Buzzy Kennedy doco FINALLY airs in Australia as a Jane Austen classic screens on Tubi
The tragic love story between Carolyn Bessette and John F. Kennedy Jr is laid bare in a new doco, ahead of Ryan Murphy’s controversial miniseries.
Watch the latest TV and streaming hits this week.
THE BEAST IN ME
STREAMING, NETFLIX
Siobhan Duck
Somewhat ironically, writer’s block seems to provide Hollywood’s screenwriters with plenty of fodder.
In this instance, we have Claire Danes playing the (oddly named) author Aggie Wiggs.
Having achieved huge success with her debut novel, Aggie hasn’t been able to put pen to paper since the death of her young son.
Now, having burnt through the advance for her follow-up and split from her long-suffering wife (Natalie Morales), Aggie finally finds inspiration in the form of her new neighbour Nile Jarvis (Matthew Rhys).
The charismatic real estate mogul is the prime suspect in his wife’s sudden disappearance.
In him, Aggie sees a puzzle to be solved and a subject for her next book. But at what cost?
As you’d expect from a project helmed by Danes and Rhys (with Jodie Foster and Conan O’Brien behind the scenes as producers), this series is a brilliant psychological thriller.
It co-stars Brittany Snow, who is getting rave reviews for her performances in The Hunting Wives and Murdaugh: Death In The Family.
James Wigney
It was a crying shame that the noirish reboot of Perry Mason starring Matthew Rhys was cancelled in 2023 after two seasons, but its abrupt demise meant he was able to instead deliver a mesmerising performance in this eight-part thriller.
The Emmy-winning star of The Americans oozes charm, cockiness, entitlement and menace playing filthy rich New York real estate mogul Nile Jarvis – who may or may not have killed his first wife, but who is seething at the constant suspicion that follows him as a result of her disappearance.
Claire Danes is equally exceptional as Aggie Wiggs, an acclaimed author who is in the depths of writer’s block after the traumatic death of her son.
When the pair become neighbours, a mutual fascination develops between them: the world-weary, damaged Aggie thinks Nile’s story might be the way out of her creative impasse, while he thinks she could be the vehicle to help rehabilitate his damaged reputation.
The scenes between the two leads are electric, as their prickly characters test each other’s boundaries.
HE HAD IT COMING
STREAMING from THURSDAY, STAN
One booze-fuelled evening, two very different university students, people-pleasing nerd Elise (Lydia West) and popular influencer Barbara (Natasha Liu Bordizzo), find common ground over their shared experiences of dealing with lecherous lecturers and a slut-shaming community.
After a drunken night of protesting the patriarchy, they awaken to hangovers and the shocking news that a star athlete has been brutally murdered.
When a feminist is arrested for the crime and also cops the blame for their antics, the pair are torn between self-preservation and the guilt they feel over a potentially innocent person taking the fall for their actions. Can they find the killer?
CRUTCH
STREAMING, PARAMOUNT+
Tracy Morgan has officially entered his sitcom dad era.
This comedy series sees the Saturday Night Live alum playing a widower whose grand plans for becoming an empty-nester are spoilt when his adult children and grandchildren move back into the family home in Harlem, New York.
It sets the stage for a generational clash that’s ripe with jokes, with Morgan’s character delivering plenty of wisecracks in place of sage advice and reassuring hugs.
From the set design to the laugh track punctuating every hammy punchline, it looks and feels very much like a show from the enduring genre that hit its peak in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It’s as comforting as a warm embrace.
HOME AND AWAY
7pm, Wednesday, Seven and streaming, 7plus
A weekend getaway, a marriage proposal and a party train packed with Summer Bay favourites. What could possibly go wrong? The answer is an awful lot given it’s time for Home And Away’s 2025 season finale. Each year, the soap pulls out all the stops to give its devoted fans a cliffhanger that will keep them on the edge of their seats until the drama returns in January, and this compelling instalment delivers on every level. The excited passengers are on their way to a music festival in Broken Hill where Remi (Adam Rowland) and Sonny (Ryan Bown) have secured a performance slot for singer Eddie (Stephen Madsen) when there’s a terrifying derailment. Who will make it out alive?
AMERICAN PRINCE: JFK JR
STREAMING, SBS ON DEMAND
If the buzz surrounding Ryan Murphy’s upcoming series about John F Kennedy Jr and Carolyn Bessette has piqued your curiosity about the late couple, then look no further.
This doco takes a deep dive into the life of JFK Jr, from the impact of his father’s assassination in 1963 to the 1995 launch of his political magazine George and marriage to Bessette in 1996.
You’ll be well-primed for when Murphy’s juicy drama hits screens next year.
WHEN THE WAR IS OVER
8PM, TUESDAY, ABC TV
Actor, activist and art aficionado Rachel Griffiths combines all of her passions in this docuseries examining Australian artists’ creative responses to war. In this opening episode, the focus is on World War I and how the conflict was translated into the haunting 1981 movie Gallipoli. Using the diaries of director Peter Weir as her guide, Griffiths retraces the filmmaker’s steps on the infamous stretch of Turkish coastline where he first found inspiration for his iconic tale.
RETURN TO PARADISE
7.30PM, SATURDAY, ABC TV
Welcome back to Dolphin Cove, the sleepy Australian seaside village with an idyllic setting and unenviable crime rate. Despite trying to flee her home town after jilting her fiance (Tai Hara), detective Mackenzie Clarke (Anna Samson) again finds herself trying to unmask a killer as she navigates the fallout of her decision. This time, a scientist is found dead and there’s a raft of suspects, played by guest stars Danielle Cormack, Damian Walshe-Howling and Michelle Lim Davidson.
THE SEDUCTION
STREAMING, HBO MAX
There have been many adaptations of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 novel Dangerous Liaisons, the best of which are arguably the 1988 film starring John Malkovich and Glenn Close as schemers the Vicomte de Valmont and the Marquise de Merteuil, and 1999’s Cruel Intentions, with Ryan Phillippe and Sarah Michelle Gellar as their modern-day counterparts. This French series offers a comparably sympathetic portrait of the pair, played by Vincent Lacoste and Anamaria Vartolomei. Co-starring Diane Kruger, it’s a deliciously sumptuous drama.
PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
STREAMING, TUBI
Before he starred as Succession’s odious Tom Wambsgans, Matthew Macfadyen steamed up the screen as Mr Darcy alongside Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennet in 2005.
While he may have mastered Darcy’s haughty gaze and looks at home in those Regency-era britches, Macfadyen can’t hold a candle to Colin Firth’s 1995 version of Jane Austen’s snooty hero. But who could?
Nonetheless, this is a charming watch, with an impressive cast of supporting players that includes Judi Dench as the imperious Catherine de Bourgh, Tom Hollander as the simpering Mr Collins and Rosamund Pike as Lizzie’s beautiful but bland sister Jane.
Read the full reviews in a new issue of The Watchlist, out in the Sunday papers.
For more from The Watchlist and Stellar, click here.
More Coverage
Originally published as Buzzy Kennedy doco FINALLY airs in Australia as a Jane Austen classic screens on Tubi
