TV travel shows are overpacked with celebs – but this actor can't be beaten
If there's a better sight than Stanley Tucci shovelling pasta in his mouth and looking absolutely delighted, I'm yet to find it (with apologies to husband and child). The Oscar-nominated actor is back with yet another foodie travel series in Italy. This one, Tucci in Italy, is produced
by National Geographic after CNN cancelled his original show, Searching for Italy (which you can still watch on SBS On Demand) – and Tucci once again pops on the chinos, loosens his belt and hits the road, eating his way around Italy's regions and exclaiming ' Mangia! Mangia!'
And yes, while I understand all the eye-rolling about the dozens of inane celebrity travel shows scattered about, Tucci can't be beaten for his enthusiasm, generosity and sheer love of the country of his forebears. It also helps that he can cook and isn't afraid to eat (pizza, pasta, offal, mouldy cheese – he'll try it all). So leave the cynicism behind and embrace Tucci, his travels and his chinos. From May 19 on Disney+. Louise Rugendyke
Theft ($33), by Tanzanian-British novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah, is his first novel since he won the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature. Set in Tanzania in the 1990s, it explores the interconnected lives of three young people: Karim, Badar and Fauzia. Karim, abandoned by his mother, Raya, when she remarries, later lives with her and her second husband, Haji, while at university. There, he befriends their servant, Badar, an orphan boy. When Badar is falsely accused of theft, Karim, now married to Fauzia, takes him into their home and helps him to find a job in a boutique hotel. Tensions arise when Karim and Fauzia struggle to cope with the arrival of their first child. A morality tale featuring themes of abandonment, indebtedness, jealousy and betrayal with a deeply satisfying ending. Nicole Abadee
LISTEN / Plot twist
In 2020, a ragtag collection of anti-government, self-styled militia dudes plotted to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan. What they didn't know was that there were government informants embedded in the group who were setting up a sting operation. In the podcast Chameleon: The Michigan Plot, investigative reporters Ken Bensinger and Jessica Garrison expertly tell the bizarre but true tale, aided by tragicomic FBI audio retrieved from bugging devices. What we hear is like a cross between The Big Lebowski and a Quentin Tarantino film, which would be funny if the plot didn't involve a plot to harm a human being. But were they really criminal masterminds or just paranoid, hyped-up stoners who believed misinformation and ultimately fell victim to FBI entrapment? Barry Divola
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