Madden brothers on the set of The Voice. Photo / supplied
Madden brothers on the set of The Voice. Photo / supplied
The Voice Australia
Usually The Voice Australia has four coaches warring with each other. This new series will have one possibly at war with itself.
But Benji Madden has warned fans not to get concerned with the heated arguments between himself and his twin brother, Joel, on the show.
It's just the way the twins communicate, minus the fisticuffs they used to have growing up, says Benji.
He even suggested the producers add a disclaimer that the brothers, who form the Madden coaching team on the series, will act as they do in real life and not alter their persona or their relationship for national TV.
"It will definitely come off as an argument sometimes, but that's just how we communicate and we've been doing it for so long," Benji said.
"We love each other, and while we may not have been shown, growing up, how to resolve conflict, ... it never comes to blows," Benji said.
"When we were younger we fought, but that's what kids do, right?" Benji is one of three new faces in the spinning chairs.
Delta Goodrem replaces Kylie Minogue and British popstar Jessie J has stepped in for Will.i.am, while Latino star Ricky Martin is back for a third season.
Jessie J was hospitalised this week for a mystery operation but she appears in the opening episode of the new series, which was recorded months ago.
It will be easy to pick which is Benji and Joel while they are sitting in the red swivel chairs, but viewers may find it difficult to work out who's who when they're not seated.
Even their mother had difficult telling them apart when they were toddlers.
"When we were babies Mum had to dress one of us in one colour, like blue and green and she'd put a little mark on our hand or toe. She definitely had to sort us out," Benji said.
"The easiest way to tell us apart, I have tattoos on my neck ... and on the top of my hands, so when we are dressed up I can't cover the ones on my neck or my hands." He said he got the urge to be part of The Voice alongside Joel after working with his brother on The Voice Kids.
They're also at an advantage because they can cross-reference their thoughts with each other before slamming the button to spin the chair during the blind auditions.
"It gives us an advantage, because we have someone to bounce ideas off ... which will come off to some people as an argument," he said. "For me I am probably excited about a lot of things that are not new to Joel anymore and I have fresh ears and new energy."
When: Friday 7.30pm and Sundays at 7pm. Screening the following weekend after it screens in Australia Where: TV2 What: New series of musical chairs, Oz style
Nightingale
David Oylewlo. Photo / Supplied
If his turn as Dr Martin Luther King in Selma wasn't proof enough that the British actor and former star of Spooks, David Oyelowo sure was a versatile actor, then Nightingale will likely confirm it.
The making of the HBO film predates the civil rights drama and the network picked it up after Oyelowo's profile rose in the US.
In it he plays a war veteran, mostly housebound and battling dissociative identity disorder. His character is the only one to be heard in one-sided conversations or online postings.
Oyelowo may be the only one who talks in the film but he's not the only one in the house. There's something a bit Norman Bates about him.
"It was a pretty trippy role to shake off, because he's having this perpetual internal dialogue, which the audience is having a glimpse into," Oyelowo told TimeOut, "and that's a very real reverberating sound to have around your head when you stay in it for three weeks. It's a cast of many but with just one dude."
Where: Soho When: Monday 9.30pm What: David Oyelowo's one-man psycho show
Run
Oilivia Colman. Photo / Supplied
This four-part British drama series takes on the unenviable task of telling a story about life on a council estate in a real and resonant manner, but sharp dialogue and generous acting from stars like Olivia Colman and Lennie James help it to succeed.
Run weaves together four stories of loosely connected people, struggling to make their way through lives laced with crime and hardship.
The first episode revolves around Carol (Colman), a single mum of two teenage boys, separated from her abusive partner, and working in a warehouse to make ends meet. Her sons, Terry and Dean, seem ungrateful and likely to go down the same path as their father, but to Carol they're still her boys.
One evening they commit an act of random violence that ends in the death of a stranger and although she doesn't know about it at first, when she discovers her sons' involvement in the killing, she turns to their estranged father, Kieran, for help, hoping for some clarity in what to do.
It's interesting to see Colman once again in a role where she has to confront the reality of a loved one's crimes (echoing Broadchurch), as she weighs the impossible choice between protecting them and doing the right thing.
