Before Big Little Lies, before The Perfect Couple, there was The Undoing – the 2020 HBO limited series that turned Nicole Kidman into the ice-cool queen of repressed panic and proved, once again, that nobody does elegant unraveling quite like her.

Created by David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies, Ally McBeal) and directed entirely by Susanne Bier (The Night Manager), this six-part (not eight – the internet loves to stretch it) psychological crime thriller dropped in October 2020 and immediately became lockdown television’s most addictive obsession, pulling 22 million viewers across its run.

Kidman plays Grace Fraser, a wealthy Manhattan therapist whose perfectly curated life – loving oncologist husband Jonathan (Hugh Grant at his most disarmingly charming), gifted son at an elite private school, glossy Upper East Side apartment – detonates the moment a young mother from Henry’s school is brutally murdered. What begins as a whodunit quickly morphs into a devastating portrait of privilege, gaslighting, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.

Hugh Grant delivers a career-redefining turn as Jonathan Fraser – the golden-boy doctor who might just be a sociopath hiding in plain sight. Donald Sutherland is chillingly aristocratic as Grace’s billionaire father, while Noah Jupe breaks hearts as their son Henry, caught between parents whose marriage is imploding on the front pages. Noma Dumezweni’s steely prosecutor and Édgar Ramírez’s detective round out a cast that crackles with quiet menace.

The real star, though, is Kidman’s performance. Grace’s trademark composure – that controlled voice, the measured gestures, the immaculate coats – slowly fractures in ways only Kidman can sell. When the mask finally slips, it’s devastating. “You think you know someone…” became the series’ unofficial tagline for a reason.

Filmed in icy Manhattan winter light, every frame drips with moneyed paranoia: charity galas that turn into crime scenes, school corridors that feel like courtrooms, Central Park walks heavy with unspoken accusations. The slow-burn pacing – no jump scares, just the creeping dread of realising your entire life might be a lie – made it perfect lockdown viewing. You couldn’t look away because, like Grace, you needed to know.

Five years on, The Undoing remains HBO’s gold standard for domestic noir: elegant, vicious, and emotionally brutal. It’s the thriller that taught an entire generation the phrase “limited series gaslighting” and reminded everyone why Nicole Kidman is the undisputed monarch of women slowly losing their grip in couture.

Stream it now on Max or Sky. Just don’t expect to trust your own partner afterwards.