Forget the Emma Thompson you thought you knew. Gone is the warmth, the humour, the comforting screen presence. In her boldest transformation yet, the Oscar-winning actress returns to the spotlight in Netflix’s newest psychological thriller, and this time she’s ice, steel, and pure fire.

The eight-part series — set in an Oxford suburb gripped by the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl — begins as a familiar whodunit. But it quickly descends into something far darker. Beneath the cobblestone charm and academic prestige of England’s most revered institutions, something rotten festers — a secret world of privilege, silence, and corruption.

Thompson plays an investigator whose calm precision masks deep emotional scars. Her every gesture is measured, her every look capable of cutting through deceit. It’s a performance critics have already dubbed “a masterclass in controlled fury.”

“She doesn’t shout,” one reviewer wrote. “She eviscerates — quietly, completely.”

Alongside her is the magnetic Ruth Wilson (Luther, The Affair), whose chemistry with Thompson simmers with tension — two women navigating a world built to silence them, uncovering truths that threaten to destroy everything in their path.

Written by Mick Herron, the acclaimed creator of Slow Horses, the series doesn’t rely on jump scares or gimmicks. Instead, it grips with atmosphere — slow-burn dread, whispered betrayals, and the unravelling of moral facades that once seemed untouchable.

As the investigation deepens, what begins as a search for one missing girl evolves into an indictment of power itself. The final episodes deliver a revelation so devastating that early viewers have described it as “a gut punch” and “one of the most haunting endings Netflix has ever released.”

“It’s not the missing girl who’ll haunt you,” one fan tweeted. “It’s what Emma Thompson finds instead.”

Social media has since exploded with praise and shock, with fans calling the series “Britain’s answer to Mare of Easttown” — but colder, crueler, and more unflinchingly real.

Thompson’s reinvention here is not just a performance; it’s a reckoning — a fearless confrontation with guilt, power, and the price of truth. She proves once again that she’s not just one of Britain’s finest actors — she’s a force of nature, capable of reinventing herself and the genre in one breathtaking stroke.

This is not just another British mystery. It’s a mirror held up to society’s most comfortable lies — and when the credits roll, you’ll find yourself staring back into the darkness it reveals.

Netflix hasn’t just dropped a thriller — it’s unleashed a storm.