It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week
September’s just around the corner and TMINE will be resuming normal(ish) service on Monday with the return of the Daily News – although there have been all kinds of exciting developments over August, such as the return of Patrick Stewart to the role of Jean-Luc Picard, which you could have heard about via TMINE’s Twitter feed and Facebook page, if you’d been so inclined. I mean are there other news sources? I don’t think so.
As I mentioned last week, although it’s been very quiet for new TV in both July and August (RIP the summer season), the schedules are about to kick in again. The US networks have already started putting out big clips from their new shows, including Manifest:
Meanwhile, today, Netflix released season two of Ozark and Amazon gave us the return of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan in the imaginatively titled Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, except now he’s played by that bloke from the US version of The Office. I doubt I’ll be able to boxset either of them over the weekend, but I’ll give it a whirl, although it might be next Monday before I can get through one/both of them.
I did promise last week, though, to try to boxset my way through at least one of various new releases last week: Netflix’s Ghoul, The Innocents and Karppi (Deadwind). After all, what were the chances of there being three duffs? Well… We can talk about that after jump.
Also after the jump, I’ll be chatting about the latest episode of Shooter, as well as the rest of the first season of Au service de la France (A Very Secret Service).
I’ll just mention in passing before we pass into that nether-realm that TVNZ has just released the first few episodes of an experimental non-linear show called Alibi. The innovation? You can watch the episodes in any order.
The way we view drama shows is about to change as a new non-linear TVNZ OnDemand series Alibi is about to arrive.
The show will call into question all your preconceived ideas as viewers navigate their way through six suspects’ witness statements given to a detective over the death of a young schoolgirl in Awatahi.
Just like a choose your own ending book, viewers get six episodes to watch and you draw your own conclusions.
The list of suspects includes a gang member, teacher, the local handyman and perhaps the creepiest of all – Father Sebastien, the leader of the local cult.
Who was playing the role of the murderer was even kept from the actors during production.
The final episode will be released on 13 September and that will reveal whodunnit. I imagine you have to watch that one last.
I’ll try to sneak that one in if I can, as I imagine it’ll end up on either Netflix or Amazon at some point. Plus it’s got Joel Tobeck (Xena, Westlife, The Doctor Blake Mysteries, Ash vs Evil Dead). I like him.
It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week/month
I’m calling it – summer season is dead. It has ceased to be. It is an ex-season.
Before TMINE went away on its holidays, I pointed out how quiet July had been worldwide, but while I was away, the number of new shows has been small. Very small. Castle Rock (US: Hulu) and Dead Lucky (Australia: ABC) were released and Netflix gave us Insatiable, but that was basically it.
Sure, there have been returning shows, but new shows haven’t had a look-in and a lot of shows that used to air over July and August have postponed their returns until the end of the month or September. That even includes the final season of The Lost Ship, which was filmed a year ago, so production concerns clearly weren’t stopping it from being aired in its usual slot.
I’m guessing that ratings haven’t held up for any TV shows. Probably because everyone’s been on holiday. Or maybe it’s because of my fearsome “if it starts in August, I won’t review it rule.” That’s probably it, isn’t it? Still, it does make my life easier.
Thankfully, new shows have already started coming online. Netflix has this very day given us Ghoul, The Innocents and Deadwind, while Amazon has woken up again and is giving us Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan next week. I’ll try to watch some, if not all of them, and give you at least one Boxset next week. After that, I’ll be struggling to catch up with the release schedule, with new Iron Fist coming, The Last Ship back, and season two of Ozark due on 31st.
In the meantime, I’ve been continuing with the usual viewing queue, although that’s now down to just Shooter, given Condor and Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger finished their runs while I was on holiday. All of them I’ll discuss after the jump.
I also scoured around for new shows to watch, as well. Of the shows I mentioned last time, I could never quite bring myself to watch the rest of Jongo but I made a brave stab at the properly subtitled second season of You Are Wanted. I also managed to catch the movie version of Stargate: Origins, and started a new French show: Au service de la France (A Very Secret Service). But we can talk about all of those after the jump.
Every month, TMINE lets you know what TV the BFI will be presenting at the South Bank in London
We’re now up to the traditional weird BFI-only month of September/October. This is usually a time when there’s not much on, usually due to one film season or another. However, there’s actually a bumper range of programming. The main highlight is a season of archive shows and plays written by women, including the likes of Fay Weldon, but there are previews as well of the forthcoming The Bisexual and Butterfly, a reshowing of Fable, and May’s postponed event timed to coincide with the launch of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Blu-Ray has finally got itself a new date.
Every so often, TMINE flags up what new TV events BAFTA is holding around the UK
BAFTA’s got some interesting TV lined up for September, including previews of Killing Eve (all the episodes of which I’ve reviewed elsewhere on the blog if you do a quick search, but here’s the TMINE verdict), A Discovery of Witches, Outsiders and the third series of No Offence. Here’s what you can still buy tickets for, though (sorry – holidays!)
