Boschproves that the procedural remains not only one of television’s most popular genres but also one of its most versatile. The series hooked viewers by depicting season-long cases and moments where Titus Welliver’s titular detective was forced to dabble in shades of grey, launching a long-running franchise in the process. The latest installment, Bosch: Start of Watch, turns back the clock and features a new actor stepping into Bosch’s shoes with Cameron Monaghan. Iffans want a series that hews closer to the original Bosch, they should check out Sky’s upcoming detective thriller that features a game-changing twist.
That thriller is Meantime, based on Frankie Boyle’s novel of the same name and starringJames McAvoyin the lead role. McAvoy plays Felix McAveety, a man who’s struggling with addictive tendencies all his life. One day, Felix wakes up and learns that his best friend was murdered. Wanting to clear his name, Felix hires a pair of unorthodox sleuths:adetective turned crime novelist (Josette Simon) and a longtime friend (Jamie Michie). This helps set Meantime apart from the usual detective thrillers, but it also gives McAvoy a chance to truly flex his acting muscles.
Advertisement
‘Meantime’ Will Let James McAvoy Play Against Type
Robin Wright and James McAvoy in The ConspiratorImage via Lionsgate
Most of McAvoy’s roles usually feature him as a supporting character or a grounding presence, particularly when he took on the role of Charles Xavier in 20th Century Fox’s X-Men franchise. In recent years, he’s been allowed to tap into his more chaotic side, particularly when he played a literal multitude of personalities in Split. He needs to bring that same energy to Meantime, especially given how Frankie Boyle writes Felix. Felix is often prone to bouts of paranoia and hallucinations, which often lead him to make outlandish accusations and treat everyone as though they’re a suspect in his friend’s murder. This is a thin line to walk; McAvoy needs to make sure he can nail the comedic timing without treating Felix’s addiction as a punchline.
Luckily, McAvoy was the star of a crime thriller that shows he has the skills to pull off this performance. Filthfeatures him as Bruce Robertson, a detective who engages in vices that include drug and alcohol abuse, in addition to acting as an outright bully. As Filth goes on, it’s revealed that Robertson’s behavior is the product of a failed marriage and mental health issues, which adds layers to a character that was previously portrayed as unsympathetic. If McAvoy can bring the same level of acting to Meantime, he’ll have another great crime thriller under his belt.
Advertisement
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Advertisement
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
Advertisement
🎭Ethan Hunt
Advertisement
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
Advertisement
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
Advertisement
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
Advertisement
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
Advertisement
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
Advertisement
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
Advertisement
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
Advertisement
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
Advertisement
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
Advertisement
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Advertisement
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Advertisement
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Advertisement
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
Advertisement
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Advertisement
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
Advertisement
Marvel and ‘Doctor Who’ Alums Will Join James McAvoy in ‘Meantime’
While James McAvoy might be the star of Meantime, he’ll also be joined by top-tier talent. In addition to Josette Simon and Jamie Michie, the cast includes Christopher Eccleston and Benedict Wong in yet-to-be-revealed roles. Like McAvoy, both actors are mostly known for genre fare, with Eccleston leading the Doctor Whorevival and Wong starring in comic book adaptations including Deadly Classand Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Still, it’s McAvoy who will remain the major draw, according to Sky TV boss Meghan Lyvers during a panel at this year’s Edinburgh TV Festival.
“James McAvoy is in every scene, and he’s amazing…And so that feels like just a really original story that we get to tell and support.”
Meantime joins a packed slate of original and returning series from Sky, which includes the second seasons of breakout hits like Heated Rivalryand Sweetpea, in addition to an upcoming adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. That’s quite the competition, but Meantime can stand out if it stays true to the darkly comedic roots of its source material. It also needs to make sure James McAvoy has room to deliver what could be one of the best performances of his career.
Advertisement
Meantime is slated to premiere on Sky. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.
Advertisement
Release Date
Advertisement
2015 – 2021-00-00
Network
Prime Video
Advertisement
Showrunner
Eric Ellis Overmyer
Advertisement
Directors
Alex Zakrzewski, Ernest R. Dickerson, Patrick Cady, Aaron Lipstadt, Adam Davidson, Daisy von Scherler Mayer, Kevin Dowling, Neema Barnette, Tim Hunter, Zetna Fuentes, Christine Moore, Jim McKay, Laura Belsey, Matt Earl Beesley, Phil Abraham, Roxann Dawson, Sarah Pia Anderson, Stephen Gyllenhaal, Tara Nicole Weyr, Thomas Carter, Hagar Ben-Asher
Writers
Advertisement
Jeffrey Alan Fiskin, Tom Bernardo, Elle Johnson, John Mankiewicz, Shaz Bennett, Alex Meenehan, Katie Pyne, Osokwe Vasquez, Lolis Eric Elie, Jessica Kivnik, Mitzi Roberts
You must be logged in to post a comment Login