Article #31949

A retirement village Scooby gang of heroes take on a horrific creature in a series that is funny, tender, wise – and executive produced by the Duffer Brothers

I’m sure this isn’t the intended takeaway from The Boroughs, a supernatural murder-mystery set in a New Mexico retirement community, but I am transfixed by what is on offer to the ageing demographic across the pond. It’s like watching an episode of The White Lotus and vowing in your next life to come back as an affluent white American, but more realistic. God willing, we’ll all get old – and with a bit of careful planning, maybe we could stretch to a berth in one of the villages that a country with the space to house them provides for a reasonable sum?

Protagonist Sam Cooper (Alfred Molina) doesn’t know how lucky he is, any viewer native to these cramped isles might think, as his daughter and son-in-law drop him off at his new home in The Boroughs. There he will find like-aged neighbours, multiple shops, sports and exercise classes, a community centre and numerous other facilities, including a lavishly appointed care home (The Manor) for if and when the time comes. A skittering monster extracting a modicum of body fluids from you every now and again seems a small price to pay. But we’ll get to that.