MAY 26 2018 LISTENER 65
EUROTREASURE: Is it our
imagination, or has the
Eurovision Song Con-
test become less nutty?
The songs don’t sound
markedly dierent
from ordinary annoying
Top-40 bangers and the
performances are high-
school-level Beyoncé.
At the final in Lisbon,
the UK entry was a pedestrian number sung by
SuRie about weathering the storm, although
the protester who grabbed her microphone
livened up her performance: tinyurl.com/NZLSuRie.
The favourite was Greece’s Eleni Foureira, who
sexed it up with her fiery number Fuego: tinyurl.
com/NZLFuego. However, the votes on the night
went to Israel’s Netta, who at least has a bit
of the old Eurovision quirk with her song Toy:
tinyurl.com/NZLNettaToy.BRITPOP: After Stephen Hawking and Winston
Churchill, New Zealander Anthony McCarten
turns his attention to another British institution:
Queen (the rock band, not the ruler). Bohemian
Rhapsody, out in October, covers the 15 years
from the band’s formation in the 1970s to their
Live Aid performance in 1985. The film had a
rocky start, losing both director Bryan Singer
and its first Freddie Mercury, Sacha Baron
Cohen. However, Mr Robot’s Rami Malek was
signed to play Mercury, and with Brian May and
Roger Taylor co-producing, there’s plenty of
original music. Trailer at tinyurl.com/NZLBohemian.the moxie to pull off a story in
which she plays a 40-year-old
who pretends to be a mil-
lennial so she can get a job.
Created by Darren Star (Sex and
the City), the show does speak
to the zeitgeist, in particular
to the question of employ-
ment opportunities for older
women. As Foster’s Liza finds a
job with a publisher of books
aimed at millennials, there’s
plenty of pop culture and book
references, from George RR
Martin to hygge. In fact there
are so many literary references,
it’s as if Star and Sherman-
Palladino had a baby. Box Sets
is screening season one today,
with seasons two, three and
four on subsequent Tuesdays.
Back (Comedy Central, Sky 011,
9.15pm). David Mitchell and
Robert Webb play to their
strengths in this new comedy
series, in which Mitchell is the
exasperated and undervalued
family member to Webb’s
teeth-grindingly annoying
cuckoo in the nest. It’s created
by Simon Blackwell, a Peep
Show writer (and The Thick of
It, In the Loop and Veep) and
features a son (Mitchell) who
returns to take over the family
pub after the death of his
father. Enter Webb, a former
foster child who remembers
his stay with the family as
the happiest time of his life.
Blackwell often takes the story
in unexpected directions
and Mitchell is sarcastic and
hilarious. In addition, Louise
Brealey, who plays his sister,
“has been in danger of stealing
the show”, said the Guardian.SVU: Special Victims Unit (Three,
9.30pm). Nice to see they’ve
found something to do with
Philip Winchester after Chicago
Justice, No 4 in Dick Wolf’sOnlineby FIONA RAE
Catch of the Week
escape of Allied prisoners,
which was through the forests
and mountains of Slovenia.
It was known as The Flight
of the Crow because it was
orchestrated by an Australian
soldier nicknamed the Crow,
Ralph Churches.
With the help of partisans,
Churches decamped from a
railway work site with about
120 prisoners of war, including
12 Australians and nine New
Zealanders. Over two weeks,
they trudged 285km to Semic,
a village near the border with
Croatia.
In the other episodes, Halls
meets a 98-year-old who
escaped across Italy’s Majella
mountains in winter; recounts
the story of SAS soldiers’
escape across the Apuan
Alps in northern Tuscany; and
meets soldiers who survived
one of the toughest routes in
Europe, across the Pyrenees
from France to Spain.SVOD HIGHLIGHT: What’s
good in subscription
video on demand. New
Zealander Andrew Niccol
has another film out too.
Anon, on Netflix, is a cool
techno-noir with a touch
of Black Mirror. It features
a future world where eye
implants upload everything into the “ether”.
When a murderer starts hacking the system, a
detective (Clive Owen) is led to a woman with
no digital footprint (Amanda Seyfried).Eleni FoureiraAnonBack, Tuesday.