'Human lie detector' Steve Van Aperen on how to tell if someone is lying
'Human lie detector' Steve Van Aperen reveals how accurate Stan's Poker Face really is on Today Extra.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
The 18 TV shows we can't wait to see this year
It's been a busy first half of the television year, as demonstrated by the interim best-of list we recently put together. But as much as the likes of Adolescence, The Pitt and Andor delivered, you can make the case that the second half of 2025 has an even more promising roster. Here's a headline sample of the scripted shows still to come, from exciting debuts to highly anticipated return seasons. Romantic comedy New Too Much: Girls creator Lena Dunham is back, crafting this transatlantic romcom with her husband, British musician Luis Felber. The set-up has autobiographical leanings, with a New Yorker, Jessica (Megan Stalter, Hacks), moving to London, where she makes a connection with Felix (Will Sharpe, The White Lotus). Gotta love Richard E. Grant in the supporting cast. Netflix, July 11. Returning Nobody Wants This (season two): As Netflix's data team can tell you, nearly everybody wants more of Erin Foster's savvy show about a take-no-prisoners Los Angeles podcaster, Joanne (Kristen Bell), who finds a genuine connection, and much entanglement, when she begins dating a newly single rabbi, Noah (Adam Brody). The show's first season profited off a prickly, unconventional take on romcom conventions. Hopefully the new episodes double down on that. Netflix, October 24. Spin-off New Outlander: Blood of My Blood: As the romantic period epic Outlander prepares for its eighth and final season, this dual-timeline prequel focuses on the origins of its time-crossed lovers, Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall. The narrative will alternate between the meetings of his parents in 18th-century Scotland, and her parents in World War I-era England. Expect the show's trademark features: passionate longing, testing endurance and strong, shirtless men. Stan*, August 9. Returning Wednesday (season two): Star Jenna Ortega had to come to terms with the success of this 2022 supernatural mystery, in which she made the delightfully macabre Wednesday Addams iconic for a new generation, but she's finally ready to rejoin the outcasts of Nevermore Academy. Wednesday's magical mystery tour of romantic intrigue and spectral conspiracy gets a jolt with the addition of Lady Gaga as a legendary teacher. Netflix, August 9 (part one) and September 4 (part two). Action-thriller New Task: Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby keeps the setting in Pennsylvania for this intense limited series about a pair of battered family men and committed professionals – Mark Ruffalo's FBI agent and Tom Pelphrey's armed robber – who are on a collision course when the former hunts the latter. Ingelsby is a sure hand with complex characters, illustrating them in striking ways. This should be gripping. Max, TBC September. Returning The Terminal List: Dark Wolf: Chris Pratt's former US Navy SEAL, James Reece, left a long and bloody – so, so bloody – line of bodies in his quest for vengeance in the first season of this muscular drama. This prequel explores how serving in the US Army and then the CIA made Reece and his comrade Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch) into the show's uncompromising veterans. Amazon Prime Video, August 27. Comedy-Drama New Hal & Harper: Hal (writer-director Cooper Raiff) and Harper (Lili Reinhart) are co-dependent twenty-something siblings whose lives are going nowhere fast. Their imperfect father (Mark Ruffalo) may have something to do with that. Figuring out what to do next makes for a bittersweet comedy with an idiosyncratic outlook – in flashbacks to the brother and sister's childhood, the adult actors play their primary-school-age characters. Stan, June 26. Returning The Bear (season four): Gotta say, there's a lot of hugging in the trailer for the new instalment of this acclaimed kitchen drama about a barely-holding-it-together chef (Jeremy Allen White) trying to launch a fine-dining restaurant in Chicago. The new season looks as if it's setting up some resolution amid the emotional exchanges, something that was in short supply for the third season. Disney+, June 26. Horror New It: Welcome to Derry: HBO's gambit of blockbuster spin-offs – see Dune: Prophecy and The Penguin – continues with this horror prequel to the hit movies adapted from Stephen King's bestseller. The setting