TV Preview: Killing Eve
Wednesday, 5 September 2018 – 6:30pm
Princess Anne Theatre, 195 Piccadilly, London
A preview of the new BBC series followed by a Q&A with the creative team.
From multi-BAFTA winning writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) the eight-part series follows Eve (Sandra Oh), a bored MI5 security officer whose desk job does not fulfil her fantasies of being a spy. That is until she’s tasked with tracking down fearsome assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer), throwing them into a cat-and-mouse game that turns the traditional spy-thriller on its head.
The all-star cast includes Fiona Shaw (Harry Potter), David Haig (Four Weddings and a Funeral), and Kim Bodnia (The Bridge).
The series is a Sid Gentle Films Ltd production for BBC America, and was acquired from Endeavor Content. It will premiere on BBC One and will be made available as a box set on BBC.
Wednesday, 5 September 2018 – 7:00pm
Cineworld, Mary Ann St, Cardiff CF10 2EN
Bad Wolf Productions and SKY One present the UK premiere of their brand new TV series. Adapted from Deborah Harkness’ best selling novel A Discovery of Witches is a contemporary love story set in our world, but one which humans share with the declining species of witches, vampires and daemons – creatures existing and working amongst us, but hiding, unknown to most humans, in plain sight.
Teresa Palmer (Hacksaw Ridge) plays brilliant academic and historian Diana Bishop, a reluctant witch denying her heritage. The discovery of a manuscript in Oxford’s Bodleian Library throws her into the heart of a dangerous mystery and into the path of enigmatic geneticist Matthew Clairmont played by Matthew Goode (Downton Abbey, The Crown), an ancient vampire hiding dark family secrets.
Bad Wolf is the result of over 15 years of creative collaboration between founders Jane Tranter, Julie Gardner and the production and creative community of Wales.
A Q&A with key cast and crew will follow the screening. Details to be confirmed nearer the time.
We have an allocation of members’ tickets available. Please email Vicki to reserve your place.
TV Preview: No Offence
Monday, 10 September 2018 – 6:45pm
Princess Anne Theatre, 195 Piccadilly, London
A preview of the third series of Paul Abbott’s BAFTA-nominated Channel 4 series, followed by a Q+A with creator and writer Abbott, director Catherine Morshead and cast Joanna Scanlan and Will Mellor.
This season sees the crime-fighting Friday Street team face off against their most formidable antagonist yet: the far-right. A contentious Manchester mayoral election is a tinderbox ready to ignite. And a far-right group are determinedly fuelling the chaos. When a political event becomes a flashpoint for deadly violence the team must race to catch a killer and stop an escalating reign of terror across the city.
DI Viv Deering (Scanlan) and her coppers find themselves clashing once more with the underworld and the upper brass alike. Deering’s never had it so tough and finds she must deploy every weapon in her arsenal to keep her team together and restore peace to a community wracked with political and xenophobic uncertainty.
The all-star cast includes Elaine Cassidy, Alexandra Roach, Will Mellor, Sharon Rooney and Neil Maskell.
No Offence is written and created by Paul Abbott and produced by his company AbbottVision. Executive Producers are Paul Abbott, Martin Carr and Paul Coe for AbbottVision; with Philip Leach as Producer.
Wednesday, 19 September 2018 – 6:00pm
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Tom thinks it’s time his youth group got in touch with their inner selves, outside. But when group therapy and organised fun collide, bad things happen. A new comedy drama with songs. Written by 5 new Welsh writers and starring 6 new Welsh actors/actresses, ‘Outsiders’ will be broadcast as a 30 minute TV drama on BBC Wales this autumn. A BBC Writersroom and Boom Cymru production for BBC Wales.
We’ve all got problems, but Tom has more than most as he’s taking his teen therapy group for their big summer outing. Only the venue turns out to be a bit crap and there are hours to fill until the minibus comes back to pick them up. The teenagers don’t want to be there, but Tom is sure they’ll be able to get in touch with their inner-selves, outside… without touching each other that is. There are no breakthrough, life changing moments, but as Tom attempts to keep the gang entertained – and alive – there is something resembling fun, friendship and laughter. Oh and there’s songs….
Each individual character story is written by a different emerging Welsh writer. Outsiders can be watched as five single standalone films or as one half hour of comedy drama.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the team behind Outsiders with a discussion centred around BBC Wales’ commitment to Comedy and the BBC’s Commitment to new talent in association with BBC Writersroom. More information coming soon on the Q&A panellists.
This is a post-watershed show which contains strong language and adult themes.
We have 20 complimentary members tickets available for this event. Email Vicki to reserve your place.
Public tickets are available to purchase via Chapter.
