Top shows and films to watch: The Substance, The Real Housewives of Sydney, Gogglebox
From the twisted horror movie that could nab Demi Moore an Oscar to more high living and high tension from The Real Housewives of Sydney, there’s plenty on offer this week.
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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.
THE SUBSTANCE
STAN
Writer-director Coralie Fargeat’s body-horror satire might not win the Best Picture Oscar next month, but if they were handing out statues for the most demented and disturbing film of the year it would be an absolute lock. Demi Moore – who is one of the frontrunners for the Best Actress Oscar – gives absolutely everything as Elisabeth Sparkle, a one-time TV fitness superstar already wrestling with career longevity when her show is cancelled by a vile and misogynist TV executive (a repellent Dennis Quaid). Desperate to reclaim her former glory and she signs up to a black market treatment that promises to produce a “younger, more beautiful, more perfect” version of her – and after a wince-inducing series of procedures, Elisabeth’s rejuvenated replica bursts out of her back and starts to wow the TV world as the sexy and stunning Sue (Margaret Qualley). The only catch is that only one version can exist at one time – and Sue and Elisabeth have to trade weeks while the other recovers. But has Sue’s star starts to rise she begins to resent her older alter-ego, and breaks the strict rules the govern The Substance with ever more horrific consequences. The gore, nudity and confronting scenes are not for the squeamish or kids, but it’s like nothing else you’ll watch this year.
ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY
WEDNESDAY, PRIME VIDEO
It’s been nearly 16 years since Australia lifted the quadrennial one-day international format trophy with a crushing win over New Zealand in South Africa – and their form has hardly been ideal coming into this year’s tournament hosted by Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates. The (admittedly understrength) Aussies were twice soundly spanked by Sri Lanka in the past week and will still be without skipper Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchells Marsh and Starc. But with batting machine and stand-in captain Steve Smith in blazing form and opener Travis Head always capable of getting the team off to a flyer, they still should be in with a good shout despite two tricky opening group games against England (8pm Saturday) and South Africa (8pm Tuesday).
BACK ROADS
THURSDAY, 8PM, ABC
With its unspoilt wilderness and astonishing array of flora and fauna thanks to separating from the Australian mainland 10,000 years ago and avoiding pests like rabbits and foxes, locals and visitors alike will tell you that South Australia’s Kangaroo Island is a little slice of heaven. But in 2020 bushfires turned it into an inferno that left nearly 40 per cent of the island burned with two people killed alongside tens of thousands of animals. Guest host and celebrity chef Paul West visits the island to see how it’s bouncing back with inspirational tales of resilience – from the local footy league to world experts on echidnas and insects. He also catches up with a fisherman turned dolphin ecotour operator and investigates how farmers and environmentalists are working together for a sustainable future.
GOGGLEBOX
THURSDAY, 7.30PM, CHANNEL 10, PARAMOUNT+
Back for its 21st season, Gogglebox remains one of the best ways to keep up to date on the ever-increasing number of TV viewing options, with the armchair experts offering brutally honest and frequently hilarious opinions on what’s on the box. After stepping back from the show after the 2023 birth of their second son, Lyon, Sarah-Marie and husband Matty will be back on the couch with their oldest boy Malik and Uncle Jad. Other returning fan-favourites include The Delpechitra Family; happily married couple and grandparents Lee and Keith; best friends Anastasia and Faye, and family of four, The Daltons.
CLEAN SLATE
PRIME VIDEO
Fittingly there’s plenty of heart and gentle humour – with the occasional guffaw – in veteran TV producer Norman Lear (The Facts of Life, All in the Family, Diff’rent Strokes) final comedy series. Orange is the New Black star Laverne Cox plays Desiree Slate, who returns to her Alabama home town after 23 years working in the New York art world, broke after a bad break-up. Initially her old-school, car-wash owning father Harry, who last knew her as son Desmond, is more outraged by her vegetarianism than her transition, but after she moves back into the family home they soon realise there’s still some healing to be done. Desiree’s sudden appearance sends the town rumour mill into overdrive, but after reconnecting with her closeted childhood friend Louis and being introduced to Harry’s employee, ex-con Mack, she finds that the unexpected bonds of friends and family will help her make a fresh start.
