Best on the box
Stuff’s James Croot’s top TV picks for the week ahead.
Viceroy’s House, 8.30pm, Saturday, Rialto
Boasting a solid cast of well-known thespians (as well as Hugh Bonneville and Gillian Anderson, there is also Simon Callow and Michael Gambon), Gurinder Chadha’s 2017 historical drama (which focuses on the event surrounding the partition of India) reminds one very much of the Merchant-Ivory films of the 1980s and 90s. That’s a view boosted by a significant sub-plot of star-crossed lovers among the household employees. Jeet (Manish Dayal) is an ambitious young Hindi man, Aalia (Huma Qureshi) is the Muslim girl he fancies.
Travel Man, 7.30pm, Monday, Choice TV
The drip-feeding of the latest series of this hilarious travel series continues with a double-dose of Richard Ayoade-led mayhem. This time around, he’s spending 48 Hours with comedian Joe Lycett in Amsterdam and Miranda’s Sally Phillips in Stockholm.
The Wall, 7.30pm, Tuesday, TVNZ1
Hosted by Axle Whitehead, Australia’s latest gameshow sees teams of two take on ‘‘The Wall’’ by answering general knowledge questions. Answer correctly and the balls turn green and the money it reveals is added to the team’s winning total. Get an answer wrong and the balls turn red and the money is deducted from the team’s total.
McLaren, 8.30pm, Wednesday, Rialto
For a generation of New Zealanders, Bruce McLaren was a Kiwi legend and a hero. For anyone born after 1970 though, he seems little more than the name on a car, intermediate school or retirement village. That’s what Roger Donaldson’s 2017 docudrama aims to put right. Offering up a comprehensive biography of the racecar designer, driver, engineer and inventor, from his early diagnosis of Perthes disease to his tragic death at age
32, McLaren is engrossing and surprisingly emotional.
Duck Quacks Don’t Echo, 7.30pm, Thursday, Duke
British comedian Lee Mack hosts a new series of this UK panel show which each week sees three celebrities attempting to prove their beliefs as fact with the help of a team of in-house boffins. ‘‘There are light laughs to be had and a few surprising titbits to be learned,’’ wroteThe Guardian’s Hannah Verdier.
Madam Secretary, 9.35pm, Thursday, Prime
Morgan Freeman directs and stars in the opening episode of this US political drama’s fourth season. After the assistant vice-minister of Timor-Leste suddenly dies during a meeting with Elizabeth (Tea Leoni), she becomes suspicious when the president of Timor-Leste ships the body back without a proper investigation.