Peak TV needn’t be bleak TV. But they’re often one and the same. AMC+ begins streaming the compelling U.K. series "The Beast Must Die." It will appear on regular old AMC next Monday, July 12. Both a slow burn and an emotional freight train, it takes place on the Isle of Wight, a cozy vacation spot off the southern coast of England. There, two wounded souls collide.
"Beast" begins with an enraged Frances (Cush Jumbo) facing the camera and vowing, "I am going to kill a man." A Londoner, she’s just lost her only child to a hit-and-run accident on the island. Convinced that the police aren’t up to the task of finding the killer, she bursts into the offices of the man in charge. Unfortunately for her, he’s just died on the golf course. His replacement, Nigel Strangeways (Billy Howle), had only arrived minutes before. He had transferred to the Isle of Wight to get away from his demons, or triggers, as they’re now called. He witnessed his female police partner take a shotgun blast to the face, and he’s shaken and shattered in ways he can only confide in his therapist. And begrudgingly, at that.
Frances storms out of Nigel’s office and decides to take matters in her own hands. She shaves her hair, quits her job, reverts to her maiden name and pretends to be writing a book on the island so she can knock on people’s doors and track down leads. Nigel is as much a stranger to the locals as Frances. But he’s intrigued by her story and consumed by what his dead predecessor might have known or done or not done about the case.
In many ways, this tale resembles "Broadchurch" in both story and atmosphere, right down to the haunting cliffs that line the shoreline. In both series, outsiders run up against an insular community where locals have various reasons to clam up and protect their own.
— The documentary showcase "POV" (9:30 p.m., PBS, TV-PG, check local listings) returns for a 34th season with "The Neutral Ground," a film by writer and humorist C.J. Hunt about the removal of four Confederate statues from public spaces in New Orleans.
At first, Hunt thought the topic might provide fodder for a short film about historical absurdity, but the more he dug into the subject, he discovered more deeply entrenched attitudes based on generations of mythology about slavery and the "lost cause."
— TV’s great imitation machine has inspired "Sharkfest" (not to be confused with "Shark Week"), a six-week onslaught of 21 documentaries and specials about our finned friends to air and stream on National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild and Disney+. The blood hits the water with "When Sharks Attack" (8 p.m., National Geographic, TV-14), "Shark Beach With Chris Hemsworth" (9 p.m., National Geographic, TV-PG) and "Rogue Shark?" (10 p.m., National Geographic, TV-14).
Discovery’s "Shark Week" begins Sunday, July 11.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— Montreal hosts Tampa Bay in Game 4 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final (8 p.m., NBC).
— Chef Ramsay makes contestants cook for his daughter’s birthday. Presumably for free. On "Hell’s Kitchen" (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14).
— No rest for Pride on "NCIS: New Orleans" (9 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— Kevin Hart builds a "man cave" for a trainer and colleague who helped him recover from an injury on "Celebrity IOU" (9 p.m., HGTV).
— "Onision In Real Life" (9 p.m., ID, TV-14) profiles a controversial YouTube personality.
— Pure torture on "NCIS: Los Angeles" (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
— Keenen Ivory Wayans sends up the blaxploitation genre in the 1988 spoof "I’m Gonna Git You Sucka" (10 p.m., TMC). Made some 15 years after its subject’s heyday, it featured cameos from vintage performers, including Jim Brown, Bernie Casey, Antonio Fargas and Isaac Hayes.
CULT CHOICE
— Not for the first time, the book everybody was talking about became the movie that nobody wanted to see. Released in 1990, "The Bonfire of the Vanities" (8 p.m., TCM) starred Tom Hanks, miscast as a less-than-sympathetic character.
SERIES NOTES
The band gets a new singer on "The Neighborhood" (8 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG) … "The Bachelorette" (8 p.m., ABC, TV-14) … An eventful time in Atlanta on "All American" (8 p.m., CW, TV-PG) … Youthful rebellion on "Bob Hearts Abishola" (8:30 p.m., CBS, r, TV-PG).
Jealousy on "HouseBroken" (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … Legal tender on "The Republic of Sarah" (9 p.m., CW, TV-14) … Stuck in neutral on "Duncanville" (9:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14) … "The Celebrity Dating Game" (10 p.m., ABC, r, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Dave Grohl, Lil Nas X and Blake Shelton on "The Tonight Show" (11:35 p.m., NBC, r) … Joel Edgerton and Edward-Isaac Dovere visit "Late Night with Seth Meyers" (12:35 a.m., NBC, r).