is once again the cursed Maine town of Derry, albeit in 1962, but evil never rests and the nightmarish Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgard) will torment a new cast. The movies' director, Andy Muschietti, helms multiple episodes. Max, TBC. Returning Stranger Things (season five): It's setting up to be the streaming event of the year. With some episodes reportedly each as long as a feature film, the conclusion of the Duffer brothers' heroic mix of pop-culture nostalgia, adolescent science-fiction and wide-eyed horror will release as a three-part epic. The young stars are all adults now – this series debuted in 2016 – but its interdimensional monsters are timeless. Netflix, November 27 (part one); December 26 (part two); and January 1 (finale). Animated New Long Story Short: One of Netflix's earliest and greatest triumphs was the tragicomic adult animation BoJack Horseman, which concluded in 2020 after six illuminating seasons. Now its creator, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, and designer, Lisa Hanawalt, have reunited for this family saga, which follows a group of siblings from childhood through adulthood. The voice cast includes Paul Reiser (Mad About You) and Abbi Jacobson (Broad City). Netflix, August 23. Returning King of the Hill (season 14): This is quite the comeback. Mike Judge's animated sitcom about an everyday Texan family last aired in 2009. The plot has propane salesman Hank Hill and wife Peggy returning to Texas after years working abroad, while their son Bobby is now a twenty-something chef. The show had fun with a traditional man in a changing world, but as a setting America has changed wildly. Revisiting Hank's conspiracy-theorist friend Dale looms as a challenge. Disney+, August 4. Science-fiction New Smilla's Sense of Snow: Danish author Peter Hoeg's 1992 mystery novel Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow was a literary hit and Scandi-noir precursor. There was a Hollywood film in 1997 but it's been reimagined here, set in a politically fraught near-future. Filippa Coster-Waldau (daughter of Game of Thrones star Nikolaj) plays the title role, a young woman unofficially investigating the suspicious death of a neighbouring Greenlandic boy. SBS, TBC Returning Foundation (season three): This galactic epic launched with the goal of turning Isaac Asimov's seminal Foundation stories into eight seasons that covered 1000 years of complex history. With Jared Harris as renegade scientist Hari Seldon, and Lee Pace as an emperor losing his grip on power, it's actually getting there. This season introduces a crucial book character, mutant usurper the Mule (Pilou Asbæk), which will up the conflict. Apple TV+, July 11. Australian New Dear Life: The creative team of Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope add to an already impressive CV – The Librarians, Little Lunch, Upper Middle Bogan – with this heartfelt series about grief and understanding. Brooke Satchwell plays a woman who lost the love of her life, sending her on a journey to track down the recipients of the organ donations, which sets off a chain of unexpected new connections. Stan, TBC Returning Austin (season two): Last year's debut of this Australian-British comedy proved to be a warm, witty hit, exploring the difficulty of change through the first-time meeting of a floundering British author, Julian (Ben Miller), and his adult, Australian, autistic son, Austin (Michael Theo). The show succeeded as gentle farce and representation for the neurodiverse. In the new season Austin faces the temptation of unexpected success. ABC, TBC. Dystopian New Alien: Earth: Creator Noah Hawley, whose previous successes include building the Fargo anthology off the Coen brothers' film, delves into the Alien franchise with this horror-primed prequel set two years before 1979's original movie. The story brings the terrifying xenomorph creature to Earth after a space vessel crash-lands, with only a unique young woman and a squad of misfit soldiers on hand to confront it. Disney+, August 13. Returning Squid Game (season three): Filmed back-to-back with season two, the third instalment of this South Korean blockbuster will conclude the warped survival tale of Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) as he attempts to bring down the macabre life-and-death games being run by a cynical syndicate. The show has made economic inequality and murderous giant dolls equally memorable, and you would expect creator Hwang Dong-hyuk to hold his nerve. Netflix, July 27.
