In this bonus TV Gold episode, Bay of Fires cast member Ilai Swindles (Sammi the tech expert) talks with Andrew and James about working on the hit ABC drama co-created by Marta Dusseldorp. We go behind the scenes to hear about the casting, filming on location in western Tasmania and how the cast were greeted by the locals.

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Reviews this week of two Australian productions, a US family saga and a British medical drama.

• Bay of Fires S2 (ABC iview, 8 episodes)
Season 2 of Marta Dusseldorp’s Bay of Fires sees her taking charge of the strange community that inhabits Mystery Bay.

• Little Disasters (ABC iview, 6 episodes)
This British psychological medical thriller explores female friendships and motherhood. An impressive ensemble cast is led by Diane Kruger and Jo Joyner.

• The Waterfront (Netflix, 8 episodes)
A US drama series from the creator of Dawson’s Creek about the fictional Buckley family. Set against the backdrop of coastal North Carolina, The Waterfront explores family dynamics and the lengths people will go to when their legacy is on the line.

• The Surfer (Stan, movie)
When a surfer (played by Nicolas Cage) returns to Australia to buy back his family home after many years in the US, he is humiliated in front of his teenage son by a group of local surfers who claim ownership over the secluded beach of his childhood. Being hailed by some as a cult classic, The Surfer was shot in a single location in Yallingup in Western Australia.

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Mix Tape (Binge/Foxtel, 4 episodes)
An Australian/Ireland co-production telling the story of a teenage romance in Sheffield which ends abruptly with some unanswered questions. Later in life the former lovers reconnect which impacts their current relationships. Young lovers Alison and Daniel steel the show.

Mr Loverman (Binge/Foxtel, 8 episodes)
Lennie James stars as Barry. The flamboyant dresser is a celebrity in Hackney, but he carries a secret none in the family or his community know about. Will revealing it cause pain for his family and friends?

Echo Valley (AppleTV+ movie)
Justifiably being billed as an “edge-of-your-seat thriller” starring Julianne Moore as Kate, who goes to extraordinary lengths to help her troubled daughter Claire, played by Sydney Sweeney.

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Four impressive series this week that all were in the running for TV Gold Show of the Week.

• The Survivors (Netflix, 6 episodes)
Producer Tony Ayres has crafted a murder mystery set in Tasmania that will keep you guessing until the final episode. Great cast led by Robyn Malcolm and Damien Garvey.

• Brassic (SBS On Demand and Netflix, 6 seasons)
Hilarious British comedy series set in Northern England which has somehow evaded TV Gold until its sixth season. More great performances here including co-creator Joe Gilgun and Andrew Mercado favourite Michelle Keegan.

• Dept Q (Netflix, 9 episodes)
Detective Carl Morck (played by Matthew Goode) isn’t particularly easy to get along with. Morck is a notorious figure in his adopted home of Edinburgh, Scotland, an English detective who gets under the skin of everyone around him. Watch it for Goode’s lead role, but stay for the brilliant work of co-star Chloe Pirrie.

• This City Is Ours (Stan, 8 episodes)
Sean Bean stars in this crime drama set and filmed in Liverpool, with additional filming in Spain. This City is Ours is the story of Michael (James Nelson-Joyce), a man who for all of his adult life has been involved in organised crime. Bean the the crime family patriarch and there’s lots of family drama playing out across the eight episodes.

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This week two dramas about sisters and the much anticipated movie from Succession creator Jesse Armstrong.

• Sirens (Netflix, 5 episodes)

Watch for the exploration of the relationship between working-class Buffalonian Devon DeWitt (Meghann Fahy) and her younger and somewhat more successful sister Simone (Milly Alcock). Stay for the husband and wife dynamics between socialite Michaela Kell (Julianne Moore) at the lavish beachside estate she shares with her billionaire husband, Peter (Kevin Bacon).

• The Better Sister (Prime Video, 8 episodes)

A thriller that centres around Chloe (Jessica Biel), a high-profile media executive (think Anna Wintour), who lives a picturesque life with her handsome lawyer husband Adam (Corey Stoll) and teenage son Ethan (Maxwell Acee Donovan) by her side while her estranged sister Nicky (Elizabeth Banks) struggles to make ends meet and stay clean.

• Mountainhead (Max, movie)

A story about four very nasty tech tycoons, good friends on the surface but cutthroat underneath, who gather for a poker weekend at the luxurious home of the poorest of them, the one who is only worth half a billion dollars!

