‘Ride or Die’ series review: Octavia Spencer and Hannah Waddingham are charming in this buddy comedy

The retired assassin seems to be a constant fixture in action movies, and, in Ride or Die we have a different kind of killer. The series opens with Judith (Hannah Waddingham), disregarding her handler Sam’s (Calam Lynch) instructions to very publicly kill a nasty Russian. When she meets Sam after the mission, he tells her the firm has decided to retire her as she is a WOACA (Woman of a certain age).

Judith demands another chance, which Sam reluctantly arranges. Besides Judith’s mission that goes spectacularly wrong, we also see her best friend, Debbie (Octavia Spencer), the American wife of a British MP, David (Jamie Parker). Debbie loves shopping for antiques and plotting her husband’s rise to the premiership and 10 Downing.

Debbie has no idea about Judith’s secret profession, believing her to be a forensic accountant, a profession that sounds so boring as to kill any further questions, according to Judith. Judith’s latest job — doing away with Billy Donovan (Ed Skrein), from a crime syndicate, takes her to a gala, and into the path of Debbie and David. All hell breaks loose as bodies, truths and half lies tumble with alarming frequency and end up with a furious Debbie on the run with Judith.

Through eight episodes, the two friends hurtle from Britain, Calais, Barcelona, and Monaco, to Lyon, Geneva, Turkey and Mexico City, with Judith’s vengeful former work colleague, as well as a blood-thirsty Albanian mob and the Interpol in the form of courtly Jacques (Jacky Ido) on their tail.

There is mob money (£24 million) involved and all sorts of wild schemes to return it as well as corruption in high places. Ride or Die moves at a quick pace and the chemistry between Spencer and Waddingham has a charming lived-in feel. Spencer’s Debbie despite not having Judith’s elite training has common sense and decency to get the duo out of many sticky situations.

Bill Nighy is all silky sinister as the all-powerful Director and Judith’s employer. Skrein revels as the charming bad boy while Sylvia Hoeks, as the antagonist, is on the right side of destructive with her manic smile and tightly coiled energy.

The kind of glamour one has come to expect from these globe-trotting shows is there in every gleaming fixture of the Royal Andalusian Express, which the two friends take from Calais to Barcelona, where some more bodies and truths pile up.

There are fun details like the Lord of the Rings password required to enter the money man’s house being dismissed as “Nordor”, and the ease with which a character is tracked via social media feeds — Smiley would have been horrified.

Books feature in Ride or Die — fairly unusual for an action series. Apart from The Lord of the Rings, and the book club Judith and Debbie are part of, there is also mention of Judith being the first female assassin, when she slayed the Assyrian general, Holofernes. The Black Spot from Treasure Island also gets a starring role. It is interesting that Ride or Die is bookended by The Book of Judith and The Song of Deborah, both from The Old Testament. If books are not your thing, there is always good acting, energetic chases and ballistic shootouts to keep you amused.

Ride or Die is currently streaming on Prime Video