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
The 18 TV shows we can't wait to see this year
It's been a busy first half of the television year, as demonstrated by the interim best-of list we recently put together. But as much as the likes of Adolescence, The Pitt and Andor delivered, you can make the case that the second half of 2025 has an even more promising roster. Here's a headline sample of the scripted shows still to come, from exciting debuts to highly anticipated return seasons. Romantic comedy New Too Much: Girls creator Lena Dunham is back, crafting this transatlantic romcom with her husband, British musician Luis Felber. The set-up has autobiographical leanings, with a New Yorker, Jessica (Megan Stalter, Hacks), moving to London, where she makes a connection with Felix (Will Sharpe, The White Lotus). Gotta love Richard E. Grant in the supporting cast. Netflix, July 11. Returning Nobody Wants This (season two): As Netflix's data team can tell you, nearly everybody wants more of Erin Foster's savvy show about a take-no-prisoners Los Angeles podcaster, Joanne (Kristen Bell), who finds a genuine connection, and much entanglement, when she begins dating a newly single rabbi, Noah (Adam Brody). The show's first season profited off a prickly, unconventional take on romcom conventions. Hopefully the new episodes double down on that. Netflix, October 24. Spin-off New Outlander: Blood of My Blood: As the romantic period epic Outlander prepares for its eighth and final season, this dual-timeline prequel focuses on the origins of its time-crossed lovers, Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall. The narrative will alternate between the meetings of his parents in 18th-century Scotland, and her parents in World War I-era England. Expect the show's trademark features: passionate longing, testing endurance and strong, shirtless men. Stan*, August 9. Returning Wednesday (season two): Star Jenna Ortega had to come to terms with the success of this 2022 supernatural mystery, in which she made the delightfully macabre Wednesday Addams iconic for a new generation, but she's finally ready to rejoin the outcasts of Nevermore Academy. Wednesday's magical mystery tour of romantic intrigue and spectral conspiracy gets a jolt with the addition of Lady Gaga as a legendary teacher. Netflix, August 9 (part one) and September 4 (part two). Action-thriller New Task: Mare of Easttown creator Brad Ingelsby keeps the setting in Pennsylvania for this intense limited series about a pair of battered family men and committed professionals – Mark Ruffalo's FBI agent and Tom Pelphrey's armed robber – who are on a collision course when the former hunts the latter. Ingelsby is a sure hand with complex characters, illustrating them in striking ways. This should be gripping. Max, TBC September. Returning The Terminal List: Dark Wolf: Chris Pratt's former US Navy SEAL, James Reece, left a long and bloody – so, so bloody – line of bodies in his quest for vengeance in the first season of this muscular drama. This prequel explores how serving in the US Army and then the CIA made Reece and his comrade Ben Edwards (Taylor Kitsch) into the show's uncompromising veterans. Amazon Prime Video, August 27. Comedy-Drama New Hal & Harper: Hal (writer-director Cooper Raiff) and Harper (Lili Reinhart) are co-dependent twenty-something siblings whose lives are going nowhere fast. Their imperfect father (Mark Ruffalo) may have something to do with that. Figuring out what to do next makes for a bittersweet comedy with an idiosyncratic outlook – in flashbacks to the brother and sister's childhood, the adult actors play their primary-school-age characters. Stan, June 26. Returning The Bear (season four): Gotta say, there's a lot of hugging in the trailer for the new instalment of this acclaimed kitchen drama about a barely-holding-it-together chef (Jeremy Allen White) trying to launch a fine-dining restaurant in Chicago. The new season looks as if it's setting up some resolution amid the emotional exchanges, something that was in short supply for the third season. Disney+, June 26. Horror New It: Welcome to Derry: HBO's gambit of blockbuster spin-offs – see Dune: Prophecy and The Penguin – continues with this horror prequel to the hit movies adapted from Stephen King's bestseller. The setting is once again the cursed Maine town of Derry, albeit in 1962, but evil never rests and