Susanna White

In Andor (2022), ordinary lives under the Empire get enough attention for the danger to matter. Susanna White directs episodes four to six, including the heist, and that stretch is a useful place to begin with her work. We were gripped by the heist because the series had given us people worth worrying about before asking us to fear for them. White’s contribution fits her interest in character-led stories, even when the action grows larger.

Her move from documentaries into drama helps explain that attention to believable behaviour, though it cannot account for every choice. Bleak House (2005), with Carey Mulligan, and Jane Eyre (2006), with Ruth Wilson, established her reputation for drawing naturalistic performances from emerging actors. Generation Kill (2008) took her into US television and a collaboration with David Simon. She directed four episodes of that war miniseries. The challenge there was to handle the scale of a war story without losing track of the people in it.

Her feature debut, the family film Nanny McPhee and the Big Bang (2010), makes any narrow description of her work unhelpful. In Parade’s End (2012), she directed all five episodes of Tom Stoppard’s adaptation, starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Simon and Stoppard matter to our view of her: these are substantial writing partnerships, and we should not mistake their contributions for hers. Her ability to work with strong material and performers is more persuasive than any claim to a single recognisable visual style.

That distinction matters most with Andor, which we recommend warmly while finding its opening too slow to take shape. White’s run begins after those opening episodes, so that fault is not usefully assigned to her. What we value in the series is the time it gives to performances and places, allowing the suspense to build around lives that feel worth protecting. Start with Andor, provided a thriller that takes its time sounds like a good evening.