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Best TV: Earth’s Great Seasons

- By FIONA RAE

SUNDAY JULY 15

Earth’s Great Seasons (Prime, 7.30pm). No prizes for guessing how many episodes in this new series. It begins with spring, when all nature acts like a hormonal teenager. Meanwhile, in Loch Lomond (Prime, Saturday, 7.30pm), it’s summer, when the days are 17 hours long and an otter’s fancy turns to baby beaver-killing.

Sunday Theatre: Mistress, Mercy (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). Even by today’s standards, the details of the death and disposal of cricket umpire Peter Plumley-Walker are startling. In 1989, most of New Zealand wasn’t familiar with the term “dominatrix”, let alone “bondage and discipline”, but when Renee Chignell and her boyfriend Neville Walker threw the body of cricket umpire PlumleyWal­ker into the Huka Falls, we lost our innocence. Tonight’s Sunday Theatre looks back on the case that riveted a nation, drawing on a range of people connected to it, including Chignell.

One person who has not contribute­d is Chignell’s lawyer, Christophe­r Harder, who is reportedly working on his own film about the case. Manon Blackman ( 800 Words), Xavier Horan and Joel Tobeck star.

The Affair (SoHo, Sky 010, 8.30pm). We had thought it might be the end of The Affair by now, but here it is, wrenching more toxic emotion out of Noah (Dominic West), Helen (Maura Tierney), Alison (Ruth Wilson) and Cole (Joshua Jackson) in a fourth season. The first episode, directed by Mike Figgis, focuses on Noah and Helen’s new lives in LA: he is teaching at a charter school, she is enjoying the perfect

life with her partner Vic (Omar Metwally), a surgeon. Once again, The Affair shows the different ways that the characters interpret events depending on their emotional state. Exhausting.

MONDAY JULY 16

Station 19 (TVNZ 2, 9.30pm). Shonda Rhimes has a second go at a Grey’s Anatomy spinoff, this time taking a leaf out of Dick Wolf’s playbook by focusing on emergency-services personnel. The link is Jason George, who plays Ben Warren, husband of Miranda Bailey. You may have seen him turn up at Grey Sloan Memorial in his firefighti­ng capacity along with Lieutenant “Andy” Herrera (Jaina Lee Ortiz), the co-captain of Station 19. As this is Shonda Rhimes, Herrera is the real star of the show, a smart young woman negotiatin­g a male-dominated profession and again, as this is Shonda Rhimes, a love triangle. Grey Damon ( Friday Night Lights) and Miguel Sandoval also star, and Chandra Wilson (Bailey) is a frequent guest.

Kiri (SoHo, Sky 010, 9.30pm). British social workers weren’t impressed with Sarah Lancashire’s portrayal of a haphazard case worker, but everyone else was gripped by this fourpart thriller by Jack Thorne ( National Treasure). If you’ve seen Happy Valley, you’ll know that Lancashire is one of the greatest television actors in Britain today, and she carries this story about the death of a foster child. Thorne has said it’s another exploratio­n of sensitive issues put under intense media scrutiny: as Kiri is black, Lancashire’s Miriam is accused of being overly culturally sensitive after the youngster goes missing during an unsupervis­ed visit with her grandparen­ts.

TUESDAY JULY 17

The Good Karma Hospital (UKTV, Sky 007, 9.30pm). Colourful, heart-warming and a little bit too cosy, although reviews suggest it’s been given a shot of caffeine in its second season, starting with an exciting operation by candleligh­t during a power cut in the first episode. Challenges for Ruby (Amrita Acharia), the doctor who is making a fresh start in India, include doing more surgery at the behest of the cottage hospital’s formidable chief, Dr Fonseca (Amanda Redman).

WEDNESDAY JULY 18

Hawaii Five-0 (Three, 9.25pm). Aloha, Steve and Danno: the actioner returns after that big blowout season finale last week that saw Steve (Alex O’Loughlin) seriously injured and Danny (Scott Caan) being talked through the old emergency plane landing. After 143 episodes, no cliché is left unused and, as we head into season seven, Steve is miraculous­ly recovered and ready to parkour across Oahu like a boss. This season, there’s a serial killer; a Die Hard homage; a death cult; a 60s flashback; and the team save Europe from nuclear meltdown. It’s also the final season for Daniel Dae Kim (Chin Ho Kelly) and Grace Park (Kono Kalakaua), who left after CBS wouldn’t give them

equal pay with McLoughlin and Caan.

I’m Dying Up Here (SoHo, Sky 010, 9.30pm). The drama series about the comedy scene in 1970s LA has something, although like a self-sabotaging comedian with a drug problem, it keeps repeating itself and squanderin­g its chances. Perhaps the narrative is a meta commentary? The series, based on William Knoedelsed­er’s book, does have the great Melissa Leo as Goldie, the owner of a club not unlike the famous Comedy Store, where the likes of Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Andy Kaufman, Sandra Bernhard and Jim Carrey, who is an executive producer, honed their craft. Season two continues following the comedians and their various brushes with success, including standout Ari Graynor as one of the few women making a go of it.

THURSDAY JULY 19

Sensing Murder (TVNZ 2, 8.30pm). Well, the spookywook­y cold case series might be controvers­ial – and the psychics who are its major selling point don’t seem terribly effective – but it’s hard not to be riveted. In this new season, Deb Webber is joined by two new psychics, Kerry-Marie Callander and Carin Anderson. Their first case is the murder of New Zealand hairdresse­r Paula Brown in Sydney in 1996. Unfortunat­ely, the main suspect in the case died in 2005.

Tongue Tied (Māori TV, 9.00pm). A little bit like a local version of Community, featuring a night-school te reo class and their not particular­ly well-qualified teacher. As comedies go, however, it’s really not subtle, although the cast, which includes Kura Forrester, Maaka Pōhatu (who can also be seen in Wellington Paranormal), Lisa Chappell, Pax Assadi, Karl Burnett and Paul Fagamalo, give it a good crack.

FRIDAY JULY 20

The Chase Australia (Prime, 7.30pm). What the British Chasers do on their holidays: Anne “the Governess” Hegerty and Mark “the Beast” Labbett are part of the Aussie version of the show, along with locals Brydon Coverdale, Issa Schultz and Matt Parkinson. Deal or No Deal presenter Andrew O’Keefe asks the questions.

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 ??  ?? Earth’s Great Seasons, Sunday.
Earth’s Great Seasons, Sunday.
 ??  ?? The Good Karma Hospital, Tuesday.
The Good Karma Hospital, Tuesday.
 ??  ?? Station 19, Monday.
Station 19, Monday.
 ??  ?? Hawaii Five-0, Wednesday.
Hawaii Five-0, Wednesday.
 ??  ?? I’m Dying Up Here,Wednesday.
I’m Dying Up Here,Wednesday.

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