Neon’s Tattooist, Apple’s Dark Matter and more Bridgerton
Nicola Coughlan pulls double duty, the 15th Doctor is in, while Jeremy Clarkson is back causing more mayhem around his farm. By James Croot.
Brace yourselves. May offers another month packed to the gunwales with a plethora of new and returning television series. For free-to-air, linear TV fans, there are new instalments of Married at First Sight NZ (TBC, Three), Britain’s Got Talent (May 10, TVNZ 1) and Naked Attraction (May 1, TVNZ 2), while the line-up on TVNZ+ includes more Hacks (May
3) and Interview With The Vampire (May 13), as well as BBC docu-series Stable: The Boxing Game (May 10) and Australian comedy Population 11 (May 9).
Elsewhere, Acorn has Jane Seymour investigating more murders on Harry Wild (May 13), ThreeNow boasts Australian crime-drama High Country and Selena Gomez’s latest reality show Selena & Restaurant (May 24), while Disney+ serves up another round of Welcome to Wrexham (May 3), The Kardashians (May 23), Monsters at Work (May 5) and animated Star Wars in the form of Tales of The Empire (May 11).
As well as further instalments of Acapulco (May 1) and Trying (May
22), Apple TV+ also has two truecrime inspired projects – docu-series Hollywood Con Queen (May 8) and thriller The Big Cigar (May 17) – while Prime Video welcomes the return of the Josh Brolin-led Outer Range (May 16), crime-comedy The Outlaws (May 31) and Australian cricket docu-series The Test (May 24), the arrival of teen romantic drama Maxton Hall – The World Between Us (May 9) and reality show contestant super-competition The Goat (May 9).
However, after looking through the schedules, has come up with a list of the 10 shows we’re most looking forward to checking out over the next few weeks.
Big Mood
Derry Girls and Bridgerton’s Nicola Coughlan teams up with Year and Years’ Lydia West for this six-part British comedy about a decade-long friendship that’s put to the test by a series of chaotic events. When playwright Maggie’s (Coughlan) bipolar disorder makes an unwelcome return in the form of increasingly reckless behaviour and Eddie’s (West) business gets into dire financial straits, the latter begins to question whether staying loyal to her pal is really in her best interests.
Bodkin
This seven-part black comedy revolves around a motley crew of podcasters who set out to investigate the mysterious disappearance of three strangers in an idyllic, coastal Irish town.
However, once they start pulling at threads, they discover a story much bigger and weirder than they could have ever imagined. The cast includes The Last Man on Earth and MacGruber’s Will Forte and Obituary’s Siobhan Cullen.
Bridgerton
The beloved period drama returns for a split eight-episode third season (the second quartet are due on June 13) that actually adapts Julia Quinn’s fourth, 2002 book Romancing Mr Bridgerton.
Nicola Coughlan’s Penelope Featherington is the focus this time around, especially in relation to her long-held crush on Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton). Having finally decided it’s time to look elsewhere for a husband, preferably one who will provide her with enough independence to continue her double life as Lady Whistledown, Penelope discovers that navigating the “marriage mart” is rather fraught with peril and potential for humiliation.
Clarkson’s Farm
Our third, eight-part look at the rural misadventures of the former Top Gear host finds Jeremy and the rest of Diddly Squat’s inhabitants facing some seriously daunting challenges.
The crops are failing in hot weather, inflation has driven prices of supplies sky high, dreams for the restaurant have been dashed and even the farm shop is now facing closure. Needing some creative new ways to make ends meet, he hatches a series of plans to try to turn a profit from his hundreds of acres of “unfarmable” land.
The second half of the season arrives on May 10.
Dark Matter
Joel Edgerton (Loving) stars opposite Jennifer Connelly (Bad Behaviour) and Alice Braga (A Murder At The End of The World) in this nine-part thriller based on Blake Crouch’s 2016 novel – a book that has been acclaimed as one of the best scifi tales of the past decade.
It’s the story of Jason Dessen, a physicist, professor and family man, who is abducted into an alternate version of his life.
Wonder quickly turns to nightmare, as he tries to return to his reality amid a mind-bending landscape of lives he could have led.
Doctor Who
Rwandan-Scottish actor Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education) continues his tenure in the Tardis as the 15th Doctor with a series of eight adventures.
Joined by new companion Ruby Sunday (former Coronation Street star Millie Gibson), viewers can expect him to travel everywhere from England’s Regency Era to war-torn futures, with returning showrunner Russell T Davies promising “Monsters! Chases! Villains! Mysteries! And a terrifying secret that’s been spanning time and space for decades”.
Among the guests to appear are Anita Dobson, Jonathan Groff, Jemma Redgrave, Indira Varma and Bonnie Langford.
