Why I can’t look away from new drama ZeroZeroZero

Sky Atlantic’s new drama ZeroZeroZero, a sprawling saga involving a shipment of cocaine being transported from Mexico to Italy via Senegal, is horribly addictive.

Created by the writer and the people behind another gang-fest, Gomorrah, the plot is so preposterous I can’t turn away for a moment. ZZZ looks fabulous, packed with characterful faces in exotic locations – Mexican shanty towns, rowdy wrestling matches in Dakar and grand mansions in New Orleans. The Mafia boss lives in a high-tech cave at the top of a mountain in Calabria, with (of course) an escape tunnel.

Best of all, the series stars British actor Andrea Riseborough as the daughter of a shipping billionaire whose business acted as a broker between the drug cartels in Mexico and mafia buyers in Calabria. Following the death of her father, Emma (Riseborough) takes control, alongside her brother Chris (Dane DeHaan), who suffers from Huntingdon’s disease.

It’s a far cry from the versatile Riseborough’s previous work, playing Wallis Simpson and Margaret Thatcher. Now she has a washed-out blonde bob combined with an almost transparent expression. She’s tough!

The massive amount of violence manages to be both unexpected and unspeakable, and every single person is a double-dealing crook operating by their own set of rules. Even the police in the Mexican anti-drug squad are in league with the cartels, demanding their cut. It looks fabulous, but I wish I hadn’t seen a man drinking the blood of a freshly slaughtered pig in a kind of initiation ritual. Pure escapism.