Billy Joel makes startling confessions of booze, drugs and betrayal in new documentary
Grammy-winning singer Billy Joel opens up about his substance abuse, mental health and his complicated love life in a revealing new doco.
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AND SO IT GOES
SATURDAY, MAX
Honesty, as Billy Joel wrote in the 1978 hit of the same name, is such a lonely word. But in one of the best music documentaries I have seen in years, while the Piano Man displays unflinching, sometimes painful, honesty in spades, he’s far from alone.
In this amazing, authorised, two-part special – part two is released next Friday – music luminaries including Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Sting and Jackson Browne line up to sing the praises of one of the finest singer-songwriters of his, or any other, generation, while old friends, colleagues, critics and even ex-wives weigh in to help uncover a fascinating, flawed, passionate and prodigiously talented individual.
With new and archival interviews, plus photos and footage from a career that’s garnered more than 160 million album sales and six Grammys, it traces his incredible journey from a sometimes troubled childhood on Long Island and his early forays into heavy metal, to his status as an unlikely sex symbol and stadium act.
Along the way, there’s mental illness, substance abuse, a complicated love life and deep betrayals, through which the immensely likeable Joel has emerged a little battered, but unbowed. You’ll love him just the way he is.
BOOKISH
WEDNESDAY, MAX
Mark Gatiss, the man behind cult UK comedy The League Of Gentlemen and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock, is the writer and creator of this satisfying new British crime drama that has already been renewed for a second season. He also stars as Gabriel Book, who conveniently runs a second-hand book shop while also helping police solve crimes in a post-WWII London still reeling from the Blitz and is given special access thanks to mysterious letter from none other than Winston Churchill. A stickler for manners and grammar and in a marriage of convenience as a gay man in an era when was still illegal in the UK, his literary knowledge and eye for detail lead him to believe that what appears to be a clear case of suicide might be something more nefarious.
BACK ROADS
THURSDAY, 8PM, ABC
After 11 series and nearly a decade in the job, Heather Ewart is handing the keys of this always entertaining, often informative quiet achiever of a travel show that spotlights rural and regional Australia over to Muster Dogs’ Lisa Millar next month. But before she goes, she’s hitting the road to Moree in western New South Wales to meet some extraordinary dressmakers. There’s Melissa O’Donoghue, who has been providing stunning couture wedding gowns to country brides for decades, and inspirational Gomeroi woman Colleen Tighe Johnson, whose fashion project to inspire pride and confidence of local Indigenous women has taken her from the local TAFE to the catwalks of New York.
GRIFF’S GREAT AMERICAN SOUTH
THURSDAY, 8.30PM
Having ticked off Australia and New Zealand in recent trips, comedian turned professional globetrotter Griff Rhys-Jones has shifted his attention to the American south for his new six-part series. His natural curiosity and endless enthusiasm are a perfect foil for the region’s famed hospitality, but he’s also not afraid to peer into the some of the darker corners of towns such as Charleston, where the fabulous wealth and splendour was built on the back of slavery and oppression. From sampling the local cuisine and culture, to picking cotton, shucking oysters and dressing up with Civil War reenactors, he’s terrific company from start to finish.
THE WILD ONES
APPLE TV+
In stark contrast to Griff Rhys-Jones’ genteel gadding about, wildlife and camera trap expert Declan Burley, ecological storyteller and wildlife cinematographer Vianet Djenguet and former Royal Marines Commando Aldo Kane are prepared to put in the hard yards in the name of science and ecology in this stunning new series. The intrepid trio face extreme heat, cold, and scarily large bugs as they venture to some of the world’s least accessible locations to track and protect some of the planet’s most endangered species. First up is their quest deep into the jungle to photograph the extremely elusive Malayan tiger, followed by the parched and remote desert of Mongolia to track down one of the very few Gobi bears left in the wild.
