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What would you do if you worked a mundane finance job with middling pay in the city's banking district, only to find that when you arrived at the office, you were taken hostage by a terrifying team of armed strangers? Unluckily for Zara (Sophie Turner), that's exactly her Monday morning in the new Prime Video drama, Steal.

With the stakes immediately sky high, the six-part series is a far cry from other January streaming choices like Harlan Coben's Run Away and Agatha Christie's Seven Dials. It's an original story, and it certainly feels fresh to watch. We've not had a money-led TV show in quite a while (and certainly not framed through workplace monotony), and oddly, the thing we always avoid talking about is going to become the subject of watercooler gossip.

Why? Because Steal puts the pedal to the metal from the moment you press play on episode 1. The premiere episode is an incredibly strong start to a new series, with our heart in our mouths as Zara and her team are held at gunpoint while our strangers fleece the trading company out of millions of pounds, which come directly from the everyday person's pension.

It's a dramatic way to start the day, but the basics of this could genuinely happen to any of us at any given time, making our thriller binge hit a little too close to home. But when we find out that Zara is more involved than meets the eye (without spoilers), the risk-factor flatlines.

Steal starts and ends with a financial implosion, but the middle is a drab sinking fund

In an ideal world, Steal would have been four episodes rather than six. Given that miniseries tend to be capped at six episodes (especially on a global streaming service), I'm not too surprised by the show's structure, but by the time we reach the middle of the tale, we're treading water.

There's only so many times that Zara can tell others that she's in trouble before it gets old, feeling as though her strife is something we've seen a million times before. Rather than being riddled with B-plots, Steal is focused on its main storyline at all times, and that leaves little wriggle room for creative exploration.

Sure, the heist becomes a literal matter of life-or-death, but sometimes you need a palette cleanser to offset a pill that's truly tricky to swallow. Four episodes would have cut the chaff to get straight to the final climax, with little time for characters to wait around feeling sorry for themselves, even though the painful mess is all their fault.

As I've touched on, episode 1 is a lesson in how to open a show to any aspiring writer. The tension ticks along nicely, with Sophie Turner delivering arguably the best performance of her career to date – and certainly one of the most vulnerable.

Everything we learn about Zara during this build-up cannot be trusted, and that's a seductive risk for us to play with. How much can we trust her, and how much can we trust her perspective of the heist? There are certainly no clean hands here, that's for sure.

Motherland and Line of Duty fans rejoice – Anna Maxwell Martin is Steal's secret weapon

She's not one of the gun-toters, don't worry. (Image credit: Prime Video)

As much as I thoroughly enjoyed Turner's performance, I wouldn't say that she's the breakout star of the show. That accolade is reserved for Anna Maxwell Martin, who has about two scenes across the entire six episodes.

She's a straight-talking MI5 enigma who meets with Zara on the sly to try and tease highly sought-after information out of her. Blunt and overtly threatening in her tone, Maxwell Martin turns in exactly how I'd imagine Julia from Motherland would be if she was a copper.

Unintentionally humorous, could potentially kill you, and more than anything, is completely over the drama that she's been sucked into.

All-in-all, it's a really solid outing from Steal. I really hope that Amazon can keep up this quality of content, even if it's messy overall – I'd much rather TV took risks like this that didn't land rather than play it one-note and totally safe.

Frankly, Steal is worth watching for its first episode alone, but the season finale isn't too far behind in terms of satisfaction levels. If you've ever wished that you chose a high-flying financial career over whatever it is you do in real-life, this will reverse that pipe dream in the blink of an eye.

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I’ve never wanted to work in finance less after watching new Prime Video thriller Steal — but after this traumatic binge, I can probably add trade processing to my CV.

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Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender: one-minute review

Nutribullet has cemented itself as a trusted name in the kitchen appliance space, with its blenders and juicers among the best in the market. The Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender offers this same quality in a more lightweight package, allowing for on-the-go blending.

The Nutribullet Flex is an upgraded version of the Nutribullet Portable Blender, adding a few welcome new features, including increased capacity and clear charge indicators. As such, it comes in slightly more than its predecessor, while still being affordable at under $100.

(Image credit: Future)

Considering the quality of this personal blender, it offers excellent value for money for those seeking a convenient, portable blender that produces optimal results with cold beverages and smoothies. Its lightweight design means you can easily disassemble the appliance and take it with you to work, the gym, or on vacation, while its rechargeability means you won’t be searching high and low for a plug socket.

Each of its four charges allows for approximately eight blend cycles (each lasts 30 seconds), meaning you can quickly mix your food and transport it with ease, using the convenient carry loop attached to its lid. If you’re looking for a personal blender that prioritises convenience, speed, and cold beverages, this is an excellent choice.

