'Big Little Lies' Meets 'The White Lotus': Why Jon Hamm's 'Your Friends And Neighbours' Is Your Next Favourite TV Show

There are some actors you'll tune in for before you've even got to the bottom of the summary of what the show's about — a sign of the ultimate A-list. Would I watch Jennifer Aniston in pretty much anything? Well, I watched her in a lot of mid-Noughties rom-coms  (including the Adam Sandler ones) so I guess the answer is yes. But the list runs way past Aniston — and everyone has their favourites that'll see them sign up to any streaming service.

Jon Hamm is surely edging his way onto that list for more and more people. After his breakthrough starring role in Mad Men, a particularly disturbing turn in Black Mirror, some devilish behaviour on The Morning Show and one of the most iconic Fargo performances around (on a star-studded show, that's saying something), Hamm's latest offering is Your Friends & Neighbours.

While lots of the Hamm-fans I know have tuned into Apple TV+'s latest prestige offering — little wonder given that it has a cast full of great female-driven parts and a glossy eat-the-rich vibe that seems to draw audiences like moth to a gilded flame — it isn't being talked about as much as other shows of its ilk.

In a classic several-parter TV style, the show opens with Hamm's Andrew Cooper in trouble — he's in a pool of blood next to a body. Cooper's voiceover tells the audience life wasn't always like this, before we move four months back to try to unpick what's going on. What's going on is Cooper's life is falling apart protractedly. He's divorced — his wife Mel (played by Amanda Peet) is living with his former best friend in his old home, after the couple had an affair. His relationship with his teen kids is almost non-existent. After a one-night stand, he then loses his job (and his reputation), his income and a large chunk of his personal wealth - but the bills from his wife and family keep coming. There's also his struggling sister, who he's bankrolling and the fact that he can't seem to figure out what to do about his on-off secret relationship with his wife's friend, Sam (a brilliant Olivia Munn). So, in circumstances that feel more believable when watching, he ends up stealing from the rich friends he used to spend his time live, laugh, loving with and now — on the outside — is starting to despise.

Cooper's voiceover becomes our guide through the eat-the-rich narratives we love to hate and evidenced in shows like Succession and The White Lotus. In stealing the odd watch or bottle of wine he details their sale prices that exceed most of our annual salaries, let alone wildest dreams. He watches on disdainfully as 'the guys' one-up each other with more and more ridiculous whisky-origin stories. He glances on, knowing seemingly-perfect marriages are actually ravaged by affairs. While other series of its kind often show and don't tell, Your Friends & Neighbours leaves nothing to chance in vilifying the excess — and in turn lending Cooper some sympathy as he rummages through their drawers.

Of course he's not exactly Robin Hood — stealing from his mates to pay his daughter's tennis tuition, so she can keep up with the Jones' and join Princeton's tennis team. And the circumstances around his firing — and the subsequent moves he makes against the woman involved — aren't cut-and-dry either. We know, thanks to Mel, that Cooper ended up in this position partly by his own hand, ignoring his family for years before her betrayal. Just as he did with Don Draper, Hamm balances all these nuances, these shades of villainy, with handsome appeal and some well-meaning tendencies. Just enough to carry you along and keep you coming back for more.

The women in the show are better written than many where wealth and male leads take forefront — not that that's something we should be grateful for, but it's not always a given in some big-budget shows. And Peet and Munn are excellent in portraying the complexities of their middle-age and the trappings of the lives they've led, buoyed by rich husbands. Lena Hall's Ali, Cooper's sister, is also incredibly appealing; she's a more normal heart to a show filled with the 1% and again, makes you warm to the show's central character. Come for Hamm — stay for the women who surround him.

And of course, set in the wealthy suburbs of the 1% is just very lovely to watch — the homes, the pools, the clubs... I particularly enjoyed Munn turning up for a self-defence class (laced with weed brownies) in a beautiful Loewe T-shirt. This crowd doesn't really go in for quiet luxury.

Apple TV+ dropped the first three episodes of Your Friends & Neighbours to entice you in, but from now on, the show will air weekly, which hopefully gives the show the time to pull in the audience it deserves.

Your Friends & Neighbours premiered on April 11. New episodes of the series are released weekly on Fridays on Apple TV+.

ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE.

Read the original article in ELLE UK.