New to View: July 19 – 25

SUNDAY

➢ Condor (S2) | SoHo, 8.30

The spy thriller about a fugitive CIA analyst returns ahead of its yet-to-be announced US premiere.  “Wielding a sombre and cool style that largely eschews flashy frivolities, Condor is reminiscent of the tragically short-lived James Badge Dale series, Rubicon, which is easily the best espionage show of the last decade, and it does a superb job expanding the source material (which modern audiences may recognise better in the guise of the plot framework for Captain America: The Winter Soldier), taking the premise afforded by the original source novel, and building in a complex backstory of CIA machinations, inner sanctum plotting, deadly killers, and underground conspiracy theorists.” — AVForums.

MONDAY

➢ The Capture | TVNZ 1, 8.30

” The six-episode series moves at the breathless pace of 2018’s hit BBC/Netflix thriller Bodyguard, and there are hints of Homeland in a premise that has a female investigator trying to suss out a traumatised male soldier’s hard-to-read motivations … This is the rare thriller that is not just smart and gripping, but also deeply engaged with our bizarre, often terrifying present.” — Time.

➢ Gangs of London | SoHo, 9.30

“GoL was clearly expensive to make. It is also very, very violent, and in creatively balletic ways. Fights go on for ever, with all kinds of bits getting punctured and breaking off, and you just wait for the blood-spattered naked cleaver scene. At times this can make it feel a bit like a computer game, and perhaps with good reason because the concept apparently comes from a sub-Grand Theft Auto PlayStation game from a decade and a half ago … You will need the patience and the stomach for a fair amount of gore, but if that doesn’t throw you, you may well love it. I do.” — The Times.

TUESDAY

➢ Big Beasts: Last of the Giants | Maori TV, 8.30

“Biologist Patrick Aryee returns with a new three-part series on the Earth’s biggest creatures and their prehistoric ancestors.” — The Guardian.

➢ Coronation Street | TVNZ 1, 9.30

The return of hour-long broadcasts marks the start of a new Tuesday-Thursday strip.

➢ Ackley Bridge | BBC UKTV, 9.30

This is the last season of the high school drama in its hour-long format. S3 eps will be half as long and focus more on the students. “Throw in a smattering of trendy teachers who all want to be friends with the kids, a couple of feckless parents and an ill-fated staff romance, and you have the makings of what should be another cracking series.” — Daily Mail.

WEDNESDAY

➢ Sis | Comedy Central, 8.30

NZO On Air-funded spinoff of the viral hit series Baby Mama’s Club, about a group of Polynesian writers must create a new comedy show, but there’s one issue… their head writer is racist. Watch for a free-to-air run on Prime later this year.

➢ Signs | Netflix

Polish thriller that’s so far spawned two series. Reads the synopsis: “A young woman’s murder shows similarities to a decade-old cold case, a new police commander must break the silence permeating an Owl Mountain town.”

THURSDAY

➢ Save Me Too | SoHo, 8.30/Neon

“Lennie James, the writer and star, has taken a familiar television trope – a missing girl, as if we didn’t get enough of those – and turned it into something new … The subject matter is distressing but never gratuitous.” — The Telegraph.

➢ Love Life | TVNZ OnDemand

The evolution of a New York woman’s love life from her early 20s to her 30s. Anna Kendrick stars. “Small and wistful and covering lots of familiar territory. Yet Love Life has a sharpness and a depth that its premise, and title, may not suggest.” — Vanity Fair.