TV Gold

Three impressive dramas this week, all with good reasons to watch. It was a challenging week to pick a Show of the Week (at least for James…Andrew was decisive). First off Masters of the Air (AppleTV+, series) was under the microscope. The World War II airforce drama cost a bomb to make and you see where they money went the moment you start watching.

Next up is Maryland (Britbox, series) which features the brilliant Suranne Jones and Eve Best as estranged sisters dealing with a family tragedy.

Finally TV Gold reviews the Nicole Kidman-led drama about life in Hong Kong, Expats (Prime, series). It’s an impressive piece of work on-screen and off by Kidman, her production company and the cast.

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The new Australian drama Prosper (Stan, series) is a must-watch for many reasons. Especially for the great work of Rebecca Gibney, Richard Roxburgh and Ewen Leslie as family members running the U Star church.

Also this week we review True Detective S4 (Binge/Foxtel, series) featuring the work of Jodie Foster, Culprits (SBS On Demand, series), Role Play (Prime, movie) and Criminal Record (AppleTV+, series).

Don’t miss our separate episode on Stan’s Prosper, with special guest Rebecca Gibney.

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Andrew and James both nominated new Stan drama series Prosper as the TV Gold Show of the Week in the January 18 episode. In this bonus episode, they talk to one of the stars of the Stan series, Rebecca Gibney. In the Stan Original about an evangelical megachurch run by the wealthy and powerful Quinn family, Rebecca plays Abi Quinn, a pastor at the U Star church and the husband of the U Star founder Cal, played by Richard Roxburgh.
On the podcast, Rebecca talks about what

drew her to the character of Abi, her own experience with religion, and the amazing cast she co-stars with. She also discusses the main locations scouted by the team at Lingo Pictures –the U Star HQ and the Quinn family home which looks like a house that appears in another recent Australian hit drama series.

This is the ultimate TV Guide to Prosper.

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First show back for 2024 and there’s already a long hist of quality TV to watch.
We start this week with the Australian epic Boy Swallows Universe (Netflix, 7 episodes). Michelle Keegan and Joanna Lumley star in the UK crime thriller Fool Me Once (Netflix, 8 episodes). The incredible true story of the 1972 plane crash in the Andes is told in Society of the Snow (Netflix, movie).

More compelling Australian drama with an impressive cast joining Deborah Mailman and Wayne Blair in the third and final season of Total Control (ABC, iview, 6 episodes).

We also look at a sitcom with a difference, Ted (Binge, 7 episodes) and the sci-fi movie shot in Australia, Foe (Prime).

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There were so many great TV shows this year we have recorded two episodes listing them all. Joining Andrew Mercado and James Manning in both these episodes is TV Tonight founder David Knox.

There is a comprehensive selection of over 40 international dramas, comedies and documentaries to choose from if you are catching up on the best of 2023. Those series include Stonehouse (Britbox), Beef (Netflix), The Sixth Commandment (Binge), The Long Shadow (Stan) and The Last of Us (Binge).

See a complete list of all the shows we mention at mediaweek.com.au.

Don’t miss the other TV Gold Year in Review podcast episode which covers Australian TV.

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There were so many great TV shows this year we have recorded two episodes listing them all. Joining Andrew Mercado and James Manning in both these episodes is TV Tonight founder David Knox.

There is a list of over 20 shows we all enjoyed including The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (Prime), Scrublands (Stan), Bay of Fires (ABC iview) and While the Men Are Away (SBS On Demand).

See a complete list of all the shows we mention at mediaweek.com.au.

Don’t miss the other TV Gold Year in Review podcast episode which covers International TV.

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Five big productions as the year draws to an end. The podcast starts with a review of Archie (Britbox, series), the dramatised life of Cary Grant and his relationship with Dyan Cannon. Then it’s our sole movie this week, the Australian-made horror film Talk To Me (Netflix).

Suranne Jones always gets plenty of time on a TV Gold podcast and this week we look at season two of the crime thriller Vigil (Binge/Foxtel, series), then there is a change of pace with the hilarious Smothered (Binge/Foxtel, series) and the very popular Australian comedy from John and Dan Edwards, Bump (Stan S4, series).

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Three big drama releases this week, all featuring strong female lead characters plus we have another Australian documentary original from Stan.

The three dramas are Asher Keddie as a character “inspired” by Mia Freedman in Strife (Binge, series); Julia Garner and Jessica Henwick as backpackers in The Royal Hotel (Binge, movie); and Jodie Whittaker, Bella Ramsey and Tamara Lawrence on the wrong side of the law in the second season of Time (BBC First, series).

Andrew also talks about the Australian original documentary Ben Roberts-Smith: Truth on Trial (Stan) and James has a preview of Archie, the dramatized biography of Cary Grant, a series they will be discussing next week.

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Three of this week’s shows under review are Australian dramas and the fourth is a UK documentary that owes much to Aussies. The dramas are Paper Dolls (Paramount+, series), The Artful Dodger (Disney+, series) and Baz Luhrmann’s reimagining of his movie Australia, now a six-parter, called Faraway Downs (Disney+, series).

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This week we examine the first four episodes of the final season of The Crown (Netflix, series). It’s all about Diana and Dodi, but there’s much more too as Queen Elizabeth and (then) Prince Charles are called on by their country. Other new shows this week reviewed are Fargo (SBS, series), A Murder at the End of the World (Disney+), Jones Family Christmas (Stan, movie) and Signora Volpe (UKTV).

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