It’s a bit of a superheroey week this week for Orange Wednesday, thanks mainly to release schedules rather than my superhero fanboyness. Although that’s a factor.
Up for review this week are two DC Extended Universe movies:
Aquaman (2018): Jason Momoa is half-human, half-Atlantean and all man, but must choose whether to live a quiet life or become King of Atlantis. Amber Heard helps him choose.
Shazam! (2019): Teenage foster kid gets given a magic word that turns him into the World’s Mightiest Mortal – Chuck‘s Zachary Levi in a padded suit. What will he do with his new powers?
Every Tuesday, TMINE flags up what new TV events BAFTA is holding around the UK
With WHYBW having completed its slow migration to Tuesdays, TMINE’s BAFTA rundown is now ready to slowly migrate its way over to Thursdays, but as TMINE is on a mini city-break from tomorrow, it’s going to be a day early this week.
As we’re now halfway through April, we’re finally getting some details of events in May. But BAFTA seems to have one last trick up its sleeve for April – provided you happen to be in New York City.
Suranne Jones in BBC/HBO’s Gentleman Jack
Gentleman Jack
Wednesday, 17 April 2019 – 7:00pm New York City
From Sally Wainwright, this series tells a remarkable and unlikely love story, set in the complex, changing world of 1832 Halifax, the cradle of the industrial revolution, just as it begins.
Starring Suranne Jones, it focuses on landowner Anne Lister and her determination to change the fate of Shibden Hall, her faded ancestral home, by re-opening the coal mines and marrying well. The charismatic, single-minded, swashbuckling Lister – who dresses head-to-toe in black and charms her way into high society – has no intention of marrying a man. True to her nature, she plans to marry a seriously wealthy woman, heiress Ann Walker.
Every part of the story is based in historical fact, recorded in the four million words of the real-life Anne Lister’s diaries, which contain the most intimate details of her life, once hidden in a secret code that is now broken.
KEY CAST: Suranne Jones, Gemma Whelan, Timothy West, Gemma Jones, Sophie Rundle, Jodhi May, Albane Courtois
Samson Kayo and Theo Barklem-Biggs in Dave’s Sliced
TV preview: Sliced
Wednesday, 1 May 2019 – 6:45pm Princess Anne Theatre, 195 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LN
A preview of the new UKTV comedy followed by a Q+A with Samson Kayo, Theo Barklem-Biggs, Phil Bowker and Al Campbell
Sliced is a crisp, urban comedy for Dave set amongst the hustle and bustle of a low rent, back street pizza parlour. We follow delivery riders Joshua (BAFTA-nominee Samson Kayo) and Ricky (Theo Barklem-Biggs) through their shifts and see their world at first hand. A world where counterfeit money, vindictive call centre staff, hopeless security guards, hedonistic pensioners and aggressive teens reign supreme.
Fast food delivery’s never been so much fun.
Written by Samson Kayo (Famalam) and Phil Bowker (Pulling, Phone Shop), directed by Al Campbell (Man Down, Drifters) and produced by Lovely Electricity.
Preview screening: Years and Years + Q&A with Russell T Davies
Thursday, 2 May 2019 – 6:45pm Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
As Britain is rocked by unstable political, economic and technological advances, we follow the Lyons family as their complex lives converge on one crucial night in 2019. Then, over the next 15 years, the twists and turns of everyday life are explored as we find out if this ordinary family could ever change the world.
Russell T Davies’ new drama series for BBC One produced by RED Production Company for BBC One and HBO, starring Emma Thompson, Rory Kinnear, Jessica Hynes, Ruth Madeley, T’Nia Miller, Anne Reid and Russell Tovey.
Following the screening there will be a Q&A with Russell T Davies.
We have an allocation of complimentary tickets available for members. Email Vicki to reserve your place.
Emma Corrin to play Princess Diana on Netflix’s The Crown
Australian TV
Screen Australia to fund: period estranged families drama The Sisters Antipodes, first responders drama The Force, newsreader rebuilding her life comedy-drama The Upside of Over and international conspiracy drama Clandestine
It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week
Cinemax (US)’s Warrior
This week’s reviews
It’s been another busy week for TV, but since the streaming services only served up Quicksand (Netflix) (yawn), there was no Boxset Monday this week. Sorry. However, TMINE did review the following fine – and not so fine – shows:
And for Orange Wednesday, I reviewed Donkeyote, John Wick – Chapter 2 and Justice League vs The Fatal Five.
It also meant that I had time to catch up with all the returning regulars, some shows I haven’t watched in a while, some new regulars and some movies.
CBS (US)’s The Code
New shows
There are some new shows just around the corner. However, I’m off on a jaunty little break from Thursday, so I don’t know how much time I’ll have to watch or review anything.
I’ll certainly have time to review The Code (US: CBS), though, and tomorrow’s Orange Wednesday will take in both Aquaman and Shazam!
Arte (France)’s Au service de la France (A Very Secret Service)
The regulars
The Orville is still on holiday so join me after the jump for a look at the latest episodes of DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Doom Patrol, The Good Fight, Happy!, Il Miracolo (The Miracle), Il Nome della Rosa (The Name of the Rose), The Magicians,Star Trek: Discovery, What We Do In the Shadows and Whiskey Cavalier. We also have the double-episode return of Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger to talk about. And I took in another episode of Au service de la France (A Very Secret Service), just because I could.
Despite his short life, Bruce Lee to this date remains the world’s most famous martial artist. While he was alive, there was many an imitator and even after this death, there were many who tried to piggyback on his fame or who claimed to be “the next Bruce Lee”. Small wonder then that the producers of Cinemax’s Warrior would wish to do the same by saying their show is “based on the writings of Bruce Lee” – even though it’s basically “Period Asian Banshee from the producers of Banshee“.
All about Bruce LeeJoe Taslim and Andrew Koji in Cinemax’s Warrior
Warrior
To be fair, Lee’s daughter Shannon is one of Warrior‘s producers and she did indeed have an eight-page treatment by Lee for a western TV series in which he would have starred. However, given that it was a treatment for ‘The Warrior‘, which (probably) ultimately metamorphosed into Kung Fu, I imagine there might have been a few copyright issues involved in a straight adaptation of that treatment.
So instead, Banshee‘s Jonathan Tropper fleshed Lee’s original ideas with his own characters and situations. In so doing, he’s basically recreated Banshee again, just in a different time and place.
Warrior sees 19th century martial arts prodigy Andrew Koji (The Wrong Mans, The Innocents) coming over to San Francisco from China. As in Banshee, our hero is looking for a woman from his past; as in Banshee, he’s a gifted fighter; as in Banshee, his skills mean he’s soon found by a local (Banshee‘s Hoon Lee) who helps put into a position of power; as in Banshee, that soon puts him into conflict with criminal elements in the city; as in Banshee, he doesn’t care about local rules and soon begins to shake up the status quo.
