Ride Or Die
Wednesday, streaming on Prime Video
I can’t tell you how sick I am of seeing men front and centre in high-stakes TV dramas. Why do they get to have all the fun, dashing about playing assassins, running from guns, tucking and rolling out of moving vehicles? Where are all the kick-ass ladies?
At last, there’s a show to rectify this!
This high-stakes, big-budget action/comedy sees Hannah Waddingham playing an assassin for hire, forced on the run with her unwitting best friend (Octavia Spencer) — who up until this point has thought her pal is an accountant — after a job goes spectacularly wrong.
Pretty soon the pair are off on the run, fighting bad guys and, honestly, if you’ve seen the fabulous trailer, you’ll know it’s shaping up to be heaps of fun.
Spencer and Waddingham are top-of-their-game talents — pairing them in this is a genius move — and they both jumped at the chance to star together after creator Tessa Coates pitched the show to them.
“I’ve heard hundreds of pitches throughout my career and none like that one. It just had you spellbound, on the edge of your seat,” Spencer recently told People.
“I loved that it was centred around two women — two women of a certain age, two brilliant, highly capable women — doing action and comedy. And the show had a lot of heart.”
There’s an embargo in place so I can’t say more, but with big names like this attached, and Prime Video’s enormous bells-and-whistles budget, you can pretty much be guaranteed a good time.
Can’t wait for you to see this one.
The Westies
Sunday, streaming on Stan
Buzz is building for this new drama starring J.K. Simmons. Set in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen in 1981, it revolves around the city’s notoriously brutal Irish-American street gang The Westies, which operated at the time. This series also stars Bosch’s Titus Welliver, and hails from Narcos and Godfather Of Harlem creator Chris Brancato, which gives you an idea of what to expect. Peaky Blinders fans, give this a peep.
The F Ward
Friday, streaming on Stan
This great new local medical drama, starring British actor Anna Friel, hails from the same producers as Bump, and sees co-creators Dan Edwards and Kelsey Munro at the helm. These two are behind some of the best Aussie series of the last two decades, so you already know it’s going to be great. Friel stars as a doctor overseeing a group of “last chance” interns who have been dispatched to an underfunded hospital in Sydney to complete their training. This is must-see, excellent television.
Alone Australia
Wednesday, streaming on SBS on Demand
The last few seasons of this viewer favourite have seen contestants head to Tasmania and New Zealand’s South Island to test their survival skills. This time they’re being plonked in the freezing Arctic Circle to do it tough in Sapmi, Finland. For some, it will be the ultimate baptism-by-fire, and for others it will be an irresistible challenge. Personally, just the thought sends shivers down my spine. This is shaping up to be a great season — mark your diaries.
The Hawk
Thursday, streaming on Netflix
Let’s face it: the world will watch the heck out of anything Will Ferrell is in. So this Netflix series, which sees the comedian playing Lonnie Hawkins, “2004’s No.1 golfer”, has a guaranteed audience before it even begins. This charts The Hawk’s late-stage golfing career as his son Lance rises through the ranks to become the sport’s new golden boy. This has a great cast, with Molly Shannon playing Ferrell’s wife and Luke Wilson as rival player, Golden Fisk.
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