New SBS series follows Agatha Christie's footsteps
I've spent the past weekend steaming through the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Empress of Australia, a passenger liner at the centre of WA author and actor Toby Schmitz's grizzly-but-great debut novel, The Empress Murders.
His book, which I inhaled over the course of a weekend, is set in 1925, and is a fantastically dark rumination on the end of the British Empire, the legacy of World War I and a close-up look at colonialism and the murky confusion the world found itself in at the start of last century — it's also a ripping murder mystery.
Having spent so much time in that world, I decided to stay in similar terrain and dive into this fabulous travel series, which sees Sir David Suchet, the man who inhabited Agatha Christie's best-known creation, Inspector Hercule Poirot, for 25 years on TV — as he follows her footsteps, retracing early trips the crime novelist took with her then-husband Archie before she became famous (and famously reclusive) in later life.
In 1922, Christie, along with her husband, found herself crossing the world on a passenger ship much like the one that's central to Schmitz's book, tasked with visiting various countries to help promote an upcoming British Empire exhibition. The Empress Murders by Toby Schmitz. Credit: Supplied
Suchet's first stop is South Africa; in 1924, Christie published a detective novel set there, and in episode one Suchet, armed with his old Leica camera, is off to Cape Town. Later episodes see him travel to Australia, New Zealand and Canada — even Hawaii. It's a delight to traverse the globe in his gentle presence. And — praise be! — there are no murderers along for the ride, though there is plenty of discussion of the devastating violence wrought in the name of king and country.
Seek this series out, and give Schmitz's book a read, too. Though be warned: his is a much choppier crossing. Marta Dusseldorp is back for a second season of the delightfully oddball crime drama, Bay Of Fires. Credit: Supplied
There's much to like about this Tasmanian crime series, which sees the always-watchable Marta Dusseldorp starring as Stella, a mum-on-the-run in witness protection — it's so delightfully odd!
Season two sees her still stranded in off-kilter Mystery Bay with her kids, making the best of things by running the town's criminal enterprises. Mystery Bay's wacky inhabitants have got used to the spoils of their ill-gotten gains, but their harmonious anonymity is about to be tested as Stella finds herself in the sights of an 'unhinged apiarist drug lord' and 'maniacal doomsday cult'. It can't end well. Worth a second look, and a satisfying continuation of the story. Nicolas Cage in The Surfer. Credit: Supplied / RegionalHUB
Remember when Nicolas Cage spent a few weeks living down south, shopping at the Asian grocery store in Busselton? He was there shooting this psychedelic surf thriller for Stan. Worth a look for the curious. This year's competitors on Dancing With The Stars. Credit: Nicholas Wilson
Rebecca Gibney, Susie O'Neill, Felicity Ward, Osher Gunsberg and Shaun Micallef are just some of the stars making their dance floor debut this Sunday. You KNOW I'll be tuning in to see how they fare. America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is back for a second series. Credit: Supplied
Sorry, not sorry, but I loved the first season of this doco. This one follows the 2024-25 cheerleading squad from auditions right through to the season, and it won't be smooth sailing. Cannot wait to feel woefully inadequate as I check back in with these impossibly glamorous gals.
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West Australian
a day ago
- West Australian
Screen Queen TV Reviews: Travels With Agatha Christie, Bay of Fires, The Surfer, America's Sweethearts, DWTS
I've spent the past weekend steaming through the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Empress of Australia, a passenger liner at the centre of WA author and actor Toby Schmitz's grizzly-but-great debut novel, The Empress Murders. His book, which I inhaled over the course of a weekend, is set in 1925, and is a fantastically dark rumination on the end of the British Empire, the legacy of World War I and a close-up look at colonialism and the murky confusion the world found itself in at the start of last century — it's also a ripping murder mystery. Having spent so much time in that world, I decided to stay in similar terrain and dive into this fabulous travel series, which sees Sir David Suchet, the man who inhabited Agatha Christie's best-known creation, Inspector Hercule Poirot, for 25 years on TV — as he follows her footsteps, retracing early trips the crime novelist took with her then-husband Archie before she became famous (and famously reclusive) in later life. In 1922, Christie, along with her husband, found herself crossing the world on a passenger ship much like the one that's central to Schmitz's book, tasked with visiting various countries to help promote an upcoming British Empire exhibition. Suchet's first stop is South Africa; in 1924, Christie published a detective novel set there, and in episode one Suchet, armed with his old Leica camera, is off to Cape Town. Later episodes see him travel to Australia, New Zealand and Canada — even Hawaii. It's a delight to traverse the globe in his gentle presence. And — praise be! — there are no murderers along for the ride, though there is plenty of discussion of the devastating violence wrought in the name of king and country. Seek this series out, and give Schmitz's book a read, too. Though be warned: his is a much choppier crossing. There's much to like about this Tasmanian crime series, which sees the always-watchable Marta Dusseldorp starring as Stella, a mum-on-the-run in witness protection — it's so delightfully odd! Season two sees her still stranded in off-kilter Mystery Bay with her kids, making the best of things by running the town's criminal enterprises. Mystery Bay's wacky inhabitants have got used to the spoils of their ill-gotten gains, but their harmonious anonymity is about to be tested as Stella finds herself in the sights of an 'unhinged apiarist drug lord' and 'maniacal doomsday cult'. It can't end well. Worth a second look, and a satisfying continuation of the story. Remember when Nicolas Cage spent a few weeks living down south, shopping at the Asian grocery store in Busselton? He was there shooting this psychedelic surf thriller for Stan. Worth a look for the curious. Rebecca Gibney, Susie O'Neill, Felicity Ward, Osher Gunsberg and Shaun Micallef are just some of the stars making their dance floor debut this Sunday. You KNOW I'll be tuning in to see how they fare. Sorry, not sorry, but I loved the first season of this doco. This one follows the 2024-25 cheerleading squad from auditions right through to the season, and it won't be smooth sailing. Cannot wait to feel woefully inadequate as I check back in with these impossibly glamorous gals.
