Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
There have been a fair few premiere dates announced since last we met, but let’s not dwell on the past – let’s focus on the important ones. That’s the ones announced this week.
We’ve also had one other acquisition – TBS (US)’s Miracle Workers, which new channel Sky Comedy has picked up. That might be available as a boxset come Monday January 27. Or it might not.
Follow me, though, to learn the premiere dates of Yellowstone, Perpetual Grace LTD, Hunters, October Faction,Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, and Locke and Key.
Every Friday, TMINE lets you know when the latest TV shows from around the world will air in the UK
Acquisitions
BBC Wales has acquired S4C’s Bang. That’ll air sometime in the summer. Could end up on BBC Four eventually.
My5 has picked up three HOT (Israel) shows: eight-part vampire comedy Juda, six-part gay adoption story Miguel, five-part family drama Mekimi and two seasons of crime drama Sirens. They’ll all be available in the spring.
Paramount UK has acquired Paramount US’s Yellowstone, with Kevin Costner and Kelly Reilly. No word at all on when that will start.
Premiere dates
Si no t’hagues conegut (If I Hadn’t Met You) (Spain: TV3; UK: Netflix)
Premiere date: Friday, March 15
A man who loses his family in a tragic accident discovers that he can travel to alternate universes, compelling him to find a way to save his family.
Teenager falsely accused of murder ends up in prison where she trains to become a lawyer. Years later, she tries to help exonerate those equally falsely accused of crimes, while trying to get her revenge on the lawyer who got her in jail in the first place.
There’s a good cast, including Rachelle Lefevre, Russell Hornsby, Vincent Kartheiser, Laurie Holden and Kelsey Grammer, but the set-up and script are both ludicrous. Given Hornsby’s already been cast in a TV reboot of Bone Collector, the signs aren’t good for this, either.
Netflix US original. Siena Agudong infiltrates a family intending to get revenge on them for unknowingly ruining her life. But as she gets to know the family, she finds compassion for them and struggles with whether to go through with her plan. Melissa Joan Hart plays the competitive ‘career mother’, while Sean Astin stars as the archetypical loveable, dorky ‘fun dad’.
The Spanish Princess (US: Starz; UK: StarzPlay)
Premiere date: Sunday, May 5
Adaptation of Philippa Gregory’s novels The Constant Princess and The King’s Curse dealing with Catherine of Aragon, first as a teenage princess of Spain who was promised the English throne since she was a child, then as she arrives in grey, rain-lashed England to marry Prince Arthur. Unfortunately, he dies, but guess who’s waiting in the wings for her…
It’s “What have you been watching?”, your chance to recommend to fellow TMINE readers anything you’ve been watching this week
It’s been a relatively quiet week for global TV. July 4th has a lot to do with that in the US, July 1st in Canada, and I’m sure everyone everywhere else is just outside a lot at the moment, anyway. There are more new shows on the way soon, but for now, it’s been quiet.
That gave me enough time to finish off and review Marvel’s Luke Cage (Netflix) and I’m now about midway through the second season of GLOW (Netflix), upon which I shall report next week. I’ve also had enough time to wade through the first two episodes/three hours of Paramount (US)’s modern-day, Kevin Costner-infused cowboy-fest Yellowstone, which I’ll review after the jump.
We’ll also be talking about the latest episodes of Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger, Condor and Shooter, as well as the season finale of Mystery Road and series finale of Bron/Broen (The Bridge). Isn’t that irresistibly exciting? Then come follow me!
In the UK: Available from Thursday on Sky Atlantic
In the US: Will be available on Amazon
What is Sky Atlantic’s new show Britannia all about? The obvious answer is that it’s about the second Roman invasion of the British Isles (aka Britannia), way back in AD43. David Morrissey (State of Play, The Walking Dead) is the Roman general in charge of the invading legions who thinks that he can do better than Caesar did 90 years earlier. The tribes of native Celts who once lined the shores to repel Caesar’s invasion are now led by Ian McDiarmid and Zoe Wanamaker, who are at each other’s throats thanks to a wedding ceremony gone wrong as the results of a bit of treachery, so seemingly no obstacle to Morrissey. Around them are other Celts vying for power, including McDiarmid’s son Julian Rhind-Tutt (Green Wing, Hippies); meanwhile, McDiarmid’s warrior princess daughter Kelly Reilly (Sherlock Holmes, Black Box, Above Suspicion) wants nothing but peace and her father’s approval.
However, it wasn’t just the Celts that helped repulse that first invasion. It was the druids and their genuine magic that sent Caesar running back to Rome in a tizzy. And it’s that magic that’s the real reason for Morrissey’s desire to lead Claudius’ legions to victory – he wants to visit the underworld to meet the dead and he needs the help of the druids, including their chief the 10,000-year-old Mackenzie Crook (The Office, TheDetectorists). That’s something ‘outcast’ druid Nikolaj Lie Kaas wants to stop as he thinks Morrissey might be a demon from the equally demonic Rome.
But underneath that literal explanation of the plot, there is as the title suggests a deeper introspection of the nature of Britain, Britishness, change and immigration fit for our post-Brexit world. Plus a little bit of ultra-violence.
Every couple of weeks, TMINE flags up what new TV events BAFTA is holding around the UK
We’ve already done January, but BAFTA is being its usual helpful self and not telling me about things until they have already sold out (Meet the Controllers – thanks, BAFTA!). So I’ve had a look and it turns out that they had some secret Welsh events they hadn’t told me about as well. Better still, they’re not sold out.
