BritBox trailer:

(Not that I’d tell you to watch it, it reveals too much, you’re much better off taking the series in cold.)

There’s something about Suranne Jones…

So we were watching “Wrong Side of the Tracks,” a Spanish show on Netflix recommended by my cardiologist. She doesn’t watch much TV, she’s consumed with reading medical journals, and when she mentions a show, it’s worth checking out. (This is the difference people talk about when they reference the divide between the health care and longevity of poor people and rich people. If you’re willing to pay, doctors have all the time in the world for you, you can reach them nearly instantly, but it costs you. A sum most people I know are unwilling to pay. But my off-insurance internist diagnosed my leukemia, and this cardiologist says if I follow her plan I won’t have a heart attack, and in the last six months two people I know had heart attacks and two needed stents, so I’m paying up. Funny about money, what’s important to certain people and not others. Sure, you can drive a fancy automobile, but it doesn’t matter if you’re dead. I refuse to save money on health care, not that I don’t blanch at the cost.)

Now when we first started watching “Wrong Side of the Tracks,” I was wowed. It was the exact kind of show I go for. Dirty and gritty with truth. What you’ve got is a racist grandpa who owns a hardware store in a bad neighborhood insisting that his daughter’s adopted daughter come live with him, he’ll set her straight. And there are so many truth bombs. About this mother treating the adopted kid as an accessory, about her brother procreating without the means to provide…the series is so rich and to the bone and informative. Basically, there’s a dope dealer gangster who centers the action, and the crooked cop, the absolute star of the show who works both sides, and you can tell by the way I’m going on about it, I dug “Wrong Side of the Tracks.”

But it’s eight ninety minute episodes a season. A bigger commitment than most. And about halfway through, Felice said it felt like a soap opera.

Now I was trying not to be influenced, I was still into the show, but as I thought about what she said, I realized she was right. No one ever died. The consequences weren’t grave enough.

But we finished the eight episodes and…

There are three seasons, and you never know if each one is a reset. Sometimes the setting remains the same, sometimes the cast, I wanted to continue watching to see, even though Felice was less than enthusiastic. But when the same characters in the same places appeared, I turned it off. I wanted to know what happened, but I didn’t want to dedicate that much time.

So I went to my list.

My cardiologist had also recommended this Nordic noir series “Wisting.” But it turned out to be on AMC+, and we only get that with ads, as part of our Spectrum package. So I’m perusing my list, quickly, not wanting to hang Felice up, I get to choose but she gets to exercise judgment, and I saw this show on BritBox “Doctor Foster.”

I assumed it was like “Doc Martin,” a bumbling physician in the hinterlands.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Doctor Foster is played by Suranne Jones, and it’s set in the city.

So what we’ve got here is…

Suranne Jones as the head of the local surgery, and her husband as a real estate developer.

Is he having an affair?

Now I’ve got to tell you, at first you’ll find “Doctor Foster” frustrating, you’re just waiting for Suranne to come out with it.

But she doesn’t. And she wavers.

And, then the show turns into “The War of the Roses.” At least I think it does, I haven’t seen “The War of the Roses” for decades, and I know it’s set in one house, but my point here is the couples are battling.

And Bertie Carvel’s Simon, Suranne Jones’s Gemma’s husband, is categorically unable to tell the truth.

Like I said, at first the series is frustrating.

But then, just when you think it’s predictable.

IT’S NOT!

Everything plays out differently from your expectations. I mean we’ve all seen a lot of movies and TV shows, we know the tropes, we know what to expect, but “Doctor Foster” confounds us again and again.

Now you might be someone who married their high school sweetheart.

But if you’ve ever been divorced, if you’ve ever felt out of the loop in your relationship with your significant other, so many emotions will ring true. In Hollywood, stars get divorced and deny any consequences. In real life, people get divorced and the hangover goes on for years, they might be in your dreams until you die!

Now another thing different from American TV is that Gemma is not wholly likable, she doesn’t always do the right thing. She exercises bad judgment, crosses the line. But she’s possessed, and nothing is going to stand in her way.

Now the third party here is Jodie Comer as Kate Parks, whom you know from “Killing Eve.” Her role is not identical here, but what you notice is she’s so YOUNG!

Then you realize the first season of “Doctor Foster” came out in 2015. If you’re living in the U.K., the show is probably old hat.

But not in the U.S.

And what’s further astounding is it’s not been remade by a U.S. company. It’s been adapted in fifteen other countries, but not here. I guess studios want something that appeals to teens as opposed to adults, something that’s less chiaroscuro. I mean with the right actors you could remake this with a nearly identical script.

And “Doctor Foster” would be great with any solid actors in the key roles, but what truly puts it over the top is Suranne Jones.

You’ve seen her. She’s got credits an arm’s length long. I won’t list all of them, I’ll leave you to Google/Wikipedia.

But what you’ve got to know about Suranne… She radiates a sense of charisma, without being distant or mysterious. She’s just one step better looking than the average bear, she was not the best-looking girl in your high school, but she was the best-looking girl in your specific class.

But it’s not raw looks, when Suranne cracks a smile…

And she radiates an inherent intelligence too. She’s not a two-dimensional model with looks and little talent, she inhabits the role.

And as Doctor Foster she brings home the bacon. But when things go wrong for her and she questions why, her neighbor across the street says Gemma thinks she’s better than the rest. And it’s funny, because nothing has been said, but you can feel that, it’s true. She’s competent and good-looking and…

If someone’s that good-looking, there are scores of men who want to be involved with them just on this basis.

But Gemma… She’s difficult and flawed and she knows it. Then again, she’s aware of her power. She’s a blinking red light. But I’m telling you, there are so many guys who are willing to ride the tiger, they get mesmerized by looks and…

Now season two came out in 2017. And the BBC has just commissioned a final season three, nearly ten years later. But both of the initial two seasons play like they were shot yesterday.

The thing about “Doctor Foster” is on an emotional level, it can be very real. It can be over the top when it comes to plotting, but not too far out there such as to become laughable comedy. But while you’re watching, YOU TENSE UP!

At first you’re just viewing. But a few episodes in, it’s not so much that you’ve been in these exact circumstances as that you see them as plausible, you can foresee the consequences of actions, you can see people screwing up their lives, and when they do so it hurts. You. The viewer.

So on an absolute scale is “Doctor Foster” the best show I’ve ever seen?

No, it’s not in my absolute A tier.

Then again, it’s light years better than all of the stuff people e-mail me every day that is American pablum. They don’t understand that the TV works for you, you’re not subservient to it, this is not the old days of three networks, never mind Bruce Springsteen’s 57 channels. You’re responsible for finding good shows.

And in these shows is where you get the humanity, the points of discussion we used to get in music and movies.

When was the last time you debated a record?

And how much is there to say about superhero and horror flicks, they’re amusement park rides, forgotten right after they’re over.

But you will never forget “Doctor Foster.”

If this were an American show, it’d be the talk of the town.