You can now watch ‘Preacher,’ ‘Gangs of London’ and more great AMC shows on Netflix

Welcome to Screen Gab, the newsletter for everyone who’s ready for AMC’s return to Netflix.

The basic cable network helped shape the most recent golden age of television with the likes of “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad,” in part thanks to streaming subscribers being able to discover and catch up on its shows in the off-season. Now, a new generation of acclaimed AMC series is newly available on the platform, including this week’s recommendations, “Preacher” and “Gangs of London,” as well as “Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire,” “Dark Winds,” several “Walking Dead” spin-offs and more.

Plus, our TV critic celebrates the arrival on streaming of the classic cop drama “Homicide: Life on the Street,” and Minnie Driver stops by to discuss playing Elizabeth I in Starz’s “The Serpent Queen.”

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(Los Angeles Times photo illustration; photos via Getty Images)

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Turn on

Recommendations from the film and TV experts at The Times

Joe Cole in “Gangs of London.”

(AMC / Sky Y)

“Gangs of London” (AMC+, Netflix)

“Gangs of London” begins as many underworld dramas do, with a death that destabilizes the black market’s delicate balance. In the case of AMC’s uncommonly stylish actioner, though, the allure is not what the series reveals about Finn Wallace (Colm Meaney), his hotheaded son Sean (Joe Cole), their shrewd allies Ed and Alex Dumani (Lucian Msamati and Paapa Essiedu) or the undercover cop (Sope Dirisu) in their midst. It’s how: Even before the title card appears, over the image of blood seeping from the late kingpin’s head, creators Gareth Evans and Matt Flannery signal the show’s ambition through unexpected compositions, kinetic camera movements and delicious pops of color. (“Ozark,” this is not.) The result is a stirring gangland epic about the “illegitimate bastard children of the great British Empire,” one in which you’re made to feel less like an observer of the fisticuffs than a party to them. Experience the full-body wince of a crystal ashtray to the mouth or a barroom dart to the palm in the sequence that concludes the pilot and you’ll be hooked. Just in time for the hotly anticipated third season. — Matt Brennan

Dominic Cooper as Jesse Custer in “Preacher.”

(Skip Bolen / AMC / Sony Pictures Television)

“Preacher” (AMC+, Netflix)

Go ahead, pigeonhole “Preacher.” I dare you. Just a bit ahead of its time, this AMC comic adaptation is a fangirl’s fever dream: A person named Arseface who looks like what he’s been through? A reluctant man with a shady past, present and presence, spreading the word of God while simultaneously side-eyeing it? Angels and vampires?! Dominic Cooper, who I believe is part chameleon, plays “Preacher” as a man who’s just letting life have its way with him until forces beyond his control, heh, force him on a journey to do some hard things — finding himself, an old girlfriend (a spectacular Ruth Negga) and perhaps his God at the same time. The show almost defies genre, providing juicy storytelling with the acting to match, as many laughs as gore and just plain surprises. Let’s just call it a tragidramacomic and watch it right now. — Dawn M. Burkes

Catch up

Everything you need to know about the film or TV series everyone’s talking about

Steve Buscemi, left, and Andre Braugher in “Homicide: Life on the Street.”

(Michael Ginsburg / NBC )

One of the canards of our critical age is that television became great only once premium cable got into the game — that before “The Sopranos,” all was dark upon the waters. Just one case to the contrary: the brilliant “Homicide: Life on the Street,” which premiered on NBC in 1993, a police procedural that offered psychologically complex characters, morally murky storylines and superior writing in a series whose overarching concern was that it be true to life.

Created by Paul Attanasio (or, depending on your source, showrunner Tom Fontana and James Yoshimura), it was based on Baltimore Sun reporter David Simon’s 1991 work of nonfiction, “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets.” (Simon famously went on to create or co-create “The Wire,” Treme” and “The Deuce.”) Shot, on the titular streets of Baltimore with handheld 16mm cameras and filled with Godardian jump cuts, it was a neo-New Wave take on the genre that also called back to such early ’60s, on-location procedurals as “East Side West Side” and “Naked City,” with more emphasis on the lives of its detectives. It won three Peabody Awards and four Emmys.

