Amazon Prime’s Ride or Die is the most fun I’ve had watching TV in ages

Hannah Waddingham as an assassin? Sign me up.

Hannah and Octavia Spencer as besties in an action-packed comedy that actually makes me belly laugh? Inject it into my veins.

Ride or Die, the high-octane Amazon Prime series that launched this week, follows two friends who are forced to fight for their lives when they become embroiled in a criminal conspiracy.

Debbie (Octavia) is an upstanding citizen, the wife of MP David (Jamie Parker), who writes all of his speeches and is clearly the brains behind his entire political career.

Judith (Hannah) is a forensic accountant… or so she says. Unbeknownst to most of the world (including Debbie), she’s actually a deadly assassin who’s been in operation for 30 years, ever since she was recruited by her boss, The Director (Bill Nighy), as a teenager.

Debbie knows Judith as the woman who she bonds with over antiques, and who she has a giggle with at bookclub. Then one night, her world is turned upside down when they wind up at the same gala, where Judith is meant to assassinate the criminal Billy Donovan (Ed Skrein).

The women go on the run after the hit goes wrong, despite Debbie feeling deeply hurt by her friend’s betrayal, and Judith exposing a vulnerability that she’s never had on a mission before: the risk of losing someone she loves dearly.

Hannah, 51, and Octavia, 56, are comedy heaven together. It was a stroke of genius to have Tessa Coates create this series, a writer, actor and comedian who’s performed at Edinburgh Fringe and as part of the sketch trio Massive Dad.

The show strikes a fantastic balance of comedy and action, especially when Debbie and Judith are bickering or gossiping like real friends would. Sign me up to that wine and cheese night right now.

Their story feels rooted in authenticity, and much of that is down to Tessa’s light-hearted touch. I think of my closest girlfriends as my soulmates (thanks to Sex and the City’s Samantha Jones for putting that thought into my head years ago), and I could see that unbreakable bond in Judith and Debbie, too.

Thelma and Louise. Rachel, Monica and Phoebe in Friends. Jess and Cece in New Girl. Annie and Lillian in Bridesmaids. Female friendship is a very special thing, and amidst the action in Ride or Die (which goes to gruesome extremes that I wasn’t expecting), it is beautiful to behold.

If you thought that this series would pull its punches when it comes to the violence, think again.

I physically winced watching someone have part of their ear bitten off, and Hannah is absolutely stellar in her fight sequences, having performed nearly all of her own stunts.

I don’t feel the need to make a big song and dance of Hannah’s age, but it is still worth acknowledging how epic and rare it is to see a 51-year-old woman in a powerful action role like this one.

She’s not the first – Michelle Yeoh was sensational in Everything Everywhere All At Once, as was Viola Davis in The Woman King and Robin Wright as the Amazonian General Antiope in Wonder Woman. More of this, please! (My fingers are already crossed for a second season).

Ride or Die is an entertaining buddy comedy… but it goes much further than that. In a world centred around assassins, this series ventures to some vicious places.

This isn’t just a jolly where you know that all of your favourite characters are going to make it out alive. A character who’s introduced for comic relief one minute could be shot in the head the next.

Bill Nighy is purely Bill Nighy, starring as the stoic, understated head of the assassination agency, while Calam Lynch and Savannah Steyn have a magnetising dynamic in their secondary roles as Judith’s handler Sam and tech whizz Queenie. 

The series might veer into clichés every now and then, but who cares? It’s rip-roaring fun, and fans will find it hard to resist bingeing it all in one go. 

Ride or Die is available to watch on Prime Video.