Watch, listen and be inspired by Calum Henderson's definitive list of what's hot right now and from the vault.
The Newsreader (eden, 8:30pm Thursdays / Streaming on ThreeNow)
If there's an opposite of science fiction, where the drama comes not from new technology in the future but the lack of it in the past, then there's no better example than the opening scene of The Newsreader. The marquee series on new free-to-air channel eden is set in the cut-throat world of Australian TV news circa 1986, against a backdrop of major events such as the Challenger space shuttle and Chernobyl disasters – although the story that has earnest young reporter Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) under the pump is arguably of lesser importance. Paul Hogan has just been named Australian of the Year, and the bloody machine has eaten the tape containing the only copy of his acceptance speech, forcing Dale and a lot of people whose jobs have probably since been rendered obsolete by computers into a nail-biting race to cobble an item together as the bulletin goes to air.
Dale's news dreams lie beyond the entertainment beat – he wants to be behind the desk reading the bulletin. That's where the network's biggest star Helen Norville (Anna Torv) sits, although she dreams of being a roving reporter who tackles the serious topics. The ratings-mad boss concedes and lets her do a story a week, but with one condition: she has to take young Dale as her producer, and he has to try and act as a handbrake to stop her from doing too many grim stories about HIV-positive single mums.
At least, that's the plan. By halfway through the stupidly entertaining first episode, Dale has badly bungled his first attempt at reading a news bulletin and Helen has been fired and had a nervous breakdown. The original news-breaking odd couple look like they could be over before they began – until a major disaster gives them a chance to prove their mettle.
Pachinko (Apple TV+)
Adapted from Min Jin Lee's sweeping 2017 historical novel about a Korean family that immigrates to Japan, Pachinko's story of hardship, discrimination and the struggle to build a better life for the next generation spans the best part of the 20th century. Characters come and go over that time but the one consistent presence throughout the series is matriarch Sunja, played by three actors but mostly Youn Yuh Jung (the grandma from Minari). One branch of her family tree does go into the pachinko business, but it's not the main focus of the series or anything.
Halo (TVNZ OnDemand)
We cross now to the 26th century, where, in good news, it appears we survived the immediate threat of global warming, and in bad news, we're now at war with a military alliance of alien races. Based on one of the main video games to normalise wearing a headset and sitting in a computer chair that looks like it belongs in a race car, the storyline of big-budget sci-fi of the Halo TV series exists completely separate from the game franchise, with the show's creators going so far as to claim they never even looked at or talked about the game when making it.
Life & Beth (Disney+)
Beth is a nearly-40-year-old who has it all – an apartment that doesn't seem to have a bathroom door, a man she's started calling her partner because at a certain age "boyfriend" just sounds weird, a sales job at a wine distribution company. She is happy, truly, she insists to anyone she thinks might even entertain the notion that she's not. Then a Major Life Event happens and forces her to reassess and rebuild. It's still Amy Schumer, just not quite the full-noise Amy Schumer we're used to. And this quieter, more reflective comedy might be the best thing she's done yet.
Movie of the Week: Old (Neon)
Are we all still acting like we're too cool for M Night Shyamalan movies and their big spectacular twists? Grow up. His latest (and according to some critics best since The Sixth Sense) thriller is about a secluded beach that rapidly ages anybody who sets foot on it – you go for a swim and come back to find your kids are all grown up and your spouse is a skeleton, and there's a secret code you have to crack if you want to get out of there alive. How can you not be entertained by that?
From the Vault: Every James Bond movie (Amazon Prime Video, from Wednesday)
If you've ever wanted to do your own Alan Partridge-style James Bond movie marathon, the logistics side of things is about to get a whole lot easier: every Bond movie ever is coming to Amazon Prime Video this week. Cancel all your Easter weekend plans and chart a course from Dr No to No Time To Die – don't forget to put the roast on as soon as you see the moon buggy in Diamonds Are Forever.
Podcast of the Week: BioHacked: Family Secrets
So you do one of those commercial DNA tests where you spit in a tube and send it away. A couple of weeks later you get your results back and it says you're 50 per cent Ashkenazi Jewish and you think, "that's weird, nobody in my family is Jewish but oh well". Then a couple of weeks after that you get a message from the website you uploaded your DNA to, telling you that you have a biological half-sister you didn't know about.
This is just the beginning of the wild story that kicks off the new podcast series BioHacked: Family Secrets. It's a story host TJ Raphael was told and couldn't stop thinking about so decided to make a podcast about it, basically – how her friend found out she was "donor-conceived" from a DNA test, and how she and her new half-sister set out to find their anonymous biological father and their untold number of other half-siblings.
It's an intimate, personal story that opens up a huge number of wider questions about the US fertility industry, which seems to have had surprisingly few checks and balances in place all this time. Now it's all coming out in the wash, and it makes for hugely compelling listening.
