Friday Five: TV I'm watching

Yes, tonight is opening night of the Canberra Repertory Society production of Twelfth Night, and, no, I've not been home a lot in the evenings. But thanks to on-line services, I have been able to watch a few programmes to take my mind off persistently running lines in my brain.

Richard Roxburgh as the irrepressible Rake

5 TV programmes I'm currently watching:

1. Rake - my favourite Australian drama; Richard Roxburgh is sensational as the reprobate lawyer and heads a spectacular cast delivering excellent scripts. The tag line is self-deprecatingly 'the bar has been lowered', but this is the highest standard of drama I've seen in this country.
2. The Walking Dead - we arrived late to this series, which surprises me as I have a thing for Andrew Lincoln (since seeing him in Teachers) but it has been worth the wait, even if he's not nearly as sexy with an American accent. I have bought the DVD box-set and we are half-way through Series Two. I love the emotional relationship between characters in extremes; Him Outdoors lies on the sofa calling for 'more zombies'!
3. Downton Abbey - Yes, the acting is unsubtle, the dialogue stilted, and the plots like something out of a cheesy day-time soap opera, but it's just so irresistible. And it's got Dame Maggie Smith.
4. Line of Duty - I stumbled across this by accident and have been hooked ever since. No one does bleak corrupt cop drama like the British.
5. The Dr Blake Mysteries - Craig McLachlan plays a police surgeon in Ballarat in the late 50s/early 60s - in Australian geographic terms, it's not far from Ramsay Street, but in acting ability and plot development it's a fairly long leap.

Line of Duty: It's just good