Twenty-five years after it left the air, the series’ seven seasons and 122 episodes, along with the 2000 reunion, “Homicide: The Movie,” have finally begun streaming, via Peacock. (Music rights seem to have had something to do with the delay.) Among other things, this is the series that established Andre Braugher, in the role of ace interrogator Frank Pembleton, as a star, and gave birth to Richard Belzer‘s sardonic Det. John Munch, who would later transfer to “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”

Critically lauded if never highly rated, its presciently diverse cast — hired not for their color but their character — included at various times Kyle Secor, Melissa Leo, Ned Beatty, Jon Polito, Michelle Forbes, Clark Johnson, Isabella Hoffman, Jon Seda, Daniel Baldwin and, above them all, Yaphet Kotto as the homicide unit’s imposing commander, Al Giardello. The roster of guest stars attests to the show’s quality and reputation. To name just a few: James Earl Jones, Paul Giamatti, Edie Falco, Chris Rock, Steve Buscemi, Lily Tomlin, Alfre Woodard, Eric Stoltz, Isaiah Washington, Baltimore’s own John Waters, Joan Chen, Robin Williams and, in one of the series’ most remarkable episodes, Vincent D’Onofrio as a man trapped between a subway train and the platform. These people don’t show up for just anything. — Robert Lloyd

Guest spot

A weekly chat with actors, writers, directors and more about what they’re working on — and what they’re watching

Minnie Driver in “The Serpent Queen.”

(Starz)

Glenda Jackson. Judi Dench. Helen Mirren. Cate Blanchett. The actors who’ve played Elizabeth I represent a wide range of approaches to the Virgin Queen, but we’ve never seen her as we do in “The Serpent Queen”: through the eyes of an adversary. Season 2 of Starz’s drama, which concludes next week, finds French monarch Catherine de’ Medici (Samantha Morton) courting her English counterpart, played by Minnie Driver, to secure a strategic marriage for her son — and discover a mischievous frenemy who won’t be so easily played. Driver stopped by Screen Gab recently to discuss following in the footsteps of legends, voicing the Penguin in a new animated series and what she’s watching. — Matt Brennan

What have you watched recently that you’re recommending to everyone you know?

I recently watched all three seasons of “Slow Horses” [Apple TV+]. It is that rare confluence of genius story, character and direction with sublime performances from every actor involved. There is nothing slick or manufactured about it — it’s messy and human and really funny — and yet the action sequences are sharp and compelling.

What’s your go-to “comfort watch,” the film or TV show you return to again and again?

If anything in my life is amiss, you will know because I will either be watching “The Sound of Music” [Disney+] or “30 Rock” [Peacock, Hulu], most probably Seasons 1 to 3. If I need to be reminded of why I do what I do, I watch “Barry” [HBO, Max]. I think it’s a perfect show.

Elizabeth I is either the subject of, or a supporting character in, countless films and TV series. What was your definitive Elizabeth going into this experience and why? What is most distinctive about “The Serpent Queen’s” take on her?

I remember watching Glenda Jackson play Elizabeth I on TV when I was a little kid. She was terrifying and seductive, and I immediately understood the power innately present in this person, both as a queen and a woman. Justin Haythe, who created and wrote “The Serpent Queen,” was really interested in exploring the woman behind the Crown. I think you see glimpses of her throughout this season — she is witty and playful, dead sure of her power, a woman of appetites. For me, it was brilliant to see her sharpen her claws on Catherine de’ Medici when she feels that Catherine does not have her house or power under control. I was left wanting to explore more, which is an interesting place to leave playing a character in anything.

You’ve appeared in a number of projects over the years that have amassed a passionate following — such as “Grosse Pointe Blank,” “Good Will Hunting,” “The Riches” and a personal favorite of mine, “Speechless.” What’s the one that people stop you to talk about most often these days, and what do they say?
Well, recently, people have been asking about Elizabeth I and also the Penguin, who I voice in the new animated series “Batman: Caped Crusader.” There’s been quite a reaction to a woman voicing the Penguin, and as it is such a brilliant re-imagining from Bruce Timm. I’m always interested to chat about it. Lorraine Finnster, who I played on “Will & Grace” [Hulu], also still seems to bring a lot of comment and joy.