TV review: Acting honours go to Keeley Hawes for dogged role

The name “honour killing” suggests some sort of nobility, but an act so heinous doesn’t really have any dignity to it at all.

ITV’s new drama tackled the real-life murder of 20-year-old Banaz Mahmod by five members of her family in 2006.

A Kurdish community activist bluntly told Keeley Hawes’ investigator that Banaz was dead fairly early on, and we’re not given any reason to doubt it.

Despite the standard detective show opening – a senior female detective facing scepticism from her male colleagues – this isn’t a murder mystery.

Instead viewers were shown Hawes’ real-life policewoman’s dogged determination to find some sort of justice for Banaz.

Honour wisely decided to not cast Keeley Hawes as a white saviour swooping in on a community to show them a more enlightened way. Not when the police failings are so stark.

Days before the murder, we are told, Banaz handed a list of men who were intent on doing her harm.

That warning was ignored, much to the incredulity of Hawes’ DCI Caroline Goode.

Her performance is stellar and Hawes has cemented her place as someone whose presence makes anything she’s in worth watching.

There is, however, another drama to be made on the subject of honour killings.

Let’s see one giving voices to those within communities where it happens.

Honour, ITV

Cobra Kai, Netflix

If I had the reactions of Mr Miyagi I’d have possibly been a little more alert to Cobra Kai when it was first released on YouTube in 2018.

Catching up with Daniel-san and his arch-rival Jonny more than 30 years after the original movie is like being kicked in the face, crane-style, by a master sporting a black belt in nostalgia.

This shows Stranger Things how to do nostalgia – it’s not just about putting things from the ’80s on screen.

Cobra Kai doesn’t just hark back to the original movie, it worships it, as well as that much-missed genre of sporting movies of the era.

Sweep the leg, Jonny!