Richard Middleton: The Day of the Jackal (Carnival Films for Sky Atlantic)

Gluttony might be a sin but it is nearly Christmas and, frankly, sometimes it’s just unavoidable.

That’s at least my excuse for gobbling up all ten episodes of this rather sumptuous drama from Carnival Films. It’s slick, it’s sexy, it’s got Eddie Redmayne in some fantastic disguises and it rattles along for the most part in a manner that makes you forget that you’ve devoted the best part of ten hours of your life to it. Which is always a good sign.

The Frederick Forsyth adaptation might not be a left-field choice for show of the year but there are two reasons why it gets my vote, aside from being just bloody great TV.

One: It has mainstream appeal, which has arguably never been harder in the rapidly fragmenting world of TV. Not only has it become a stand-out winner for Sky across Europe and Peacock in the US, it’s also been sold globally, from Fox Showcase in Australia and Disney+ in Latin America to Amazon Prime Video in France.

And there’s much to like wherever you may be. Impressive performances from Redmayne and Lashana Lynch are aided and abetted by Ronan Bennett’s tight script, while sumptuous locations deliver a super-premium feel, which brings me onto my second point.

Yes, it has clearly had considerable amounts of money spent on it, but as many an exec will tell you, big budgets frequently fail to deliver Jackal-precision hits such as this. And creating such a scripted success in the current cost-conscious environment should give confidence to a sector that has faced the full wrath of bean counter squeezes over the past few years.

Throw in some shocking ‘how can he do that’ moments alongside plenty of Bond-esque action scenes and a big dollop of character development means this is a classy show that commands attention.

And once you’re done with the high-octane world of international assassins, come back down to Earth with these two pearls that deserve a mention: the superb second – and final – season of Alma’s Not Normal; and the soothing balm to life’s worries that is Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing’s seventh run. Bliss.

• Richard Middleton is head of content, international at Broadcast