The Beast in Me: Is Claire Danes’ new Netflix thriller worth the watch?

New psychological thriller stars Danes in ‘Homeland’-style lip-wobbling form

Netflix has released a brand new psychological thriller series that’s already rising up the charts – but is it worth watching?

The Beast in Me is a new eight-part series from Gabe Rotter, a protégé of X-Files creator Chris Carter who wrote the show five years ago.

It was dusted off by 24 and Homeland producer Howard Gordon, who brought the show to Netflix and enlisted Claire Danes, star of the latter, to play the lead role.

Danes stars as Aggie Wiggs, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer whose world is dangerously rocked by her new neighbour Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys), a famous business magnate who was suspected of killing his wife.

Also starring in the series, directed by Lila Neugebaue (Causeway) and Antonio Campos (The Devil All the Time) are Brittany Snow, Natalie Morales and Breaking Bad favourite Jonathan Banks.

The Independent’s Chief Film & TV correspondent Jacob Stolworthy has watched the show – and you can find his verdict below.

Rhys recently opened up about playing the sociopathic Nile in The Beast in Me, sharing his partner Keri Russell’s reaction to some of the more shocking scenes.

“When she saw it, she was like, 'This is tailor-made for you. This is the person you truly are. It's about time the world knew who you are’,” Rhys joked with The Independent at the series’ New York City red carpet premiere earlier this month.

The 50-year-old Welshman added: “She saw the beast in me a long time ago and wasn’t that impressed then.”

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Rhys and Russell began dating in 2014 while co-starring on FX’s spy drama The Americans. The pair share three children and refer to each other as husband and wife, although Rhys admitted earlier this year that they “literally haven’t got round to marriage yet”.

Russell heads up her own Netflix show, The Diplomat, which is on its third season. The Beast in Me is available to stream now.