The Best of the Week
SATURDAY OCTOBER 20
Antiques Roadshow (Prime, 7.30pm). As international norms seem to collapse on a daily basis and, to paraphrase Jarvis Cocker, terrible people run the world, there is great comfort in knowing that, four decades on, Antiques Roadshow is still out there assessing people’s family heirlooms. The 40th-anniversary season begins with a visit to Castle Howard in Yorkshire, where the finds include a remarkable letter from the pen of Charles Darwin.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 21
My Dinner with Hervé (SoHo, Sky 010, 8.30pm). This HBO drama has been a long time coming. As far back as 2004, former Mail on Sunday journalist Sacha Gervasi was working with Peter Dinklage on a film based on interviews Gervasi had done with Hervé Villechaize, the actor who played Tattoo in Fantasy Island – but then the Game of Thrones juggernaut rolled through and Dinklage had other business. Villechaize committed suicide only three days after he was interviewed by Gervasi and the Mail never ran his story. But
here, 25 years on, he directs and his co-writer, Dinklage, plays the lead in this look at Villechaize’s life.
Jesus Christ Superstar Live! (Prime, 8.30pm). The original 1971 Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar was controversial – some Christians regarded it as blasphemous, Jewish groups worried it could foster anti-Semitism and apartheidera South Africa banned
it altogether. But Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s biblical stage music is part of the cultural furniture these days – and its recreation as a live (on NBC on Easter Sunday) television event this year was widely deemed an innovative success. John Legend won an Emmy for producing the spectacle and was nominated for his performance in the lead role, but Alice Cooper steals every scene he’s in as a camped-up King Herod. Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles is Mary Magadalene.
Meghan and Harry: The Next Chapter (TVNZ 1, 7.00pm). Another pre-tour promo (the royals arrive for their first NZ visit as a couple on October 28), but this one doesn’t feature the stars of the show. Instead, the dreaded royal experts are summoned to discuss the impact of Meghan joining the firm and how
she and her husband have handled the challenges of their first 100 days of matrimony.
Distant Sky: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Live in Copenhagen (Sky Arts, Sky 020, 8.30pm). Another chance to catch the live concert film that briefly appeared in cinemas in April. No, it won’t touch your very soul like the actual live shows here last year, but it’s still worth a look.
LABOUR DAY OCTOBER 22
Don’t Look Down (Choice TV, 8.30pm). Like almost everything Richard Branson does in public, this story of his long-distance balloon adventures is a promotion for the Branson brand, but it’s also a pretty solid (if rather long) documentary. The real-life challenges – and at one point, nearcatastrophe – of his journeys give director Daniel Gordon plenty to work with.
TUESDAY OCTOBER 23
Bad Habits, Holy Orders (TVNZ 1, 8.35pm). The idea of sending five badly behaved party girls into a convent and making television out of it sounds quite mad and
possibly exploitative – and convent leader Sister Francis Ridler later wrote that “how Daughters of Divine Charity became involved in making a four-part documentary for Channel 5 is still something of a mystery to ourselves”.
But the series that resulted was described by the Spectator’s reviewer as “the best documentary series of the past decade”.
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 24
Britain’s Best Home Cook (TVNZ 1, 7.30pm). The very lovely Mary Berry presents a new cooking quest that’s pretty much MasterChef meets Great British Bake Off, with the twist that the contestants all live together in an Apprentice- style mansion. There was plenty riding on this series – it was widely seen as the BBC looking to fill the gap left when it lost Bake Off to Channel 4 – and although some reviewers felt it was just one elimination cooking show too many, others declared it Bake Off’s equal. At any rate, it did well enough for the BBC to commission a second season.
FRIDAY OCTOBER 26
Legacies (TVNZ OnDemand). This spin-off of The Vampire Diaries hits TVNZ OnDemand at the same time that it premieres on US cable TV, so New Zealand fans can return to Mystic Falls without fear of spoilers. Most characters are new – it’s the story of the next generation of supernatural beings at The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted, but Julie Plec, co-creator of The Vampire Diaries and creator of the earlier spin-off The Originals, is Legacies’ showrunner, too. It’s designed to be an easy entry point for viewers new to the realm and, Plec told a New York Comic-Con audience this month, will emphasise humour more than its predecessors: “We wanted to embrace our inner Buffy and have a good time.” Ooh, stop …