We've been watching shows and movies about hitmen for a long, long time now. Some of them have been really good, like Collateral or Looper and John Wick, and some have been really bad, like Hitman or the reboot Hitman: Agent 47.
Barry, HBO Max's dark comedy-drama about Bill Hader's low-level hit man Barry Berkman, is one of the very, very good ones.
Beginning in 2018, Barry follows the titular hitman, a former marine and Afghanistan veteran from Cleveland, who now works as a hitman. Dissatisfied with life and fundamentally lonely, he is sent to Los Angeles to execute a hit on an actor who has been bedding a mobster's wife, and, once there, he joins a class full of aspiring actors. Suddenly, he wants to leave his old life behind, but that won't prove very easy to do.
Despite being renewed for a third season back in the spring of 2019, it took three years for Barry to come back, but the show's third season was a smash with viewers and critics and HBO has now ordered a fourth. Hopefully, the turnaround will be faster this time.
If you've fallen in love with Barry, or you've heard good things and want to try it out, then you absolutely should. But, if you've blasted through all three seasons and can't wait for a fourth, then we've put together five similarly dark and bloody comedy-dramas to tide you over...
Mr Inbetween
This Australian drama is one of the most like-for-like shows you'll be able to come if you've just finished Barry and want something else in the same vein.
Mr Inbetween began life in 2005 as The Magician, a mockumentary that following the escapades of Ray Shoesmith, a Melbourne underworld hitman who hires a film student to document his life.
Director and star Scott Ryan then spun that out into a TV series, which ran for three seasons from 2018 to 2021.
Ryan reprises his role, with the show focusing on him balancing his commitments to his family and friends, with, you know, killing people.
It's more of a straightforward comedy that Barry is, but, given the subject matter there's plenty of darkness too and Ryan carries the show very effectively.
Where can I stream it?
Hulu (US), Disney+ (UK), BiNGE (AU)
Fargo
Barry's mixture of dark subject matter with brilliant one-liners and a madcap sensibility is what makes the show so successful, and, in Fargo, there's a bit of a kind spirit.
Like Barry, it didn't start out with huge expectations either. In fact, the big question when it was announced that FX was taking the Coen Brothers' quirky 1996 Oscar-winning drama Fargo to the small screen was, What was the point of it??
The movie had won the Coen Brothers and star Frances McDormand an Oscar and a TV spin-off had already failed in 1997. What could FX do about that?
The show turned out to be a revelation. Each season is an anthology, with all-star casts coming together for single-season storylines, each involving a twisty crime saga, set somewhere near Fargo, North Dakota, though at very different times in history.
The TV adaptation keeps the Coen Brothers' madcap stylings, but with fresh impetus and clever storytelling, it's no wonder that FX owners Disney have now entrusted showrunner Noah Hawley with the future of the Alien franchise.
Where can I stream it?
Hulu (US), Netflix (UK), Stan (AU)
Killing Eve
This bloody and colorful drama took its final bow in April of this year and there are now four seasons for you to enjoy.
Killing Eve stars Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh and has boasted the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Emerald Fennell among its writing stars during its run.
We follow Oh's Eve Polastri, a desk-bound MI5 officer, who is tasked with tracking down psychopathic assassin Villanelle, while both women become obsessed with each other.
Killing Eve shares Barry's wildness and mixture of dark humor and real violence, and is just as gripping. Now it's all wrapped, the saga is well worth visiting or revisiting if you've dipped in already.
Where can I stream it?
Hulu (US), BBC iPlayer (UK), Stan (AU)
Get Shorty
Another show that began life on the big screen, Get Shorty is a second take on Elmore Leonard's bestselling 1990 novel. But, unlike the 1995 movie, which is a real adaptation of Leonard's novel, this show does not use the plot or any characters from the novel, it merely borrows the central concept.
Chris O'Dowd leads the way as Miles Daly, who has been working as an enforcer for a murderous crime ring in Nevada. Worried about his daughter's future and wanting to try and stay alive, Daly decides to change jobs and become a movie producer, laundering money through a Hollywood film. Sadly, instead of leaving the criminal world behind, he accidentally brings it with him to Los Angeles.
O'Dowd stars here, but there's a great supporting cast too with Ray Romano, Sean Bridgers, Carolyn Dodd and Felicity Huffman.
It's gripping, very funny and a real pace and verve. There are three excellent seasons to enjoy.
Where can I stream it?
Prime Video (US), MGM TV via Prime Video (UK), Stan (AU)
Dead To Me
One of the very pleasing things about Barry is that every episode is a breezy half hour, and the same is true of Netflix's Dead To Me, another dark, but bloody comedy-drama.
Christina Applegate stars as Jen, a real estate agent whose husband Ted was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Grieving, Jen attends a support group where she meets Linda Cardellini's Judy, who is mourning the death of her fiancé Steve, played by James Marsden.
The pair become close friends, but Jen becomes suspicious when she discovers that Judy's car has been in a hit-and-run, and, when she then discovers that Steve is alive and well, it all unravels...
A third and final season of the show is due sometime this year and it'll do nicely while you wait for more Barry.
Where can I stream it?
Netflix (Worldwide)
