"The Newsreader" was a bit of a spur of the moment choice, I hadn't heard of it, but I do like Anna Torv and thought I'd give it a go. Glad I did, as it's an excellently acted drama about the inner workings of a newsroom in Australia, in 1986.
Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) is a researcher and segment producer for a high-profile nightly news show. He becomes close with Helen (Anna Torv) one of the co-anchors, whose professionalism on camera belies a fairly catastrophic personal life. The pair become close when the Challenger explosion forces Dale into an on-camera role. Anna's co-anchor is legendary Lindsay Cunningham (William McInnes) whose health is starting to fail and both his wife, and the Network, are keen on him taking a less high-profile position, but he is reluctant.
The show could, I suppose, have been set in almost any environment as it's really an office drama, about the relationships between the characters involved. The TV news setting does provide an added pressure to be accurate and quick though, one which the show uses increasingly as it runs on. The time period also allows the show to integrate a large number of real-life events, such as Lindy Chamberlain's release and the Chernobyl disaster into the storylines.
Anna Torv has played somewhat aloof professional women before, but Helen has some demons that she gets to work with, and her relationship with Dale is nicely played, even though we, the audience, know that it's doomed to failure (and why) from the start. The shows reaction to the HIV crisis and the demonization of gay men at the time in the media is redone here and it's I do think it's a good argument for anyone who questions the validity of Pride events to see what it used to be like, not even that long ago.
The performances are good, even one's that initially seem to be a bit one note develop as the season runs on. I did not think that sports reporter Rob Rickard would be character I cared about at all, but I was invested by the end. And at only six episodes, it doesn't outstay its welcome.
Great stuff, criminally underseen on this side of the . . . Planet, I guess, hopefully the BBC push it a little more with season two.
Dale Jennings (Sam Reid) is a researcher and segment producer for a high-profile nightly news show. He becomes close with Helen (Anna Torv) one of the co-anchors, whose professionalism on camera belies a fairly catastrophic personal life. The pair become close when the Challenger explosion forces Dale into an on-camera role. Anna's co-anchor is legendary Lindsay Cunningham (William McInnes) whose health is starting to fail and both his wife, and the Network, are keen on him taking a less high-profile position, but he is reluctant.
The show could, I suppose, have been set in almost any environment as it's really an office drama, about the relationships between the characters involved. The TV news setting does provide an added pressure to be accurate and quick though, one which the show uses increasingly as it runs on. The time period also allows the show to integrate a large number of real-life events, such as Lindy Chamberlain's release and the Chernobyl disaster into the storylines.
Anna Torv has played somewhat aloof professional women before, but Helen has some demons that she gets to work with, and her relationship with Dale is nicely played, even though we, the audience, know that it's doomed to failure (and why) from the start. The shows reaction to the HIV crisis and the demonization of gay men at the time in the media is redone here and it's I do think it's a good argument for anyone who questions the validity of Pride events to see what it used to be like, not even that long ago.
The performances are good, even one's that initially seem to be a bit one note develop as the season runs on. I did not think that sports reporter Rob Rickard would be character I cared about at all, but I was invested by the end. And at only six episodes, it doesn't outstay its welcome.
Great stuff, criminally underseen on this side of the . . . Planet, I guess, hopefully the BBC push it a little more with season two.
