News and reviews of Australian and New Zealand TV
Airdates
When’s that show you mentioned starting, TMINE? Including Star Trek: Short Treks, Safe Harbour, Camping, Nightflyers, Rush, Dirty John and After Life
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
Plenty of acquisitions this week, and all but one comes with premiere dates.
Acquisitions
- Sundance Now has picked up Sjónvarp Símans (Iceland)’s Stella Blómkvist, which is based on a series of books about a hard-nosed lawyer who takes on mysterious murder cases. It’ll be available in the US from January 31, but it looks like we’ll have to hold out until April before we get it here.
Premiere dates
Star Trek: Short Treks (US: CBS All Access; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Available now
Cunning hidden away in the “trailers and extras” section of the Netflix menu system for season two of Star Trek: Discovery are these short movies focused on individual characters from the series, both heroes and villains. Haven’t watched them, since I’ve been saving them for Lovely Wife until now.
Safe Harbour (Australia: SBS; UK: BBC Four)
Premiere date: Saturday, January 26, 9pm or maybe February 2
Four part 2018 drama set in Brisbane that revolves around a group of five friends whose sailing holiday of a lifetime to Indonesia takes an unexpected turn when they come across a boat overloaded with desperate asylum seekers.
Camping (US: HBO; UK: Sky Atlantic)
Premiere date: Thursday, January 31, 10pm
Dull US remake of the Sky Atlantic Julia Davis comedy about a group of city friends going off camping together to celebrate a birthday. David Tennant, trialling his inadvisable American accent again, is the lucky man in question, Jennifer Garner his controlling wife, Juliette Lewis their flaky friend along for the trip.
Didn’t last more than an episode of it.
Episode reviews: 1
Nightflyers (US: Syfy; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, February 1
Nightflyers is set in the year 2093 and follows a team of scientists aboard The Nightflyer, the most advanced ship ever built, as they embark on a journey to find other life forms. Their mission takes them to the edge of the solar system, and to the edge of insanity, as they realise true horror isn’t waiting for them in outer space – it’s already on their ship.
This sci-fi horror piece based on a George RR Martin novella is a frustrating affair, that’s intermittently good and bad, with a tediously inconclusive final episode. It has some good ideas and a great cast (including Blake’s 7‘s Josette Simon), but ultimately, it proves a great big waste of time.
Rush (Australia: Ten; UK: Alibi)
Premiere date: Monday, February 4, 5pm
Rush follows the lives of members of the prestigious Tactical Response team (TR), which is based on the real life Victoria Police Critical Incident Response Team, a highly mobile unit that fills the operational gap between general duties police and the SWAT-like Special Operations Group. The team is seen responding to violent incidents such as carjackings, suicides and armed offences.
It’s a bit of an old one this (2008), so you can treat yourself watching all manner of “before they were famous actors”, such as Rodger Corser (Glitch, Doctor, Doctor) and Claire van der Boom (Hawaii Five-0).
Dirty John (US: Bravo; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Thursday, February 14
Dirty John tells the true story of how a romance between Debra Newell and the charismatic John Meehan spiralled into secrets, denial, manipulation, and ultimately, a fight for survival for an entire family. Their fast-tracked romance creates tension between Debra and her two daughters Terra and Veronica, leaving the girls no choice but to investigate the man who has swept their mother off her feet, while the backstory of Debra and her mother Arlane (Jean Smart) provides insight into why Debra was so vulnerable.
The eight episode drama series is based on the articles and breakout true crime podcast from Los Angeles Times reporter Christopher Goffard. It stars Connie Britton, Eric Bana, Julia Garner, Juno Temple and Jean Smart.
After Life (Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, March 8
Netflix Original written by, starring and directed by Ricky Gervais. It tells the story of Tony (Gervais), who had a perfect life. But after his wife Lisa dies, Tony changes. After contemplating taking his own life, he decides instead to live long enough to punish the world by saying and doing whatever he likes from now on. He thinks it’s like a superpower – not caring about himself or anyone else – but it turns out to be tricky when everyone is trying to save the nice guy they used to know.
It also stars Kerry Godliman, Tom Basden, Tony Way, David Bradley, Ashley Jensen, Penelope Wilton, David Earl, Joe Wilkinson, Mandeep Dhillon, Jo Hartley, Roisin Conaty, Tim Plester and Diane Morgan.
No trailer yet. Soz.
