Orphan Black

To discuss this show's plot in any real detail is to spoil the many twists, turns and brilliant tonal shifts this show has for you. In short though, a con artist called Sarah Manning is waiting on a platform for her connecting train, destitute and down on her luck. She spies a woman about to throw herself in front of a train. Preparing to intervene, the woman turns and reveals herself to be identical to Sarah herself in every way, and then jumps. Given her huckster nature, Sarah steals the dead woman's identity only to fall into an enormous conspiracy. I will say no more than that. I hope that is enough to entice you because Orphan Black is one of the real surprises this year.

It feels like a collaboration between Joss Whedon and the warped grunge aesthetics of David Fincher. The creators, Graeme Manson and John Fawcett, craft instantly memorable characters the way Whedon does best. Their creations are far more disturbed and unlikeable for the most part than the Whedonverse though. They also share the ability to have gay characters who are not defined by their sexuality in the way that many lesser shows do. The look and feel of the show though is pure Fincher. The unnamed city feels like the unnamed city of Se7en and the score is reminiscent of Trent Reznor's work for Fincher. Everything is slighly off-kilter in this world, even the music.

Its pilot may feel a little bit like in-flight entertainment at first but in its first ten episodes alone there are nods to police procedurals, suburban satire, conspiracy thrillers and black comedy without ever losing sight of its overarching narrative. It is virtually a different show from episode to episode. It scores extra points too for presenting mysteries to us and solving them quickly, rather than teasing answers out over years.

There are problems. Characters run out of steam but hang around aimlessly and others are so one-note that they grow irritating fast. Jordan Gavaris, in particular, plays what can only be described as the equivalent of gay blackface.

The real treasure is lead actress Tatiana Maslany. She gives one of the most versatile performances I have ever seen from a performer. She imbues her characters (the dead girl and Sarah) with tiny tics and quirks that make them wholly different personalities. You forget that a single actress is playing these roles and for that she deserves all the credit in the world. If Orphan Black's story is great, then Maslany is revelatory.

Currently airing on BBC Three, catch up now and be ahead of everyone else who'll be on the band wagon when season two airs next year.