New to View: June 21 – 27

A weekly guide to what’s new of note on air and online

SUNDAY

Barskins | National Geographic, 12.30

If you miss today’s box-set premiere of this 10-part drama series set in 17th century North America, it’s being repeated in double-episodes on weekday afternoons. The Hollywood Reporter thought the adaptation of Annie Proulx’s novel “ambitious but too sprawling” while Decider said it’s “well-acted and looks fantastic“.

Honey Wars | Prime, 8.00

Buzzworthy documentary series about Northland’s Tai Tokerau Honey. “It follows the ups and downs of the fickle honey business but also the close bonds and teamwork of this whānau-run business.” — Stuff.

Years and Years | Prime, 8.30

Free-to-air premiere of Russell T Davies’ satirical drama set in the near future. A top cast and sporadically sharp writing can’t stop it from imploding into self-indulgent sermonising. But Kiwi critics thought otherwise: “What makes … Years and Years so stark and terrifying it how closely it’s connected to the current reality” (NZ Herald); “a truly compelling watch” (Stuff). Continues Monday and Tuesday.

We’re Here | SoHo2, 8.30 / Neon, from Tuesday

Part one of six. Former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants recruit and train the residents of a small town to participate in a one-night only drag performance. “Fans of Queer Eye-style makeover shows will enjoy the drag transformations and heartwarming emotional moments.” — The AV Club.

Vintage Roads Great & Small (S2) | Living, 8.30

All Creatures Great and Small’s Christopher Timothy and Peter Davison return for another charming spin in which Top Gear meets The Trip but without the celebrity overdrive of either. Reads the blurb: “From retracing the steps of James Herriot and All Creatures Great and Small in Yorkshire, to unearthing the rich motorsports history via Hadrian’s Wall, we’re shown how the car has transformed facets of everyday life across the British Isles.”

MONDAY

Perry Mason | SoHo, 8.30/Neon

HBO take on when Erle Stanley Gardner’s lawyer was an LA gumshoe in the 1930s. “A detective show for our dark times,” said the BBC but Variety thought “too much of this show, a punishing eight instalments, feels like yet another iteration of what we’ve seen already, elsewhere and often superior”.

Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story Of Roy Cohn | SoHo2, 9.30

“Bully. Coward. Victim. is not the title you would expect for a documentary on Roy Cohn, the infamous Joseph McCarthy ally and Donald Trump mentor who built his name prosecuting Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. ‘Victim’ seems especially perverse considering that the director, Ivy Meeropol, is a granddaughter of the Rosenbergs … But Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn is often not the film you would expect.” — New York Times.

Reprisal | TVNZ 1, 11.10

“A relentless femme fatale who, after being left for dead, sets out to take revenge against her brother and his bombastic gang of gearheads … Solid performances and a fast pace move Reprisal along, but its style over substance approach is all pulp, little juice.” — Rotten Tomatoes.

TUESDAY

Mysteries Of The Deep | Discovery Channel, 9.25

River Monsters’ Jeremy Wade searches for answers behind the world’s most iconic and baffling underwater mysteries, from the Loch Ness Monster to how a man survived three days shipwrecked at the bottom of the ocean.

THURSDAY

Quiz | SoHo, 8.30

Three-part dramatisation of the real-life ‘coughing Major’ scandal that in 2001 struck TV’s most popular game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. “It was quite delightful to see an ITV drama sending up its own former executives, television not only eating itself, but taking care to cover every morsel with tomato ketchup first.” — New Statesman.

FRIDAY