Jason Schwartzman is Hugo, the host and creator of a meditation app, angling to get one of his friends to invest a billion or so in his business.

Steve Carell is Randy, the oldest of the group, whose contacts in Washington, DC can influence the military and the country's power grid. Diagnosed with incurable cancer, he can't believe money can't fix that, but hopes to cheat death by getting his friends to create an artificial intelligence able to upload a human brain.

Ramy Youssef is Jeff, whose company has a super-efficient AI, and who appears to be the most humane of the four (which isn't saying much).

Cory Michael Smith is Ben, the owner of a social media app called Traan, and the world’s richest man.

Also this week – James visits Clarkson’s pub which features in the new season of Clarkson’s Farm (prime Video) and Andrew has watched new And Just Like That (Binge).

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Nicole Kidman is back running her unconventional wellness retreat, we get to learn a lot about the life and times of Pee-Wee Herman and there’s a messy child mix-up in Playing Nice.

• Nine Perfect Strangers (S2, Prime Video, 8 episodes)

The new season relocates the action to the Austrian Alps and features nine new characters who have been lured to attend another unconventional wellness retreat led by Masha Dmitrichenko, portrayed again by Nicole Kidman.

• Pee-Wee As Himself (Max, 2 episodes)

Justifiably labelled as the definitive portrait of the comedic performer, and a window into his never before discussed personal life. Woven together from over 40 hours of interview footage filmed before Paul Reubens’ premature death in 2023, 1,000 hours of archival footage, and tens of thousands of never-before-seen photographs from his personal collections.

• Playing Nice (SBS, 4 episodes)

Two families, one devastating secret involving their young families. James Norton, Niamh Algar and Jessica Brown Findlay star. Lives unravel and loyalties are tested in the gripping thriller.

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Something for all tastes this episode from science fiction comedy to British drama, a cross-European road trip and an all-star comedy tribute.

• Bergerac, (iview, 6 episodes)

A reboot of the classic British 1980s drama this time with Damien Moloney in the lead role of Jersey detective Jim Bergerac. He gets great support from Zoe Wanamaker as his mother-in-law which is one of the series highpoints.

• Murderbot (AppleTV+, 10 episodes)

Alexander Skarsgård stars in this sci-fi thriller/comedy about a self-hacking security construct (robot) who is horrified by human emotion yet drawn to its vulnerable clients. All it really wants is to be left alone to watch futuristic soap operas and figure out a place in the universe. A familiar dilemma many of us face.

• The Serial Killer’s Wife (Paramount+, 4 episodes)

Beth (Annabel Scholey) is shocked when her husband Tom (Jack Farthing), a village doctor, is arrested on suspicion of being a serial killer. His wife investigates with his best friend and more evidence emerges, forcing her to question if she really knows the man she married.

• Long Way Home (AppleTV+, 10 episodes)

The fourth instalment of a motorbike ride by best friends Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman sees them travel on refurbished vintage motorbikes from Ewan’s home in Scotland to Charley’s in England — but rather than take the shortest route, they go the long way around Scandinavia visiting a total of 17 countries.

• Conan O'Brien: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor (Netflix special)

Through his work on the animated series The Simpsons, late-night shows (Saturday Night Live, Late Night, and The Tonight Show), podcasts, and more, Conan O’Brien has been making audiences laugh for 40 years. Now the Kennedy Center has recognised his contributions to comedy by presenting him with the 26th Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.

The special features appearances by Adam Sandler, Andy Richter, John Mulaney, Stephen Colbert, Nikki Glaser, Sarah Silverman, Bill Burr, Will Ferrell, Kumail Nanjiani, and David Letterman

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Just two major series, both UK dramas, are reviewed this episode and the Show of the Week vote is split! Plus Andrew catches up with Etoile.

The Teacher (8 episodes, 9Now)

The second season has little to do with the first series which starred Sheridan Smith. A new cast and a ramped up plot in S2 starts with promiscuous teachers on a school excursion. The first episode takes nasty turn when a student goes missing and the teachers are implicated in a murder investigation.

The Stolen Girl (5 episodes, Disney+)

Denise Gough is great playing a mother who realises her daughter won’t be coming back from a playdate one day after school. Strong performances too from Holliday Grainger as the abductor and Ambika Mod as a dogged journalist covering the abduction.

Andrew also hands in his homework – watching the series Etoile which was first reviewed a week ago by James. He was pleasantly surprised.

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