THE HUNTERS: THE BEAUMONT CHILDREN MYSTERY
SUNDAY, 8.40PM, CHANNEL 7
True crime journalist and podcaster Adam Shand has teamed up with former policeman Steve Van Aperen – aka the human lie detector – to delve into some of Australia’s most notorious cold cases. This week’s opening episode tackles one of the highest profile and most mysterious, when nine-year-old Jane, seven-year-old Arnna and four-year-old Grant Beaumont vanished from an Adelaide beach on Australia Day 1996. By retracing the steps and re-examining the timeline of the children – and talking to journalists, cops, authors and forensic psychologists – the pair identify key suspects, particularly the now dead businessmen Harry Phipps and some of the county’s worst child-killers. Hoping to finally have a coronial enquiry opened and give the family some closure, they also present their findings to a former Supreme Court Judge to get his take.
NO TASTE LIKE HOME WITH ANTONI POROWSKI
MONDAY, DISNEY+
As the son of Polish immigrants, celebrity chef and Queer Eye food and wine expert Antoni Porowski knows the importance that cuisine can have in maintaining a connection to your ancestors. To illustrate the point, he’s recruited a group of Hollywood celebrities with links to other countries including James Marsden (Germany), Justin Theroux (Italy), Awkwafina (Korea), Henry Golding (Malaysia) and Issa Rae (Senegal), to trace their roots using a family recipe as a starting point. And as Dune 2 star Florence Pugh discovers as she retraces her forebears from Oxford to Yorkshire and London, there are also tales of hardship and inspiration that help explain why meal preparation and sharing – they meticulously prepare a cracking Sunday roast with her parents and brother – remain such an important ritual for her family.
THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF SYDNEY
TUESDAY, 1.30PM, BINGE
Fans of the franchise and group watching parties can safely dig out the canapes and champagne in the knowledge that third season of shenanigans from the immensely wealthy and entitled denizens of the Harbour City absolutely hits the ground running. All the Housewives are still dealing with the explosive fallout from last season’s reunion dinner as only they can – by oversharing in ritzy locations – and past grudges and grievances are dredged up as factions solidify while they prepare for a “glow-up dinner” (something about being the best version of yourself, just Google it). New Housewife Martine – a Darling Point neighbour of Victoria – looks like she’ll fit right in with some early shots fired, Caroline and Kate pick their feud right up where they left off, and the divisive and conspicuously absent Terri looms over proceedings like a blinged-out ghost. Strap in folks, it’s going to be a fabulously bumpy ride.
GLORIA GAYNOR: I WILL SURVIVE
TUESDAY, SBS, 8.35PM
Nearly 50 years after it went to No. 1 around the world, selling 4 million copies and becoming the first and only disco song to win a Grammy, I Will Survive remains Gloria Gaynor’s signature tune. But as this 2023 documentary shows, there’s a lot more to her story than that. Viewed through her comeback and reinvention as a gospel singer – she won her second Grammy 40 years after her first for Best Roots Gospel Album in 2020 – it cuts back and forth between past and present to show how she overcame a poor upbringing, sexual abuse, a domineering manager/husband, a debilitating injury and the Disco Sucks backlash to become a global sensation and remain a vital musical force as she enters her ninth decade.
THE GORGE
APPLE TV+
Max Max: Furiosa star Anya Taylor-Joy and Top Gun: Maverick’s Miles Teller make for a terrific couple in Scott Derrickson’s (The Black Phone, Doctor Strange) hugely entertaining action horror romp. The pair play elite snipers, she from the East and he from the West, who have been carefully selected for a year-long assignment in watch towers on the opposite sides of a deep gorge shrouded in cloud. Not only do they not know what lies beneath that needs their deadly skills, they are also forbidden to have any contact with each other. Thankfully both edicts will be disregarded as they connect, flirt and then form a formidable fighting team when they find themselves at “the door to hell” and the scary monsters on the other side. Rollicking, escapist fun.
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Originally published as Top shows and films to watch: The Substance, The Real Housewives of Sydney, Gogglebox
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