What to watch on Sky and free-to-air TV this week
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. Four former members of a one-time, worlddominating girl band are given the chance to relive past glories when a young artist pays homage to one of their tracks.
However, much has changed since the quartet were top of the charts, and they’ll have to get over longheld grudges and deep divisions if it isn’t to end in disaster.
Yes, hot on the heels of the Spice Girls-parody comes this near identical premise. But (which begins streaming on Disney+ tomorrow) has a very different perspective, sensibility and tone. In truth, it has more in common with its long-running stablemate or the much-loved although there are still some laughs to be had amid the drama.
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A charming crowdpleaser about four middle-aged men, all teachers, all miserable, Another Round (Saturday, 8.30pm, Rialto) won the Oscar for Best International Film and the Bafta for Best Film not in the English Language. In an effort to improve their lives, they make a pact to get drunk and stay drunk. Regarded as a career highlight for Mads Mikkelsen, it’s a movie about having a glass that’s half-full and knowing what actually fills your cup.
A film that promises laughter and tears in abundance, The Pinkies are Back (Wednesday, 8.30pm, Rialto) follows an amazing group of women, all patients and survivors of breast cancer, as they rebuild the once great Pink Dragons. Five years earlier, they had been champions at the dragon boating nationals, but these days they’re losing by five boat lengths and struggling to
Professor Sex, Butter Pecan, Da Thrill and Xplicit Lyrics, known as Nasty Bitches, were a hip-hop and pop-culture phenomenon at the turn of the century. Banned from
and known as much for their eye-popping outfits and fierceness, as their ability to rhyme almost anything with Ducati, for ‘‘one hot minute’’ they were the shiz, until increasing tensions within the band culminated in an onstage implosion.
All four have since carved out new, separate lives, but find their fates potentially intertwined once more when up-and-coming rapper Lil maintain membership. It’s an inspirational movie about friendship, hardship and long narrow ships. Bring. It. On.
After infidelity threatens to break up their marriage, Jake and Anna move to Australia to find a fresh start, but Elvis said it best – they can’t go on together, with suspicious minds. And what about Becky the new nanny? Is she an adulterer and a murderer? There’s bound to be a twist before the conclusion of Lie With Me (Saturday, 8.30pm, TVNZ 1) a four-part miniseries starring Brett Tucker and Charlie Brooks.
A rural David versus Goliath story, Fightback Farmers: Feeding Australia Together (Monday, November 29, 8.30pm, Country TV) follows small family farms and fishing operations banding together against rampant agricultural corporatisation. An ABC documentary, this looks at two start-up cooperatives
Muffin (Pepi Sonuga) samples one of their songs. With the organisers of the Black Entertainment Television Awards ceremony desperate for an onstage colab, Naomi (Brandy Norwood), Brianna (Eve J Cooper), Jill (Naturi Naughton) and Valeria (Nadine Velazquez) will have to quickly decide if they can work together once more.
While a cool $50,000 each provides plenty of reasons to say yes, they all have issues in their private lives that might not withstand the glare of public scrutiny. Will a motherof-five with a philandering husband, a church lady leading a double life, a washedup investigating alternative avenues for their businesses and an old Victorian tobacco co-op adapting to modern times.
His dad’s a cowboy, his mother is a botanist and butterfly collector, but The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet (Friday, 8.30pm, Mā ori TV) is a 12-year-old boy with big dreams. When his science invention wins an award from the Smithsonian Institute, he runs away to Montana to collect his prize. Starring Helena Bonham Carter as his mother, this is a moving, fantastical adventure from director Jean Pierre Jeunet. musician with a disgruntled daughter and a recently disgraced TV host be able to put their personal problems aside to perform at the biggest Black awards show on the planet? As one of them so eruditely puts it, ‘‘Tell me how this is not going to be a disaster?’’
What makes a success, apart from the spot-on pastiches of hip-hop music videos of the late-90s and earlynoughties, is the casting. Having former successful musicians Brandy, Eve and Naturi in key roles lends an air of authenticity to the project, and they have no doubt drawn on their own
Before sitting down to watch Horizon: The Great Intelligence Test (Friday, 9.30pm, BBC Earth) you can do some pre-loading by doing the online quiz. A large study designed to measure the brainpower of Britain, it’s an experiment from scientists at the Imperial College of London that examines how our brains are changing over time. Are our phones making us less smart? When does intelligence peak? If you’re watching this on a Friday night, instead of partying, you’re already ahead of the curve.
In an interview earlier this year, Moana Maniapoto experiences in fleshing out their characters.
Showrunner Zahir McGhee has clearly picked up some tips from the Shondaland school of dramatic television from his previous role as a writer and executive producer on so viewers can expect plenty of tears, tantrums and near-tragedies, regrets and recriminations before the end credits roll each episode. Forget
this is fast-moving, sometimes breathless melodrama. unexpectedly made one of the Flight of the Concords cry and by extension, many viewers as well. At once a compassionate, empathetic listener and also a no-politician-is-safe, probing interviewer, it’s no surprise Maniapoto and her team won the Voyager for Best Current Affairs Show. Te Ao with Moana: Summer Series (Monday, 29 November, 8pm, Mā ori TV) is rolling out highlights and revisiting some of its most compelling stories of this year
Ravi Patel self-describes as an actor, humanitarian and documentarian, which feels like a red flag, but the topics he explores in this series are universal. Ravi Patel’s Pursuit of Happiness (Saturday 9.30pm, SoHo) examines the different ways cultures raise children, and divide the work/life balance. How do countries contrast when it comes to looking after the elderly and deciding who to let immigrate and integrate into society? Shot in Mexico, Japan, Korea and Denmark, this series largely rests on the charisma of Patel and makes the most of his happy marriage and endearing relationship with his parents.