Succession is a story you might think you’ve heard before. This new HBO comedy-drama follows the Roy family, who control one of the biggest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world. Logan Roy, the ageing mogul who founded the company, is ready to take a step back; his children are angling for control of his multibillion-dollar global empire. They fly around in helicopters and buy and sell companies the way most people do furniture. But Succession is not, repeat not, about the Murdochs.
“Succession,” says the show’s British writer, Jesse Armstrong, “is happening in media, a move on from the press barons. Sumner Redstone [whose family are majority owners of CBS and Viacom] is the other most obvious model for me, but also John Malone