Benoit Blanc has fast become something of a Sherlock Holmes for the streaming age, writes streaming columnist NICK OVERALL.

Benoit Blanc is the charismatic sleuth at the centre of Netflix’s Knives Out film series, which this week gets its third instalment called Wake Up Dead Man.

This stylistic murder mystery stars former Bond actor Daniel Craig as the suave detective thrown into another bizarre game of whodunit.

This time round it’s the murder of a priest that ignites the mystery.

When Monsignor Jefferson Wicks suddenly turns up in a cupboard with a knife fashioned from a devil’s head lamp in his back, Blanc’s bizarre yet effective investigation techniques are called upon to crack the case.

The films stand out for taking something of a lighter, more old-fashioned approach to these mysteries.

Blanc is almost comic-book character in nature, a charismatic mish-mash of pop culture’s most eccentric investigators. Holmes, Poirot, Marple, maybe even a dash of Batman?

Like other instalments there’s also a stacked ensemble cast of potential culprits he has to pontificate about.

This time round Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner and more are all in the line-up of suspects.

In 2019 audiences got the first film in the franchise Knives Out, which became a hit both in cinemas and on Netflix.

Then they followed it up with 2022’s Glass Onion, another popular sequel that many believe even topped the first. 

Early reviews for the third film are just as good. Those intrigued by the premise might enjoy a binge of the films thus far before going in on this one.

There’s no sign of slowing down either. The appetite for a classic whodunit tale is still clearly ravenous.

ON the topic of charismatic leading men, Billy Bob Thornton is back for the second season of Landman on Paramount Plus this month.

Thornton plays Tommy Norris, a plucky middleman for ultra-rich oil tycoons fighting for control of the black gold in Texas.

Norris’ job is to go in and negotiate when things get too dicey for the suits, balancing the demands of lawyers, opposing companies and dangerous drug dealers all vying for control of the oil-rich landscape.

The job pays well but, of course, only because it comes with daily risk to his life.

In season one viewers saw Tommy almost burned, beaten or flayed alive more than once and season two promises to turn up the stakes even more.

Taylor Sheridan is behind this series, the same creator of the blockbuster western hit Yellowstone.

Like that show, Landman has a fascination with vast stretches of the US landscape and the battle amongst those who believe they lay claim to it. 

The consensus from season one was that when Tommy Norris is out on the job getting caught up in all manner of cartel and corporate capers, Landman is riveting television. 

It’s when it insists on dragging viewers through the mundanity of his domestic life things grind to a frustrating halt.

Season two so far hasn’t seemed to have learned that lesson from season one, still spending way too much time on the stuff fans aren’t turning up for.

It’s all attempting to humanise Tommy and throw in the tension of how his family cope with the job he has, but the show is still getting bogged down in these scenes that make the fast-forward button feel very tempting. 

Don’t let it turn you off the chance of giving it a go, though.

Landman is an addictive, well-written story with an interesting focus and Thornton is simultaneously hilarious and dramatically magnetic in his role.

Its popularity seems to point to a likely third season. Let’s hope by then it can really find its groove and get on with the good stuff.

The squeaky wheel gets the oil, after all.