SBS On Demand: Dynamic Duos Collection

Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in The X-Files Credit: Fox

David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson brought just the right mix of tension to their coupling as the curious and the sceptic detectives, Mulder and Scully, making The X-Files the beloved sci-fi hit that has cemented its place as a TV classic. Let the duo bring the sizzle and solve those supernatural mysteries with plenty of smouldering looks peppered in.

Charlie Hudson (John Reardon) and Rex (Diesel vom Burgimwald) in Canadian series ‘Hudson & Rex’ Credit: Duncan de Young/Shaftesbury Pope Productions

We loved Italy’s Inspector Rex in which a human detective is partnered with a cluey canine. Now comes Canada’s English-language take on the action-packed and charming police drama. When the series begins, Detective Charlie Hudson (John Rearson) and Rex (Diesel vom Burgimwald) are already a dynamic duo, completely in sync. Hudson much prefers the company of Rex over any human counterpart, and as we follow their crime-fighting partnership through the maritime metropolis of St. John’s, we understand why. Be prepared to fall in love.

Tony Curran and Martin Compston in ‘Mayflies’. Credit: Synchronicity Films

Turning to the UK, and Mayflies, based on the 2020 book by Andrew O’Hagan, in which our dynamic duo are childhood best mates, Tully and Jimmy (Tony Curran and Martin Compston). Decades on from their youth, Jimmy, who is now an acclaimed author living in London, receives a call from Tully, who’s in their native Scotland and facing a grim future. Deftly incorporating flashbacks for context, the drama mostly plays out in the adult world for this pair, who embody what it is to be there for someone, no matter what. A treasure of a series, and with only two episodes in total, it makes for the perfect night in.

Maxime-Olivier Potvin and Céline Bonnier in ‘A Criminal Affair’. Source: SBS

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When her son is imprisoned for manslaughter as a teenager after a fatal car accident, Catherine’s world is thrown upside down. Fifteen years on, she boldly stimulates a fresh investigation, determined to clear Alex’s name. Her sometime lover, Benoit, is now a detective on the case, and while he can be her closest ally, he also lets her down repeatedly, adding a heavy weight to their already palpable chemistry. Defying the ‘crazy woman’ trope, Céline Bonnier as Catherine is outstanding, remaining grounded while giving full voice to her sacred rage. This eight-part French-Canadian series is so gripping, it’ll make you clear your schedule till you reach the end.

Sven and Klara: crime-fighting duo in Agatha Christie’s Hjerson. Credit: Distributor

Deliciously charming and funny, Sweden’s Agatha Christie’s Hjerson pairs Klara Sandberg, a newly married reality TV producer in desperate need of a meaningful gig, with Sven Hjerson, a pedantic recluse and disgraced former detective, as an unlikely crime-fighting duo. After a murder takes place on the ferry on which Klara is stalking Sven to attempt to recruit him to her new show, the pair are thrown together, albeit not coincidentally – Klara needs Sven to save her career. But despite his resistance, Sven finds Klara intriguing enough to be magnetised towards her. A real treat.

‘Manayek’ Credit: Distributor

From Israel, this Hebrew-language series sees Izzy Bachar (Shalom Assayag) pause his imminent retirement when his long-time friend and senior police officer Barak Harel (Amos Tamam) is accused of corruption. Manayek (a slang term for cop) cleaned up at the 2021 film and TV academy awards in Israel, winning the Best Drama, Director, Screenplay, Leading and Supporting Actor awards. Being so close sets up the drama when Izzy investigates Barak, making the potential of their relationship unravelling all the more heightened.

L’Ora season 1 Credit: Distributor

In 1958 Sicily, Antonio Nicastro (Claudio Santamaria) is at the helm of long-running newspaper L’Ora (The Hour). With the local mafia, Cosa Nostra, enjoying a stranglehold over the community, Antonio and his fellow journalist and wife Anna (Silvia D’Amico), are determined to break the shackles of that control, and commence what ends up being a decades-long series of investigations into the mafia’s criminal activities. Based on the real newspaper’s courageous investigations at the time (three journalists were murdered and a bomb set off at its offices), this period drama is full of grit and heart.

Source: SBS

Our dynamic duo in this entertaining Norwegian drama comprises one actor playing twins. The ever watchable Kristofer Hivju (Game of Thrones) plays surf-rat and lost soul Erik as well as his well-to-do family man twin, Adam. One could also contend that the second dynamic duo ends up being Erik and Adam’s wife Ingrid, who pushes her brother-in-law to conspire in a story that you know from the start is going to unravel spectacularly. But how that happens is marvellously mysterious. The locations in some of Norway’s most beautiful natural wonderlands will also keep you hooked till the gripping end.