“Mesmerising”, “strikingly filmic”, and “beautifully tense” are some ways The English has been described by critics in glowing reviews. 

Now, the edgy, six-part revenge Western miniseries starring Golden Globe-winning actor Emily Blunt, is coming to M-Net DStv Channel 101 on 24 November 2022 at 21:00, with the entire season available to binge on DStv Catch Up afterwards.

Directed by BAFTA winner Hugo Blick (The Honourable Woman), The English is set in 1890 and is the story of an Englishwoman named Lady Cornelia Locke (played by Blunt), who comes to the American West looking for revenge on the man she sees as responsible for the death of her son. 

There, she meets Eli Whipp (played by Twilight’s Chaske Spencer), an ex-cavalry scout and member of the Pawnee Nation by birth, on his way to Nebraska to claim the land he is owed for his service in the US army. The two discover a possible shared history, setting things off in a way neither could have predicted.

In a recent interview with Porter Magazine, Blunt – whose credits include A Quiet Place, Sicario, and Girl on the Train – says about her complicated, bloodthirsty character: “I love that she shows up like Alice in the Wild West and that she looks the image of the feminine ‘ideal’. And yet, there’s this fever in her for revenge. She looks so out of place in this toxic, rather masculine landscape that she arrives in.”

The English also stars Stephen Rea (V for Vendetta, The Honourable Woman); Ciarán Hinds (Game of Thrones, Tinker Tailor Solder Spy); Rafe Spall (Prometheus, Trying); Toby Jones (Jurassic World, Captain America: The Winter Soldier); and Tom Hughes (Shepherd). 

Reviews from critics have been glowing. The Times UK called the action sequences “beautifully tense”, while The Independent wrote, “For all its starkness and brutality, The English is actually a deliciously corny love letter to its forebears.” Blunt – who is also one of the series producers, her first producer credit – has said that filming a Western was always on her list “because the backdrop is so potent”.  

In the trailer, Blunt’s Cornelia says: “There’s just something in this country. I sometimes wonder if there’s horror in us all.” Clearly, we’re in for quite a ride when The English premieres on M-Net (DStv Channel 101) on 24 November 2022 at 21:00. The whole season will also be available on DStv Catch Up for a binge session from 24 November at 22:00.