To judge from the column inches devoted to it by the British Press in the run-up to its release on Thursday April 13, the Netflix miniseries Obsession could turn out to be the streaming service’s equivalent to the Fifty Shades trilogy.

Equivalent, that is, in the sense that it may well tap into a massive audience for the kind of ‘vanillarised’ BDSM relationship drama that was peddled so profitably by the E L James books and movies.

Whether Obsession can successfully engage both kink curious and/or romantically adventurous mainstream viewers and those who would consider themselves fetish and BDSM literate remains to be seen. From what has been gleanable before its release, it could go either way.

This four-part series (dropped in one bingeable bundle) certainly has rather more respectable antecedents than 50 Shades. It’s based on the late Josephine Hart’s critically acclaimed 1991 novel Damage, which in 1992 was made into a film by Louis Malle starring Jeremy Irons, Juliette Binoche, Miranda Richardson, Rupert Graves and Ian Bannen.

As in Damage, Obsession depicts an intense affair between talented medic William (Richard Armitage) and his son’s fiancée Anna (Charlie Murphy) that spirals into a dangerous, all-consuming obsession with devastating consequences for the whole family.

The precise nature of that obsession is good old domination/submission, which was restricted in Malle’s film to the realm of the psychological. At least in this new adaptation, the sub-dom theme is physically manifested, albeit through the softly-softly medium of silk rope and ribbons, and at least one blindfold that looks to have been borrowed straight from the 1986 Kim Bassinger and Micky Rourke movie 9½ Weeks.

Equally importantly, Obsession’s narrative has been rotated through 180 degrees by screenwriter Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, with events now seen from the viewpoint of submissive girlfriend Anna, rather than the dominant surgeon William’s male gaze presented in the Damage novel and film.

In one press article, Lloyd Malcolm is quoted as saying it was really important “not to be saying anything like ‘BDSM sex is bad sex’, and that for her, it was all about “who is in control” of the relationship. “For me it was always Anna,” she says, “every single scenario.”

It’s a viewpoint that Charlie Murphy, playing Anna, also endorses: “She is completely in control … She is the dominant submissive, and the power she gives to him is a very cathartic experience for her.”

For viewers, will Obsession (which also stars Indira Varma and Rish Shah) prove to be an equally cathartic experience or a mere feather’s tickle on the BDSM impact play scale? That will become clear soon enough!

Trailer

First two photos Anna’s wrists are bound by William in Obsession (Netflix)

William blindfolds Anna in Obsession (Netflix)

Anna (Charlie Murphy) and William (Richard Armitage) embrace in Obsession (Netflix)

Anna (Charlie Murphy) is fed by William (Richard Armitage) in Obsession (Netflix)

Richard Armitage plays dominant medic William in Obsession (Netflix)

Charlie Murphy plays submissive Anna in Obsession (Netflix)

Anna (Charlie Murphy) and William (Richard Armitage) in Obsession (Netflix)