Chris Sumpter as Spencer, Aya Furukawa as Natsuki, Sauriyan Sapkota as Amesh in episode 110 of The Midnight Club. Photo / Supplied
Chris Sumpter as Spencer, Aya Furukawa as Natsuki, Sauriyan Sapkota as Amesh in episode 110 of The Midnight Club. Photo / Supplied
Peacock (TVNZ+)
It's just another Mandem Monday. For personal trainer Ashley Peacock and his friend group, this is a longstanding weekly ritual based around binge-drinking and banter, those two central tenets of lad culture. But this Monday, the Mandem are making their excuses early – before the first round ofsambuca shots, even. Things like "wives" "kids" and "work" are mentioned. This is the kind of thing that starts happening when you are suddenly, unexpectedly in your mid-30s.
Peacock, the new series from the makers of cult classic mockumentary People Just Do Nothing, is the modern tragicomedy of the last lad standing, the one who was so busy enjoying being young that he simply forgot to grow up.
Played by Allan Mustafa (PJDN's MC Grindah), the title character is like a young David Brent, right down to the little goatee – childish, insecure, woefully self-aware, but ultimately a more-or-less sympathetic figure. Here he is trying to convince his date he's got his own place when really he's just installed a letterbox outside the upstairs bit of his mum's place. He's got his seduction technique down to a fine art – voice-activated "sensual" playlist, espresso martini, massive star projector on the ceiling – but somehow no one finds that attractive anymore.
But the straw that breaks the camel's back and forces him to rethink his priorities is learning his last childless friend – the one who lives on a houseboat, for goodness sake – is expecting a baby. And partly also necking a whole bottle of mushroom drops and having a major freak out in the bathroom.
While more modest in its ambitions than the era-defining PJDN, Peacock focuses on what its creators do best – big characters, little details, and knowing exactly how much-unspoken comedy there is in a slightly-too-old man wearing a slightly-too-long beanie.
Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire (AMC+)
Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire (AMC+). Photo / Supplied
Ladies and gentlemen, there is a new streaming service in town, and this one has exclusive rights to all Anne Rice IP. What that means is a new TV adaptation of her debut and most famous novel Interview with the Vampire. For those unfamiliar with the Pitt/Cruise 90s heart-throb film version, it's the epic tale of two vampire lovers as told to a newspaper reporter writing what we can only assume to be the wildest Sunday mag cover feature ever. This version restores a lot of the original novel's homosexual elements, which were minimised in the 90s film adaptation.
Let the Right One In (Neon, from Monday)
Let the Right One In (Neon, from Monday). Photo / Supplied
In what can only be described as a really big week for TV adaptations of famous vampire novels, we're also getting a new TV adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's Let the Right One In. This adaptation of the former stand-up comedian's story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who befriends a strange girl seemingly the same age as him is set in New York City and focuses more on the relationship between the vampiric tween and her dad, who has to go out and harvest human blood for her. You'll never complain about your kids demanding St Pierre's sushi again.
The Midnight Club (Netflix)
It's an especially big week for TV adaptations of scary books in general, with a new series from The Haunting of Hill House fright merchant Mike Flanagan, based on the 90s YA novel by Christopher Pike (the author you read when you got too old for Goosebumps). A group of terminally ill young hospice patients meet up at midnight to share spooky stories and make a pact that the first of them to die has to make an attempt to communicate with the others from beyond the grave. An absolutely classic set-up to an absolutely classic fright fest.
Movie of the Week: Catherine Called Birdy (Prime Video)
Medieval England, meet Lena Dunham. Sounds a lot like one of those Simpsons episodes you always skip when rewatching, but it's actually a hugely enjoyable adaptation of the beloved 1994 children's novel by Karen Cushman. Bella Ramsey (The Worst Witch) plays Lady Catherine (aka Birdy), a spirited 13th-century teenager who goes to great lengths to avoid getting married off for money by her rotten father. Dunham has apparently been scheming to make this movie version since back in the Girls days, and her enthusiasm for the project translates into a film that's as fun to watch as it must have been to make.
From the Vault: Halt and Catch Fire (2014) (AMC+)
The major hidden gem of the AMC+ catalogue is one of those shows very few people watched when it first came out, but those who did insist it's one of the greatest shows ever made. The four-season tech drama is set during the 1980s and 90s dawn of personal computers, following the staff of a software company perpetually riding the waves of the fast-growing industry without ever coming close to achieving the kind of Apple or Microsoft-style success you might expect. A smart, well-written, hugely absorbing drama once you get into it.
Podcast of the Week: Can I Tell You a Secret
Here's a bit of free cyber security advice: if someone you don't know messages you asking "Can I tell you a secret," it's probably not a good idea to message back. That advice may or may not have helped the many victims of Matthew Hardy, an incredibly prolific harmful digital communicator whose story, as told by the Guardian's Sirin Kale, doubles as a kind of social history of the last decade or so of social media.
It starts out in the early days of Facebook, with Hardy creating fake accounts to impersonate his schoolmates, spreading rumours and starting drama. Even from the beginning, there's little mystery as to the identity of the person behind all this – but while everybody knows it's him, they seem powerless to prevent his trail of destruction. As Instagram takes over as the dominant social media platform, the offending expands beyond local boundaries, and also grows more serious.
The mystery, then, isn't who, but why – and how did it go on for so long? Where last year's catfishing hit Sweet Bobby met a virtual closed door when it tried to ask that question, this series manages to go a lot deeper, and let's just say things aren't as black and white as they might seem at first.
