Clive Palmer cooks titanic treats in Annabel Crabb’s Kitchen Cabinet

TV editor Lyndall Crisp selects Kitchen Cabinet as her pick of the week on free-to-air television.

Supplied Editorial

TV editor Lyndall Crisp selects Kitchen Cabinet as her pick of the week on free-to-air television.pick of the week.

Kitchen Cabinet

Tuesday, 8pm, ABC

Let’s hope the cuts to the ABC don’t affect original programs such as Annabel Crabb’s clever show, which takes us into the kitchens of MPs around the country. Her sense of humour and knack of asking offbeat questions makes excellent TV not seen anywhere else. It would be a crying shame if she got the chop (although that’s highly unlikely). Such is its popularity, this bonus episode featuring Palmer United Party leader Clive Palmer has been slipped on to the end of the schedule. Whatever you think of his politics, Palmer is certainly colourful. Crabb visits him at home at his Coolum resort in Queensland, where she drives a golf buggy and visits the 100 awful life-size animatronic dinosaurs that blight the landscape. In the kitchen, Palmer almost starts a fire when he sprays olive oil on a frying pan. His menu begins with an entree of watermelon and tomato gazpacho, followed by a whopping steak for himself and salmon for Crabb. Palmer, 60, a former National who founded the PUP last year and has been causing the government merry havoc since, talks about his success in business. Owner of Mineralogy and several resorts, there’s no doubt he is a very wealthy chap. Crabb produces a homemade dessert. This time it’s a coconut meringue sandwich from the original Titanic menu — a sly reference to Palmer’s plans to replicate the doomed liner.

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The Loop

Saturday, 9.05am, Eleven

One for the youngies, or the young at heart. Hosts Scott Tweedie and Ash London give the lowdown on the hottest 20 songs of the week and introduce promising new releases. Today it’s mostly about Beyonce Knowles, who released a new album last week, after rumours that it was on the cards. Last year she released a record in secret — a tactic that worked well — so it makes sense that she would do it again. Not that she needs the money. Beyonce, 33, and husband Jay Z, 44, are estimated to be worth $US1 billion. Imagine the bunfight if talk of divorce is true.

Don’t Tell My Mother

Saturday, 8.30pm, SBS Two

Back for a third season, this French documentary series hosted by Diego Bunuel kicks off in Johannesburg, where it seems violence, crime and AIDS are everywhere. In this mix of travelogue and documentary, Bunuel uncovers the city’s “extremes of good and bad” and notes the distressing fact: “it (Johannesburg) has more murders than Baghdad has casualties”. That said, South Africa’s largest city also has turned into a thriving democracy and the continent’s economic hub. At 9pm, episode two sees him arrive, on the roof of a speeding train, in Lagos, Nigeria, thought to be home to more than 21 million people. “Out of this place comes incredible energy,” he says. “There’s just one rule to follow: work or die.” Lagos’s traffic and pollution seem a likely way to experience the latter.

Echo: The Unforgettable Elephant

Saturday, 6.30pm, Ten

Whether or not you like animals, this is an incredible story. A group of women followed Echo the elephant every day for 36 years to study her behaviour. Narrated by David Attenborough, this story starts with Echo’s death, aged 65, of old age. One of the women is with her as life slowly ebbs away. Talk about sad. Echo’s legacy is a wealth of information about elephants’ survival mechanisms, loyalty, love, foresight and wisdom, all captured on film in what is surely the longest such recording.

Nick Knowles’ Original Features

Saturday, 9.30pm, 7Two

Another home renovation show but one with a twist. “Some bores say you have to be historically accurate with every little detail, but don’t listen to them,” presenter Nick Knowles says. “A, you’re working to a budget and B, you’re living in a home, not a museum.” Wise words. In this first episode he meets a couple who have taken on a quirky 1860 schoolhouse — later a tollhouse — located on the fork of a busy road in Woolverton, Somerset. Purists will be horrified: they want to incorporate their 1950s kitchen paraphernalia and more contemporary items into the design, both having little to do with Victoriana.

Outback Choir

Sunday, 7.40pm, ABC

One woman’s determination to encourage children in outback NSW towns to aim high yields enormous rewards. Michelle Leonard uses music as the vehicle. “We all need to strive for something greater,” she says. ”(To) instil a sense of empowerment is the best gift we can give.” What she achieves with students in years 3 to 6, mad about sport but starved of musical education, is remarkable. They learn to appreciate different kinds of music, discover hidden talent and form a choir. It’s hard to know who’s more surprised by the results, the children or their parents. “Life is full of possibility. Go. Take it, take it, take it,” she urges. A lovely story.

Opening Shot: Crack Up

Monday, 9.30pm, ABC2

Another instalment in this excellent series by young filmmakers, which this week looks at three people with mental illness. Their lives are turned around when they join a 12-week stand-up comedy program, founded by David Granirer in Vancouver, Canada. He also suffered from mental illness but decided to use his comedy skills to help other sufferers. Here he joins Rohan, Gizem and Julian in Victoria, where they’re rehearsing for a performance at Federation Square. Having depression “is like living in a desert”, Rohan says. “You’re left on your own, a devastating existence.” He was contemplating suicide until he heard about the program. All three worry about going solo and whether they’re funny. A risk worth taking, they agree.

A Country Road: The Nationals

Tuesday, 8.30pm, ABC

In the second episode of this excellent three-part series, political reporter Heather Ewart travels to Queensland where she catches up with Flo Bjelke-Petersen (now in her 90s) at Bethany in Kingaroy over a cup of tea (but no pumpkin scones). Also present is former senator and National Party leader Ron Boswell. Queensland has produced a number of “rare” politicians — Pauline Hanson, Bob Katter Jr and Clive Palmer to name just a few. But it was Bjelke-Petersen’s disastrous Joh for PM campaign in 1985 that nearly destroyed the Nationals (although gun law reform in 1996 came pretty close, too, with disaffected party members crossing to Hanson’s One Nation party). The travails in Queensland have continued with the party becoming the Liberal National Party in 2008 and former member Palmer starting his own Palmer United Party last year.

Scandal

Tuesday, 10.30pm, Seven

Good grief. This US drama has never been short on sex or violence but this episode will have you averting your eyes behind interlaced fingers. Huck (Guillermo Diaz) is a brilliant computer hacker on Olivia Pope’s (Kerry Washington) staff of fixers in Washington, DC. But he’s also a psychotic killer whose methods of torture defy description. Here he works over a colleague. And Pope helps her mother Maya (Khandi Alexander) — supposedly killed in a plane crash 20 years ago — escape to Hong Kong only to discover too late that she’s not the innocent she claims to be.

North of Capricorn

Wednesday, 9pm, NITV

Based on the book by historian Henry Reynolds, this wonderful documentary looks at a part of Australia like no other. The deep north’s rich heritage goes way back before colonial times when Chinese, Japanese and Indonesian traders fished for sea cucumber; plantation owners kidnapped Pacific Island workers; and the fledgling pearl industry attracted foreigners, making it a multicultural haven. With such diverse ancestry, the population soon produced its own architecture, music, fashion, food and work ethic. Archival footage and interviews with descendants tell a fascinating story.

Jamie Cooks Summer

Thursday, 7.30pm, Ten

In this series Jamie Oliver shares his recipe ideas for cooking outdoors. Here he lures us away from something he calls “the dodgy old scrotum burger” to a chilli con carne dish with attitude. But he cheats. He cooks it at home (using beef brisket, not mince) before leaving for a picnic.