I, Jack Wright– ”Succession” British-style?

This Netflix six-episode British thriller I, Jack Wright (2025) unravels a highly dysfunctional family’s secrets and betrayals. Each member of a multi-millionaire’s overly privileged family has motivation to murder the aging septuagenarian patriarch and business tycoon, Jack Wright (Trevor Eve), found dead in the opening scene.  The legal and interpersonal conflicts fester when Jack Wright’s will is read with unexpected consequences to the succession and governance of his multinational corporation.  All the major players in the family had astonishing benefits to gain for themselves, not only to  their assets but to their personal relationships as well, if the will’s direction had been different. Now a bitter feud filled with rancor and resentment ensues.

Inheritance has ruled each potential heir, guiding life decisions they have made up until Jack Wright’s suspicious death.  Now each member’s  future is at painful risk of disaster. A pervasive feeling of dread and desperation takes place whenever a family member realizes how his or her life is about to change forever.  Their assumption of safely moving in upper class British society has been totally erased.  What really happened to Jack Wright?  Who was he and why did he change his will at the last minute?

Any true crime drama worth its bloody murder has to show the why.  And there are plenty of reasons right up until the very last scene.  First, there is his first wife, Rose (Gemma Jones), married for years to Jack before he divorced her.  She is the mother of his first two sons, Gray (John Simm) and John (Daniel Rigby).  Gray assumes he is going to be the successor and president of Wright Industries.  John is a failed business entrepreneur, debt-ridden, with a daughter, Emily (Ruby Ashbourne-Serkis), who despises him for his neglect and misspent life.  The second wife is now dead and her daughter has disappeared.  Much younger Wife #3, Sally (Nikki Amuka-Bird), mother of his second daughter and third son, believes she will inherit her beloved husband’s fortune, or at least most of it.

There is an investigation, led by DCI Hector Morgan (Harry Lloyd) and DS Katie Jones (Liz Kingsman).  All family members, no longer maintaining the veneer of a stable family, become unhinged and prime suspects.

I, Jack Wright’s plot is solidly constructed, with multiple twists, turns and red herrings.  However, minor characters are added without much development or reason for being introduced in the first place (for example, John’s casual love interest).  The finale leaves major questions unanswered, presumably to prepare the series  for a second season.  However, while this viewer loves an ambiguous ending, the sixth episode of I, Jack Wright strongly suggests that the full circumstances of Jack’s death needed more tension to create a true cliff-hanger. 

A strong B+ series:  worth watching but not exceptional.

Availability:  BritBox (through Amazon Prime for 7-day free trial)