the nightmarish Pennywise the Clown (Bill Skarsgard) will torment a new cast. The movies' director, Andy Muschietti, helms multiple episodes. Max, TBC. Returning Stranger Things (season five): It's setting up to be the streaming event of the year. With some episodes reportedly each as long as a feature film, the conclusion of the Duffer brothers' heroic mix of pop-culture nostalgia, adolescent science-fiction and wide-eyed horror will release as a three-part epic. The young stars are all adults now – this series debuted in 2016 – but its interdimensional monsters are timeless. Netflix, November 27 (part one); December 26 (part two); and January 1 (finale). Animated New Long Story Short: One of Netflix's earliest and greatest triumphs was the tragicomic adult animation BoJack Horseman, which concluded in 2020 after six illuminating seasons. Now its creator, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, and designer, Lisa Hanawalt, have reunited for this family saga, which follows a group of siblings from childhood through adulthood. The voice cast includes Paul Reiser (Mad About You) and Abbi Jacobson (Broad City). Netflix, August 23. Returning King of the Hill (season 14): This is quite the comeback. Mike Judge's animated sitcom about an everyday Texan family last aired in 2009. The plot has propane salesman Hank Hill and wife Peggy returning to Texas after years working abroad, while their son Bobby is now a twenty-something chef. The show had fun with a traditional man in a changing world, but as a setting America has changed wildly. Revisiting Hank's conspiracy-theorist friend Dale looms as a challenge. Disney+, August 4. Science-fiction New Smilla's Sense of Snow: Danish author Peter Hoeg's 1992 mystery novel Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow was a literary hit and Scandi-noir precursor. There was a Hollywood film in 1997 but it's been reimagined here, set in a politically fraught near-future. Filippa Coster-Waldau (daughter of Game of Thrones star Nikolaj) plays the title role, a young woman unofficially investigating the suspicious death of a neighbouring Greenlandic boy. SBS, TBC Returning Foundation (season three): This galactic epic launched with the goal of turning Isaac Asimov's seminal Foundation stories into eight seasons that covered 1000 years of complex history. With Jared Harris as renegade scientist Hari Seldon, and Lee Pace as an emperor losing his grip on power, it's actually getting there. This season introduces a crucial book character, mutant usurper the Mule (Pilou Asbæk), which will up the conflict. Apple TV+, July 11. Australian New Dear Life: The creative team of Robyn Butler and Wayne Hope add to an already impressive CV – The Librarians, Little Lunch, Upper Middle Bogan – with this heartfelt series about grief and understanding. Brooke Satchwell plays a woman who lost the love of her life, sending her on a journey to track down the recipients of the organ donations, which sets off a chain of unexpected new connections. Stan, TBC Returning Austin (season two): Last year's debut of this Australian-British comedy proved to be a warm, witty hit, exploring the difficulty of change through the first-time meeting of a floundering British author, Julian (Ben Miller), and his adult, Australian, autistic son, Austin (Michael Theo). The show succeeded as gentle farce and representation for the neurodiverse. In the new season Austin faces the temptation of unexpected success. ABC, TBC. Dystopian New Alien: Earth: Creator Noah Hawley, whose previous successes include building the Fargo anthology off the Coen brothers' film, delves into the Alien franchise with this horror-primed prequel set two years before 1979's original movie. The story brings the terrifying xenomorph creature to Earth after a space vessel crash-lands, with only a unique young woman and a squad of misfit soldiers on hand to confront it. Disney+, August 13. Returning Squid Game (season three): Filmed back-to-back with season two, the third instalment of this South Korean blockbuster will conclude the warped survival tale of Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) as he attempts to bring down the macabre life-and-death games being run by a cynical syndicate. The show has made economic inequality and murderous giant dolls equally memorable, and you would expect creator Hwang Dong-hyuk to hold his nerve. Netflix, July 27.
