Friday Five: More TV

I haven't done this for a while, which means there is a whole lot to catch up on. So without further ado...

Five TV Shows I've Watched Since the Last Time I Did This, in Alphabetical Order:

1. Death in Paradise (ABC iView, BINGE, Foxtel) - I love this utterly preposterous series. It is total comfort TV, of the 'cosy murders' trope, and I, along with many others I'm sure, binge-watched it through COVID lockdowns. There are limited characters on a small Caribbean island and a murder an episode (there are twelve seasons, with another two in the works) doesn't stop the visitors piling in. Mind you, as an actor, it would be hard to say no to a two-week stint in a tropical paradise. In a Calypso-Christie homage the half dozen or so suspects are rounded up at the end of each episode where the seemingly impossible crime is explained and the perpetrator is led away with a shake of the head and a sorrowful expression. And it all begins again next week. The detectives change every few seasons - we started with Ben Miller in 2011, through Kris Marshall (2014-2017), Ardal O'Hanlon (2017-2020) and latest incumbent Ralph Little (2020-current) - as do their sergeants and other officers. The two characters who have remained throughout are the bar/ restaurant owner Catherine Bordey, played by Elizabeth Bourgine, and the highlight of the show, Police Commissioner Selwyn Patterson played by the inimitable Don Warrington. There's also a CGI lizard called Harry, who has his own fan-following. Yes, it's that kind of show.
2. Fisk, Season Two (ABC iView, Netflix) - This has more of the same gloriously understated humour that was so enjoyable in the first season. Kitty Flanagan continues to write, direct and star as the not-quite-so-flash lawyer, dealing with obnoxious workmates and an overbearing father, This time round guest cameos come from Denise Scott, Harley Breen, Stephen Curry, Geraldine Hickey, Glenn Robins, Anne Edmonds, Rob Sitch, and Colin Lane, amongst others. Entertaining half-hour-long episodes make for perfect mid-evening viewing.
3. The Good Fight, Season 6 (SBS VICELAND, SBS On Demand, Stan, Paramount +) - If you want proof that the U.S. can do sharp, surreal, political, satire, look no further than The Good Fight. The final season sees the lawyers of Reddick & Associates trying and failing to ignore the collapse of their society, where white supremacists gather around the building, bombs are intermittently exploded, and Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski) undergoes therapy with the bloke from Madman (John Slattery). She is prescribed a mild hallucinogen which helps her to see the funny side of barely futuristic news headlines in an only slightly altered reality. There are in-house leadership struggles, snappy suits and even-snappier spectacles, power plays and explorations of moral values which border on Boston Legal territory but without the obvious schmaltz. Charmaine Bingwa as Carmen Moyo is a great replacement for the much-missed Cush Jumbo as the up-and-coming focus character, while Marissa (Sarah Steele) and Jay (Nyambi Nyambi) continue their eye-on-the-ball down-with-the-kids schtick.

4. Mare of Easttown (HBO; Foxtel) - Kate Winslet won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Leading Actress as Mare Sheehan in a fine example of the 'going over there and taking their jobs' phenomenon as she plays a detective investigating a murder in a small town outside Philadelphia. She vapes, fights with her 'mom' and struggles to raise her daughter while doing her job with as much integrity as she can muster. The series won critical acclaim for its honest portrayal of women desperately trying to balance work and care duties. While failing to live up to societal standards of a good wife, mother, daughter and employee, she actually excels at all of the above to all who matter, and winds up exhausted and under-recognised. Despite multiple awards (Hollywood Critics Association; Primetime Emmy; Golden Globes: Critics Choice; Screen Actors' Guild; Writers' Guild) and box-office smashes (highest viewership for a linear series and one of only two series to see consecutive growth week-to-week for HBO), it still hasn't been commissioned for a second series. Maybe the predominantly male executive producers are still not ready to see women be real women. 
5. This is Going to Hurt (BBC & AMC) - In this stellar adaptation of Adam Kay's best-selling breakthrough memoir, Ben Wishaw and Ambika Mod epitomise the highs and lows of the medical profession, presenting their stories with comedic and dramatic tones. As junior doctors on an obstetrics and gynaecology ward in a National Health Service hospital, they work through the ranks of hospital hierarchy, breaking the fourth wall and addressing viewers directly with dialogue. Apparently you can save people's lives, have babies named after you, provide an exceptionally high level of care in agonisingly difficult circumstances, and be reviled, underpaid, underappreciated and criminalised at the same time. And sleep-deprived. Don't ever forget sleep-deprived. While I don't understand why anyone would undertake the ludicrously difficult position of Junior Doctor, I am forever grateful that there are people who do. And Nigel Lockhart, the Chief Consultant (played with scene-stealing panache by Alex Jennings) is an absolute c*nt.

Friday Five: Local TV

Moving to another country is weird in all sorts of ways. Even (or perhaps especially) if you're in a place that speaks that same language and is similar in many ways, you can still get thrown by everyday events, such as 'what's on TV'. Australia appears to be three years behind New Zealand in Coronation Street and, as New Zealand is already at least eighteen months behind Britain, it can all get a bit confusing. Charlie Stubbs popped up the other day, large as life (and twice as ugly)! The second series of Downton Abbey (which I saw in NZ last year) has just begun.

We have got repeats of Doctor Who from the Rose days through the Martha Jones/ Torchwood debacle and the Donna Noble days. I love David Tennant and I really enjoy the Doctor Who Confidential, which strangely manages to add to the magic as it demystifies the secrets. We're also getting old runs of Remarkable Vets, which make me feel nostalgic for the many times Chester visited and was so well looked after. Plus a couple of friends works there, and it's amusing to watch one try and dodge the camera, while another seeks to hog the limelight.

5 TV Programmes I'm Watching:

1. Silk/ Harry's Law - It may not be fair to put them together, but they are both excellent examples of legal dramas in their own way and representative of their county. Silk is intelligent, well-written, and well-directed, highlighting persoanl, political, and legal concerns. It features great acting from Maxine Peake (Veronica from Shameless and Twinkle from Dinner Ladies), Rupert Penry-Jones (Adam from Spooks) and Neil Stuke (Paul from Grafters) and seems real. As a compariosn, Harry's Law is yet another legal drama by David E Kelly, this time starring the inimitable Kathy Bates with good support work from Nathan Coddry and Mark Valley. It's a lot neater and slicker with jump cuts and obvious musical overlays, and you don't have to think much to follow it, but it's fluffy emotional legal drama and I like it.
2. Episodes - Relationships, writers, actors, relationships between actors and writers, anglo-American co-operation and miscommunication - it's all there, and it's funny. And Matt LeBlanc is the perfect foil to Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig (both from Green Wing among countless other things).
3. Tricky Business - worth watching for Antony Starr and the scenery (Wollongong), it's billed as 'an Aussie family drama' about a debt collection company. As it's pretty good, and involves real actors, it will probably be axed in favour of yet another reality cooking/singing/home rennovation/ dancing programme.
4. Once Upon a Time - Everyone is actually a fairy tale character in a parallel universe, and the evil queen prevents them from knowing the truth. It's as fun to imagine which character you might be (I think I'm the gingerbread house witch) as it is to watch Robert Carlyle play Rumplestiltskin.
5. Death in Paradise - Ben Miller is a stiff-upper-lipped policeman trying to battle island crime while sweating in a suit in the French Caribbean - kind of like Bergerac with better weather, or a cross between Wild at Heart and Doc Martin. An excellent excuse to film somewhere exotic, and fill the screen with sun-drenched clichés.