Television
The Best of the Week
SUNDAY JUNE 3
The Real Camilla: HRH The Duchess of Cornwall (TVNZ 1, 7.30pm). More royals? Haven’t we had enough for now?
This is quite the puff piece, too. “Only revelatory if you had literally never seen her before,” said the Telegraph.
It is a reminder that she eventually is going to be our queen, which is something to think about on Queen’s Birthday Weekend. After the royal mainlining we’ve been doing lately, Prime is also unable to go completely Windsors-free: it is repeating Inside Windsor Castle (Tuesday, 7.30pm), a four-part series about the picture-postcard pile that was on display to the world during a certain recent wedding. It begins with a far less happy time in 1992, the Queen’s “annus horribilis”, during which Charles and Diana separated and fire devastated the castle.
Three Girls (Rialto, Sky 039,
8.30pm). Prepare to be infuriated: this three-part series, which recently won the best mini-series Bafta, dramatises the horrifying Rochdale child sexual abuse ring and it does so in a way that, as the Guardian pointed out, “everyone and everything – including the investigation – failed to do: [by focusing] on the abused rather than the abusers”. The perpetrators were men who targeted vulnerable young women living in the Rochdale area near ManchesManches ter, but as these rapists were largely British Pakistanis, the case was fraught with racial tension. The young women were generally considered unreliable witnesses and it was only because of the perseverance of sexual-health
worker Sara Rowbotham (Maxine Peake, brilliant as always) and a newly appointed public prosecutor (Ace Bhatti) that a proper investigation led to convictions. The series also won director, writer and editor Baftas, and young Molly Windsor won best actress. “Three Girls was born out of the courage of the real three girls,” she said in her speech.
QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY
Being Serena (TVNZ OnDemand). This five-part series about the queen of tennis is not a searing insight into the psyche of a sports champion, but there is terrifically close footage of Williams during her pregnancy, the birth of her daughter Alexis, and the serious complications that set in immediately after the delivery. The series begins with her 2017 Australian Open win, just after she learnt she was pregnant, and it covers her pregnancy, recovery and her progress back to the highperformance arena. It’s not the only show that TVNZ is debuting on TVNZ OnDemand this week: Knives Out (Friday) follows a team of Kiwi butchers on their way to the 2018 World Butchers Challenge in Ireland. They are known as the Sharp Blacks, naturally. Also, Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger (Friday) is a teen superhero series based on the comics about two kids with complementary superpowers – he’s Cloak, she’s Dagger.
My House (Viceland, Sky 013, 7.30pm). Viceland likes to document things and people out on the edges, and this new series delves into New York’s hyper-competitive queer vogue ballroom scene. The costumes are outrageous and the dance moves are extreme, but the scene provides a place of safety and validation for members of the LGBT community who have been marginalised throughout their lives. “Your style can be crazy, unique, and they’re going to accept it,” one participant told Salon, “because they know how it feels to be different.”
TUESDAY JUNE 5
MythBusters: The Search (Discovery, Sky 070, 8.30pm). The MythBusters format was too
good to let go, so the Discovery channel immediately mounted a search for a new set of presenters to replace Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage when they retired in 2016. Naturally, it is a reality-style elimination series, in which 10 contestants are whittled down to two. Myths tested include painting with explosives, building a boat from cardboard and scaling a building using a vacuum cleaner. In typical MythBusters’ style, the finale features explosions. A season presented by the new hosts has already aired in the US and a second season is under way.
Bad Banks (Rialto, Sky 039, 8.30pm). A drama series that has been described as a German Billions is set in a ruthless banking world full of alpha personalities and dodgy dealings in an atmosphere thick with industrial espionage. The difference is that the lead is a young woman (Paula Beer) who is playing in this pool of piranhas and the question is how far she is willing to go. Given that the six-part series begins with the bankruptcy of one of the banks and riots on the streets, pretty far, we’re guessing.
THURSDAY JUNE 7
Fleabag (SoHo, Sky 010, 9.30pm). Like Miranda, if Miranda was a self-loathing, self-sabotaging, grief-stricken narcissist with a potty mouth. Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s biting comedy hides a layer of pain, but Fleabag (played by WallerBridge) is not the only one who can’t control their worst
impulses. Other cast members include Bill Paterson as her unsympathetic father and Olivia Colman as the “stepmonster”. Fleabag has become a cult hit in the US and WallerBridge won a Bafta last year for her performance. Another series is planned, but WallerBridge also has a second season of the critically acclaimed thriller Killing Eve to write.
FRIDAY JUNE 8
The Home Show (Choice TV, 8.30pm). Very clever, Choice TV, to programme this reno show just before the weekend, although whether it will inspire us or just make us feel guilty is another question. George Clarke is usually seen enthusing over small spaces or building unusual ones, but in this series, he does some proper architecting, transforming poorly designed homes to better meet the needs of their inhabitants. There’s also a bit of perving at beautiful spaces and designs around the world, so perhaps a bit of Venice might rub off on Brixton.
My Dream Home (Choice TV, Tuesday, 9.30pm) does a similar thing: Canadian twin brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott help couples with fixer-uppers. Over on Grand Designs UK (Three, Tuesday, 7.30pm), Kevin McCloud looks at an amazing dwelling in Devon that was inspired by an ammonite shell.
Our Cartoon President (SoHo, Sky 010, 10.00pm). Donald Trump is now satirised and mocked on a global basis and while every comedian on US television can feast on the latest outrage emerging from the White House, this cartoon series executive-produced by Stephen Colbert, focuses on the daily domestic life of the President (voiced by Jeff Bergman) and his puerile responses to every situation. From what has emerged about Trump, it is disturbingly real.