Sydney Morning Herald
29-05-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
The best new TV shows to stream in June
Another month, another stack of streaming titles to add to your roster. There are shows that are going to hit some hard-to-reach spots, whether it's Stan's idiosyncratic sibling comedy Hal & Harper (with bonus dad energy from Mark Ruffalo) or Apple TV+'s hard-nosed arson drama Smoke. Let's get your watching squared away! Apple TV+ My top Apple TV+ recommendation is Smoke (June 27). One sure sign that the creative voices on a show genuinely enjoyed their collaboration is when they sign up to do it all again. That's the case with British star Taron Egerton (Rocketman) and American crime novelist and series creator Dennis Lehane (Mystic River), whose 2022 Apple TV+ crime drama Black Bird drew widespread praise. The pair have reunited for this investigatory thriller, which is inspired by true events in America's Pacific Northwest, where an arson investigator (Egerton) and a police detective (Jurnee Smollett, The Order) reluctantly team up to track down not one but two serial arsonists. The stacked supporting cast includes Rafe Spall (Trying), John Leguizamo (The Menu) and Greg Kinnear (Shining Vale). Loading Also on Apple TV+: Owen Wilson, good to see you! The Wedding Crashers star brings his deadpan delusions to Stick (June 4), a screwball sports comedy about a washed-up former professional golfer who seeks redemption via coaching a young prodigy. Created by screenwriter Jason Keller (Ford v. Ferrari), the limited series stars Wilson as the not entirely reliable Pryce Cahill, who is dodging divorce proceedings when he discovers teenage phenomenon Santi Wheeler (Peter Dager). Qualifying tournaments and goofy golf philosophy ensue, with Marc Maron (Glow) as an unconvinced sounding board. Meanwhile, Sydney Sweeney continues to diversify her Hollywood profile. Having already ticked off a romcom (Anyone But You), a horror flick (Immaculate), and a bad superhero movie (Madame Web), the coronated screen queen stars opposite Julianne Moore in the crime thriller Echo Valley (June 13). Written by Brad Ingelsby (Mare of Easttown) and directed by Michael Pearce (Beast), the feature begins with a tearful, bloodied Claire Garrett (Sweeney) arriving at the horse ranch of her estranged mother, Kate (Moore), claiming that she had to kill her abusive boyfriend in self-defence. When Kate covers up the crime, she becomes an accomplice even as Claire's actions on the night raise questions. May highlights: Should a security cyborg binge space soaps or protect its human clients? Sci-fi black comedy Murderbot had the answer, plus culinary thriller Careme brought Kitchen Confidential into the Napoleonic era. Netflix My top Netflix recommendation is The Survivors (June 6). Netflix has first-rate source material for its new Australian drama: a Jane Harper novel. The author of The Dry creates menacing mysteries that resonate, as is the case with this story of a small seaside town where a tragedy that left several people dead 15 years prior returns to the public eye when a new murder takes place. Confronting the town's collective amnesia is a young couple, Kieran (Charlie Vickers), the son of a local clan returned home with his young family, and his partner, Mia (Yerin Ha), who sees the community's failings. Adapting Harper's novel is Tony Ayres, whose previous shows include Stateless and Fires. Also on Netflix: Squid Game (June 27), the blockbuster South Korean series that helped change the definition of event television, comes to an end with its third season. These new episodes were filmed back-to-back with last December's second season, which culminated in a failed rebellion among the players of the dystopian competition that once again left player turned saboteur Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae) facing a very uncertain future. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk will steer the show to its conclusion, safe in the knowledge that Squid Game fascination has not eased. The second season's first three days smashed Netflix viewing records. May highlights: Julianne Moore was compelling as a billionaire's controlling wife in Sirens, Tina Fey and Steve Carell starred in the bittersweet comedy The Four Seasons, and Conan O'Brien: the Kennedy Centre Mark Twain Prize for American Humour was an uproarious celebration. Stan * My top Stan recommendation is Hal & Harper (June 26). Mark Ruffalo is in his do-anything era. After big-screen turns as a cad in Poor Things and a pompous interplanetary dictator for Mickey 17, the former Marvel star comes back to Earth in this bittersweet comic