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Courier-Mail
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Courier-Mail
Eric Bana's Untamed leads best new TV shows to stream this week
Don't miss out on the headlines from TV. Followed categories will be added to My News. 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
News.com.au
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
What to watch this week: joyful music doco The Piano; the year's wildest travel show The List
We've sifted through the latest offerings from TV and streaming platforms to find the best shows you should be watching this week. THE PIANO SUNDAY, 7.30PM, ABC The Voice and Australian Idol are all well and good but they don't come close to capturing the transformative power of music in the same way that this simple, unshowy but brilliantly executed and utterly joyous six-part documentary does. The premise is simple enough – a piano is set up in a public place in cities around the country and host Amanda Keller chats to the pianists from all walks of life who have been invited to perform before impromptu crowds. Unbeknown to them, Grammy-winning jazz great Harry Connick Jr and acclaimed classical pianist Andrea Lam are watching and will invite one performer from each location to be part of a special concert. In this week's first episode, the world's favourite instrument is set up in the cavernous concourse at Sydney's Central Station and the pianists include a 16-year-old crooner who idolises Connick Jr, a 103-year-old who is losing his sight and hearing but still lives to play, four senior citizen women who combine to form an eight-handed musical marvel and a self-confessed piano nerd and stroke victim whose one-handed skills will leave your jaw on the floor. Keep the tissues handy. JEREMY CLARKSON'S WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE WEDNESDAY, 7.30PM, CHANNEL 7 Former Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson can be insufferably smug sometimes but he's found an ideal outlet for his talents as the host of the UK version long-running and much-loved game show. He's much more together than the bumbling grump he portrays on Clarkson's Farm and is quick with a mildly insulting quip for contestants as well as a good line in self-deprecation. Australian viewers playing along at home might be a little frustrated with the some of the UK-centric questions, but Clarkson does a good job of teasing out personal stories – a la Slumdog Millionaire – from this week's red-hot contestant Eleanor that help explain why looks like she's read the entire internet, as well as ratcheting up the tension before the inevitable ad breaks. JUST ONE THING WITH MICHAEL MOSLEY WEDNESDAY, 8.40PM, SBS There's a real bittersweet feeling that comes from watching the program that beloved presenter Michael Mosley was working on when he died last year, particularly given it's all about simple changes we can all make to live better. His infectious laugh, easy manner, boundless curiosity, and willingness to put his own body on the line are all on show in this first episode about the benefits of a daily 30-second cold shower, from reduced anxiety and fewer sick days and even potential breakthroughs in the battle against dementia. Mosley traces the trending practice back centuries and demonstrates how it should be done while also recruiting a busy single mum whose manic and exhausting life has previously put her in hospital to put the bracing challenge to the test. MAX He might seem to have become an overnight sensation thanks to his Emmy-winning role as the foul-mouthed hard man football veteran Roy Kent in Ted Lasso, but Brett Goldstein has been plying his trade as a comedian for nearly two decades and is no stranger to the live arena. His first filmed comedy special is the culmination of two years of touring across the US and the UK and leans heavily into the differences between the two countries and cultures as well as drawing on his experiences at the White House and on Sesame Street. It's a little patchy and a lot sweary – with some gags and topics that would make the stony-faced Kent blush – but plenty of big laughs to be had, mostly at his own expense. THE LIST THURSDAY, 7.30PM, CHANNEL 10, PARAMOUNT+ As you might expect from the lads behind The Inspired Unemployed, the mighty comedy triumvirate of nudity, fart jokes and bodily-harm are in full effect in the first episode of their new six-part series that comes across as a mash-up of The Amazing Race and Jackass. Jack Steele and Matt 'Falcon' Ford have long harboured a desire to do a travel show, but rather than ticking off items on