘Archie’ had gained itself a place on my ‘best TV shows I’ve watched in 2023’ list.

I had also realised that Jason Isaacs had earned himself a place on the ‘best performances in 2023’ list that I had also been putting together. So often in my viewing of the series I had to remind myself that it was Jason Isaacs onscreen- I kept forgetting that it was him. Amazing performance!  Until now I figured that Steve Coogan was going to win ‘performance of the year’ for his role in ‘The Reckoning’ Now I’m not so sure. Jason Isaacs may bag that award. Yes its that good!

So if you want to settle down for the evening, and watch around 3 hours of top notch drama! then I highly recommend ‘Archie’ and then once you’ve watched that. I highly recommend you head right into pretty much anything else Paul Andrew Williams has directed.  The law of averages say that even your most favourite filmmakers will one day make something that doesn’t quite ‘hit the mark’  Well since 2006 Paul Andrew Williams has bullseyed everything for me so far! Great work Paul! 

Archie is in the UK streaming platform ITVX and should arrive on network TV in the near future (and heres hoping it gets itself a physical media release too)