If you think that a Cambridge student becoming embroiled in a numerical conspiracy dating back to ninth-century Baghdad sounds like a lost Dan Brown novel, you’d be sorely mistaken. It’s actually the plot of Apple’s newest thriller, Prime Target. Mathematician Edward Brooks (Leo Woodall) is convinced that discovering a sequence in prime numbers could revolutionise human understanding of the world. But those around him wish to stifle that research, not least his supervisor Robert Mallinder (David Morrissey) who is only too aware of the tragic fate awaiting Edward if he insists on pursuing the subject further. 

Even to the most mathematics-adverse viewer, this concept is ludicrous. Yet despite his character’s strict adherence to the socially inept, maths-prodigy archetype, there is something unshakeably endearing about Woodall’s performance. He’s the type of guy who brings ginger creams to a dinner party, proceeds to solve a maths problem on his host’s tablecloth, and then departs in a flurry of inspiration before dessert is served.

Fans of writer Steve Thompson’s Vienna Blood will know that his previous show’s appeal stemmed from its pacy action and fun period setting rather than groundbreaking writing. And there is a similar sense of escapist fantasy at play here. It’s got murder, mystery and mathematics: and that’s just the first episode. Number two loses some of the opener’s rollicking impetus, and yet it still breezes by at such an engaging pace that it’s hard not to at least begrudgingly enjoy what’s happening before our very eyes. The show’s complete self-seriousness is, ironically, what makes it work. Will it do for abstract mathematics what Indiana Jones did for archaeology? No. But, if you suspend your disbelief and just let the ridiculousness wash over you, Prime Target is a diverting romp and quite possibly the perfect remedy for those winter blues. 

New episodes of Prime Target are available on Apple TV+ on Wednesdays.