For a small country of just over nine million people Israel produces an extraordinary amount of first-class television. Conflict drives drama, so fighting a succession of wars for survival and overseeing an occupation — and the ethical price that exacts — add a sharp edge to several dramas that I have reviewed here, including Tehran, Fauda and No Man’s Land. But can that enthralling storytelling still thrive in a slower-paced, more complex story — one where doors are opened warily to be peeked around, rather than kicked in and stormed through?

Rough Diamonds shows the answer is yes. The eight-part crime series, now showing on Netflix, is a co-production between Israel’s Keshet, and the Belgian De Mensen and VRT. Set in the strictly Orthodox Jewish community in Antwerp, it is based around the Wolfson family, a veteran dynasty of diamond dealers.

The series was co-created by Rotem Shamir and Yuval Yefet, who have both worked on Fauda. Like Fauda, Rough Diamonds is driven by the strong emotional connections between the characters. It starts with the suicide of Yanki Wolfson. Suicide is a sin in this world and his death leaves a legacy of not just grief but massive debt. The Wolfsons face ruin. Yanki’s estranged brother Noah, played by the Belgian actor Kevin Janssen, returns to help.

Some of the set-piece scenes, such as the family dinner for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, are quite beautiful, with the depth and stillness of a Vermeer painting

Like his biblical namesake, Noah must guide his family through new and very dangerous waters, while also navigating his enduring feelings for the fiancée he abandoned — who then married Yanki. Marie Vinck gives a stand-out performance as Gila, barely able to control her anger, resentment, simmering sexuality and continuing attraction to Noah.

The producers spent six years researching the series. They recruited a Yiddish coach and cultural advisers to make sure every element was authentic and correct. “It’s very important for us that people will know that we took this task extremely seriously, from the very first moment,” Shamir told The Times of Israel. Eventually the producers gained the community’s trust, so much so that some appeared as extras and in minor roles. The fine level of detail, down to the type of wigs that Orthodox Jewish women and their modest clothes wear brings a powerful authenticity. Some of the set-piece scenes, such as the family dinner for Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, are quite beautiful, with the depth and stillness of a Vermeer painting.

Still, this is a crime series and things sometimes do get quite rough. The difference here is that while some of the Wolfsons go to the dark side, making perilous temporary alliances with the Albanian mafia, they don’t celebrate it. Instead they agonise, trying to rationalise their crimes and bad deeds as necessary for the greater good — the survival of the business, and the family, on which so many depend. Strong characterisation, a maze of obstacles — financial, legal and moral — and a storyline unfolding in a world usually closed to outsiders makes Rough Diamonds absorbing, often enthralling television.

I do love a good international political thriller, ideally with some spookery thrown into the mix. So I was much looking forward to The Diplomat. The eight-part series, showing on Netflix, features Keri Russell as Kate Wyler, the new American ambassador to London and Rufus Sewell as her handsome husband Hal. Russell arrives as dozens of British sailors have been killed in an attack in the Gulf on a Royal Navy warship. It may have been the Iranians. Or Isis. Or was it the Lenkov group — a Russian mercenary outfit pretending to be the Iranians? And if it was, then, as Lenin usefully asked, Who, Whom, meaning who benefits?

The story rolls in and around the US embassy, the Foreign Office and other bits of Whitehall, with a nicely shocking twist in the last episode. Russell does not quite match her superb performance in The Americans, as Elizabeth Jennings, a deep penetration Soviet agent.

Still there’s plenty of purposeful striding, secretive telephone calls and snapped orders to her minions as the international crisis ramps up and conflagration beckons. Her excellency also, has, of course, personal issues. The Wylers are perpetually on the edge of breaking up but are still attracted to each other, which leads to a ludicrous fight scene in a garden, snatched sex and endless discussions about where their marriage is going.
This soon becomes rather wearying. One minute The Diplomat is a smart House of Cards meets Homeland with diplomatic immunity; the next a drippy soap opera about hyper-privileged international envoys and their love lives. Memo to the creators: decide please. The Diplomat has just been renewed for season two, so let’s hope they make up their minds.

the series roams from luxurious mafia villas to designer offices and grimy Communist-era housing estates

Finally, a brief mention for Four Strangers, a Croatian crime drama, produced by Drugi Plan, the same Croatian company that made The Paper, which I reviewed here (Aug/Sept 2021). The four strangers are everyday people, thrown together when the son of a leading mafioso is killed in the capital Zagreb. Only one wielded the murder weapon, but all are quickly plunged quickly into danger and must rely on each other to survive.

Like The Paper, Four Strangers, showing on Channel 4’s Walter Presents, unfolds against post-war Croatia’s backdrop of organised crime, endemic corruption and lawlessness. Directed by Oscar-winning Danis Tanovic, the series roams from luxurious mafia villas to designer offices and grimy Communist-era housing estates. There’s no time or opportunity for dithering or agonising. Survival is all that matters in this gritty, whipcrack-smart series.

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This article is taken from the July 2023 issue of The Critic. To get the full magazine why not subscribe? Right now we’re offering five issues for just £10.