From the return of an Aussie hit comedy to an extreme reality finale, here’s the week’s top TV
With the return of the Aussie comedy that became a global smash and the finale of most extreme reality show around, here’s everything that should be on your watch list.
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We’ve sifted through the latest offerings from TV and streaming platforms to find the best shows you should be watching this week.
COLIN FROM ACCOUNTS
THURSDAY, BINGE
After the first season became a global smash, earning rave reviews and Logie Awards for its creators and stars Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer, big things were expected for the little Aussie rom-com that could. Thankfully, the second season doesn’t disappoint, with the real-life couple, who play brewer Gordon and doctor Ashley, once again making the most of their crackling chemistry, sharp writing and superb comic timing and banter. It’s quality all around, from the supporting cast such as Michael Logo’s laconic Brett, Gordon’s co-worker, and Helen Thomson as Ashley’s insufferable mother Lynelle, right through the random side characters in every episode. In this week’s season opener, the on-again, off-again couple are having serious regrets about giving away Colin, stalking him in the park and wondering who they are and what they have in common without the pooch that brought them together. As they hatch an increasingly outlandish plan to get him back, Gordon is rocked by a revelation that will test their fledgling relationship to its limits.
ALONE
WEDNESDAY, 7.30PM, SBS
Once it was announced that this second season of the extreme reality TV show had relocated to New Zealand’s South Island and bow hunting was allowed, I had it in my head that the competitors would be feasting on fresh venison and admiring the view with their feet up. If anything, it’s been even more brutal than the first as they have struggled through freezing temperatures, wild storms, infuriating sandflies and no one has shot a damn thing. Kudos then to the three remaining competitors Andreas, Suzan and Krzysztof for toughing out nearly two months so far – but only one will walk away with $250,000 in tonight’s finale. Stick around after the big reveal, when Hamish Blake will host the reunion special.
ERIC
THURSDAY, NETFLIX
Oscar-nominated actor Benedict Cumberbatch is sure to enter awards contention for his utterly mesmerising portrayal of Vincent, a brilliant but self-centred, egotistical, hard-drinking and deeply troubled puppeteer for a popular, Sesame Street-like kids TV program in this thriller from Emmy Award winner Abi Morgan (The Iron Lady, The Hour). When his son goes missing on the stinking, crime-ridden streets of New York in the 1980s, Vincent has to battle his many demons as he becomes increasingly frustrated, desperate and alienated in the race to find him. As he descends into a downward spiral of guilt, delusion and self-loathing, he becomes convinced that Eric, the 7-foot blue monster depicted in his son’s drawings, is the only way he will see his son again.
MATILDAS V CHINA
FRIDAY, 7.30PM, CHANNEL 10
Given the mighty Matildas have sold out their last 12 games in Australia, it’s just as well their final home games before they head off to the Paris Olympic Games are being televised because tickets for the match in Adelaide are as rare as rocking horse poo. The 12th world-ranked Aussies might be seven places higher, but China will still pose a formidable challenge in the two friendlies, the second of which is played in Sydney next Monday. Given Tony Gustavsson’s team is still finding its ideal line-up now that star striker Sam Kerr has officially been ruled out of the Games, the stern test should be good preparation for a tough group that also features powerhouses Germany and the USA.
BARBIE DREAMHOUSE CHALLENGE
SUNDAY, 8.30PM, 9LIFE
I have no idea what the Venn diagram of Barbie fans and renovation enthusiasts looks like, but it’s given rise to one of the most bonkers reality TV shows in recent memory. Inspired by last year’s Barbie movie, heartily endorsed by Mattel, and hosted by model Ashley Graham it aims to turn a regular Southern California home into a pastel pink palace. The “celebrity” competitors (taken from other US reality TV shows) are suitably over the top as they transform their designated areas to the Barbie era of their choice and including a novelty “toyetic” feature. Each of the eight teams of two is playing for a mega fan at home and are working towards the pink carpet finale where their efforts will be judged by experts and, you guessed it, influencers. It’s bit like being hit in the head by pink sledgehammer while eating a bag of fairy floss – but it’s strangely hard to look away.
THE STREETS HONG KONG
MONDAY, 7.30PM, SBS FOOD
It might sound like an old-school chopsocky crime drama, but this new eight-part cooking show explores the incredible east-meets-west cuisine of the former British colony now controlled by China and anyone with an interest in Asian food would do well to tune in. Your host, acclaimed chef Dan Hong, wanders the bustling boulevards and twisting back alleys to seek out delights from right across the food spectrum – from street food with the locals right up to the fanciest of restaurants, while also throwing in his own culinary creations inspired by what he has found. It’s mostly mouth-watering, occasionally stomach-turning (you can keep your fried pigs intestines and ears on a stick) but never less than fascinating.
BILLY THE KID
MONDAY, STAN
The second half of the writers-strike-disrupted second season of this bloody, beautifully shot and very satisfying western picks up four months after it left off, with the Lincoln County War still raging and the titular outlaw (played by The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songs and Snakes star Tom Blythe) heading his band of Regulators out for revenge and looking to reclaim the town from the corrupt officials and businessmen who want him dead. The man tasked with making sure the Kid ends up on the end of a rope is his frenemy and former compadre Jesse Evans (Aussie Daniel Webber). Spicing things up further is the arrival of new sheriff Pat Garrett, who the history books record as the actual lawman who put Billy six feet under.
THE BEACH BOYS
DISNEY+
As someone who spent 20 of the longest minutes of his life struggling through an interview with Beach Boys founder and resident creative genius Brian Wilson, I was fascinated to see how this doco on one of the most successful and enduring bands of all time would turn out. And while it understandably skates around a few issues – the depths of Brian’s mental battles and the deaths of his brothers Carl and Dennis – it nevertheless digs deep into the band history, using new and archive interviews, behind the scenes footage and musician guests including Janell Monae and Don Was. From their Californian surf sound beginnings and overcoming an overbearing father to igniting a rivalry with The Beatles by producing the magnificent Pet Sounds, then falling out of the favour in the ‘70s and having a nostalgia-led revival in the ‘80s, it’s an extraordinary story.
THE CLEANER
TUESDAY, 8.30PM, ABC
Welsh comedian Greg Davies – best known as the host of UK Taskmaster and one of Graham Norton’s most reliable guests – writes and stars in this black comedy about a professional crime scene cleaner, who is rather prickly and pernickety but undeniably good at his job. Wicky is the guy you call after the real cops and forensics have done their job but even when tasked with tackling a kitchen that looks like a Jackson Pollock nightmare, all he can think about is being late for curry night at the pub. Helena Bonham Carter lends her signature offbeat, borderline batty, charm to the opening episode as the remarkably calm widow who stabbed her model-building obsessed husband 38 times (“you only need five – anything more is showboating,” observes Wicky) who returns to the scene of the crime.
THE ART OF …
TUESDAY, 9.30PM, ABC
This new documentary takes a big subject each week – including sex, rage, masculinity, food and being funny – and then examines how it intersects with art. Inspired by her own childhood trauma from watching ET, host Namila Benson kicks off with the universal experience of heartbreak and ponders whether art can help in the healing process or simply make it worse and enlists an eclectic group of creative types to help her find the answers. Recently single artist Celeste Mountjoy, is sent along to a divorce party hosted by Yumi Stynes, and Clem Ford, comedian Josh Thomas reflects on the etiquette of using personal experiences in art and powerhouse soul singer Emma Donovan reveals how her emotion-charged music helped her get over the death of her mother.
Originally published as From the return of an Aussie hit comedy to an extreme reality finale, here’s the week’s top TV
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