Oddly addictive dark thriller starring Line of Duty star proved me wrong

Mahatma Gandhi once cautioned against revenge, warning that an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.

And trust me, losing your sight would be terrible because then you couldn’t watch Revenge Club – a fun dark comedy-thriller that hits Paramount Plus today.

Based on J.D. Pennington’s 2025 novel, The Othello Club, the show follows six strangers who have one thing in common. They’re lonely losers attending a divorce support group. 

As the group share their stories of betrayal, heartbreak, and partners who call John Lewis ‘Johnny Lu-Lu’, they quickly bond, and eventually they hatch a dastardly plan. 

Why not team up to take revenge on those who broke their hearts? Sounds like a good idea, right? 

Needless to say, and we don’t want to spoil things for you, the group probably should have taken that Gandhi quote a little more seriously than I did. 

I really enjoyed The Revenge Club, or at least the four episodes I’ve seen. 

It’s funny, it’s dark, and there’s a central mystery that I found quite compelling.

Now, I’ll be honest, when The Revenge Club episodes landed on my desk for review, I felt all the enthusiasm a turkey feels for Christmas.

It sounds like a half-baked Strangers on a Train rip-off, and the only thing that even half interested me was Sharon Rooney’s name on the cast list (I’ve loved her since My Mad Fat Diary).

It was with some reluctance, then, that I put on the first episode while doing some ironing. 

Well, after the first five minutes, that ironing was swiftly abandoned. What led me to abandon my chores and risk my own marital harmony? 

I had found myself absorbed into the world of the titular Revenge Club.

The story, while not exactly fresh, is really engaging (it helps that they quickly acknowledge they’re doing Strangers on a Train) in large part thanks to its sharply written characters.

The six members of the Revenge Club: Emily, Calum, Rita, Rachel, Steve, and Taj all have distinct personalities and interesting back stories that surprised me a lot.

I think of the six, my favourite so far is probably Rita, she’s got a real dark edge to her and delivers some really dark one-liners that kept catching me off guard. 

I also found myself feeling sorry for poor Steve, whose idea of scintillating conversation is claiming that ready salted crisps are the best flavour. For the record, he’s wrong; it’s cheese and onion.

Of course, these characters would just be words on the page without the actors who play them and the cast are cracking. 

Aimee-Ffion Edwards gives Emily a believable fragility, while Martin Compston bounces from devastated divorcee to hilarious, angry Scotsman with all the grace of a particularly talented trapeze artist.

As for my beloved Sharon Rooney? Well, she’s brilliant as always, and her story is one that I think viewers are really going to enjoy. 

Speaking of stories, one thing that did impress me was the way the show is structured. 

Each episode essentially deals with another member of the club, giving it an almost monster-of-the-week vibe. 

Yet there’s an overarching mystery that’ll wrap around the series that I think will keep viewers coming back for more. 

If I had any complaints, it would come down to the overall concept. 

As I’ve mentioned several times, the idea of a group conspiring to get revenge isn’t exactly a novel one. 

Still, if you’re looking for a fun thriller to indulge in, you could do a lot worse than The Revenge Club. 

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some ironing to catch up on.

All episodes of The Revenge Club are available to stream exclusively on Paramount Plus.

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