Nucky’ Thompson (Steve Buscemi) is back, along with everyone left standing at the conclusion of the first season of this Prohibition-era gangster drama from HBO.

Bootlegging, malfeasance, poetic violence and those spruce Jazz-age threads again take centre frame in this series that’s fast become compulsory viewing. With a sterling support cast filling out a fascinating gallery of rogues – including Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men) and a triumvirate of Michaels: Pitt (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Shannon (Take Shelter) and Stuhlbarg (A Serious Man) – it’s little wonder The Guardian hailed this lustrous production as ‘starting to look like a masterpiece’.

[[gerard]] Gerard Elson