Let’s not stand on ceremony, The Night Of opening episode is a brooding, inquisitive and intense setup to an 8-episode HBO series that instantaneously picks up the ‘must-see’ sign and hammers it firmly into the ground beneath your feet. Showing now on Sky Atlantic in the UK, your first insight has more happening than some whole series’ manage to offer and yet you’ll leave the introductory gambit without a clue of what actually went down but definitely wanting to know more.

To offer up a quick taster, without spoiling the meal, it stars the excellent Riz Ahmed as Naz Khan, a typically sensible young man living in Queens with his family. On a night like any other, he just wants to go to a party he’s been invited to but a mate lets him down and so he borrows his Dad’s cab and heads there by himself. On the way he unintentionally picks up Andrea (Sofia Black-D’Elia), a young woman who gives the impression that she wants to get away from something. Now Naz isn’t really a Taxi driver but with a little convincing… he obliges. In an almost classic ‘one thing leads to another’ situation, she charms him into a night of sex, drink and drugs but when he wakes up later that same night he discovers she’s been stabbed to death but he doesn’t have a clue how it happened. Scared and confused he runs for it but his evening is far from over as he’s stopped by the Cops and arrested for something unrelated… and here the captivating story really kicks off.

It’s true that some new shows can drop in concentration after an opening gambit but let’s be frank, friends, this is HBO and we promise they’re not ones to slide this subtly across the table and simply walk away without an explanation, we’re with them through the whole gritty and stupendous saga. As it’s currently fresh to the UK airwaves on Sky Atlantic, then you’ve got more than enough time to get on board before everyone else does and trust me, they’ll want to.

Ahmed is the star of the show but The Night Of offers up a sterling cast that includes John Turturro, Peyman Moaadi, Jeannie Berlin, Poorna Jagannathan, Amara Karan and Bill Camp among others. We recommend tuning in and if you’re tempted by the now very familiar binge-watch, well, the rest is all on Sky Box Sets to indulge in.

The Night Of is showing on on Sky Atlantic. Find more info on the show over on HBO.