Given that the Sky and HBO power union with Kate Winslet previously yielded the critically acclaimed Mare of Easttown, in which she played a perpetually vaping cop, there were high hopes for the match-up's subsequent drama, The Regime.
The new six-parter sees Winslet play the populist and entirely fictitious leader Chancellor Elena Vernham. Elena seems to be going through some sort of prolonged psychotic break, which her governmental handlers and the population at large are bearing the brunt of.
Into these bouts of paranoia enters the disgraced soldier Herbert Zubak, played by Matthias Schoenaerts, who is known as The Butcher after an infamous incident during which he got medieval on a group of disgruntled miners.
Zubak begins as a lackey responsible for measuring the moisture levels in hypochondriac Vernham's immediate vicinity, using something resembling a dog-ball launcher. But when he swoops to the rescue during a night-time scare, Zubak graduates to the unlikely role of confidant, usurping her existing inner council like a bulked-up Rasputin.
With the help of some folk cures and an agenda lampooning American supremacy, Zubak begins to generate his own mythology and cult of personality to rival Elena's. There's also a whole strain of plot about Elena and Zubak being psychically connected via their dreams.
What to make of this show? Winslet described The Regime as a "twisted love story" that's also a "geopolitical satire" and also a place where "nothing makes sense at all". The last bit is certainly true.
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Elena's days are spent doing things like paying visits to her authoritarian father's basement mausoleum for catch-ups while he slowly – and visibly – decomposes. Or forcing her cabinet staff to eat mints and keep their mouths shut, lest their bad breath comes anywhere near her majestic presence. Or filming rousing blood-and-soil propaganda videos dressed like Penny Mordaunt at the Coronation.
All of this unfolds in the four walls of Elena's palace, which is decorated with regal Vladimir Putin-style power pics of her on the walls and roaming CCTV monitors on the ceilings.
Like most things she's in, Winslet is the high-water mark of The Regime. Turning in a bad performance might be something she's not capable of. Both she and Schoenaerts go for it in what are some quite silly scenes.
Winslet contorts her face – and lips, in particular – with a whole new set of tics to play the broad character. It's a physical transformation without any of the faffy accoutrements we've come to expect from such things.
The cast is inexplicably lumbered with Downton Abbey accents in their vaguely central European country, as well as a set of geopolitical issues reminiscent of contemporary global events, but not concretely enough to point to any real-life counterpart for Elena or this country.
This is part of the problem of the show. It has the makings of prestige – brilliant actors, a creator who has written for Succession and a budget decent enough to give the design compelling juice. But it takes a big swing that just doesn't hit.
It could be Succession, The Thick of It or even The Death of Stalin, but where all of those had a concrete point to grab onto in amongst their 'inspired by true events' premise, The Regime itself seems confused about what it's trying to satirise.
It's not strictly bad – it's just unclear what the Sky drama is getting at about contemporary politics or the pageantry of dictators.
What's more, it isn't funny enough to latch onto any mindless appeal there might be in peering into this unhinged fishbowl for a few hours.
So, once the novelty of Winslet's sideways lispy way of talking wears off, there's not much else to keep you hooked.
The Regime is available on Sky and NOW from April 8.
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Previously Deputy TV Editor at Digital Spy and, before that, a TV Reporter at The Mirror, Rebecca can now be found crafting expert analysis of the TV landscape, when she's not talking on the BBC or Times Radio about everything from the latest season of Bridgerton or The White Lotus to whatever chaos is unfolding in the various Love Island villas. When she's not bingeing a boxset, in-the-wild sightings of Rebecca have included stints on the National TV Awards and BAFTAs red carpets, and post-match video explainers of the reality TV we're all watching.
