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Romeo and Juliet has been given the gritty, modern-day retelling treatment in a new BBC drama that has stormed up the top 10 ranking on iPlayer.
From the director of indie hit Scrapper, Mint stars Emma Laird as Shannon and Ben Coyle-Larner (aka rapper Loyle Carner, in his first TV role) as Arran.
The pair lock eyes late at night across the tracks at a train station. The rest is romantic history, until the tragic bit. (Light spoilers ahead for anyone who wasn’t tasked with reading Romeo and Juliet for GCSEs.)
In Charlotte Regan’s (creator, writer and director) retelling, fair Verona is instead 20th-century Scotland. Meanwhile, the whole Montague and Capulet feud plays out across the battlelines of gang warfare.
Shannon’s father is the biggest gangster in town, while Arran’s family is their looming competitor in a violent, bloody war.
The question across the eight episodes is whether these lovers will meet the same tragic fate as Romeo and Juliet…
The gangster tale tries to do something different with its crime drama, including an increased focus on the matriarchs, rather than just the men (hello, The Sopranos).
Elsewhere, there are highly stylistic swings. When our lovers speak to each other, the air around them pops and sparkles, or they float up above everyone else.
The 30-minute episodes are also peppered with sparse, realistic dialogue, but in amongst that, Mint catches the first blush of a new love, when you’re falling head over heels for someone.
The show is described as ‘a darkly comic story of passion, heartbreak and love laced with fear’ by the BBC. So plenty of meaty themes to dig into there.
What other shows can I stream now?
- Silicon Valley. What better time to watch a show satirising the hub of the tech world?
- Hacks. Maybe the funniest show on TV right now, a bit of a mix-up from Mint.
- Beef. Netflix’s lean, mean series is back for season 2 at a country club.
- Balamory. Return to the classic children’s show with this new reboot.
Mint hasn’t quite assembled enough reviews to warrant a Rotten Tomatoes score (get to it, critics!), but the Guardian billed it as: ‘As if Romeo and Juliet crossed paths with a gangster thriller.’
The review concluded: ‘It’s sumptuously filmed and has an incredible ending.’
As for viewers, Sarah on X said TV fans need to ‘lock in’ to the show, adding: ‘Such a gorgeous show, think Romeo and Juliet but in Scotland.’
Meanwhile, Brooke described the opening train station scene as ‘absolutely stunning’ in their praise for the show.
Are you going to give Mint a go?
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Definitely
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Not one for me
All episodes of Mint are available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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