Television
The Best of the Week
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 24
Inspector George Gently (UKTV, Sky 007, 8.30pm). Time to say goodbye: George Gently (Martin Shaw), who has fought corruption his whole career, is about to be undone by some rum doings in the intelligence services. Season eight consists of two featurelength episodes set in 1970 that will take Gently back to the event that has plagued him for 10 years: the murder of his wife, Isabella. The final episode starts with a politician (Richard Harrington) who is being framed by MI5 and ends on a desolate beach.
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 25
Cricket (Sky Sport 1, Sky
051, 1.30pm). With two T20 matches out of the way, the Black Caps’ one-day series against England can begin. Aucklanders have really missed out on the short form game this summer: today’s opening match takes place at Seddon Park in Hamilton; the second is on Wednesday in Tauranga and the subsequent matches are in Wellington, Dunedin and Christchurch. Auckland will have to make do with the day/night test match at Eden Park from March 22.
Making New Zealand (Prime, 8.30pm). Prepare to shudder at the appalling destruction of our native forests in this episode dedicated to the felling of trees. Nineteenthcentury technology was no barrier to the near-decimation of our kauri forests within the space of about 80 years. Along came Canadian Leon Macintosh Ellis, who oversaw the creation of a State Forest Service at the start of the 20th century and initiated the planting of exotic trees.
MONDAY FEBRUARY 26
The Walking Dead (TVNZ 2, 9.45pm). Season eight – and the war between the Rick Grimes gang and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) continues. Does anyone care? Well, enough viewers in the US do, which accounts for the show’s continued run. Season nine has been ordered and there are plenty of storylines left in the comic-book series to be going on with, too. A big change from the comic-books appears to be the upcoming death of Carl Grimes (Chandler Riggs), who has been bitten. Perhaps the zombie apocalypse metaphor still applies: after all,
the Dead has become a bunch of different factions at each other’s throats until the end of time.
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 27
iZombie (TVNZ OnDemand). The second zombie apocalypse for the week, but at least this one has jokes. The little show starring Kiwi Rose McIver is a fan favourite, probably because it gives its stars many ridiculous scenarios to play out. It goes into its fourth season with a walled-off Seattle in which zombies and humans are trying to coexist. The Wall (TVNZ 1, 7.30pm). An Australian version of a US game show that was filmed in Poland. Say what? That’s because the set, which features a four-storey pegboard, is so expensive it’s cheaper to fly the contestants and crew there than build one at home. Balls are dropped into the wall, bouncing down until they land in a slot with a dollar value – contestants must answer questions correctly for the balls to be valid. Actor and singer Axle Whitehead hosts; there is much jumping around and hugging. It’s been a hit in the US, but only six episodes of the Aussie version were made.
The Good Karma Hospital (UKTV, Sky 007, 9.30pm). Gentle Sunday-night viewing in the UK; for us, a quiet Tuesday night in. A charmer that’s a sort of Best Exotic Marigold Hotel meets Casualty: young doctor Ruby Walker (Amrita Acharia) leaves the UK to make a fresh start at a hospital in southern India (really Sri Lanka); learnings ensue. The hospital – more of a bungalow, really – is run by the no-nonsense Lydia Fonseca (Amanda Redman) and populated with colourful characters and possible love interests. Meanwhile, Dr Fonseca has a no-strings relationship with an expat Brit (Neil Morrissey) who runs a beach bar.
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 28
Trust Me, I’m a Doctor (BBC Knowledge, Sky 074, 7.30pm). The good oil on health or, in one episode, coconut oil and whether it can cut cholesterol. Some of the other investigations in the new season include why fizzy drinks make us eat more, whether caffeine boosts physical performance, what men can do about baldness, whether eating carbs in the evening is bad for us, reducing jet lag and recognising post-traumatic stress disorder.
Ozzy & Jack’s World Detour (Choice TV, 9.30pm). In which television producer and presenter Jack Osbourne takes his pensioner father around sites of historical interest. Could be genius. It turns out that Ozzy Osbourne, Prince of Darkness, Birmingham’s finest and the godfather of heavy metal, is a history fan and was happy to join Jack on a tour involving something other than stadiums and Laney amplifiers. In the first season, their visits include Jamestown, Stonehenge (well, of course), Mt Rushmore, Roswell and Cuba. The one place that Ozzy wasn’t sure about was the Alamo in San Antonio, as he had been banned from the city in 1982 for urinating on the
memorial (he doesn’t seem to remember). The ban was lifted in 1992, but when it, er, leaked out that Ozzy was coming back, a crowd of about 1000 turned out to see him. The show has been so popular, a second season has been made, with a third on the way.
THURSDAY MARCH 1
Madam Secretary (Prime, 9.35pm). Season four begins with a fake news story about Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord (Téa Leoni) and includes an impeachment episode in which McCord and the Cabinet vote to invoke the 25th amendment after President Dalton (Keith Carradine) wants to nuke a Russian satellite. Despite this, it is the show’s stated aim to try to appeal to everyone. “I think we’ve managed to present our stories and the positions and the discussions and the problems that need to be solved in a way that doesn’t scream any kind of a partisan position,” Carradine told the Hollywood Reporter. In other US crime drama news: NCIS: New Orleans is back for its fourth season (Prime, Friday, 9.30pm), and season five of Elementary returns on Saturday (Prime, 8.30pm).
FRIDAY MARCH 2
The Graham Norton Show
(Three, 8.00pm). Norton has a brace (or perhaps a gush?) of Oscar nominees on his couch tonight in honour of the awards taking place in Hollywood next week. Margot Robbie and Allison Janney, who are nominated for I, Tonya, and Daniel Kaluuya ( Get Out) front up and are joined by Alicia Vikander and pop singer Camila Cabello.