Television
The Best of the Week
SATURDAY JANUARY 11
Jack Irish (Choice TV, 9.30pm). Season two of the really rather good Aussie series – like all good crime noir, it explores social issues and the abuse of power. In season one, there was a massacre in a Philippines village and the murder of an Australian woman investigating it; in season two, it’s shonky international learning institutions. It’s been a terrific role for Guy Pearce, who spent 20 years in the US before returning home to play the part. “The beauty for me is that I am playing an Australian,” he told Stuff. “So, all of that vernacular, all of the ums and ahs and pauses come completely naturally to me, as opposed to playing King Edward VIII [in
The King’s Speech], who is of another time and of another place.” In addition, Danielle
Cormack appears as Jack’s girlfriend, and the cast includes Aaron Pedersen, Marta Dusseldorp, Roy Billing and Deborah Mailman.
SUNDAY JANUARY 12
Rick Stein Tastes the Blues (Choice TV, 4.30pm). Cornwall seems about as far away from the Mississippi Delta as you can get, but Stein has been a blues fan since the 60s and, naturally, is fascinated with all the food references in the music. In this one-off special, he’s in the American South, searching out black-eyed peas, turnip greens, catfish and fried chicken.
MONDAY JANUARY 13
Shortland Street (TVNZ 2, 7.00pm). Explosions! Men on fire! Hatches and possibly dispatches! We’re about to find
out who is left standing after last year’s cliffhanger dramas. In addition, the return of some familiar faces is promised for 2020, including an angry widow looking for vengeance. They’re the best kind, in our opinion.
The Outsider (SoHo, Sky 010, 3.00pm and 8.30pm). The
HBO era has been very good for Stephen King and here’s another adaptation of one of his novels, one that has links to the successful series Mr Mercedes. Two executive producers on Mercedes are involved and they have enlisted acclaimed novelist and screenwriter Richard Price ( The Night Of, The Deuce and The Wire). They also have a great cast. Ben Mendelsohn, Jason Bateman, Mare Winningham, Paddy Considine and Julianne Nicholson appear in the story of a man arrested for a heinous crime, but who apparently was in two places at once. Shades of Twin Peaks, perhaps, as Detective Ralph Anderson (Mendelsohn) investigates with private investigator Holly Gibney (who also appears in Mr Mercedes, but is here played by Cynthia Erivo). Bateman, who won a directing Emmy last year for Ozark, is also a producer and directs the first two episodes.
Deep Water (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). A sort-of Big Little Lies in the Lake District. Based on the novels by Paula Daly, the six-part series focuses on three school mums whose various secrets and lies get them into … well. Anna Friel dresses down as the owner of a dog-kennel business and is the one really in hot water when the teenage daughter of wealthy mum Kate (Rosalind Eleazar) goes missing on her watch. Meanwhile, cash-strapped physiotherapist Roz (Sinead Keenan) considers an indecent proposal. Soapy and implausible, but terrifically watchable.
TUESDAY JANUARY 14
Inside the Ritz Hotel London (TVNZ 1, 8.40pm). Great promotion for one of the world’s most prestigious hotels, although this four-part series begs the question, if it’s really
that fabulous, why does it need the publicity?
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 15
Nefertiti: The Lonely Queen (History, Sky 073, 8.30pm). Not, as the title suggests, about the Egyptian queen who, with husband Akhenaten, briefly revolutionised religious thought, but actually a discussion about ownership of ancient artefacts and the looting of antiquities. With the return of Māori remains, New Zealand knows something of this, and the film points out that museums around the world are full of precious items taken from their homeland, often without permission. In addition, their display may be culturally out of context. The Parthenon Marbles are just one example – the title refers to the famous bust of Nefertiti that is part of the Egyptian Museum of Berlin’s collection. It was discovered in 1912 by a German archaeological team and has been in dispute since 1924 when it went on display. The documentary also investigates looted antiquities; it’s bad enough that significant historical items are being lost, but children used by criminal gangs involved in this trade have died searching for items.
THURSDAY JANUARY 16
The New Pope (SoHo, Sky 010, 8.30pm). Paolo Sorrentino is known as an auteur of great