Prisons come in many forms
Variety – the spice of life
If you have been yearning for the good old days of the classic TV variety show, then you’re in luck this week, with Tonight At The London Palladium, which revives a British TV favourite that began life way, way, back in the 1950s. It even gave Bruce Forsyth his big break on TV! The new incarnation, however, has The Chase host Bradley Walsh as the compere and features stars of stage, screen and music for a right old knees-up. Variety lives on!
TV One, Saturday, 7.30pm
Back behind bars
The women of Wentworth are back this week, taking up residence in their new prison quarters following the big fire. And Bea has two formidable enemies to face: radical feminist Kaz, who regards Bea as a traitor to the cause, and Joan ‘‘The Freak’’ Ferguson. How will they cross paths again? You’ll have to watch to find out. Either way, life inside Wentworth is about to get worse for Queen Bea.
TV2, Monday, 8.30pm
Beating a violent past
Former All Black Norm Hewitt and actor Manu Bennett (Crixus in Spartacus) open up on a dark and violent episode in both their pasts this week in Making Good Men, a documentary about bullying. It’s revealing stuff that may resonate with many people, and could well change people’s views of Hewitt, in particular, as he shares the tough background and upbringing that both made him as an All Black, but nearly broke him as a man.
Prime, Monday, 9.30pm
Keith Sharp picks out the best on the box for the week ahead.
A woman’s place?
The controversial Christian commune of Gloriavale is back in the public eye this week, with a new documentary titled Gloriavale – A Woman’s Place. The title is a deliberately ambiguous one, as the programme follows the life of young women in the community, asking is it a good place for women or just somewhere that women are expected to know their place? And for a young woman looking for marriage in Gloriavale, the choices are often not hers to make.
TV2, Wednesday, 8.30pm
Women who kill
British journalist and former tabloid newspaper editor Piers Morgan has interviewed some extreme characters in his time, but he really sticks his neck out this week with a new documentary series titled Killer Women With Piers Morgan. Well, the title says it all, really, as Piers goes behind the bars to talk to some real Wentworth- type women who have blood on their hands, starting with one he calls ‘‘the most evil woman I have ever met’’. She arranged to have her whole family killed when she was just 16! Take it away, Piers. TV3, Thursday, 8.30pm.