Reinventing a beloved classic is never an easy task, says Streaming columnist NICK OVERALL. 

Netflix’s new show Ripley is a series that offers a whole new take on Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 book The Talented Mr Ripley and its popular ’99 film adaptation of the same name with Matt Damon.

But this shiny new Netflix version is no ordinary remake for a cash-in like what we see with so many other films and TV shows these days.

Ripley is an eight-part show given a moody, neo-noirish feel that couldn’t be any more different in style from its Damon lead predecessor.

This time it’s Sherlock and Fleabag star Andrew Scott that takes on the lead role of Tom Ripley, a con artist sent to Italy to convince the playboy son of a shipping magnate to return to New York.

The extremes this peculiar manipulator goes to in order to achieve his goal only become more obsessive and unsettling as this story unfolds.

Ripley has already had gushing reviews from critics, but it seems one of the show’s defining features has split audiences right down the middle. That being the entire thing is filmed in black and white.

“I’m sure the Netflix series Ripley would have been good had the entire eight episodes not been filmed in black and white. I almost made it to the end of the first episode without giving up,” said one disgruntled Twitter user.

“I would not have survived before colour television was invented… tried to sit down to watch Ripley, but it being in black and white makes it a no-go for me. It makes my eyes go all wonky,” said another.

Perhaps if Netflix had made a bold creative choice such as shooting the show vertically, adding some glossy Instagram filters, and making its runtime around the length of a Tik Tok then these attentive viewers might have found more to love.

Thankfully, others are more on board.

“Watched first episode and wasn’t sure how I felt, the black and white irked me but then I was dragged into a full-on binge and bloody loved it,” one user said.

Don’t let these brainy reviews turn you off.

The choice to film Ripley in monochrome makes it feel like something that truly stands out amongst Netflix’s endless conveyor belt of TV shows.

What’s also exciting about the series is its potential to dive even deeper into its central character.

Tom Ripley went on to appear in another four novels written by Highsmith, meaning additional seasons of the show could go on to explore his intriguing psyche further, a perfect recipe for a TV show.

It will all depend on how many viewers the first season can pull in before any second season is greenlit by Netflix.

Hopefully that black and white barrier isn’t enough to stop too many people from taking the ride.

AMAZON Prime Video’s new series Fallout begins at the end.

Quite literally.

The End is the very first two words we see, an intriguing and fitting start for a story about a world ravaged by nuclear war.

This new series follows the strange society of Vault 33, a collection of citizens living inside a luxurious underground bunker 200 years after bombs wiped out the surface above them.

We follow one of these citizens named Lucy (Ella Purnell), the daughter of the Vault’s leader.

When disaster strikes on her wedding day, she’s forced to venture outside, discovering a retro-futuristic hellscape inhabited by strange, mutant creatures and even stranger human survivors.

Fallout is based on a series of video games of the same name, another show attempting to adapt a popular game after the massive success of The Last of Us, which even managed to score Emmy nominations last year.

Like The Last of Us, Fallout proves bridging the gap between video game and television is not only possible, but able to be done with flying colours.

TV might just be about to enter a new era.