麻豆社

Every week, the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Scott Bryan and Hayley Campbell review 'Waiting for the Out', 'Run Away' and 'The Night Manager'.

What do the Must Watch reviewers make of them?

Waiting for the Out is based on a memoir by Andy West. It’s about a guy called Dan, who teaches a philosophy class to a group of men in prison. It stars Josh Finan, who played the young Gerry Adams in Say Nothing (2024). Waiting for the Out is written by Dennis Kelly, who co-created and co-wrote Pulling, with Sharon Horgan.

Scott says this is his “first favourite show of the year so far.”

“It goes against your expectations because you start to think the prisoners are all going to be one in the same. They really aren't. They are fully fleshed out characters and you hear them debate and talk about big philosophical ideas.”

“It has one of the most accurate but heartfelt depictions of what it's like to be living with OCD that I've seen on TV. It feels incredibly realistic in the way that it looks.”

“It sweeps aside your expectation or generalisations and tries to put something a bit more nuanced and potentially accurate about what it is like to work within these environments.”

Hayley agrees with Scott, saying the inmates “are really making him look at these philosophical ideas and myths in ways he's never considered before, because their perspective is so different from his own.”

She says it’s “ a really excellent portrayal of what it's like to live with OCD and how debilitating it can be, even if it's the kind that you can hide from other people most of the time.”

“It's a show about one guy's coping mechanisms: his OCD and his interest in philosophy. It’s all about searching for meaning and purpose that he doesn't have.”

“It sounds quite heavy, but there's a plot going on outside of the prison. All of this ties it up in a neat bow. I thought this was really good. Heavy, but good.”

Both Scott and Hayley agreed that this show is a Must Watch.

All episodes of Waiting for the Out are available to watch on 麻豆社 iPlayer, with the second episode also airing on 麻豆社 One on Saturday 10th January at 9.35pm.

Run Away is a drama starring James Nesbitt adapted from a novel by Harlan Coben. The series, which also stars Minnie Driver, Jon Pointing, Tracey-Ann Oberman and Ruth Jones, is all about a father who is accused of murdering the homeless boyfriend of his daughter Paige (Ellie de Lange) who ran away from home.

Hayley says she’s “historically not a fan of these Harlan Coben shows. They feel like junk food to me, and not fun junk food.”

“It always feels a bit like filler, like stuff you saw last time but remixed. Like, why does every Harlan Coben show have someone in a ski mask?”

“There are so many murders they become kind of meaningless. I think James Nesbitt and Minnie Driver are both too good to be in this.”

“If that's the kind of writing you can live with, then knock yourself out. But this sounds so silly to me that I just cannot watch.”

Scott says that while this one isn’t a Must Watch, he does "know what this show is trying to do, and it succeeds because it's trying to put on something that is incredibly silly, not very realistic in any way, shape or form, but neither would you want it to because it's the very first week of January, everything sucks and you just want to watch something.”

“It sort of fulfils the need. I sort of see this as equivalent to a pot noodle. Yes, it's sort of salty. It's not really suitable to have every day, but it fills you up and it kind of makes you feel a bit full before going to bed.”

“It has deliberate over the top music and scenes to pull at your heartstrings when it hasn't really earned them. It's got plot twists which genuinely make it feel like you're a handbrake turn whilst going on the motorway.”

“This is already the most popular show on Netflix so far. They are clearly working. They're not critically acclaimed. Absolutely not.”

Hayley and Scott agreed that Run Away is NOT a Must Watch.

All episodes of Run Away are available to watch now on Netflix.

The Night Manager is based on the book by John Le Carre. This one goes beyond the original book. It’s 2026, and nine years have passed since Jonathan Pine (played by Tom Hiddleston) tricked Richard Roper in Egypt and sent him into the hands of his Syrian captors. Now, Roper is dead, and Pine has become Alex Goodwin, a low-level intelligence officer with MI6. Then, Pine sees an old Roper mercenary in London – and his new secure life begins to unravel.

Scott says this one is “a good watch, but not a Must Watch”.

“A reason why The Night Manager series one is so good is that it comes from an era of the first shows that were coming from a very different location, had a really big budget, had Hollywood actors. It was kind of real prestige TV.”

“This new storyline is better than some other spy shows that I've seen over the course of the last couple of years, but is not as good as season one was.”

“The new arch nemesis villain is nowhere near as fascinating as the one from the first series and I think it loses something from that.”

“Because they had tied up every loose end with the end of series one, they've sort of had to undo some of that to make series two work.”

Hayley agrees with Scott saying “it’s fine, but not a Must Watch”.

“What I loved about the first series was mostly the cast. Hugh Laurie was particularly good at being evil. Tom Hollander as his right-hand man… he was just this incredibly camp psychopath.”

“This new series to me is a bit more silly and a bit more like a normal spy show. It's kind of in line with Spooks.”

“There are a few things that are a bit too convenient to actually be believable, but they move the plot along.”

“These ones feel like baddies we've seen before in other shows. But the previous baddies [from series one], you loved them.”

Scott and Hayley agreed that The Night Manager is NOT a Must Watch.

Two episodes of The Night Manager series two are available to watch on 麻豆社 iPlayer, with the third episode available to watch Sunday 11th January at 9pm on 麻豆社 One.

Listen to the full reviews of all three programmes on 麻豆社 Sounds.

Why not contact Scott and Hayley with the shows you’ve been loving, loathing or both on mustwatch@bbc.co.uk.

We used AI to transcribe and summarise our Must Watch feature. This article was then written and reviewed by a 麻豆社 journalist. More on how the 麻豆社 uses AI.