Eric Bana's Untamed leads best new TV shows to stream this week
We've sifted through the latest offerings from TV and streaming platforms to find the best shows you should be watching this week.
Eric Bana as Kyle Turner and Lily Santiago as Naya Vasquez in Untamed. Picture: Ricardo Hubbs/Netflix © 2025
UNTAMED
NETFLIX
Aussie Eric Bana's steely performance as a damaged, driven special agent is the main reason to seek out this six-part murder mystery set in California's spectacular Yosemite National Park. The ever-reliable Aussie plays Kyle Turner, who has been driven to drink by the memory of his dead son and is jolted into action when a young woman plunges to her death from the park's famous El Capitan rock face.
But did she jump or did more sinister motives dating back decades drive her to do it? Turner's quest for answers, assisted by former LA cop turned rookie ranger Naya Vazquez (Lily Santiago) and his long-time friend and colleague Paul (Sam Neill) will take him deep into the wilds as he uncovers a dangerous secret within the tourist hot spot, as well as forcing him to confront his own troubled past and relationship with ex-wife Jill (an excellent Rosemarie DeWitt).
While the sometimes grisly action unfolds a pace that might be too sedate for some, regular twists and surprises and the thrilling vistas from one of the world's most picturesque parks ensure it's never less that eminently watchable.
The crew of luxury yacht Katina on Below Deck Down Under. Picture: Fred Jagueneau/Bravo
BELOW DECK DOWN UNDER
WEDNESDAY, 8.30PM, CHANNEL 7
Another season, another spectacular location, another collection of ridiculously good-looking crew and another group of very rich and entitled customers with first world problems – it's plain sailing as usual for one of the biggest guilty pleasure viewing experiences around. This week kicks off with day two of a cruise in the Seychelles and chief steward Lara in tears after day one 'shit show' on the luxury yacht Katina. With a beach excursion planned and a Cowboys and Cowgirls BBQ dinner on the menu, Captain Jason needs the team to lift their game to make sure the guests leave happy. Meanwhile things are heating up in the kitchen between head chef Tzarina and reluctant sous chef Anthony, which threatens to spill over into shore-leave dramas.
Tom Ellis and Eddie Karanja in Washington Black. Picture: Disney/Lilja Jonsdottir
WASHINGTON BLACK
WEDNESDAY, DISNEY+
Adapted from Esi Edugayan's 2018 bestseller, this freewheeling and sometimes fantastical eight-part drama tells the story of how 11-year-old George Washington Black flees the nightmare of slavery on a 19th century Barbados sugar plantation to find a life of adventure. Flipping back and forth in time, with the adult Wash still on the run from bounty hunters while trying to forge a new life and find love in Canada, it kicks into gear with the title character's escape from racism and retribution on a flying machine thanks to a kindly English inventor. As they adventure together with pirates on the Caribbean and sled dogs in the Artic, the brilliant young Wash chases his dream of becoming a revered scientist in a society that's determined to keep him in his place.
Robbie Williams is reinvented as a chimp in the biopic, Better Man.
BETTER MAN
SATURDAY, PRIME VIDEO
Australian director Michael Gracey took a huge swing in his Melbourne-shot biopic of Robbie Williams by reimagining the UK pop superstar as a chimpanzee. While the bold move failed spectacularly in the cinemas, it deserves a second life on streaming as one of the best and most inventive movies of its type in recent years. Williams himself was heavily involved (most of the motion capture was done by UK actor Jonno Davies) and he is his usual self-deprecating and unflinchingly honest self, even when recounting his appalling actions at his lowest drug fuelled ebbs. With stunning set pieces – the dance on London's Regent St set to Rock DJ is a knockout – and a scarcely believable true story, it's well worth your time.
Emma Watkins (second from left) in Teenage Boss: Next Level.
TEENAGE BOSS: NEXT LEVEL
SATURDAY, 7.30PM, ABC
Former Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins has headed to the Apple Isle for the second season of the delightful reality TV show that turns over the household budget to teenagers to see if they can balance their own saving goals with the needs of the family. First up is Caitlyn, who is laser-focused on raising the funds to fulfil her potentially expensive dream of joining a school ski trip to the mainland as well as juggling her school, work and volunteer commitments. Wise beyond her years, Caitlyn's spending choices are smart and practical – but her biggest obstacle might be mother Seher, who takes the Turkish custom of feeding and entertaining friends and family seriously, and whose plans for the coming Ramadan threaten to blow the budget.
There's a new, fairer approach on season 21 of The Block.