(Image credit: Future)

However, this blender lacks versatility and can struggle with some ingredients or recipes, so you’re best to stick to cold drinks and smoothies with this one. Its portability is always negatively impacted by its volume, which could restrict where you can use it, and the lack of storage for its sharp blades.

Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender: price and availability

• $69.99 / £59.99 / AU$99.95 at Nutribullet
• Available at third-party retailers, such as Amazon, Decathlon, and Target

Priced at $69.99 / £59.99 / AU$99.95, the Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender offers great quality for an affordable price. And, what’s more, we regularly see discounts on this appliance at Nutribullet and third-party retailers.

While it doesn’t offer as much versatility as many of the best blenders on the market, if you’re looking for a portable blender for cold drinks and smoothies, without breaking the $100 mark, this is a great choice.

For those who want to keep under the $50 mark, however, the Nutribullet Magic Bullet Portable Blender ($39.99 / £39.99 / A$79.95) offers a solid alternative. If you don’t mind splashing out a bit more for a more powerful, convenient on-the-go blender, we highly recommend the Nutribullet Flip ($99.99, roughly £80 / AU$150), especially if you intend to make a lot of frozen or icy beverages.

• Value score: 4.5/5

Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender: specifications

Review model

NBPB09220_250721

Accessories

USB-C charging cable (500mm / 19.7in)

Smart control

No

Rated power

100W

Capacity

590ml cup (400ml max)

Time range

Each blending cycle lasts 30 seconds

Dimensions

3.3in (D) x 11.4in (H) x 3.3in (W) / 83mm (D) x 290mm (H) x 83mm (W)

Weight

Approx. 1.9lbs / 850g

Dishwasher safe

Yes, top rack

Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender: design

• Rechargeable, with plug-in option
• Tight seals prevent leaks
• Carry loop on sip lid for on-the-go drinks
• No storage for blade block

Out of the box, the Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender comes with a motor base, a 590ml cup, a sip lid featuring a carry loop for on-the-go use, and a blade block. While our model came in black, Nutribullet offers several colour options, including green and grey.

The blender is straightforward to assemble and takes up minimal space, making it ideal for smaller kitchens or communal work/living spaces. Disassembling the appliance also requires minimal effort; its parts are fairly compact, so they easily fit into an average-sized backpack or gym bag. Our only concern is a lack of storage for the blade block, which is sharp. Including a small hub for this could make the appliance safer to transport.

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(Image credit: Future)

This portable blender’s 590ml cup offers enough space to make a single smoothie or drink for one, though it's worth noting that the 'max' line on ours was at 400ml, meaning, in reality, that’s the capacity you have to work with. The accompanying sip lid screws snuggly onto the cup, preventing any leakages, while its secure carry loop allows you to carry your finished drink in hand as soon as your blending is complete.

The blade block fits tightly onto the bottom of the cup and is locked into the motor base with a satisfying click. Again, we had no issues with leakages throughout our testing. The motor base has a minimalistic LED display, featuring a large power button. This simply requires one press to turn on. When turned on, a clockwise light ring appears around the button, confirming it's ready to be operated. Below this button are four LED lights, indicating the amount of charge the blender currently has.

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(Image credit: Future)Image 2 of 2

(Image credit: Future)

The Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender is rechargeable, meaning it largely works wirelessly. A USB-C cable for charging is included, which plugs into a discrete port at the back of the motor base. However, no adapter is included. While you can use the appliance plugged in, it must have at least one charge (one white light) for this to work, and operating the blender plugged in pauses charging during the blend cycle. In addition, the provided cable is only 50cm long, restricting where you can place the appliance.

We found it took approximately 50 minutes for one light (charge) to appear, and the blender offered approximately eight 30-second blending cycles per charge. This does, however, seem to be variable and can depend on what you’re blending and if you’re overheating the appliance.

This blender’s lightweight design makes it fairly easy to transport, but you may want to consider where you use it. Nutribullet products are typically quite loud, and while the Flex Portable Blender is a bit quieter (depending on its use), we found it averaged a decibel reading of 82, roughly equivalent to the volume of traffic. So, while you can take it to work or the gym, your colleagues and peers may not appreciate it.

• Design score: 4.5/5

Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender: performance

• Best suited to beverages
• Blends smoothies consistently well
• Struggles with certain solid ingredients
• 30-second blend cycle may not be enough

We began our testing of the Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender with Nutribullet’s own Banana Kale smoothie recipe. Due to the size of the appliance, we had to half the recipe to ensure it fit the cup. This blender comes with a small leaflet instructing you on how to build a smoothie optimally, in other words, the order to add the ingredients. It’s a lifesaver for those new to smoothie making, and blenders, too, for that matter.

