What to Watch: Our Medicine, And Just Like That, Pee-wee As Himself, Bono: Stories Of Surrender and Dept. Q
Leah Purcell narrates this fantastic doco series, which takes viewers behind the frontline of Australia's medical services — but from a very different perspective.
The series focuses on the excellent work being done by First Nations healthcare professionals across Australia, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, as well as practitioners of traditional medicine, all working to improve healthcare outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The doco crew was granted unique access to various teams, embedded with the Royal Flying Doctors Service (RFDS), Queensland Ambulance Service, Cairns Hospital and Royal Melbourne Hospital — they also spent time with the folks at Jalngangurru Healing in Western Australia.
In episode one, we learn how patients are being treated using traditional practices by local healers in Fitzroy Crossing. Then it's over to a busy ER on the other side of the country to check in with the many and varied cases coming through Cairns Hospital's doors.
As the documentary points out, life expectancy for First Nations peoples in Australia is approximately eight years lower than that of non-Indigenous Australians, and it's great to see trials like the one being done in the Kimberley approaching issues in healthcare through a new lens.
As Purcell says in the first episode, 'From maintaining and reviving cultural practices, to making their mark in our overburdened health services, these are the medical practitioners blazing a trail to better outcomes.'
This is a brilliant insight into the work being done to make healthcare better — hats off to everyone involved.
Matthew Goode stars as DCI Carl Morck, a once-brilliant detective battling some serious inner demons. He's been put in charge of a cold case department, set up as a PR stunt to distract from the failures of the Edinburgh police force he was once an integral part of. Along with his unusual basement-dwelling colleagues, he's reopening a case most would rather be kept forgotten. This is generating lots of early buzz — don't miss it.
Pee-wee Herman was a huge part of our lives in the 80s and 90s — if you know anything about the comedian, real name Paul Reubens, you'll be aware of the reasons why he retreated from the spotlight. This doco, made with Reubens' approval before his death in 2023, attempts to paint a picture of who he was away from his cartoon persona, using interviews with the star and archival footage. But by the end, are we any closer to learning where Reubens ends and Pee-wee begins? Maybe not.
And just like that, we're back again with Carrie and the gang for season three as they navigate this next chapter of their post-menopausal life in New York City. Thankfully, this time the ever-annoying Che Diaz isn't along for the ride. But Aidan is — whether you'll be pleased about this very much depends on where you sit in the Aidan-Carrie debate. Still enjoying this show and won't hear a bad word against it — anything that celebrates
women-of-a-certain-age
living their best lives, I can very much get onboard with.
'These are the tall tales of a short rock star,' says Bono in this doco, which made its debut at this year's Cannes Film Festival. It sees the Irish rocker solo on a stage, riffing about his family, his life and his astonishingly successful career. It's a very different setting to the mega-arenas Bono is used to, and between his anecdotes, the star performs 'unplugged' renditions of some of his biggest songs accompanied by harp and cello. One for fans, of which there are plenty.
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