Newest 7-Episode Netflix Series is a Must-Watch for The Tourist Fans

Summary

• May 9th will see Netflix drop the first scripted series from the Obama production company Higher Ground.
• The series follows a trio of true-crime podcasters as they attempt to crack a twenty-year old cold case in a small Irish town.
• Showrunner Jez Scharf was inspired by his own love of true crime.
• The show is highly recommended for fans of Jamie Dornan's latest thriller series.

In 2018, Michelle and Barack Obama's production company Higher Ground signed a multi-year deal with Netflix, the biggest streaming service in the world. The Obamas were set to produce a number of high-profile projects, both scripted and unscripted.

Their first scripted project will premiere on May 9th, and it's not what you might have expected from the former President and First Lady. Bodkin is a dark comedy/mystery/thriller set in a small Irish town, starring comedy legend Will Forte.

What's It About?

True crime podcasters Gilbert (Forte), Dove (Siobhán Cullen), and Emmy (Robyn Cara) are desperately hoping to find a story juicy enough to make their podcast stand out in a crowded market. They decide to head to Ireland, where three strangers once disappeared from the (fictional) small coastal town of Bodkin.

The podcasters come to Bodkin on the festival of Samhain (which one character flippantly describes as 'the Irish Day of the Dead'.) It was on this date twenty years ago that three townspeople disappeared during the festival.

Of course, television rules apply – the smaller the town, the more skeletons in the closet, and the more suspicious the townspeople are of outsiders like Gilbert, Dove, and Emmy. Underneath the idyllic landscape of Bodkin lies some dark secrets that the townspeople are eager to keep hidden. Meanwhile, the podcasters have their own reasons for pursuing this story, and their own secrets to keep.

As the threads of the mystery get increasingly twisted, it becomes clear that a cold case can still hold many dangers for the strangers who are poking around.

For Fans of The Tourist

Like the recent Jamie Dornan hit The Tourist, Bodkin is a fish-out-of-water story that unravels a mystery with the help of some kooky side characters. Both shows use dark humour to keep you laughing even as the mysteries deepen.

Both shows also feature high-profile actors. Dornan made it big with Fifty Shades of Grey, while you'll recognize Forte from SNL and 30 Rock. But in spite of the famous leads, both shows are, at their core, ensemble stories.

About True Crime, But Not Based on a True Crime

Although it follows a true crime podcast and was inspired by the recent surge of true crime entertainment, Bodkin is not based on a real-life tale. Instead, as the trailer tells us, it's 'Based on a true story… overheard in a pub.'

Bodkin was created and executive produced by Jez Scharf, who also performs showrunner duties in tandem with Alex Metcalf. When telling Netflix's companion site Tudum about the inspiration behind Bodkin, Scharf said:

​​'Whenever I listen to a true crime podcast, I always think about what it must be like to be that researcher on the ground, in that town, knocking on doors, trying to get people to open up about their most traumatic and difficult experiences, and how absurd that might feel.'

Scharf used that sense of the traumatic, difficult and absurd to create Bodkin, which will become available to stream on May 9, 2024.

Source: Forbes.