Hey ho, let’s go watch punks, cops and spies

Punk rock, kooky spies, crooked cops, a hilarious old man and a contract killer with a big, big problem: that should be enough to tide viewers over for a couple of weeks!

● Riot Women (series premières Wednesday on BritBox)

Happy Valley writer-director Sally Wainwright has a new series, which is reason enough to celebrate. That this one is about the forming of a punk band by a handful of menopausal women makes it even more appealing to those revelling in CBC’s brilliant menopause comedy Small Achievable Goals. Sisters are doing it! The performances are bound to also be good, from the likes of Joanna Scanlan (Slow Horses), Tamsin Greig (Friday Night Dinner), Lorraine Ashbourne (Sherwood), Taj Atwal (Line of Duty) and Rosalie Craig (Moonflower Murders). Hey ho, let’s go!

● Ponies (series premières Thursday on StackTV and Showcase)

In 1977 Moscow, two secretaries working for the American Embassy are being condescended to by their bosses, but sexist office politics are soon overshadowed by shocking violence that earns the women special status in the eyes of the CIA. Bea (Emilia Clarke, Game of Thrones) and Twila (Haley Lu Richardson, The White Lotus) are not smooth operatives, but they are quick learners and very motivated. Will the series be able to balance serious thriller elements with the lipstick slapstick hinted at in the trailer? It looks worth investigating at the very least.

● The Rip (movie premières Friday, Jan. 16 on Netflix)

Writer-director Joe Carnahan can deliver thrills. Check out the 2006 Vegas crime thriller Smokin’ Aces, starring Andy Garcia, Jeremy Piven, Ray Liotta and Ryan Reynolds. But as that film also proves, Carnahan (Copshop, Narc) does not always have as tight a grip on narrative logic, though the cast in his latest makes the gamble worthwhile. Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Steven Yuen, Kyle Chandler and Teyana Taylor star in this police thriller about millions of dollars found in a derelict stash house. A lot can happen before these buckets of cash can be safely logged into evidence at the police station. And a lot does happen. “Inspired by true events.”

● Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man! (documentary premières Thursday, Jan. 22 on HBO/Crave)

“I went into comedy because of my love for Mel Brooks,” says acclaimed writer-director Judd Apatow (Knocked Up). “This project is the dream of a lifetime.” The project is the new two-night, two-part documentary on the great American comedian, whose credits go back to the namesake skit, The 2000 Year Old Man, which he created and performed in the 1950s with his longtime partner, the late great Carl Reiner. Later Brooks credits include The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and much, much more. Expect a parade of famous talking heads and many glorious clips. This is the latest in a great string of comedy profiles from Apatow (The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling) and Michael Bonfiglio (George Carlin’s American Dream).

● Memory of a Killer (series premières Sunday, Jan. 25 on CTV, Fox, Crave)

Onetime McDreamy neurosurgeon on Grey’s Anatomy, Patrick Dempsey is resurfacing as a not only a hitman, but a hitman with “an even deadlier personal secret.” Michael Imperioli (Sopranos) plays Dutch, a celebrity chef whose restaurant is a front for a mob operation, as well as the best friend of Angelo (Dempsey). This thriller is based on the book and 2003 Belgian film De Zaak Alzheimer, which is a bit of a plot hint even if you don’t speak the language.

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