After adding the ingredients and securing the cup, we pressed the power button, which triggered a 30-second blend cycle – which you can stop at any time by pressing the button again. The results were impressive: the consistency was thick and creamy, but smooth. There were no lumps of unblended fruit or veg in the cup or under the blades.

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(Image credit: Future)

Next, we used one of the recipes Nutribullet recommends for this appliance. Following the included QR code takes you to the Nutribullet app, which allows you to input your appliance type and dietary requirements and suggests recipes based on your needs. The app itself is a bit of a pain; it signed us out every time we closed it, and wouldn’t let us sign in again without creating a new account. The recipes, too, were limited to fewer than 10, primarily smoothies and lattes.

We tried the Strawberry Banana Smoothie, composed of almond milk, ice, chia seeds, half a banana, strawberries, and vanilla extract. We again built the smoothie as suggested, but found that – despite being recommended for the Portable Blender – the ingredients exceeded the max line. This is potentially because they’re for the non-Flex version of this device, but this isn’t specified in the app (nor is Flex specifically a choice when choosing your device). As a result, we had to remove a large amount of ice for the blender to function safely.

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(Image credit: Future)

The results, again, were excellent. However, we did find a small lump of unblended banana in the final product, and some of our chia seeds had stuck to the side of the cup in a clump. Overall, this didn’t affect the final product and, again, there was no unblended residue stuck under the blades.

As part of our standard control testing for blenders, we don’t simply test smoothies, however. Nutribullet describes the Flex Portable as being for “on-the-go lifestyles,” and while that suggests it's primarily for beverages, it doesn’t specify it’s only for smoothies and cold drinks.

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(Image credit: Future)

We tested Nutribullet’s hummus recipe, again halving the ingredients. While the bottom portion of the ingredients blended fairly well after one cycle, the top remained untouched. The blender struggled considerably with the thickness of the hummus, slowing it to a standstill at one point, despite our attempts to loosen the mixture. Similarly, the appliance struggled with ice.

We wanted to use our ice control tests to check the chopping abilities of the blade. Again, the bottom portion was chopped, but the top remained untouched.

(Image credit: Future)

Surprisingly, what did work well was mayonnaise, another of our controls. This recipe applies more to a standard blender, as it requires adding oil while the device is on. We, instead, stopped the blender short of its cycle to add more before blending further each time. The result was actually nice, well-blended mayonnaise.

While the Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender is capable of mixing some non-beverage recipes, it’s not recommended. This isn’t necessarily a big drawback for this product, which is likely aimed at those making beverages on-the-go rather than quick mayo for your lunchtime sandwich.

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(Image credit: Future)

What is worth noting is its struggle with more solid, thicker ingredients and its lack of versatility. If you are in the market for a portable blender that focuses on making cold drinks and does that well, but doesn’t offer the capabilities of competitor products, this is an excellent choice.

• Performance score: 4.5/5

Should you buy the Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender?Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender score card

Attribute

Notes

Score

Value

This blender offers great value for an affordable price, even if it doesn't offer a lot of versatility.

4.5/5

Design

This appliance's lightweight design and carry loop make it easy to take your drinks on the go, but we wish there was a storage hub for its blade and it wasn't as loud.

4.5/5

Performance

This blender excels when making smoothies and cold drinks, but isn't necessarily suited to other recipes.

4.5/5

Buy it if

You want to make cold beverages on the go

The Nutribullet Flex Portable Blender is lightweight and has fairly compact parts, so it should easily fit in your work or gym bag, making it convenient to transport day-to-day. What’s more, thanks to the carry loop on its sip lid, you can make your drink, detach the cup from the base, and immediately take it to-go.

You want a high quality, affordable blender

Nutribullet is a top-of-the-range brand, and this blender offers the quality you would expect – without an eye-watering price tag. If you want a quality portable blender for under $100, this is a great choice.

It's for personal use

This appliance has enough capacity for one drink or smoothie at a time. So, it’s an ideal size for those looking for a portable blender for solo use.

Don't buy it if

You want versatility

As we’ve said above, this blender is great at making cold beverages, but lacks versatility when it comes to other recipes. If you want a blender with more options, it’s worth considering an alternative.

You want to use it in quieter environments

At an average of 82 decibels, this portable blender is quieter than some Nutribullet products we’ve tested, but still pretty loud. As such, it may not be as suited to quieter environments, like the workplace.

A compact blender that delivers silky, tasty smoothies and blended drinks at an affordable price

From its streamlined look to its improved threshold-climbing abilities, this is a formidable new flagship from Dreame.