New to View: June 27 – July 3
June 26, 2021 
6 Comments
A weekly guide to what’s new of note on air and online
Monday
➢ Small Axe BBC UKTV, 9.35
“In any year, Steve McQueen’s Small Axe would be a historic achievement. But in 2020, amid a worldwide reckoning on racial injustice while a pandemic has wreaked havoc on the entertainment industry — blurring the lines between film and TV — this five-part series is an auspicious game-changer. Shining a light on little-known tales of Black pride and heroism from the U.K.’s Windrush generation, each instalment is set between the late ’60s and early ’80s and features people from the Black diaspora speaking in their own dialects and revelling in their culture. For that alone, Small Axe is special, but the themes in each of the interlinked stories still resonate powerfully today.” — Variety.
Tuesday
➢ The Day Will and Kate Got Married TVNZ 1, 8.45
“The Day William and Kate Got Married sounded like desperate, post-Easter schedule-filling fluff-stuff, but was far better than its dull title suggested. Rarely for royal retrospective clip shows, it offered something fresh, namely interviews with some of the less famous wedding guests. For a royal documentary, which are so often boring recycled churn, it was surprisingly entertaining.” — The Times.
Thursday
➢ Prison Prime, 8.30
S2 is set in a women’s prison in Derbyshire. “A hard-hitting look inside the complex world of ‘St Trinian’s on crack’ … The strength of director Paddy Wivell’s series lies in its access – we saw how drugs are freely available within the prison walls, and how sexual relationships carry on despite official disapproval … And the programme provided insight into why so many prisoners re-offend.” — The Telegraph.
➢ Generation 56k Netflix
From the producers of ZeroZeroZero and Gomorrah comes an eight-part romantic comedy-drama about four friends whose lives are forever changed as teenagers in the late ’90s when the internet finally becomes available on their small island.
➢ Young Royals Netflix
“Young Royals is the latest young adult drama revolving around a prestigious boarding school. With a young prince as the central character partaking in a budding romance that conflicts with his royal heritage, the series seems to share similarities with Casey McQuiston’s LGBT romance novel, Red, White & Royal Blue.” — CBR.
Friday
➢ Wipeout TVNZ 2, 7.30
“Wipeout has done the impossible. Not the bending people’s bodies into unimaginable positions as they bounce off of obstacles before splashing into a pool of water. No, there’s still plenty of that. I’m referring to how Wipeout has actually managed to make Nicole Byer and John Cena appear both stodgy and inert. That’s just one of the blunders of this reboot of a classic format.” — Reality Blurred.
Saturday
➢ The Battle for Britney Three, 8.55
“Mobeen Azhar’s new documentary for the BBC is only the second in a long line of Britney-focused docs soon coming our way. But crucially, it fills in some important gaps left out of the picture in Framing Britney Spears … What works so well here overall is that Mobeen holds the system to account by putting a personal face on the pain these wrongful conservatorships cause.” — Digital Spy.
➢ Batwoman TVNZ OnDemand
God Friended Me’s Javicia Leslie tries on the Batsuit for size. “Batwoman‘s second season survives a soft reboot, maintaining the show’s excellence while giving Javicia Leslie plenty of room to spread her wings.” — Rotten Tomatoes.
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June 26, 2021 at 1:55 pm
I hope Britney gets justice, it’s disgusting seeing how badly she is being treated. Her father should be in prison ?
It sounds like Paramount+ have got the rights to the New Zealand A-league games as well so I wonder if that means they are definitely coming to New Zealand this year ?
Fingers crossed, Trevor, but if Paramount+ does acquire the A League rights for NZ, it’s always possible it will do a deal with another broadcaster/streamer here to sublicense them, as happened in Australian with Network Ten …
Jason Pine on Twitter seems to think Paramount+ have got the A-league rights in New Zealand so it will be interesting to see what happens and he would be happy to help out. I would love to see Discovery joining Paramount+ 🙂
Not sure that is a sub-licence when CBS owns Ten and Paramount. Kinda like Sky sub-licencing to Prime. But if CBS gets the rights in NZ that would be the funniest outcome for football fans – subscribe to Spark for EPL, subscribe to Sky/BeIN for UEFA and subscribe to Paramount+ for A-League. Got to love competition (unless you’re the consumer!)
One to check out on TVNZ OnDemand is the new Jason Hoyte/Mike Minogue comedy mini-series Talkback, directed by name to watch for James Ashcroft. You have never seen Jason Gunn like this!