New Zealand Listener

Television

The Best of the Week

-

SUNDAY OCTOBER 28

Married at First Sight NZ: The Reunion (Three, 7.00pm). Just in case you had allowed the last season of Married at First Sight NZ to slip quietly from your memory like a friend you never really wanted anyway – they’re back. All six of the programme’s couples have been summoned for a final confession­al. There will doubtless be tears.

Ocean Predators (Prime, 7.30pm). Underwater cinematogr­apher Kina Scollay knows more than most people about marine predators – 22 years ago he was attacked by a 5m great white shark. (He knows about fictional sharks too – he was director of underwater photograph­y for this year’s monster movie The Meg.) In this four-part series, he travels from New Zealand’s coastline to some of the most remote and pristine ocean locations on Earth in search of apex predators. This week, Scollay gets in the water with a group of orca off the coast of Northland, under the direction of New Zealand orca expert Ingrid Visser. Things get a bit dicey.

The Brokenwood Mysteries (Prime, 8.30pm). A welcome return to the small town with the big body count. In the season-five opener, we’re off to the local A&P show, where the surly show director takes a ride on the rickety ghost train – and emerges 60 seconds later literally scared to death. But how scary is a fairground ride, really? Is there something more than an unfortunat­e fatal fright going on here?

MONDAY OCTOBER 29

Australian Ninja Warrior (Three, 7.30pm). The show in which contestant­s must race against the clock to complete challengin­g obstacle courses is back for a second season, again with hosts Rebecca Maddern, Ben Fordham and Freddie Flintoff. Tonight, 300 would-be warriors line up to try to qualify for the rest of the competitio­n. Tomorrow night, the action continues. Who, if anyone, will claim the $200,000 prize by completing the final course? Or will we all go home as winners on the day?

The Trial: A Murder in the Family (TVNZ 1, 9.25pm). This groundbrea­king blend of drama and documentar­y won over even the doubters when it screened on Britain’s Channel 4. A fictional murder case is tried in a real courtroom attended by real-life legal profession­als, before a jury of members of the public. The accused, the victim and witnesses are the only actors. The idea was conceived by director Nick Holt, who won plaudits for his portrayal of a real-life case in 2013’s The Murder Trial, but wanted to show the elements that were off-limits to a documentar­y, such as the jury’s deliberati­ons.

The Little Drummer Girl (TVNZ OnDemand). This dramatisat­ion of one of the few John le Carré books to feature a female protagonis­t comes from the same creative team (headed by the author’s sons) as

the award-winning The Night Manager. But, says le Carré himself, it probably won’t be the same sort of barnstormi­ng hit: “With The Night Manager, we all fell in love with Roper, the villain. Hugh Laurie enchanted us all. All you wanted to be was Hugh Laurie, if you’re a man; if you’re this lady [Charmian “Charlie”

Ross, played by Florence Pugh as a slightly posh bohemian feminist], you’re not thinking, ‘I wish it were me’, you’re thinking, ‘Thank god it’s not me’.” Instead, he predicts, it will enjoy “a different kind of success” with audiences who enjoy “a beautiful, slow, evolving story”. The clue might be in the directors: although The Night Manager was efficientl­y helmed by Dane Susanne Bier, this time it’s Korean iconoclast Park Chan-wook sprinkling 70s Euro-chic over everything. Alexander Skarsgård is on hand as a man of mystery.

TUESDAY OCTOBER 30

The Great Australian Bake Off (Prime, 7.30pm). The original bakers’ dozen has been thinned down to three finalists, who must craft an opera cake, an unpronounc­eable Italian pastry and – the big one

– a “masterpiec­e cake” into which they must pour all their skill and creativity. Meanwhile, everyone else enjoys a garden party and cheers them on.

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 1

Seven Year Switch UK (TVNZ 2, 8.30pm). A twist on the lifeswap reality TV format, which sees couples at the mythical seven-year waystation swap partners for two weeks and see how they like that. This adaptation of an American show, shot at a resort in Thailand, was billed in Britain as “Wife Swap Meets Love Island” and it was, to put it mildly, controvers­ial. One participan­t, Michelle Bingley, went to the tabloids to declare that the show’s producers had betrayed her trust and left her feeling “violated and exploited”.

Kidding (SoHo, Sky 010, 9.30pm). Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind may well be the best thing its star,

Jim Carrey, and its director, Michel Gondry, have ever done, so there has inevitably been a good deal of attention on their reunion for the tragicomic Kidding. Carrey, in his first TV role for 25 years, plays Jeff Piccirillo, the host of the PBS kids’ show Mr Pickles’ Puppet Time, which has some obvious and presumably intentiona­l similariti­es to the much-loved real-life educationa­l programme Mister Rogers’ Neighborho­od. Pickles’ life takes a dark turn when his teenage son is killed in a freak car accident and he begins to lose his moorings, even as he strives to stay positive. The show was conceived and written by Dave Holstein, the producer of Weeds, and most of the episodes are directed by Gondry. US reviewers have been divided as to whether Carrey’s too good for the show or simply not right for the part, or the whole thing is, in the words of Vox’s reviewer, “a messy triumph”.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 2

8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (UKTV, Sky 007, 9.30pm). Turns out it’s not just Marvel Entertainm­ent franchises that do crossovers. 8 out of 10 Cats, the fact-or-fiction panel show, adopts the format of the long-running TV puzzle game Countdown. It’s pretty much ideal Friday fare for panelshow aficionado­s – and quite a lot ruder than Countdown itself has ever been.

 ??  ?? The Trial: A Murder in the Family, Monday.
The Trial: A Murder in the Family, Monday.
 ??  ?? Ocean Predators, Sunday.
Ocean Predators, Sunday.
 ??  ?? The Little DrummerGir­l, Monday.
The Little DrummerGir­l, Monday.
 ??  ?? Australian Ninja Warrior, Monday.
Australian Ninja Warrior, Monday.
 ??  ?? 8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Friday.
8 out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Friday.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from New Zealand