New Delhi, May 24 -- There is something immediately comforting about The Boroughs. Perhaps it is the cast, packed with veteran performers who know exactly how to command a scene without overplaying it. Perhaps it is the warm, lived-in atmosphere of the retirement community at the centre of the story. Or perhaps it is because the fingerprints of Netflix and creators Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews - with The Duffer Brothers executive producing - are visible from the opening episode.

The Boroughs feels like the spiritual cousin of Stranger Things, only this time the people standing between humanity and the unknown are not children on bicycles but pensioners carrying decades of grief, regrets and fading memories. Surprisingly, that switch ...