TOO MUCH
NETFLIX
Diehard fans of Girls will find plenty to like about Lena Dunham’s semi-autobiographical comedy, replete with her trademark awkward humour, oversharing and sometimes painfully relatable self-exploration. Megan Stalter (the over-the-top secretary in the much funnier Hacks) plays Jessica, who flees a break-up and her slightly mad family in New York for a fresh start in London and promptly meets struggling musician Felix (The White Lotus’ Will Sharpe). The American cliches of London life get a little tiresome – and none of the characters are especially likeable – but Jessica’s clueless and sometimes cringe worthy moments as she navigates her new life and job can catch you laughing almost in spite of yourself.
LEGENDS OF THE FORK
THURSDAY, 10PM, SBS FOOD
With his Tony Soprano energy and accent, fourth generation New York baker Buddy Valastro – aka the Cake Boss – is exactly the kind of guy you’d want to share a plate of gabagool with. He’s also a fabulous culinary tour guide in this series that visits famous restaurants around the US to chat with chefs, taste the food and learn their secrets. His first stop is Patsy’s Italian restaurant – a stone’s throw from Carnegie Hall in New York, a favourite of Frank Sinatra, and proud server of lasagne that’s pretty much unchanged since the joint opened in 1944 and a more recent addition of stuffed pork chops that look like heart attack on a plate. He then heads to the West Coast for LA Mexican institution Guelaguetza, which specialises in mouth-watering traditional Oaxacan dishes.
LIVELY V BALDONI: THE HOLLYWOOD FEUD
THURSDAY, MAX
It’s almost been a year since It Ends With Us debuted in cinemas and director Justin Baldoni and star Blake Lively are still taking pot shots at each other in one of the biggest celebrity feuds in years. For anyone who’s been hiding under a rock – or just doesn’t look at social media – the bad blood stems from Lively’s claims of on-set sexual harassment at the hands of Baldoni, and his counterclaim of a smear campaign against him, as well as allegations she tried to hi-jack the film. This slightly breathless documentary featuring journalists, filmmakers, colleagues and even a TikTok investigator (whatever the hell that is) examines the imbroglio from both sides, but it’s most interesting an insight into the dark arts of spin and publicity as both parties sought to shape the narrative and court of public opinion for their benefit.
DEXTER: RESURRECTION
NEW EPISODES FRIDAYS, PARAMOUNT+
Apparently nothing can stop forensic scientist and vigilante serial killer Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall) – not even a bullet to the chest with the trigger pulled by his own son. The latest series, which I’m not sure anyone asked for, picks up after the events of New Blood, with Dexter awakening from a 10-week coma plagued by ghosts from his past to find that his son Harrison – who has inherited at least some of his taste for killing – has fled to New York to start a new life. With former colleagues on his trail, and his ever-present dead father by his side, Dexter follows to keep a watchful eye on him. The Big Apple is superbly seedy setting for their new adventures – and of course there’s a new serial killer on the rampage – but there’s a nagging feeling of familiarity that’s hard to shake. While it’s better than some of the recent efforts, there’s no recapturing the guilty pleasure thrills of the early original series.
WALLABIES V BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS
SATURDAY, 7.30PM, CHANNEL 9, STAN SPORT
Even more elusive than a World Cup, coming only once every 12 years, it’s basically Christmas, Easter and birthday all rolled into one for devotees of the game they supposedly play in heaven. But after a scratchy win against Fiji, the Wallabies are going to have their work cut out for them in Brisbane for the first of three games against this impressive looking touring outfit featuring the best players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Under inspirational skipper Maro Itoje, the Lions have so far swept all before them with the only close(ish) games so far being against the Waratahs and the Reds so the home side will have to be at their very best to avoid a clean sweep.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT …
ACCEPTED
BEFORE Blake Lively found fame as New York’s chicest high-schooler, she played
another enviably cool girl in this quirky comedy about a teenager who starts a
university for misfits and rejects. When Bartleby (Justin Long) fails to get accepted
into college, he invents a new alma mater to get his overbearing father off his back
and impress his high school crush (Lively). That seemingly harmless white lie soon
snowballs when Bartleby’s best friend Sherman (Jonah Hill) creates a website to
prove the existence of the fake college only to find hundreds of similarly desperate
kids have enrolled believing it was legitimate.
Originally published as Billy Joel makes startling confessions of booze, drugs and betrayal in new documentary
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