Acorn TV is a US channel that functions a little like Walter Presents does for us in the UK – except it also lets Americans enjoy the best of British TV as well.
(Obviously, for me, that’s ‘best’, but YMMV)
Now it’s launching in the UK today on Roku, Fire TV, Android and Apple mobile, Apple TV and (soon) Amazon Channels and Apple TV Channels. And here’s the trailer.
In New Zealand: Mondays, 8.30pm, TVNZ1 In the UK: Not yet acquired
New Zealand has a habit of making TV shows that look like they’re going to fit in one relatively mundane genre yet end up having a supernatural or sci-fi twist. The Almighty Johnsons would have been just a bunch of brothers behaving badly were it not for the fact they were also descended from Norse gods. Cast your mind back to period drama Children of Fire Mountain and you’ll recall the supernatural hallucinations that drove the narrative, while Children of the Dog Star seemed like a rural coming of age tale, right up until an alien space probe showed up in the nearby swamp.
And now we have One Lane Bridge, which at first seems like a perfectly ordinary “big city cop has a culture clash with a small town cop when the two have to investigate a mysterious death” show. You’ll have seen plenty of those before, but here, the big city cop is a Maori (Dominic Ona-Ariki) and when he starts to investigate the crime, he discovers he has ‘Matakite’ – the gift of second sight and he has visions of the dead.
It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week
Previously on TMINE
It’s been another busy week for TMINE, but I have managed to eke out the time needed to review The Baker and the Beauty (US: ABC). Meanwhile, temporary new film review feature Covideodrome was inaugurated with Sliding Doors (1998).
Rashida Jones and Kenya Barris in Netflix’s #blackAF
Next on TMINE
Coming up after the jump, I’ll be reviewing Mrs America (US: Hulu; UK: BBC Two) and #blackAF (Netflix). But as usual, Covid-19 rules apply to the following new shows: I have every intention of watching all of them, but might not be able to, for one reason or another.
I’ve finally managed to track down The Secrets She Keeps (Australia: Ten; UK: BBC Four), which will be getting a review later in the week. Elsewhere down under, over in New Zealand, One Lane Bridge has just started, so I’ll be giving that a watch if possible.
On the streaming services, Season two of After Life will be arriving on Netflix on Friday, while Defending Jacob is Apple TV+’s new Friday show. I’ll probably watch at least a bit of them. Monday’s Never HaveI Ever (Netflix) sounds a bit YA for me, but I might give it a try, too.
Lastly, in the US, Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (US: Showtime) is arriving on Sunday, but despite the presence of Natalie Dormer in the cast, I’m not sure I can be bothered with this, given I wasn’t the greatest fan of Penny Dreadful.
But that looks like about it.
Sofia Helin and Aaron Pedersen in Mystery Road
The regulars
I haven’t watched any more Tales From The Loop, but other than that, it’s the usual regulars after the jump: For Life, Transplant, and Westworld, as well as the season/series finales of Devs and War of the Worlds.
But two previous regulars have returned this week, so I’ll also be covering What We Do In The Shadows (US: FX; UK: BBC Two) and Mystery Road (Australia: ABC; UK: BBC Four), too.
