The beginning of martial arts-meets-suburban-family-drama Kung Fu is graced by a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it close-up of a grasshopper. Dues thus paid to David Carradine and the 1970s television series of the same name (whose concept came originally from Bruce Lee), this revamped version (Warner TV; Now TV channel 510) quickly moves on to do its own thing, without completely abandoning certain essential pillars of the first edition. China’s celebrated Shaolin Temple remains the cradle of all the explosive action that follows. But this time, instead of a wandering hero in the Wild West, we’re in the company of a modern-day, guilt-burdened heroine who returns to her family, having run away three years earlier to join the temple rather than submit to her mother’s marriage plans for her. On pitching up back in San Francisco, however, independent, newly minted warrior Nicky Shen ( Olivia Liang ) finds the triads running Chinatown and shaking down her restaurateur father (Tzi Ma) for debts he can’t repay. Harmony Dumplings looks like its goose is cooked. So now Nicky must patch things up with her parents, be a one-woman crime-stopper for the neighbourhood, quit mooning about the boyfriend she dumped when she scarpered to Shaolin and make amends with her gay brother (Jon Prasida), who once depended on her moral support. She is also obliged to follow to Singapore and beyond the “crazy, sword-wielding psychopath” Zhilan (Yvonne Chapman) who murdered her mentor and kung fu shifu (Vanessa Kai) before stealing an Excalibur-style weapon with magical powers. With a second season already in the can, all that is clearly a tall, time-consuming order – too much for the 13 first-series instalments. Which is welcome news for fans of the sort of action thriller that doesn’t take itself too seriously and has room for a lightness of touch: imperative when the mother of the heroine is more concerned about her daughter’s matrimonial prospects than her career in international crime-busting. Prime suspects Had Agatha Christie turned her hand to whodunit comedy thrillers, then The Afterparty might have been the intriguing result. A murder mystery featuring a bunch of former high-school friends, rivals, lovers and losers, this eight-part Apple TV+ series shows exactly why most ex-classmates are best left in the past. Bitchily comparing notes, at their excruciating high-school reunion, on ambitions, successes, failures, families, careers and former crushes, seven major characters, plus several orbiting hangers-on, fatefully decide to prolong the awkwardness at the Californian mansion of easily the most prominent of their number, vacuous pop star and actor Xavier (Dave Franco). In a nod to 2019 movie Knives Out , the events of the disastrous night are then related through the recollections and personal agendas of one main suspect per episode, plus those of the investigating detective ( Tiffany Haddish ). Cleverly, the style of each instalment changes to reflect the personality of the suspect, most notably in the cases of manipulative, oleaginous wannabe pop sensation Yasper (Ben Schwartz), whose account turns into a musical, complete with Bollywood-style flourishes (and a rap number better than anything in the charts); and disappointed divorcee and possible schizophrenic Zoë (Zoë Chao), who stars in her own cartoon. Sam Richardson is the suggestible, eager-to-please Aniq; Jamie Demetriou memorably plays the instantly forgettable klutz Walt, desperate for any attention; Ike Barinholtz is thug Brett, a jealous ex-husband prone to violence; and Ilana Glazer is neurotic, wronged woman Chelsea. And therein lies the show’s strength: the collective. No star name dominates, meaning we don’t know who to root for as every character looks for a second chance, redemption and fulfilment. Each of the grasping, yearning ex-high-schoolers is portrayed unsparingly, warts and all – but mostly warts.