New to View: June 7 – 13

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

SUNDAY

Trackers | SoHo, 8.30/Neon

South African thriller about organised crime, smuggled diamonds, state security, black rhinos, the CIA and international terrorism. “There’s enough action in Trackers to keep you interested. But the first episode is disjointed and confusing, and you may not have the patience to stay with the show as the stories start to come together.” — Decider.

MONDAY

Bodyguard | TVNZ 1, 8.30

If you haven’t already streamed it on Netflix, this 2018 six-part BBC thriller about the Home Secretary and her bodyguard opens with a riveting suicide bomber sequence on a train but, despite a startling twist, never recaptures the same mix of exquisite suspense and unnerving unpredictability. “Maintains a palpable tension throughout its pulpy proceedings to create an absorbing and addicting psychological thriller.” — Rotten Tomatoes.

One Born Every Minute Australia | TVNZ 2, 8.40

“Filmed over eight weeks at Westmead Hospital in Sydney’s west, in NSW’s busiest birthing unit – chosen as much for the fact that more than 5000 babies are born there every year as for its diversity of patients – the series aims to capture the drama of the first-time mums, the nervous dads, the busy midwives and the unflappable nurses in the neonatal ward … Tissues recommended – for happy crying, I promise.” — Sydney Morning Herald.

TUESDAY

I May Destroy You | SoHo2, 8.30/Neon

“There’s a lot to figure out. For the characters, for the audience, and for writer/co-director and star Michaela Coel as she spins the skeins of her deeply personal 12×30-minute hybrid series … A drama/comedy which springs from Coel’s own traumatic rape, this has the sense of an explosive, boundary-shifting, era-defining Sex In The City, Girls or Fleabag (it is also part-backed by HBO) but with its almost all-black cast and deft command of huge tonal switches, it’s something entirely new and bracing as well.” — Screen Daily.

Station 19 | TVNZ 2, 9.30

The Grey’s Anatomy spin-off returns for its third season, opening with a crossover episode that picks up from the shocking (US) mid-season finale of Grey’s, in which a car crashes into Joe’s Bar (it airs Monday on TVNZ 2). “To expand upon the world [Station 19 creator Stacy] McKee created, and further merge it with the world of Grey’s, is an exciting challenge,” new showrunn-er Krista Vernoff says.

WEDNESDAY

FBI: Most Wanted | Sky 5, 8.30

“While the show bears similarities to all of its procedural predecessors, [Dick] Wolf and longtime Law & Order collaborator Rene Balcer have built a more promising foundation here by casting better actors than ordinarily found on these pedestrian dramas … Whale Rider Oscar nominee Keisha Castle-Hughes, whose Game of Thrones role as one of the Sand Snakes was greeted with great fanfare, adds some spice and a wry sense of humour to the proceedings as Agent Hana Gibson.” — New York Post.

THURSDAY

Insecure (S4) | SoHo2, 8.00

“The HBO comedy is as funny as ever, but I miss its lighter spirit … Season four picks up just weeks after the third-season finale. Issa is months away from planning her audacious Market Street Block Party, a celebration of black-owned businesses and black culture, with the help of her pleasantly bland new friend Condola (Christina Elmore), while Molly is trying to figure out how committed to each other she and Andrew (Alexander Hodge) actually are. But, once again, discord between the BFFs is brewing.” — The Hollywood Reporter.

Nature’s Fury | National Geographic, 8.30

Australian television and radio personality Chris Bath explores the forces behind volcanos, earthquakes, tsunamis and bushfires, and their connection to climate change. It features survivor and eyewitness accounts, including, no doubt, Bath’s own, after he fought to save his family’s home from a December 2019 bushfire.

FRIDAY