Summarize this content to 2000 words in 6 paragraphs in Arabic Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The truth can be hard to come by in the White House. So world-renowned detective Cordelia Cupp (Uzo Aduba) learns. She is summoned to Washington when a body is found in the president’s private quarters during a state dinner for an Australian delegation. Nobody in the building is beyond suspicion, and everyone — from the press officer to the pâtissier, the guards to the gardeners — is letting on less than they know. You don’t work in 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, it seems, without learning how to twist the facts and deflect difficult questions.The Residence — a new eight-part Netflix series from Bridgerton producer Shondaland — is not a timely political thriller but a good old-fashioned whodunnit, led by an eccentric detective whose love of ornithology has given her an eagle-eye for detail. A story about upstairs/downstairs friction and petty grudges, it revolves around the suspicious death of the White House’s veteran chief usher (Giancarlo Esposito).While the investigation unfolds in many of the building’s 132 rooms, the show notably avoids the West Wing. Instead, the central mystery is fuelled by charged workplace politics where tensions tend to rise and tempers flare. Among the potential suspects — whose conflicting versions of events emerge in snappily edited montages and perspective-shifting flashbacks — are a deputy usher denied a promotion, a butler admonished for being overfamiliar and a hot-headed chef who feels under-appreciated.This alternative reality, in which seating plans and dessert displays are the main conversation topics in the White House, might seem quaint given real concerns about the current administration. The show could also be branded a missed opportunity to skewer American politics — a quip about how a government office and a crime scene are one and the same in Washington is about as pointed as things get. But I suspect most will find The Residence an enjoyable slice of escapism that pulls off the not insubstantial feat of fitting a congressional hearing and an extended Kylie Minogue cameo into one story.The almost hour-long episodes can feel overstretched — there’s a lot of narrative filler and a few too many jokes about Hugh Jackman. But what The Residence lacks in sharpness, it makes up for with a breezy spirit and a wonderfully dry, deadpan lead performances from Aduba.★★★☆☆On Netflix now
