Television
The Best of the Week
SATURDAY OCTOBER 15
University Challenge (Prime, 6.00pm). A new season and a new time slot: the academic quiz show begins with champions Auckland defending their title from an experienced Victoria line-up. Once again, Southland’s Tom Conroy, who recently challenged Tim Shadbolt for the Invercargill mayoralty, asks the hard questions.
SUNDAY OCTOBER 16
Belief: The Possession of Janet Moses (TVNZ 1, 8.30pm). Filmmaker David Stubbs tackles the extremely sensitive subject of the 2007 death of Wainuiomata mother Janet Moses during a so-called exorcism. It was a case of Maori and Christian belief, combined with the family’s conviction that they were doing the right thing for Janet. Stubbs, who grew up in Wainuiomata, does not sensationalise: it’s
“all about understanding”, he told Stuff last year.
Cricket (Sky Sport 3, Sky 053, 8.50pm). The, ah, testing test series dispensed with, the Black Caps now embark on a series of five one-dayers against India. The first is in Dharamsala, the residence of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government in exile. Meanwhile, if they were in Ahmedabad, the team could catch some of the Kabaddi World Cup. What’s Kabaddi, you ask? A contact sport that originated in ancient India featuring seven-a-side teams. The world cup features 12 competing countries, including Australia, Iran, Kenya and Argentina. There are live games overnight on Sky Sports 1 and 2; check our listings for details. MONDAY OCTOBER 17 Swagger (Maori TV, 7.00pm). Peak camera-phone: taiohi (teens) film and direct their own stories. There’s a bit of post-production jiggerypokery with editing and music, but it’s like the days of the monosyllabic teen never happened.
Jamie and Jimmy’s Food Fight Club (Prime, 7.30pm). “The least intelligible cooking programme in living memory,” said the Guardian when this show began. Nevertheless, Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Doherty have made two seasons of this enjoyable nonsense, and are kicking
off the second season with the fastest man alive, Usain Bolt. The secret of his success is his Aunt Lilly’s jerk pork with yams and dumplings. At their Southend Pier pop-up cafe, Jamie is also cooking steak, while Jimmy tackles tandoori chicken.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Sky Arts, Sky 020, 7.30pm). So that’s what Russell T Davies has been doing. Well, apart from fiddling about with cucumbers and bananas. To mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, here’s Davies’ spirited, Who- vian version of the sylvan nocturnal comedy. Thanks to the magic of television, there are lots of lovely special effects, not least Matt Lucas as Bottom and Nonso Anozie as Oberon. John Hannah plays Theseus as a fascist dictator, Hippolyta (Eleanor Matsuura) is straitjacketed at her wedding and reads her lines off an iPad, and Oberon and Titania (the wonderful Maxine Peake) battle each other with shafts of crackling electricity and puffs of smoke. Davies changes the ending a little and pops in a girl-kiss, although apparently only the Daily Mail found this controversial.
Midwinter of the Spirit (Vibe, Sky 006, 9.20pm). Phil Rickman’s Merrily Watkins novels were always a sitter for a TV adaptation: a fragile lead character battling the forces of darkness and sexism; possible spooky and malevolent entities; the tapping of ancient religion and ritual in middle England; and a conversation about the nature of evil and the value of the church today. Anna Maxwell Martin plays Merrily, the newly appointed vicar of a country parish in Herefordshire and in training as a “deliverance consultant”. She has a stroppy teenage daughter who doesn’t believe in all her Jesus stuff and she is called in to help with the police investigation when a bearded, naked man is found crucified in the woods. Midwinter of the Spirit is No 2 in Rickman’s series and, as there are 13, we hope more TV series are to come.
Coast (Choice TV, 9.35pm). Neil Oliver doesn’t seem to be in evidence in season 10 – perhaps he was in New Zealand – so it’s down to author and walker Nick Crane to lead the team around the edges of the British Isles and beyond. The theme is why we love to be beside the seaside, and Crane visits Margate and Southend, the latter the home of Britain’s longest pier. There is also a dusk-todawn camping safari
in North Wales; the politically fiery past of sleepy St Leonards-on-Sea; a recreation of Neville Duke’s 1953 world air speed record; and three sisters recollect a 1960s trip for “disadvantaged children” to Weston-super-Mare.
TUESDAY OCTOBER 18
Legends (Prime, 9.50pm). The second season of this crime drama (based on a novel by American crime writer Robert Littell) is darker and more narratively complex than the first, but sadly, it didn’t deliver enough of a boost for US cable channel TNT, which cancelled the show. That’s a shame for Sean Bean, who gets to wear multiple disguises and affect a variety of accents as a deep undercover agent. He’s on the run in the first episode, framed for murder of the director of the FBI, but there are flashbacks to his childhood in a cruel training school and Prague in 2001 when he was pretending to be a Russian gangster. There’s also his present-day search for answers and a mystery involving a Muslim teenager.
WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 19
Chicago Med (TV3, 8.30pm). TV3 has rolled right into season two of the medical drama series and there are new characters added to the awesomely diverse cast: Ato Essandoh ( Elementary and Vinyl), who is Rhodes’ new boss, and Mekia Cox ( 90210), who is Charles’ daughter, an epidemiologist. Dick Wolf’s Chicago empire continues to grow: Chicago Justice is launching soon in the US and Wolf is planning a four-show crossover with Fire, Med and PD.
THURSDAY OCTOBER 20
The Jonathan Ross Show (UKTV, Sky 007, 8.35pm). Season 11 of Wossy begins with Renée Zellweger, Patrick Dempsey and John Malkovich. Dempsey juggles (literally), Zellweger explains her break from acting and Malkovich reads out sexy Patrick Dempsey tweets. Upcoming guests include Amy Schumer, Jamie Dornan, Alexander Skarsgård, Emily Blunt
and Britney Spears.