THE BLOCK
SUNDAY, 7PM, CHANNEL 9
In its 21st season – and closing in on its 1000th episode – the beloved renovation reality show heads to the rural Victorian tourist destination of Daylesford with a rejigged approach designed to level the playing field. For the first time, each of the five houses is exactly the same size and with exactly the same floor plan, meaning hosts Scott Cam and Shelley Craft and judges Shaynna Blaze, Marty Fox and Darren Palmer will be comparing 'apples with apples' and making each design decision all the more important. There will be tears, tiffs and tantrums among the missteps and masterstrokes, with the fart-joke loving, risqué best mates from South Australia, Robby and Mat, already emerging as the jokers in the pack.
Logie nominated Sally Phillips, Ben Miller and Michael Theo in Season 2 of ABC comedy drama Austin.
AUSTIN
SUNDAY, 7.30PM, ABC
The first season of this gentle comedy-drama was one of the surprise packages of last year, earning well-deserved Logie nominations for its autistic lead actor Michael Theo in the title role, as well as Ben Miller as his possible long-lost father Julian and Sally Phillips as potential stepmother Ingrid. The second season picks up on the season one cliffhanger, with Austin and Julian about to get the results of a DNA that should settle the matter and shape the future of their personal and professional relationships. Meanwhile, Ingrid is still sleeping in the shed and taking notes of her marital positives and negatives – and whether she'd be better of moving to a women's commune.
Freddie Highmore and Keeley Hawes in The Assassin.
THE ASSASSIN
STAN
Former Spooks star Keeley Hawes is fantastic in the title role of this action-packed, unashamedly bloody, six-part crime thriller from the creators of the Australian-shot The Tourist. Audiences first meet her character Julie as a one-woman killing machine leaving a huge body count and copping a hellacious beating on a mission in Eastern Europe. Three decades later, she's living a booze-soaked and grumpy retirement on a Greek Island when she's visited by her estranged son (Freddie Highmore), now engaged to be married and with questions about his past she's reluctant to answer. But when someone claiming to be her former handler approaches her with her job she can't refuse, she's dragged back into her old violent ways as her professional and personal worlds collide.
Keeley Hawes in the ABC historical drama Miss Austen.
MISS AUSTEN
SUNDAY, 9PM, ABC
This gorgeous, four-part period drama, adapted from Gill Hornby's novel of the same name, purports to answer the question that has long haunted lovers of literature – why did Cassandra Austen burn her famous sister Jane's letters? In a very different role from her turn in The Assassin, the versatile Keeley Hawes plays the older Cassandra, who is trying to rescue the correspondence from her odious sister-in-law Mary to prevent their use in a biography of her husband (and Cassandra's brother), James, while also trying to help free family friend Isabella (Game Of Thrones' Rose Leslie) from the limitations and expectations of unmarried women of the era. As she re-reads the leaders, viewers are taken back to Cassandra's own heartbreak and challenges as a younger woman, as well as those of her talented sister, Jane. It's all bonnets and bows, matchmaking and merriment, tall hats and turns around the room – and right up there with the best Austen adaptations.
Chef Guillaume Brahimi hosts Plat Du Tour on SBS
PLAT DU TOUR
MONDAY, 8PM, SBS FOOD
Now in their sixth season, French chef Guillaume Brahimi's bite-sized Plat du Tour episodes make a tasty side dish to the Tour de France each year and this half-hour special highlights the best of country's northern region. Starting in Lille and moving through culinary centres including Boulogne-sur-Mer and Rouen, the enthusiastic and affable Brahimi shows how to rustle up the region's signature dishes such as Moules-Frite, Le Carpeaux de Valenciennes and a delicious looking French version of the Aussie pie called Tourte Meyennaise by using the best Australian produce. Along the way he also throws in historical titbits about the food and the regions and chats to celebrated Australian chefs.
Actor Ryan Reynolds with Ray Liotta in Smokin' Aces.
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT …
SMOKIN' ACES
Streaming, Tubi
EVERYBODY wants to get their hands on Buddy 'Aces' Israel (Jeremy Piven).
Having negotiated an immunity deal with the FBI that would see him serve up
evidence against various Las Vegas underworld figures, Israel is put under the
protection of special agents Messner and Carruthers (Ryan Reynolds and Ray
Liotta) as assorted thugs and contract killers (played by the who's who of Hollywood)
come looking to capture the magician turned mobster. Featuring Jason Bateman as
a dodgy lawyer, Chris Pine as a neo-Nazi, Alicia Keys as an assassin and Ben
Affleck as a laid-back bail bondsman, this film is a rollercoaster of rapid-fire dialogue
and action sequences.