Perth Now
a day ago
- Perth Now
New SBS series follows Agatha Christie's footsteps
I've spent the past weekend steaming through the Atlantic Ocean aboard the Empress of Australia, a passenger liner at the centre of WA author and actor Toby Schmitz's grizzly-but-great debut novel, The Empress Murders. His book, which I inhaled over the course of a weekend, is set in 1925, and is a fantastically dark rumination on the end of the British Empire, the legacy of World War I and a close-up look at colonialism and the murky confusion the world found itself in at the start of last century — it's also a ripping murder mystery. Having spent so much time in that world, I decided to stay in similar terrain and dive into this fabulous travel series, which sees Sir David Suchet, the man who inhabited Agatha Christie's best-known creation, Inspector Hercule Poirot, for 25 years on TV — as he follows her footsteps, retracing early trips the crime novelist took with her then-husband Archie before she became famous (and famously reclusive) in later life. In 1922, Christie, along with her husband, found herself crossing the world on a passenger ship much like the one that's central to Schmitz's book, tasked with visiting various countries to help promote an upcoming British Empire exhibition. The Empress Murders by Toby Schmitz. Credit: Supplied Suchet's first stop is South Africa; in 1924, Christie published a detective novel set there, and in episode one Suchet, armed with his old Leica camera, is off to Cape Town. Later episodes see him travel to Australia, New Zealand and Canada — even Hawaii. It's a delight to traverse the globe in his gentle presence. And — praise be! — there are no murderers along for the ride, though there is plenty of discussion of the devastating violence wrought in the name of king and country. Seek this series out, and give Schmitz's book a read, too. Though be warned: his is a much choppier crossing. Marta Dusseldorp is back for a second season of the delightfully oddball crime drama, Bay Of Fires. Credit: Supplied There's much to like about this Tasmanian crime series, which sees the always-watchable Marta Dusseldorp starring as Stella, a mum-on-the-run in witness protection — it's so delightfully odd! Season two sees her still stranded in off-kilter Mystery Bay with her kids, making the best of things by running the town's criminal enterprises. Mystery Bay's wacky inhabitants have got used to the spoils of their ill-gotten gains, but their harmonious anonymity is about to be tested as Stella finds herself in the sights of an 'unhinged apiarist drug lord' and 'maniacal doomsday cult'. It can't end well. Worth a second look, and a satisfying continuation of the story. Nicolas Cage in The Surfer. Credit: Supplied / RegionalHUB Remember when Nicolas Cage spent a few weeks living down south, shopping at the Asian grocery store in Busselton? He was there shooting this psychedelic surf thriller for Stan. Worth a look for the curious. This year's competitors on Dancing With The Stars. Credit: Nicholas Wilson Rebecca Gibney, Susie O'Neill, Felicity Ward, Osher Gunsberg and Shaun Micallef are just some of the stars making their dance floor debut this Sunday. You KNOW I'll be tuning in to see how they fare. America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders is back for a second series. Credit: Supplied Sorry, not sorry, but I loved the first season of this doco. This one follows the 2024-25 cheerleading squad from auditions right through to the season, and it won't be smooth sailing. Cannot wait to feel woefully inadequate as I check back in with these impossibly glamorous gals.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘The most fun you can have as an actor': ABC thriller warms up after chilly reception
Even for a Tasmanian, the remote northwest coast of the island state can be a land unto itself. Returning to Zeehan and Queenstown to reprise his role as loyal handyman Jeremiah in the second season of Marta Dusseldorp 's darkly comic thriller Bay of Fires, the Hobart-raised, New York City-based Toby Leonard Moore found himself re-adjusting to the pace. 'The first time I went walking in Queenstown, my one-kilometre split was three minutes slower than what I do in New York,' says Moore, who has appeared opposite Keanu Reeves in John Wick, Gary Oldman in Mank and Paul Giamatti in Billions. 'I just slowed right down.' He also noticed a warmer reception from the locals. 'The first time, there was a sense that we were invading the town. But this time, since they'd all seen [the series], and a lot of locals were background actors, I think they felt more of a part of it.' While shooting the first season, in which his character becomes a casual love interest for Dusseldorp's CEO on the run, Stella Heikkinen, Moore tried to get a meal at the pub. What transpired was like a scene from the script. 'I went to the bottle shop of a bar that I would later find out the crew referred to as 'The Punchy Pub',' he recalls. 'It was about 6.15pm. I said, 'Oh, g'day. Have you got a bistro out the back there?' And this lady said to me, 'Yep'. And I said, 'Great. And what time do you guys usually stop serving dinner?' And she looked me up and down. She said, 'Oh, about now, I reckon, mate'. And I said, 'Copy that, loud and clear'. Coming back [for the second season], all that had all gone away.' Some sinister elements of the location remained, however. Loading 'The Gaiety Theatre in Zeehan feels like you're on a back lot at Paramount [Studios],' he says. 'It's epic, the facade. And there's a real history there. One day, we were shooting in a pub across the street. It must have been about 3 or 4 degrees outside. And we went into the pub and it felt 5 degrees colder inside. And I said, 'How the hell is it colder inside than outside?' And one of the crew said, 'Oh, that'll be the ghosts'. Tassie has a dark history. That's one of the things that attracted me to the show. In Tassie, they don't shy away from that.'
