New Zealand Listener – August 24, 2019

66 LISTENER AUGUST 24 2019

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT

Peaky Blinders (UKTV, Sky

007, 9.30pm). Steven Knight’s

plan is seven seasons of Peaky

Blinders, his epic story of a

working-class Birmingham

crime family who rose from

poverty following World War

I. After winning the Bafta for

best drama series in 2018,

Knight said he wanted to tell

the story of the family between

wars “ending it with the first

air-raid siren in Birmingham”.

Knight has just two seasons to

go; here’s season five, hot off

the press from the UK and set

among the turmoil of the 1929

stock market crash. Tommy

Peaky Blinders, Monday.

Sky 006, 7.30pm). Season two

of the cosy Midsomer-esque

murder-mystery series. It’s

daytime telly in the UK and

therefore undemanding

and pleasant – if you don’t

count the dead bodies. Mark

Benton and Jo Joyner are the

Stratford-upon-Avon private

investigators of the title and

everyone has a Shakespeare-

adjacent name, including DI

Christine Marlowe (Amber

Aga) and the PIs’ flamboyant

assistant, Sebastian (Patrick

Walshe McBride). For a similar

murder-mystery experience,

Vibe is also screening season

Inside the Red Arrows (Prime,

Sunday, 7.30pm) lifts the veil

on the famous RAF aerobatics

team to reveal the training,

planning, practising and

preparation that go into one

of their spectacular shows.

The team are followed over

the course of a year as they

prepare for the RAF’s 100th

anniversary celebrations. Nat-

urally, the pilots are the stars,

but the work of the ground

crews, engineers and support

personnel gets a look-in, too.

The six-episode series begins

as a new team leader arrives

and starts working on a new,

ambitious show for the 2018

season, which includes a huge

Documentaries

Shelby (Cillian Murphy) is

about to become involved

with a young fascist politician

by the name of Oswald Mosley

(Sam Claflin), who has some

terrific ideas for Britain. “The

things that were happening

in the time that we’re setting

the series have an unbelievable

resonance to what’s going on

now,” Knight told the Radio

Times. Fun fact for music

nerds: Anna Calvi has written

the score for season five.

TUESDAY AUGUST 27

Shakespeare & Hathaway:

Private Investigators (Vibe,

Shakespeare &

Hathaway: Private

Investigators, Tuesday.

Inside the Red

Arrows, Sunday.