TV streaming review: Alias Grace, Netflix

Margaret Atwood has emerged as unlikely literary patron saint of streaming television. Hulu’s devastating, slow-burn adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale became the first streaming show to win the prestigious best drama Emmy. Now Netflix has secured global distribution rights for the CBC retelling of Atwood 1996 novel inspired by a real life double murder in 19th century Canada.

With a script by actress-turned-screenwriter Sarah Polley, and Mary Harron (American Psycho) directing, Alias Grace is in the glumly sumptuous tradition of Handmaid’s Tale, with the grinding austereness of 1800s Ontario brought vividly to life.