“Lock a few thousand people inside a big, dystopian cylinder and rattle it around, and it makes for quite the dramatic melting pot,” writes streaming columnist NICK OVERALL, of the new series “Silo”. 

EVERY day Apple reportedly sells around half a million iPhones.

Breaking down the maths, that comes out at dozens of the devices moved every minute.

Given this rather lucrative operation it has going on, it’s no surprise the films and TV shows produced for its streaming platform, Apple TV+, have come to feature visual effects budgets of bombastic quality and realism. 

Take last year’s space opera epic “Foundation”, which included interstellar battles big enough to rival those in “Star Wars”.

That’s just the start. From Tom Hanks-led war epic “Greyhound” to the star-studded line up of “The Morning Show”, with this kind of money at its disposal, Apple has been able to green-light blockbuster productions.

Indeed, Apple TV+ has been a lesser known player in the streaming wars so far, but if it trumps other platforms on one thing, it’s certainly production value and there’s no exception with its latest sci-fi epic “Silo”.

Set in an unknown era of humanity’s future, this show tells the story of a colony who live inside a gigantic silo that stretches hundreds of metres down beneath the earth.

Why? Well that’s not revealed just yet, of course.

The people who live in this eerie settlement must abide by strange rules they believe are there to protect them. However, the audience is pretty quick to clue on to the fact there’s something more sinister afoot.

In the show’s opening minutes a couple stare excitedly at an intriguingly retro-looking computer screen, one with a notification telling them “reproductive clearance granted”.

From here, the 10-episode-series is slow to get off the mark, but with a bit of patience many viewers will find themselves easily falling deeper into this absorbing, post-apocalyptic mystery. Yep, lock a few thousand people inside a big, dystopian cylinder and rattle it around and it makes for quite the dramatic melting pot.

IMAGINE a move overseas that cost less than 20 bucks.

For many British people living 70 years ago, that seemingly impossible offer was a reality. 

In 1956 newspapers throughout the country advertised a move to Australia for a mere 10 pounds, in a desperate effort to boost the country’s population and workforce.

Around one million people jumped at the promise of a fresh and cheap start, earning themselves the nickname “Ten Pound Poms” – also the name of a new drama series on Stan that aims to tell their story.

It’s mainly revealed through the eyes of British everyman Terry (Warren Brown), a gambler and drinker from Stockport who also suffers from PTSD caused by his time as a prisoner of war. In other words, the perfect candidate for a new beginning.

But as the famous saying goes, if it’s too good to be true it probably is.

What Terry finds in Australia isn’t the idyllic reset he and his family hoped for. Instead, they arrive in a country that’s depicted as unwelcoming, hostile and racist. The locals are sick of the “whinging poms” and life, it seems, isn’t much better than what he tried to escape from.

The writing here isn’t exactly top-shelf stuff, but “Ten Pound Poms” still manages to squeeze out enough interesting historical context to warrant a try, if audiences can get past a rather unflattering view of down under.

IN the age of streaming not a month goes by without a remake of something popular.

This time it’s “Fatal Attraction” that’s getting the modern makeover in the form of a new TV series on Paramount Plus.

The reimagining of the 1987 thriller largely adopts the same premise, depicting the fury of a woman scorned (I hear hell has none like it).

American actress Lizzy Caplan plays Alex Forrest (originally portrayed by Glenn Close), who becomes obsessed with a married lawyer after she has an affair with him.

Her descent into crazed jealousy results in a dangerous campaign to bring him undone.

While the extremes of that campaign gave audiences quite the scare in the ’80s, in today’s era of television where every show is competing for attention and shock value is going off the shelves, this new series can’t quite live up to the thrills instilled by its predecessor.

Boiling bunnies, it seems, just doesn’t quite cut it anymore.