Must-see TV
Even in 2019, December is a time of festive televisual fluff, holiday specials and movies you’ve seen a million times before. But while the expected repeats are likely to surface once again, there are still some new things worth watching this coming month.
TVNZ has a special celebrity edition of The Great New Zealand Bake Off in the works, while the Cliff Curtis-backed
Class Act (TVNZ1, December 7) sees communities coming together to put on a show.
Elsewhere, Netflix has another instalment of Rose McIver’s royal rom-com A Christmas Prince
(December 5), and Guy Pearce and Andy Serkis head an all-star adaptation of Charles Dickens’
A Christmas Carol, which will debut on Sky TV’s Neon on Boxing Day.
There’s also good news for fans of The Expanse
(Amazon Prime Video, December
13), Lost in Space
(Netflix, December
24), You (Netflix, December 26),
Vikings (Lightbox, December 5) and
Running Wild with Bear Grylls
(National Geographic, December 1), as new instalments will drop next month.
However, after looking through the schedules, picked out seven titles well worth checking out before the new year hits. has
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel (December 6, Amazon Prime Video)
The third season of the Emmyand Golden Globe-winning comedy series continues the adventures of housewife-turnedstand-up-comic Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan).
This time around, she’s about to embark on a six-month tour, opening for a musician.
Joining the regulars are Sterling K Brown (This is Us) and The Princess Bride’s Cary Elwes.
The Planets (December 8, BBC Earth)
Professor Brian Cox explores the dramatic lives of the eight majestic planets/worlds that make up our solar system in this five-part BBC series.
‘‘The wonder of Cox’s arguments, which take in the staggering, incomprehensible vastness of time and space, provides the kind of television that made this particular viewer stop and say ‘whoa’ every few seconds,’’ wrote The Guardian’s Rebecca Nicholson.
Reprisal (December 7, TVNZ OnDemand)
Suits and Mad Men’s Abigail Spencer stars in this drama about ‘‘a relentless femme fatale who, after being left for dead, leads a vengeful campaign against a bombastic gang of gearheads’’. The cast also includes Aladdin’s Mena Massoud and Home and Away’s Rhys Wakefield.
6 Underground (December
13, Netflix)
Transformers and Armageddon director Michael Bay brings his unique brand of mayhem to the global streaming service with this action movie about a group of individuals who form a vigilante squad after faking their deaths to take down notorious criminals. Ryan Reynolds leads the charge, ably supported by the likes of Melanie Laurent and Dave Franco.
Truth Be Told (December 6, Apple+)
Based on Kathleen Barber’s novel Are You Sleeping, this crime drama follows the fortunes of true crime podcaster Poppy Parnell (Octavia Spencer) after she is called in to investigate the case of a convicted serial killer who she incriminated after he murdered the father of identical twins. Aaron Paul, Lizzy Caplan, Elizabeth Perkins, and Mekhi Phifer round out the main cast.
Why Women Kill (December 6, TVNZ OnDemand)
Desperate Housewives creator Marc Cherry’s latest 10-part domestic drama focuses on three women in different time periods who discover their husbands are cheating on them. Ginnifer Goodwin, Lucy Liu and Kirby Howell-Baptiste star. ‘‘Cherry knows how to make social commentary while making us laugh and take a discerning eye to our lives,’’ wrote Paste magazine’s Amy Amatangelo.
The Witcher (December 20, Netflix)
Mission: Impossible, The Man From Uncle and Man of Steel star Henry Cavill makes the leap to TV with this eight-part fantasy drama based on the book series (and video game) of the same name by Andrzej Sapkowski. The former Superman plays Geralt of Rivia, a monster hunter who struggles to find his place in a world where people are more wicked than beasts.