drama. Ruffalo plays a suburban single father whose child-raising techniques have resulted in stunted, co-dependent lives for his now 20-something children, Hal (Cooper Raiff, the show's writer and director) and Harper (Lili Reinhart, Riverdale). The pair's attempts to understand where they're at, and engage with their emotionally shifty dad, form the basis of this limited series. Raiff turned heads with his last movie, Apple TV+'s idiosyncratic rom-com Cha Cha Real Smooth, so there's real promise here. Loading Also on Stan: There are currently many shows about London's fictional crime gangs, including Stan's Gangs of London, so thankfully the setting for this latest British organised crime drama moves north to Liverpool. This City is Ours (June 4) stars Sean Bean (Snowpiercer) as Ronnie Phelan, a drug dealer who has cornered the city's narcotics business and built an empire. Wealth and age have Ronnie thinking of retirement, but that soon creates chaos and instability when he leans towards his right-hand man, Michael Kavanagh (James Nelson-Joyce, A Thousand Blows), over his impatient son, Jamie (Jack McMullen, Hijack). The unofficial mediation process, as fans of this genre well know, is violent and vengeful. May highlights: The murder mystery is never more fun than when Natasha Lyonne's rogue detective is solving them on Poker Face, plus The Walking Dead devotees got a new season of post-apocalyptic New York with the return of Dead City. Disney+ My top Disney+ recommendation is The Bear (June 26). I love this outstanding show's scheduling commitment – late June every year, a new season appears. The fourth instalment of Christopher Storer's celebrated comic-drama about an obsessive chef turning his family's Chicago sandwich spot into a fine-dining restaurant has plenty to resolve. The third season ended with a crucial newspaper review leaving Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White), once more, torn between satisfaction and torment, while the bills mount and the staff start to fray. All the 'yes, chef!' cast return, plus a further appearance by Jamie Lee Curtis as Carmy's troubled mother, Donna. I wouldn't be completely surprised if the show recalibrated after the third season and leant more into its drama. Loading Also on Disney+: Having previously flooded Disney+ with spin-off superhero series, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has tapped the breaks these past two years. Quality over quantity has been the goal. The latest offering is Ironheart (June 25), a six-part comic-book drama about young scientist Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), who was introduced in the 2022 blockbuster Black Panther: Wakanda Forever as the creator of her own Iron Man-like suits. Williams returns to her hometown of Chicago, where her belief in technology comes up against magic in a show that leans into community struggle and personal responsibility. May highlights: The accolades continued for Andor, the Star Wars show that matters, while Tucci in Italy was a truly delicious food and travel documentary. Max My top Max recommendation is Mountainhead (June 1). Succession hive assemble! The tech billionaires are far richer and far less regulated than everyone's favourite toxic media moguls in the new feature film from Succession creator Jesse Armstrong. The British satirist, whose inspired dialogue can cause whiplash, charts a weekend retreat for a quartet of digital titans – played by Steve Carell (The Four Seasons), Ramy Youssef (Ramy), Jason Schwartzman (Asteroid City), and Cory Michael Smith (May December) – just as new AI features on one of their platforms is stoking violence and economic panic around the world. A crisis? No, it's an opportunity. Armstrong, who also directs, dissects his delusional new subjects with one tech bro nightmare after another. Also on Max: Mariska Hargitay is one of television's most enduring stars. Since 1999, she's played Olivia Benson, the unyielding New York detective investigating sexual crimes on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. The 61-year-old has always been open about the void in her own life – when Hargitay was just three her mother, Hollywood bombshell Jayne Mansfield, died in a car accident; Hargitay was asleep in the vehicle's back seat. My Mum Jayne (June 28) is a documentary about Hargitay's attempts to delve into her mother's personal and public legacy. Hargitay, who directs, calls it a, 'a labour of love and longing'. Amazon Prime Video My top Amazon Prime recommendation is We Were Liars (June 18). Shows about the young and privileged are timeless: wealth porn, aristocratic beauty, and unfulfilled privilege have