their own bucket list, they are made to perform increasingly ridiculous tasks in Germany, Japan, India, Finland, South Africa and Malaysia on a list supplied by the producers and wryly narrated by Angus Sampson. First up is the land of lederhosen, where the intrepid duo are tasked with carrying beers at Oktoberfest, sword fighting with a medieval re-enactment society, staring down ghosts in a haunted castle and nuding up for badminton a naturist resort. LIBERATION: D-DAY TO BERLIN THURSDAY, 8.35PM, SBS Yes, World War II documentaries are a dime a dozen, especially with the 80th anniversary of the end of the devastating conflict approaching, but this one is a cut above thanks to its colorised and restored footage, which give it an immediacy that others lack, as well as illuminating archival interviews with former soldiers and other key players. Beginning with the storming of the beaches at Normandy on D-Day in 1944, it explains how that was just beginning of the brutal battle to reclaim occupied France, sometimes one field at a time. In addition to the fierce fighting as the Germans dug in, there were also horrific civilian deaths courtesy of Allied carpet bombing of towns in their way and conflicting priorities between French, American and English leaders, as well as bloody reprisals against Nazi collaborators that left thousands dead in mysterious circumstances. AUSTRALIA VOTES SATURDAY, FROM 4PM, ABC, CHANNEL 7, CHANNEL 9, CHANNEL 10, SKY NEWS There's really only one show in town on Saturday night, so once you've done your national duty and scoffed the democracy sausage, the biggest decision remaining is where to watch the results roll in or whether to channel surf between the lot. Michael Usher and Natalia Barr will host for Channel 7 alongside political editor Mark Riley, while on Channel 9, Ally Langdon and Peter Overton will be in the hot seats. Channel 10 will add a comedy spin to their coverage hosted by Sandra Sully, Hugh Riminton and Ashleigh Raper, with Errol Parker and Clancy Overell from The Betoota Advocate chiming in, and David Speers and Sarah Ferguson will do the honours for the ABC. Chief News Anchor Kieran Gilbert will also wrangle a panel of experts from around the country for Sky News. BERGERAC SUNDAY, 8.30PM, ABC After farewelling one great British detective in Vera last weekend, it's time to welcome back another in the form of Jim Bergerac, a part made famous by John Nettles in the '80s series of the same name. This time it's Damien Molony in the title role of the leather-jacketed Jersey copper in this solid reboot, who audiences first meet while he is on leave and still reeling from the death of his wife and is a barely functioning alcoholic. When the once highly regarded detective demands his old job back to solve the murder of woman from a rich and prominent family on the Channel Island, not everyone is pleased to see him – including the frenemy who has been filling in for him – and his past prejudices threaten to get in the way of his new investigation. ANIMALS UP CLOSE WITH BERTIE GREGORY TUESDAY, 8.30PM, ABC FAMILY First up, a trigger warning for animal lovers for this outstanding nature documentary – there are adorable seals in this first episode focused on Antarctic Killer Whales and not all of them make it to the final credits. That aside, filmmaker and National Geographic explorer Gregory has made something as thrilling as any Hollywood movie from the cat and mouse game between the endangered B1 killer whales and their seal prey, made increasingly difficult by shrinking sea ice caused by man-made climate change. The footage the team gets under very hostile conditions is extraordinary as the killer whales demonstrate their intelligence using team work, innovation and communication to form formidable hunting packs and close-knit family structures. HAVOC NETFLIX British actor Tom Hardy is on fire right now as the wily and brutal fixer Harry Da Souza in MobLand on Paramount+ and he's also the best thing about this manic and mostly mindless action thriller. As you'd expect from Gareth Evans, the man behind The Raid and its sequel, the frequent fight scenes are brutally and expertly staged as Hardy's crooked cop battles his way through a bleak cityscape that makes Gotham City look like a kids playground to save the son of his crime lord boss from rival gangs and other bent officers. For a Friday-night-on-the-couch double bill that won't require an iota of grey matter, pair it up with hilariously awful G20 on Prime Video, which has Oscar-winner Viola Davis as the US president kicking arse to save her fellow world leaders from an evil Aussie terrorist.
