Perry Mason

The HBO Perry Mason begins with a much less secure figure than the familiar unflappable television lawyer. Matthew Rhys plays a troubled investigator in 1930s Los Angeles, drawn into a case whose public attention makes the search for truth more difficult.

The period setting is the attraction alongside Rhys. Money, reputation and institutions shape what can be asked and who will answer. Juliet Rylance gives Della Street a practical intelligence that helps the working relationships feel like more than support for a solitary lead.

The series is deliberately sombre. It takes time with atmosphere and damage, sometimes more than the mystery needs, but the performances generally justify staying with it. The first season is the stronger recommendation.

Approach this as a new interpretation rather than a faithful recreation of the earlier television format. The Night Of offers related legal unease, while True Detective shares the sense of an investigation shaped by the place in which it happens.