powered everything from Gossip Girl to Elite. The latest variant is an adaptation, by Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries), of E. Lockhart's 2014 best-selling young adult novel about a teenager, Cadence Eastman (Emily Alyn Lind, the Gossip Girl reboot), trying to fill in the trauma-induced gap in her memory connected to a summer she spent at her family's island compound with her cousins and best friends. Something bad obviously happened, but the truth gets twisted in a narrative that leans more towards psychological thriller than pouty melodrama. Loading Also on Amazon Prime: Adding to the conspiratorial thriller genre – think Condor, Deep State and Rabbit Hole – Countdown (June 25) is a law enforcement drama about an LAPD detective, Mark Meachum (Jensen Ackles), assigned to a task force responding to the murder of a government official. Once the investigators start to unwind the plot, the stakes are very much raised. Derek Haas, who kept procedural television afloat with both Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D., is responsible for a series that should add to Amazon Prime's Reacher -led stable of tough guy TV. May highlights: The Marvellous Mrs Maisel crew put their mark on the ballet world with Etoile, while a new season of Nicole Kidman's Nine Perfect Strangers continued to do heads in (including our critic). ABC iview My top iview recommendation is Bay of Fires (June 15). The first season of this Australian drama was the anti- SeaChange: at-risk finance CEO Stella (co-creator Marta Dusseldorp) and her children are given new identities and relocated to a small Tasmanian town, only to discover that it's full of suspicious criminals, a budding cult and other untrustworthy former government assets. If the debut season required Stella to fight for survival, with a tone that mixed heightened black comedy and thriller tension, the second instalment finds her trying to hold together the fractious coalition she built. It's a very different kind of local politics. This is a chance for the ABC to build a series that doesn't just endure, it evolves. May highlights: It was a month of hardy crime dramas that crisscrossed Britain – The One That Got Away was a gritty Welsh mystery, while Bergerac rebooted the Channel Islands detective, plus feel-good reality series The Piano hit all the right notes. SBS On Demand My top SBS On Demand recommendation is Families Like Ours (June 20). Much like the British drama Years and Years, which viewed that nation's fictional dystopian descent through the lens of an everyday Manchester clan, this Danish drama tackles the vastness of climate change through an ordinary family's struggle. A what-if set in the not-quite near-future, it's driven by the need to evacuate Denmark as rising sea levels will flood the nation. Certainty ends as the country's millions of citizens explore immigration options or forced relocation, facing separation and a loss of a lifestyle taken for granted. The co-writer and director is Thomas Vinterberg (The Celebration, Another Round), who has stressed that his focus is more personal than political. May highlights: A dedicated team of German police detectives made The Black Forest Murders a gripping investigation drama, while an iconic character got a new twist in the period adventure Sherlock & Daughter. Other streamers My top recommendation for the other streaming services is Binge's Mix Tape (June 12). A romantic second chance couched in the past's unquenchable promise and the siren's song of beloved teenage tunes, this Irish-Australian limited series tells a then-and-now story. In 1989, in Britain a connection is slowly forged between teenagers Alison (Florence Hunt) and Daniel (newcomer Rory Walton-Smith), only for them to be irrevocably separated. Cut to the current day and both have built lives of their own, only for Daniel (Jim Sturgess) to discover that Alison (Teresa Palmer) is living in Sydney. What they do next – with a soundtrack of vintage classics – is in the hands of writer Jo Spain (Harry Wild), who adapted Jane Sanderson's 2020 novel of the same name, and director Lucy Gaffy (Irreverent). Loading Also: The Agatha Christie mystery-industrial complex rolls onwards with the BBC's new three-part adaptation of a 1944 novel from the doyenne of detective fiction. Towards Zero (June 3) is very much classic Christie, albeit with an impressively credentialled cast, set at a 1930s British country estate where the imperious order maintained by Lady Tressilian (Anjelica Huston) is interrupted by visitors and then a murder. It falls to Inspector Leach (Matthew Rhys) to interview the assembled suspects and sift the clues.
