One of last year’s most acclaimed TV shows is finally free to watch

The segmented streaming landscape means you might have missed one of last year’s best shows – but now, it’s coming to free-to-air.

Sometimes, good things come to those who wait.

It’s been almost a year since acclaimed Australian series Fake debuted on streaming service Paramount+ – and in today’s segmented viewing landscape, chances are a lot of people still haven’t seen it.

That may change later this month with the announcement that Fake will make its free-to-air debut on Ten on Sunday May 25, after MasterChef.

It’s well worth a belated watch if you haven’t seen it already – here’s how we originally reviewed the show in September last year …

Asher Keddie and David Wenham team up in the psychological drama Fake.

This eight-part psychological drama stars Asher Keddie doing what Asher Keddie does best: Play a tightly-wound woman on the verge of completely unravelling.

There are more than a few shades of Love My Way’s Julia in her portrayal of Birdie, a single, middle-aged journalist who gets swept up in a new romance with mysterious divorced grazier Joe (David Wenham, using his cool blue eyes to menacing effect throughout).

Birdie and Joe match on a dating app and meet for a drink, and even from that first meeting there are red flags: I mean, who brings a work colleague to a first date?

But he’s persistent and open-hearted, willing to be vulnerable in a way that relaxes Birdie’s defences. And as her mother (Heather Mitchell) is so fond of telling her, she’s not getting any younger and isn’t exactly fending off potential suitors. Soon, she’s totally swept up in this new love affair.

Keddie’s at her best playing Birdie, who has a creeping sense of dread about her new partner. Picture: Sarah Enticknap

We, the audience, are told very early on in the piece that something’s not quite right with Joe, but it takes Birdie a lot longer to figure it out. That can make for a frustrating watch at times, as Birdie reluctantly accepts excuse after excuse for Joe’s secretive, at times bizarre behaviour.

Why is he always so hard to reach? Why has she never been to his house? Why does he appear casually super-wealthy at times, but barely able to afford a meal at others?

As Birdie’s doubt mounts, we mull over the possibilities: Is Joe a cheater, a scammer, a sociopath – or all of the above?

The tension comes to a head in episode five, an absolutely gripping 40 minutes of television that largely unfolds in the back of a taxi.

I won’t give it all away, but we watch Birdie in horror as she makes a series of increasingly frenzied phone calls to friends and family, hustling hard to scrape together money Joe needs to close yet another mysterious deal. He’s good for it, he’ll pay you right back, she insists – even though deep down even she’s not sure if that’s true.

The show was a streaming hit last year – now it’s coming to free-to-air. Picture: Sarah Enticknap

By this point, Birdie’s totally lost herself. With three episodes left in the series, the question then becomes: Can she find her way free of this mess, and free of Joe?

Fake lives or dies on Keddie’s central performance, and she’s brilliant as ever. Screenwriter Anya Beyersdorf deftly weaves in Birdie’s history with her family and friends so that, even when you can tell she’s getting duped, you never feel that she’s stupid: There are all-too-clear steps that made her vulnerable to this man’s advances.

And Wenham is genuinely creepy as Joe, while also being an utterly charming love-bomber who has a perfectly reasonable explanation for every issue Birdie raises.

Heather Mitchell, Spencer McLaren and Nicholas Brown are Birdie’s loved ones, alternating between swept up in Joe’s charms and suspicious of his motives. The show also marks the final on-screen role for former Neighbours actor Janet Andrewartha, who died in July.

With such a self-contained story, it’s hard to imagine there’ll be a second season of Fake. As it stands, it’s a stomach-churning modern horror story that’s well worth diving into.

Fake Starts After MasterChef Australia on Sunday, 25 May On 10 And 10 Play.

Originally published as One of last year’s most acclaimed TV shows is finally free to watch