From Alex Pina, the creator of one of Netflix’s most binge-worthy original series Money Heist (La Casa De Papel), comes a brand new show set on the hedonistic isle of Ibiza. Starring Laura Haddock, Daniel Mays, Angela Griffin and Laurence Fox, White Lines is a darkly comedic crime drama about a troubled young woman who travels to the white Isle in the hope of solving her brother’s murder.
When the body of a young man is found buried in the sand in Almeria, Spain, Mancunian Zoe (Laura Haddock) is compelled to find out whether the body could be her long lost brother Axel (Tom Rhys Harries). As a young DJ, Axel left his home in Manchester after falling out with his police officer father, but then disappeared without a trace whilst trying to make a name for himself in Ibiza.
Arriving in Ibiza where she hopes to find answers, Zoe is reunited with Marcus (brilliantly portrayed by Mayes), one of Axel’s best friends who made the trip with him from Manchester in search for glory and sun-kissed memories. Far from having his life fully in order, it soon transpires that recently divorced Marcus, also a DJ, has been running a small drug operation which soon gets him in hot waters with his boss, the head of the Calafat crime family. Still pining for his ex wife (a gorgeously understated turn by Griffin) and with a home he can barely afford, Marcus finds himself at the mercy of some unsavoury characters who threaten to harm him and his loved ones.
Sea, sun, sex and copious amounts of Bolivian marching powder make this into something far more trashier and more bonkers than one would expect from a mainstream show. Yes the characters are over the top and the story itself is beyond far-fetched, but what makes this into such a fun show is its refusal to conform to its genre or stay in its own lane, and for that Pina and his team should be commended. Personally I could have done without so much gratuitous nudity, not out of some puritan worldview, but because I genuinely don’t believe that it add anything to an already well served storyline.
Its premise might carry an element of drama, but at the heart of the story there is a charming and, let’s face it, a rather hilariously bonkers storyline. White Lines may not exactly reinvent the crime drama wheel, but it brings a hell of lot of fun to the genre.
White Lines will be available to stream on Netflix from Thursday 15th of May