Eric
The Hour, Suffragette and The Iron Lady screenwriter Abi Morgan’s latest project is a six-episode emotional thriller showcasing Britain’s Benedict Cumberbatch (The Power of The Dog,
Sherlcok). Set in 1980s New York, it follows New York puppeteer Vincent, as he struggles to cope with the mysterious disappearance of his 9-year-old son Edgar.
As his mental state deteriorates, Vincent becomes convinced that only the appearance on television of Edgar’s favourite blue monster puppet Eric will bring his boy home.
A Man in Full
Jeff Daniels (The Newsroom, Godless) headlines this six-part adaptation of the 1998 best-selling novel of the same name by Tom Wolfe.
He plays embattled Atlanta real estate mogul Charlie Croker, who is forced to defend his empire from those attempting to capitalise from his sudden bankruptcy.
Written by Big Little Lies and Boston Legal showrunner David E Kelley, the cast includes Diane Lane and Lucy Liu.
Sexy Beast
Eight-part prequel to Jonathan Glazer’s (The Zone of Interest) cult 2000 crimedrama of the same name that provided a very different role for Sir Ben Kingsley.
Set in London’s criminal world during the 1990s, it traces the relationship between best friends and thieves Gal Dove (James McArdle) and Don Logan (Emun Elliott).
Sarah Greene (Bad Sisters), Tamsin Greig (Episodes) and Stephen Moyer (True Blood) also feature.
The Tattooist of Auschwitz
New Zealand author Heather Morris’ debut 2018 novel becomes a six-part historical drama directed by Israeli helmer Tali Shalom-Ezer (Princess).
It’s the real-life story of Lale Sokolov (World on Fire’s Jonah Hauer-King), a Jewish prisoner tasked with tattooing ID numbers onto prisoners’ arms in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp during World War II.
Harvey Keitel (The Piano) essays the elderly Sokolov, while Kiwi actor Melanie Lynskey plays Morris.
Locke, All Is Lost, Buried, Gravity, No-one Will Save You. These films from the last 15 years have shown that you don’t always need a large cast to generate thrills and tension – sometimes one major character is enough.
You can now add 2022 Australian sci-fi-infused drama Monolith (making its New Zealand broadcast debut on Sky TV’s Rialto Channel at 8.30pm on Friday, May 3) to that list.
Revolving around a compelling turn from Lily Sullivan (Mental, 2018’s Picnic at Hanging Rock, Evil Dead Rise), it’s the story of an unnamed journalist’s desperate search to get to the bottom of a mystery involving “black bricks”.
Chastened after being fired from the prestigious Evening Journal for her failure to corroborate allegations against a high-profile businessman and thoroughly investigate a key source’s background, she’s taken a job with the only company that will hire her – Beyond Believable podcast.
Except she’s having trouble finding a suitable story, a problem reflected by the increasingly irate tone of the voice messages left by her boss.
Having decamped to her parents’ rural property, while they are overseas, to avoid harassment by the supposedly defamed businessman’s “cheer squad”, she’s urged by family and friends to simply take a break.
“I’m not exhausted, I’m humiliated. I tried to do the right thing – and look where it got me,” she retorts. ‘‘I’ve just got to make a story that will make people listen.”
That’s when one unexpectedly lands in her inbox, among the swathes of abuse and interview requests. An anonymous missive that suggests she calls Floramae King (Ling Cooper Tang) and ask her about her “brick”.
Initially reluctant to share details, our protagonist’s persuasion eventually elicits a tale from more than 20 years ago when former cleaner and nanny Floramae discovered the black object, only for it to “change her life” in terrible ways, before it was sold without her permission by her employers to a German art collector.
Now more than a little intrigued, the journalist calls Berlin-based Klaus Lang (Terence Crawford), only to discover he was also “gifted” one, has made it his life’s work to gather them up from around the globe, has scans that prove they are all unique and believes they have some kind of supernatural power and hallucinogenic hold over anyone who possesses them.
Hastily pulling the first episode together, her post gets a tremendous response. More than 300,000 views almost immediately, with many listeners contacting her, eager to share similar nightmarish experiences of what happened to them after a black brick arrived in their lives.
Then, just when she thinks things can’t get any stranger, someone sends her a package with a link to her own past brush with one of these perplexing objects.
Aftertaste writer Matt Vesely’s feature debut, and written by Lucy Campbell, the script co-ordinator of that show, The Hunting and Stateless, Monolith is a masterclass in pacing, framing and using sound to generate an almost unbearable sense of foreboding.
While there are thematic similarities to both Denis Villeneuve’s modern sci-fi classic Arrival and fellow Aussie psychological horror Run Rabbit Run, Monolith’s tight focus is what keeps you riveted, even when it begins to feel a little contrived.
Supported by an excellent vocal cast that also includes Deadloch’s Kate Box, Nude Tuesday’s Damon Herriman and Aftertaste’s Erik Thomson, Sullivan does a fabulous job of selling the wilder elements, including the surreal, open-tointerpretation final frames.
A Friday night treat, but perhaps one not watched alone.