There’s a long line of much loved literary and screen detectives. Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple, Hercule Perrot, Jessica Fletcher, a couple of Matlocks, and more recently Benoit Blanc. Arriving in this exclusive club is Cordelia Cupp.
Uzo Aduba’s bird watching obsessed detective from The Residence is a brilliant character, and the eight-part series that arrived on Netflix last week is mountain of fun.
With FBI agent Edwin Park (Randall Park) as her reluctant and unwanted sidekick, she’s out to discovered who killed the A.B. Winter, the Chief Usher of The White House in the middle of a state dinner.
There’s so many brilliant performers in this show, some you might not recognise at first, while others are very familiar faces.
Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers) is stern pastry chef Didier Gotthard, Mary Wiseman (Star Trek: Discovery) is passionate chef Marvella, Jason Lee is Tripp Morgan, drunken brother to the President, Isiah Whitlock Jr (The Wire) is the police chief, while Julian McMahon is the Prime Minister of Australia and Kylie Minogue is…. Kylie Minogue!
It’s a hoot! (yes, that was a birding joke). Find it on Netflix.
How do I get you Alone?
The third season of SBS’s acclaimed reality series Alone Australia arrives on SBS this week. This year the show has achieved gender parity and five women, and five men head off into the Tasmanian wilderness to see who can last the longest on their own.
Among the cast is Ceilidh (her name is the Scottish word for a party, it’s pronounced Kayley), she’s deaf, giving an additional challenge to survival. She has a cochlear implant, but she won’t be able to keep it on all the time, and when it’s off she’s in complete silence.
Ceilidh is also proud to represent the LGBTIQA+ community this season. Ceilidh is from the Sunshine Coast but married her wife Jess in Tasmania, and if she wins alone, she wants to use the prize money to fulfil their dream of buying a house in Tasmania and starting a family there.
She’s joined by bushman Muzza who is in his 60’s and wants to show the older people can hack it in the wild. Then there’s Indigenous youth worker Matt who is from WA, English teacher Ben who won’t be alone because the Lord is always with him, Food Safety Consultant Corinne, Eva – who lives off grid in NSW, traveler Karla, professional trapper Shay, ecologist Tom and farmer and single mum Yonke.
The first season was won by Gina Chick who lasted 67 days on her own, while the second season saw Kryzysztof Wojtkowski triumph on day 64.
Alone Australia Season 3 premieres with a double episode Wednesday March 26 at 7.30pm on SBS and SBS On Demand, before finishing with a double finale on 4 June.
Doctor Who reveals the titles for each episode of its upcoming series
The team behind the sci-fi show Doctor Who have revealed the titles for each episode of the show’s 2025 season. They posted each name to social media platform X with animated graphics that die-hard fans are deciphering for clues.
The episodes are titled The Robot Revolution, Lux, The Well, Lucky Day, The Story and The Engine, The Interstellar Song Contest, Wish World, and The Reality War.
Writers include show-runner Russell T Davies, Inua Ellams, Pete McTighe, Sharma Angel Walfall and Juno Dawson. Dawson, who is transgender, previously hosted the shows behind the scenes podcast.
A second trailer for the upcoming series has also just been released.
What happens when three couples head off together on vacation?
The Four Seasons is coming to Netflix this May. It’s a remake of Alan Alda’s 1981 comedy film that he wrote, directed and starred in alongside Carol Burnett, Rita Moreno, Sandy Dennis and others. After the success of the movie, it had a short-lived TV spin off.
This time the story is being presented as eight half hour comedy episodes, and it’s produced and written by Tina Fey and her collaborators. The story is about three couples who head off on short vacations together each season.
Fey stars alongside Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Erika Henningsen, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Will Forte and Marco Calvani. Alan Alda, who is now 89 years old, also makes an appearance.
In a nice updating of the story, it looks like one of the couples is now a same-sex couple.
‘Happy Face’ is a hard slog
Gripping is not a word you’d use to describe the latest crime drama from Paramount+. Happy Face is true life story about makeup artist Melissa Moore who keeps a deep secret from her children, friends, neighbours and co-workers.
Her father Keith Hunter Jesperson is a serial killer dubbed Happy Face, the name coming form doodles he used to leave on messages he sent to police and the media. He’s currently in prison over the rape and murder of eight women. Melissa has worked hard to keep him out of her life, but a turn of events leads her to having to visit her father, confront his past and her own childhood.
Moore is played by Annaleigh Ashford, she’s tough but not entirely likeable. She’s joined by Dennis Quaid who is channeling as much of Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter that he can muster. It’s woeful, slow and boring.
The final season of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ will air in April
The sixth and final season of The Handmaid’s Tale will be fast tracked to SBS this April.
In the final outing June’s (Elisabeth Moss) unyielding spirit and determination pull her back into the fight to take down Gilead. Luke (O-T Fagbenle) and Moira (Samira Wiley) join the resistance. Serena (Yvonne Strahovksi) tries to reform Gilead while Commander Lawrence (Bradley Whitford) and Aunt Lydia (Ann Dowd) reckon with what they have wrought, and Nick (Max Minghella) faces challenging tests of character.
This final chapter of June’s journey highlights the importance of hope, courage, solidarity, and resilience in the pursuit of justice and freedom.
You can catch the show on SBS or SBS On Demand.
For streaming The Handmaid’s Tale S6 will stream free on SBS On Demand from Tuesday 8 April, with the triple episode premiere fast-tracked to be available from just after midnight (WA time). The season will continue to be fast-tracked with new episodes available weekly on Tuesdays up to the finale on 27 May.
The Handmaid’s Tale S6 will air on SBS from Wednesday 9 April at 8.40pm as a double episode (1 and 2) and another double episode (3 and 4) on Wednesday 16 April at 8.40pm. Then from 23 April, new episodes will air weekly Wednesdays at 9.45pm. The season finale will air on Tuesday 27 May at 9.30pm with an encore on Wednesday 28 May at 9.35pm.
