Winter is no longer just coming, it is here. It is also Uni break. Coincidence? I think not!
While you were studying, and socialising, but mainly procrastinating on Youtube, you might have missed these four underrated TV gems. Luckily for you there are just under four weeks of holidays to come. Forget hate liking European Instagrams, spend your break binging these four small-screen golden nuggets!
Killing Eve
You loved her as Meredith Grey’s able and sassy sidekick in Grey’s Anatomy, now get ready to bow down to Sandra Oh in espionage, black comedy Killing Eve. Playing a desk-bound analyst at Britain’s top spy agency MI6, Eve Polanski is thrust into an international search for a mysterious and utterly insane eastern-European assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer). Well out of her comfort zone, Eve travels the globe in search of Villanelle, gradual becoming obsessed with the murderess. A delicious combination of gore and tongue in check sarcasm, this BBC America is a bit sized binge lead by powerful lead performances.
Catch up on ABC iView
The Good Place
The premise of the NBC/Netflix comedy is zany and unbelievable but creative magic nonetheless. Instead of heaven and hell there is The Good Place and The Bad. Somehow the unpleasant Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) rorts the system and manages to land a plum position in The Good Place in a case of mistaken identity. Lead of a the overly pleasant “architect” Michael (Ted Danson), for the first season Eleanor struggles to acquaint herself with the niceties of life. However, the end of season one throws a jaw-dropping curveball at viewers, setting up a bizarrely beautiful second series of eccentric laughs. Bell and Danson’s interplay is a raucous of fun. From the creators of Parks & Rec and The Office, The Good Place fits the mould of its irreverent brother and sister shows. The smartest comedy on television, but make sure to watch it from the start.
Catch up on Netflix
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette
If Hannah Gadsby does quit comedy, then the world has lost one of its finest, and unapologetically real voices in stand up. The Australian comedian’s Netflix special is as impassioned and empowering as it is heartbreaking. Self described as “not very good at being gay” Gadsby recalls a childhood growing up in Tasmania when homosexuality was illegal, and peppers it with stories of abuse, sexual harassment and rape. Performing to a packed Sydney Opera House crowd, the audience is taken on a rollercoaster journey of emotion. In some instances, Gadsby fights tears, others spur an almost angry reaction. Gadsby laments that she has built a career on humiliation, something she is now longer prepared to do. Harrowing, spine-tingling. The best 70 minutes of “comedy” you’ll watch.
Catch up on Netflix
Mystery Road
Whoever said the ABC was only good for knitting nannas and kids with nappies, obviously hasn’t seen the legends that are Judy Davis and Aaron Pedersen welding guns and calling the shots in the gritty six-part drama Mystery Road. When two young cattle station workers go missing in remote Australia, Detective Jay Swan reluctantly joins forces with town cop Emma James to find the boys. A rich assortment of Australia’s finest performers young and old share the screen with the majestic bush background, creating an eerie celebration of isolation in the bush. Providing commentary on relations with Indigenous Australian people and culture, the tension bubbles like a gentle frothing VB. The best Australian drama in a long time.
Catch up on ABC iView