Originally published as 'Thrilling': Eric Bana dazzles in new must-watch Netflix series
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‘It was eating me': Paul de Gelder reflects on horror Sydney Harbour shark attack
Don't miss out on the headlines from TV. Followed categories will be added to My News. It was another normal day on Sydney Harbour in 2009 when navy diver Paul de Gelder lost an arm, a leg – and very nearly his life. de Gelder was undertaking a navy counter-terrorism operation, swimming in murky waters near Woolloomooloo, when a bull shark grabbed hold of him in an attack that lasted just eight seconds but would give him permanently life-changing injuries. But de Gelder survived, and turned his near-death experience into a new career as a motivational speaker and shark expert, making him an ideal candidate to host the new TV special How to Survive A Shark Attack, streaming as part of Shark Week on HBO Max and Discovery from August 10. de Gelder goes full method for the special, strapping on prosthetic limbs packed with fake blood, then literally feeding them into wild sharks' mouths to recreate the frenzy of an attack, and explain what to do afterwards to better your chances of survival. It's intense viewing, but de Gelder bats away any suggestion that it might have been re-traumatising for him. 'I've lived a pretty tumultuous life, and I don't really look at the bad things that have happened to me as anchor points that I need to latch onto and spiral into depression or have PTSD or anything like that,' he tells He survived a brutal shark attack on Sydney Harbour... ...but it didn't stop Paul de Gelder from getting back in the water. 'I survived, I wasn't a victim, and I've cracked on with life. Now I get paid to travel the world, have adventures... and try not to nearly die again.' It seems he comes frighteningly close in How To Survive a Shark Attack, though: At one point in the special, as de Gelder holds onto an upturned kayak with hungry sharks circling underneath, we hear the voice of a producer ring out from a nearby boat: 'Paul, I just want to go on the record and say that I'm not comfortable with this.' de Gelder scoffs at the notion he should be taking safety advice from a TV hack. 'The producers, you have to understand, they're generally not particularly knowledgeable in working with sharks,' he says. 'They know what [shots] they want, and sometimes it's them who start to push the boundaries: I have to say 'Actually no, we're not going to do that, it's way too dangerous.' But to push a producer to the brink like that … yeah, we were doing something pretty wild,' he concedes. de Gelder lost an arm and a leg in his attack - now he's put his life on the line again. The special outlines de Gelder's top tips for shark attack survival – and while some are commonsense (don't swim in murky water or near fishing activity), others might surprise you. Contrary to popular belief, de Gelder advises against punching a shark on the nose if it comes toward you. 'Now, if you're in the jaws of the shark? At that point, you want to do all you can. In that case, I would go for the eyeballs, go for the gills, just fight for your life,' he says. 'But generally speaking, if you see a shark and it does approach you, you do not want to punch it in the nose.' The reasons are twofold: Firstly, sharks have 'incredibly thick cartilage' on their heads and you may seriously hurt your hand (introducing blood to the water is not ideal in this scenario). Secondly, and more importantly: Your skills at underwater punching will probably be outgunned by the shark's ability to manoeuvre in the water. Your planned Rocky-esque left hook might actually result in you delivering your hand into the mouth of a shark. It'd be the easiest meal they'd find all day. Despite what you may have heard, it's best not to punch an approaching shark in the nose. 'It's just not worth it. It's better to just be calm. I would say you always want to be swimming or diving in clear water, because that's the only time you're going to be able to defend yourself. In murky water, like my situation, you just don't see them coming.' Which begs the question: Does de Gelder think anything could have improved the outcome of his own near-fatal shark attack? Is there anything he thinks he should've done differently? 'There really wasn't anything I could do; no one saw the shark coming,' de Gelder says. 'It was eating me before everyone knew what was even happening.' de Gelder says it was the training he and his navy colleagues had received that saved his life: 'Having the focus to be able to swim back to the safety boat with one hand and one leg through a pool of my own blood, and then my three teammates in the boat jamming their T-shirts into the wound, strapping it with a life jacket to cinch it all down,' he says. By now I'm feeling slightly giddy, but de Gelder continues, in vivid detail: 'Then it was thanks to my chief on the wharf, knowing that it wasn't stopping the blood, so he got one of the guys to pinch an artery closed with their fingers. The surgeon said if he hadn't done that, I would have died within another 30 seconds.' It's time to ask a question on behalf of every other Sydney resident who's ever enjoyed a cooling dip in Sydney Harbour, famously teeming with the sort of aggressive bull sharks who did so much damage to him: Are we all complete idiots? 'No, I don't think so. In these scenarios, always look at the numbers. How many attacks have there been? There was a woman last year that got a little nibble. Other than that, I'm the only one in about 50 years. 'So you've got more chance of dying in a car accident on the way to the beach than you do of getting attacked by a shark anywhere in Australia,' he says. 'Now, having said that, it wouldn't be my first place to go swimming,' de Gelder confesses with a laugh. 'But you know, if it's hot and the water's inviting, I would say: Jump in, don't swim around too long... then get back on the boat.' Stream or watch Shark Week from Sunday 10 August at 7:30pm on Discovery (available on Foxtel, Fetch and Binge) and HBO Max. How to Survive a Shark Attack premieres Tuesday 12 August at 7.30pm. Originally published as 'It was eating me': Paul de Gelder reflects on horror Sydney Harbour shark attack
