ByHANNAH BROWNJUNE 13, 2026 00:55There are too many mediocre crime series on all the channels and streaming platforms, but Legends on Netflix is a welcome exception.It is based on a true story that is certainly not well known outside the UK about British customs inspectors in the ’90s who infiltrated the drug trade.The suspenseful series brings to mind The Wire, particularly its second season, which was set in the Baltimore port, and Traffik, a British show from the ’90s that was adapted into the Oscar-winning 2000 movie Traffic, which focused on different aspects of the drug trade.Legends contrasts the tedium of the work of Liverpool customs officers, who spend their days looking through luggage and cargo, and the daredevil exploits of those who choose to sign up for the mission, which they learn about when a notice is posted in their breakroom asking the question, “Could You Offer More?”Steve Coogan, the star of Tropic Thunder and 24-Hour Party People, plays Don, the leader of the newly formed unit.A SCENE from the documentary ‘Boy George & Culture Club.’ (credit: HOT 8)Alongside Coogan, Tom Burke plays Guy, a military veteran who is bored out of his mind by his job and is ready for anything, including bringing down a Turkish drug-smuggling gang.All the members of the unit discover that they have special skills they were never aware of before. Some are great at tracking paper trails and following the money, others are good at surveillance, and still others shine at gaining people’s trust.They are pressured to come up with results in a punishingly short timeline because then-prime minister Margaret Thatcher, struggling to stay on top, wanted high-profile arrests to show that the government was tough on drug crime, particularly the new opioid epidemic, which was taking lives all over the country.This creates constant conflict between government officials who green-light the unit and the agents who risk their lives daily, which makes for great TV.Pride month programmingIT’S PRIDE MONTH, a time of celebration for the LGBTQ+ community, and there is television programming to go along with it. Yes Docu and Yes VOD are featuring the documentary My Boyfriend the Fascist, about the relationship between Matthias Lintner, a left-wing Italian filmmaker, and Sadiel Gonzalez, an idealistic Cuban activist, who live together and find that their political differences threaten to derail their relationship.Yes VOD is also presenting UnNamed by Ehud (Udi) Mordehay, about the aftermath of the attack on the Tel Aviv branch of the LGBTQ+ association in 2009, in which two people were killed.The killer was never caught, and the film follows the director, who was 16 when he was wounded by a bullet in his stomach there, as he tries to come to grips with his trauma 13 years later.On June 21, Yes Docu, Yes VOD, and Hot 8 will present Boy George & Culture Club, a documentary about that legendary band and its frontman, who is still making waves, particularly by speaking out against antisemitism.It will be a treat for fans of the band, and they speak about their use of Hebrew letters and Jewish symbols in their costumes, explaining that they wanted to illustrate the band’s name by being truly multicultural. The movie is also available worldwide on Apple, Prime Video, and other platforms.The medical drama that started it allNOW THAT season two of the hit series The Pitt, starring Noah Wyle, on HBO Max has ended, if you want to see an intense medical drama, you can watch ER, the one that started it all, on Netflix.Wyle was also one of the stars of that series, playing John Carter, a medical student from a wealthy family.While ER may look rather tame compared to The Pitt, when it debuted in 1994, it was groundbreaking for its portrayal of the reality of emergency medicine.It was more graphic than previous genteel medical dramas, although it had its share of soapy plotlines: Think of it as The Pitt meets Grey’s Anatomy.Michael Crichton, the bestselling author of thrillers such as The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, wrote it.He studied medicine at Harvard, and although he was never a practicing doctor, he knew firsthand what life was like in an emergency room.The series was co-produced by Steven Spielberg’s company, Amblin Television, and was a cut above most television series of that era, especially in writing and acting.While doctors had previously been portrayed on television as selfless saints who healed every patient by the end of each episode, the doctors on ER were flawed and quirky, fond of black humor. They could only do so much in a medical system increasingly driven by profit.The show launched the career of George Clooney, who played the devoted pediatrician and heartbreaker Dr. Doug Ross.At a time when it was extremely rare for an actor to move from the small to the big screen, Clooney began getting major roles in movies such as From Dusk Till Dawn and Out of Sight, and left the series after a few seasons.Another actor whose career was boosted by the series was Julianna Margulies, who went on to star in The Good Wife. The top-billed cast member was Anthony Edwards, who played the nerdy Dr. Mark Greene, the perfect foil to Clooney’s character.ANOTHER NEW series running on Apple TV+ is Cape Fear, starring Javier Bardem as a psycho killer released from prison on a technicality who terrorizes the family of the lawyer (Amy Adams), who defended him.Cape Fear was previously the basis of two films and proves that a good, scary idea can work across different eras.The series is much gorier than the two movie versions, featuring enough graphic violence so that those who are missing Euphoria can still get their fix of torture and dismemberment.If that description isn’t appealing, you might want to check out the two movie versions of Cape Fear, which are both available on Apple TV+.The first version, made in 1962, stars Robert Mitchum as a former convict and Gregory Peck as the lawyer who must resort to violence to protect his family.This movie version is in black and white and obviously not as violent as the later versions, but to my mind, it’s the best one of all.In the 1991 film, directed by Martin Scorsese, who is an executive producer on the new series, Robert De Niro is convincing as the crazed killer, and much more over the top than the quietly menacing Mitchum, while Nick Nolte and Jessica Lange play the lawyer and his wife.The Simpsons spoofed this film in an episode in the fifth season called “Cape Feare,” which is available on Disney+, as the show’s resident psycho, Sideshow Bob, kidnaps Bart in what turns into a shot-by-shot remake of Scorsese’s film, except for the part where the killer sings an entire Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.Follow us on Google