PICK OF DIGITAL & ON DEMAND TV

TOTAL CONTROL, ACORN TV

THIS excellent Australian series delves into the world of Aborigines and the racism they face. Alex Irving (Deborah Mailman), an Indigenous nurse, becomes a national heroine when she diffuses a hostage situation and is persuaded by the embattled Prime Minister (Rachel Griffiths, right) to fill a seat in the Senate. Alex is aware she’s there as a token, and the first series, which aired in 2019 down under, sees her learning to grapple with her new role, and working out whom she can trust in a world where everyone wants to use her for their own ends. Meanwhile, we follow young indigenous girl Jess (Shantae Barnes Cowan), who has escaped from a youth detention centre and is intent on making her way to Canberra, believing Alex is the only person who can help her. The show was co-created by the Six Feet Under and Brothers & Sisters star Griffiths, a selfconfessed political junkie, and it has turned out to be very prescient, as the recent Australian elections mirrored almost exactly what happened in the show’s second series.