Baby Reindeer and 4 Other Must-See Miniseries Released in 2024 to Binge This Weekend

In recent years, miniseries have rapidly grown in popularity. The compact format allows you to watch all the episodes in a couple of days, and the credits of projects increasingly feature the star names of both actors and directors.

1. Eric, 2024

Grumpy puppeteer Vincent hosts his own children's TV show. Things are not going well with his wife, Cassie: their attempts to make things right inevitably escalate into a scandal. Nine-year-old Edgar, hiding in the bedroom from his parents' screams, invents a shaggy monster for his father's puppet show.

The frightening creature becomes a reflection of the aggression that surrounds the boy. One day, Edgar goes missing on his way to school, and his grief-stricken father can think of nothing better than to start drinking himself to death in the company of an imaginary monster.

The series surprises with its dark atmosphere of the turbulent 1980s: the streets of New York are teeming with criminals, vagrants and drug addicts. In this oppressive environment, the disappearance of a child becomes the trigger that sets all the sinister mechanisms of the metropolis in motion in the viewer's imagination.

2. Ripley, 2024

Tom Ripley lives in New York and earns his living through petty fraud: he invents fictitious debts and squeezes money out of gullible workers. In a chance meeting with businessman Herbert Greenleaf, Tom immediately sees an opportunity to profit: the elderly millionaire is willing to pay for Ripley's trip to Italy, if only he will bring his son Dickie home.

Without wasting any time, Tom accepts the desperate man's offer and arrives in sunny Atrani, where he gains the trust of good-natured Dickie and alarms his cynical girlfriend Marge.

The image of Tom Ripley on screen has been embodied by many: Alain Delon's character was dazzlingly handsome, Matt Damon's evoked pity, and John Malkovich played a man tired of life. As played by Andrew Scott, Ripley is a greedy and insatiable creature devoid of empathy.

3. The Perfect Couple, 2024

Nantucket is a paradise for the rich, and in the middle of this paradise is the Winbury family mansion. The house is run by the mother Greer, a famous writer. While she plans parties, her unemployed husband Tag cheats on her and slowly drinks himself to death.

The central event of the miniseries is a wedding rehearsal: the middle son of the "perfect couple" is getting married. Unfortunately, the celebration has to be canceled: at dawn, the body of one of the characters washes up on the shore. The police begin questioning the guests, and it soon becomes clear that each of them had a motive for the murder.

4. Baby Reindeer, 2024

You could hardly call Donny Dunn a successful person. The 30-year-old works part-time in a pub and lives rent-free with his ex-girlfriend's mother. His ridiculous standup comedy routines fail to connect with audiences, and his personal life is in shambles due to the psychological trauma.

One day, Martha appears behind the counter of the pub where he works. The stranger is polite to Donny, immediately tells the bartender about her personal life. Soon the guy finds out that his new friend is a first-class stalker with a prison record.

The most enticing thing about the miniseries is that Donny's story actually happened to the show's creator, Richard Gadd. The personal approach is also evident in the structure of the series: Gadd, a comedian by profession, starts the story off rather cautiously.

However, the second half of the show is a dark journey through the psychological traumas and hidden fears of a man who has experienced a lot of mental and physical pain.

5. The Sympathizer, 2024

The miniseries about the Vietnam War is based on the acclaimed novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen. The success of the project was also ensured by the name of the showrunner and director of the first three episodes – Park Chan-wook.

The plot revolves around the story of a double agent nicknamed the Captain, a communist who passes secret information from the South Vietnamese secret police to the Viet Cong.

The end of the war is near, but the authorities send the Captain to California to continue his espionage activities. The man soon realizes that he is not the only one playing a double game.