Television
The Best of the Week
SATURDAY AUGUST 26
Netball (Sky Sport 3, Sky 053, 7.00pm). The Netball Quad Series begins in Brisbane, where the Silver Ferns meet South Africa. Watch out for debut mid-courter Whitney Souness, as well as old hands Maria Tutaia, Phoenix Karaka and captain Katrina Grant. On Wednesday, the action moves to Auckland’s Trusts Arena, where the Ferns are up against England’s Roses (Sky Sport 3, Sky 053, 7.30pm).
Mary Kills People (Sky Box Sets, Sky 009, 7.30pm). Kiwi Jay Ryan’s big break may have been the reworked Beauty & the Beast, but four seasons and 70 episodes as a genetically altered soldier and love interest are enough for anyone. Here’s something way more interesting: a dark comedy about physician-assisted suicide. Yes, they went there. Caroline Dhavernas ( Hannibal and the late-lamented Wonderfalls) plays Mary, an emergency-room doctor who also dispenses end-of-life solutions. Ryan plays a terminally ill guy, although that’s not all (we wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise). For once, there is a good reason for not identifying Toronto as the show’s location: Canada legalised
physician-
assisted death last year. Sky Box Sets screens all six episodes of season one today; a second season has been ordered.
SUNDAY AUGUST 27
Rugby (Sky Sport 2, Sky 052, 6.35am). Coverage from Belfast of the Women’s
Rugby World Cup final. Will the Black Ferns be there? We think yes. On Saturday, the All Blacks play Australia at Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin in another Rugby Championship/Bledisloe Cup game (Sky Sport 1, Sky 051, 6.30pm).
MONDAY AUGUST 28
2017 MTV Music Video Awards (MTV, Sky 015, noon). Our Lorde is set to perform and is also nominated for Artist of the Year, although she’s
up against Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande, Kendrick Lamar and the Weeknd, and after Grande’s recent One Love benefit concert, she’s surely odds-on. Katy Perry hosts the awards in the Forum, California. Fashion Police (E!, Sky 014) dissects the good, the bad and the Lady Gaga on Wednesday (8.30pm).
Westside (Three, 8.30pm). The Outrageous Fortune prequel is now firmly its own thing, and the historical references in season three are cute (money machines “will never catch on”, according to Ted) and unlaboured. The mix of comedy and tragedy has achieved near-perfection, so we’re expecting an exceptional season finale tonight. Just as well season four has been funded, or Rita would have had something to say, probably unprintable.
TUESDAY AUGUST 29
Australian Survivor (TVNZ 2, 7.30pm, Tues-Thurs). Whatever you do, don’t look at the internet, because season four of Australian Survivor started on July 30. Contestants include endurance athlete Sam Gash, photographer/film-maker Jarrad Seng and Olympian Nicola “Ziggy” Zagame. There’s also a plumber, a mining technician, a doctor, a wedding DJ and an international poker player. The show is again filmed on Upolu, Samoa, and Anthony LaPaglia presents. Harry Price: Ghost Hunter
(Vibe, Sky 006, 7.30pm). A performance of sensitivity and depth from lead Rafe Spall, son of Timothy, turns this telefeature into more than just a run-of-the-mill ghost story. It helps that Price was a fascinating character, a well-known “psychic researcher” in the 1920s and 30s and friends with Harry Houdini, who famously debunked so-called paranormal phenomena. Writer Jack Lothian, who has worked on Doc Martin and The Halcyon, has adapted Neil Spring’s
2013 novel for this story in which Price, a charlatan, has taken himself out of the spiritualist game after a horrific incident, but is reluctantly pulled back into a perplexing
case involving an MP’s wife.
Law & Order: SVU (Three, 8.30pm). Signs of the times: an episode of Law & Order: SVU’s 18th season in which Gary Cole played a politician facing damaging sexual assault allegations (similar to a certain presidential candidate) was postponed, then shelved in November. In tonight’s rippedfrom-the-headlines story, there is a hate crime against a Muslim family, then a crucial witness is deported. Tune in for the season finale next week when the race riots begin.
THURSDAY AUGUST 31
Vote 17 Leaders Debate (TVNZ 1, 7.00pm). Just when we thought it was going to be dull, dull, dull, they went and made it slightly more interesting. With 23 days to go until election day, here’s the first leaders’ debate, which is between National’s old warhorse, Bill English, and the Labour Party’s new hope, Jacinda Ardern. If the petition calling for him to be removed hasn’t caused an existential crisis, Mike Hosking moderates. TVNZ’s coverage also features a multiparty debate on September
8; a young voters’ debate on September 14; and another English-Ardern debate on September 20.
Diana, Seven Days (Prime, 8.30pm). It’s going to be a
Diana, Princess of Wales sort of week, leading up to the anniversary of her death in a Paris tunnel 20 years ago today. Or was it September
1 for us? Let’s not quibble.
This two-parter explores the aftermath of her death, the lead-up to the funeral and how the monarchy was affected. In other Diana news, The Story of Diana (Prime, Sunday, 8.30pm) goes back in time to when the young and naive Diana Spencer met dishy Prince Charles, and Diana and the Paparazzi (Prime, Wednesday, 8.30pm) explores her love-hate relationship with the press who pursued her. Curiously, TVNZ 1 screens the same doco as Diana, 7 Days on Monday (7.30pm) and also has Prince Harry in Africa (TVNZ 1, Thursday, 8.00pm), which follows the fifth in line to the British throne on a return journey to Lesotho. But wait, there’s more. Over three nights, Princess Diana: Tragedy or Treason? (Living, Sky 017, Sunday-Tuesday, 8.30pm) rakes over the details of her death, along with those of Egyptian businessman Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul.
FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 1
The Beginning and the End of the Universe (History, Sky 073, 7.30pm). Jim Al-Khalili explains life, the universe and everything in this two-part BBC series. He goes back as far as science can take us – so far at least – one-millionth of a second after the Big Bang. He begins with Edwin Hubble’s determination that the Andromeda nebula was a separate galaxy from our own Milky Way, “a moment in human consciousness when the universe had suddenly and dramatically got considerably bigger”.