Your guide to the week’s best on Sky and free-to-air TV
The Whale (8.30pm, Sunday, December 10, TVNZ 1)
Free-to-air broadcast premiere for this 2022 Oscar-winning tale.
Former The Mummy star Brendan Fraser plays a reclusive English professor struggling with self-acceptance and personal relationships. Mother! director Darren Aronofsky is the one calling the shots for Samuel D. Hunter’s adaptation of his own 2012 play.
At the story’s centre is a towering performance from Fraser. It’s hard to believe the once wooden presence who graced 90s comedies like George of the Jungle, Encino Man and Blast From the Past could be capable of something so emotive and moving.
While his casting and prostheticsenhanced showcase won’t appeal to everyone, there’s no doubting his commitment to delivering as authentic a portrayal as he can.
Boasting sometimes harrowing scenes, raw emotions and confronting imagery, The Whale is a challenging watch.
A Good Person (8.30pm, Tuesday, December 5, Sky Movies Premiere)
Florence Pugh and Morgan Freeman star in this 2023 drama about a woman attempting to pick up the pieces of her life after being involved in a fatal accident.
Former Scrubs star Zach Braff (Garden State, Wish I Was Here) wrote and directed this tale. An intimate drama that refreshingly doesn’t offer any easy answers, it features a performance from Pugh that highlights her claims as one of the finest actors of her generation.
The Lazarus Project (9.30pm, Tuesdays from December 5, SoHo)
As the second, eight-episode season of this British sci-fi series opens, George (Paapa Essiedu) aims to regain trust from his loved ones after he betrayed his organisation for love. However, as he uncovers a darker conspiracy, he begins to question who he can trust.
“Essiedu’s George is a jittery joy in a smart, sharply scripted show that’s lots of fun to watch,” wrote The Guardian’s Leila Latif.
Julia (9.30pm, Thursdays from December 7, Vibe)
Sarah Lancashire and David Hyde Pierce return for an eight-part, second season of this dramedy based on the life of beloved television chef Julia Child.
While Julia travels to France to reunite with fellow cookbook writer Simca Beck, she and Paul also have to grapple with changes brought about by her everincreasing fame. “Funny and warm, with an ensemble of well-written characters whose stories we also want to follow,” wrote Decider’s Joel Keller.
Donyale Luna: Supermodel (8.15pm, Saturday, December 9, Sky Arts)
A 2023 documentary which chronicles the remarkable life and career of the first Black model to grace the cover of both Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.
Born Peggy Ann Freeman, the Detroit-born Luna became a largerthan-life character who broke barriers in the fashion industry, challenged the prevailing ideals of beauty and influenced culture.
“Rich, intensely visual, sad and beautifully executed by [director] Nailah Jefferson,” wrote What We Said’s Anne Brodie.
Mythbusters: There’s Your Problem (7.30pm, Sundays from December 10, Duke)
The hugely popular and iconic franchise returns for a second round of this spin-off series which uses the original show’s archival material to take a deep dive into “hand-picked” myths on particular subjects.
This run’s topics include the science of explosions, animal behaviour, pressure, motion, soundwaves and heat.
Champions (8.30pm, Sunday, December 10, Sky Movies Premiere)
Woody Harrelson headlines this surprisingly poignant and satisfying 2023 English-language remake of Spain’s highest-grossing homegrown flick of 2018.
He plays Marcus Markovic, a basketball coach whose constant clashes with authority have somewhat blighted a potentially promising career. After a highprofile incident ends with a brush with the law, he’s sentenced to community service, where he encounters an eclectic group of players with intellectual disabilities known as “the friends”.
Thanks to a smart, surprisingly emotion-filled script by Mark Rizzo, writer of hit animated comedy Gravity Falls, and Bobby Farrelly’s (There’s Something About Mary) sensitive direction, what could have been a mawkish – or uncomfortable – watch is instead a thoroughly entertaining delight.