Jonathan van Tulleken is a capable setter of pace and visual tone, often brought in to get a television series started. We rate the craft, with reservations about how much story these programmes have to sustain it.
Fi1m perspective
The opening episode of Lucky (2026) moves with a snap that the later instalments struggle to recover. We enjoyed that early momentum, then grew impatient when the chase began repeating and explaining itself. Jonathan van Tulleken shares the directing with Jet Wilkinson and Greg Yaitanes, so we cannot sensibly put every success or failure down to him. That distinction matters with a director whose work often involves establishing a series rather than directing every episode.
He directed the whole second series of Top Boy (2013), giving him a sustained stretch of British crime drama before his American opening assignments. The pilot of Reprisal (2019) and the first two episodes of Shōgun (2024) show the subsequent emphasis on getting a programme under way. The Changeling (2023) also brought multiple episodes and an executive producer credit. We take him seriously as a director who can establish a visual tone, though that is only part of making a series worth finishing.
His collaborators include cinematographer Christopher Ross, and close work with cinematographers is part of his method. In Lucky, though, Yaron Orbach and Doug Emmett photograph the roads and rooms cleanly, while Keith P. Cunningham’s motels and bars could serve almost any crime series. We wanted somewhere that felt particular to this story. Isabella Summers’s score makes a better choice, driving the chases and dropping out when the programme reaches for feeling. The restraint helps, even when the scene underneath has little to offer.
The stronger recommendation among our reviewed work is Dope Thief (2025), chiefly for Brian Tyree Henry and Wagner Moura’s convincing, often funny friendship. The plotting grows tangled, but their company makes the trouble worthwhile. Cape Fear (2026) likewise benefits from Javier Bardem’s curdling courtesy and Amy Adams’s answering strength. Its ten episodes and nine directors leave us with another reservation about length, rather than a clear verdict on van Tulleken’s individual contribution. Start with Dope Thief, provided a convincing friendship matters more to the evening than tidy plotting.
Biography
Jonathan van Tulleken is a British director. Born in London in 1981, he trained at Columbia University’s film programme.
He has directed episodes of series including Shōgun (2024, also executive producer on the first two), the second series of Top Boy (2013), The Changeling (2023), Dope Thief (2025, two episodes) and Lucky (2026, three episodes and executive producer). He directed the pilot of Reprisal (2019) and episodes of Trust (2018) and Misfits. His short films have received BAFTA nominations and screened at festivals including Toronto, Palm Springs and Slamdance. He maintains a recurring collaboration with comedian Tim Key.
Van Tulleken works in both the UK and North America. He has won one BAFTA Award.
