SERIES PREMIERE: Bruno Heller and Danny Cannon, who teamed for Fox’s Batman prequel series Gotham, have come up with something even more backward-looking – a pre-prequel. Whereas Batman focused on the costumed crimefighter, and Gotham showed a younger Bruce Wayne as he developed into a secret avenger with help from his loyal family butler Alfred, Pennyworth goes back to London in the swinging Sixties to follow the butler himself – a younger, even scrappier Alfred Pennyworth, played by Jack Bannon. As always with the Batman franchise, though, the villains steal the show – and in this case, the chief villain is Bet Sykes, introduced as a matronly, sadistic cockney woman played by British singer Paloma Faith. Faith is so into her role here that she makes Pennyworth a comic-book series to add to your viewing list, just when you thought you didn’t need, and couldn’t stand, one more. For a full review, see David Hinckley's All Along the Watchtower.

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