It feels like Succession, but this family feud drama has more in common with Agatha Christie

I, Jack Wright ★★★★
Every episode of six-part British family drama TV series I, Jack Wright begins with actor Nikki Amuka-Bird smoking a cigarette between retrospectively prescient utterances. “Oh certainly, I thought I knew him,” she says in what turns out to be a prison cell. “I knew his family. I mean, I thought I knew myself. Obviously, I was wrong.”

A caption gently appears on the left: “Sally Wright. Third wife.”

Cue intrigue. Who is “he”? Why did she think she knew him? What led her to doubt knowing herself? And how does she manage to be so magnetically brittle and indifferent in grey sweatpants in a windowless room?

Characters are the thing that holds I, Jack Wright, a murder mystery created by Unforgotten screenwriter and producer Chris Lang, together. On paper, it’s almost a British version of Succession with its wealthy patriarch, Jack Wright (Trevor Eve, silver Dracula hair, tech-bro zip-up cardigan), and suite of diabolically different family members fighting for his inheritance.

There’s Jack’s sons – Graham (John Simm, Life On Mars, Grace) and John (Daniel Rigby, Eric and Ernie, Black Mirror) – and his granddaughter Emily (Ruby Ashbourne Serkis), among others. They’re shown pre-titles talking ominously about an event (cue whispered conspiratorial tones) from the past.

That event is the sudden and mysterious death of Sally’s husband, Jack – he of the show’s title. Everything seems perfectly normal, if steeped in a marvellous Jilly Cooper-like opulence and intrigue, but then Jack leaves his stately mansion for a pigeon loft one night and dies by a gunshot. Was it suicide or murder? Either way, his death leads to a will reading that surprises, pleases or absolutely enrages family members. And what a bunch they are.

Graham, or “Gray”, is a failed music producer being chased for hefty amounts of overdue money. John is nervous, bullied by his wife and failing at emulating his father when he becomes the CEO of the family’s brick-making business. Emily is a self-assured, start-up entrepreneur who might be the sanest of them all. And, pre-prison, corporate lawyer Sally is glamorous, rich and about to have the 18th-century antique Persian rug pulled out from under her feet.

There’s also a wealth of other instantly recognisable British screen stars, including Gemma Jones (Sense and Sensibility, Bridget Jones series), James Fleet (Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Vicar of Dibley) and Niamh Cusack (The Tower) in various who-are-they-really roles.

Everyone is hiding something. You can see it in their eyes, magnified by the show’s unremitting close-ups. You can feel it in the Agatha Christie-like plot with its knotty, weaving storyline.

I, Jack Wright is set in the present day but the cavalcade of characters-with-a-secret, the ramped-up suspense and liberal dose of red herrings evokes Christie’s plots, albeit with mobile phones and fashionable neck tattoos.

It’s a riot of fun because Lang’s characters are believable, the show rips along and it’s beautifully shot. The biggest bugbear is that the series’ cliffhangers are not entirely wrapped up by the end. Secrets are revealed, characters do evolve and you get a tingly inkling of why Amuka-Bird’s sanguine Sally is in prison. But, with series two not yet announced, we’re left dangling. Worth it, though.

I, Jack Wright airs at 9pm on Sundays on the ABC and is streaming on ABC iview.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.