THE TWISTED TALE OF AMANDA KNOX
NEW EPISODES WEDNESDAYS, DISNEY+
It’s understandable why Amanda Knox would want to make this eight-part retelling of her arrest, trial, conviction, demonisation and eventual exoneration for the 2007 murder of her British flatmate, Meredith Kercher, while studying in picturesque Perugia.
The salacious story with sex, drugs and even Satanism that saw her dubbed Foxy Knoxy and spend four years in an Italian jail is absolutely hers to tell after all the indignities and injustices she suffered. Knox herself is on board as an executive producer for this well told dramatisation that draws from her books Waiting To Be Heard and Free and it’s presented as her chance to correct her “often mistold and madly twisted tale”.
By the same token, the producers are at pains to point out that liberties have been taken with characters and timelines and that knowledge – after movies inspired by the case and a 2016 Netflix documentary – can make it sometimes uneasy viewing.
Kercher’s sister last year said it was “difficult to understand” the purpose of series that puts the awfulness front and centre and again – and she has a point.
JAMES WIGNEY
Imagine coming home to find your apartment has been broken into and your housemate brutally slain.
Now imagine your confusion and frustration as you are interrogated for hours – in a foreign language – by police who seem hell bent on proving you are a cold-blooded, sex-crazed killer. This new true crime drama offers almost visceral insights into the bewilderment of American student Amanda Knox as she finds herself wrongly accused of murdering her British friend Meredith Kercher in 2007.
The trial, imprisonment and subsequent exoneration of Knox, which made headlines around the globe, are all detailed in this new series starring Grace Van Patten as Knox and Bad Sisters’ creator Sharon Horgan as her devoted mum.
Certainly, Knox is an imperfect victim. Her response to the tragedy – canoodling with her boyfriend at the crime scene, doing cartwheels in the police station and pointing the finger of blame at her boss during a “confession” – is far from textbook. And that’s partly what makes this series so compelling.
SIOBHAN DUCK
ADAM RICHMAN EATS FOOTBALL
WEDNESDAY, 9PM, SBS FOOD
It’s not often you hear fine dining and football mentioned in the same sentence, but American celebrity chef and world game enthusiast Adam Richman is out to change that in this series that travels around the UK finding ways to combine the two. His first stop is East London, home to West Ham United, a traditionally working class area that’s been gentrified and now has the culinary choices to prove it. From scoffing a pie and mash made from an 80-year-old recipe to sampling fancy wood pigeon on an up-market barge – and of course a match day curry – Richman looks like he’s having an absolute ball. Coming episodes will take him to Nottingham, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and Newcastle.
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR V MANCHESTER CITY
SATURDAY, 9.30PM, CHANNEL 9, 9NOW
What a joy to see the English Premier League back on free-to-air television with a game each week (the rest is on Stan, live or on demand). London club Tottenham Hotspur began its post Ange Postecoglou era in style last week with a convincing win over 3-0 win over Burnley, while the Manchester City machine also fired up early with 4-0 belting of Wolverhampton Wolves that sent them straight to the top of the table. Having won six of the last eight titles, City underperformed by their own lofty standards last season, so fans will be expecting a better showing to wrest the top dog status back from arch rivals Liverpool.
ROME UNDERGROUND
SUNDAY, 7.30PM, SBS
If you think any of the recent underground rail projects in Australia have been complicated, try digging holes in a city where hidden, ancient treasures lurk underneath just about every street. That’s the dilemma facing the engineers and archaeologists tasked with constructing a much needed extension to a rail line in the Eternal City, where nearly 3000 years of history are stacked on top of each other and only 10 per cent has been excavated. While trying to improve access to tourist hotspots such as the Colosseum and Piazza Venezia, they discover huge barracks with delicate mosaics and frescoes, and never-before-seen auditoriums and private houses, and have to figure out a way to balance the lessons of the past with progress.
AMERICA’S TEAM: THE GAMBLER AND HIS COWBOYS
With the new NFL season just over two weeks away, American football lovers can kick off a little early with this seven-part series on the rollercoaster ride that was Dallas Cowboys in the 1990s. Renegade owner Jerry Jones took over the popular Texas franchise known as “America’s Team” in 1989 and sacked its beloved two-time Super Bowl winning coach Tom Landry in favour of his firebrand friend Jimmy Johnson. Together they assembled a team of superstars that would dominate the decade with three championships – despite a string of scandals – and help turn it into a $9 billion juggernaut. Key players including Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith – aka the Triplets – are interviewed along with high-profile guests such as former President George W. Bush and Nike co-founder Phil Knight.
I, JACK WRIGHT
SUNDAY, 8.55PM, ABC
There are mysteries and mayhem aplenty in this pulpy six-part UK drama about an already volatile family thrown into further turmoil after the apparent suicide of its patriarch. The title character is a thrice-married hard man, who has pulled himself up by the bootstraps to preside over a 100 million pound brick business. But when he’s found dead on his country estate, seemingly with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, his wives, children, in-laws, colleagues and staff are all left wondering what will happen to his fortune. After gathering to see the old boy off at a boozy wake, the will reading that follows is nothing short of explosive, setting the stage for a family battle royal, while the cops investigate whether everything is as it seems.
OUTBACK TRUCKERS
TUESDAY, 8PM, 7MATE
Driving an enormous beast of a vehicle through the parched Aussie interior sounds like my idea of a nightmare, but there’s something strangely compelling about watching these resourceful and resilient pros performing an essential service in the toughest of conditions and weighing up the cost of time away from family. There’s veteran Steve, who is dragging an excavator through 1000km of blistering heat and rutted roads to an amethyst mine. Mike is delivering much needed firefighting equipment to a remote community, and performing emergency surgery on his malfunctioning rig. And Sludge is on the comeback trail after an accident and feeling the pressure to turn up on time for a very short shutdown window of the only rail line between the east and west sides of the country.
KILLER WHALE: AUSTRALIA’S MEGAPOD
TUESDAY, 8.30PM, ABC
Killer whales are all too often painted as the villains of nature docos – the bullies of the sea who bump adorable seals off slabs of ice or gang up to hunt down playful dolphins. And yes, they are absolutely partial to a sea lion snack or a cetacean canape, but they are also extraordinary and fascinating creatures with complex social structures and methods of communication.
This outstanding documentary, narrated by Richard Roxburgh, follows a couple of orca experts operating out of Bremer Bay in Western Australia as they track, tag and study a community of the ocean’s apex predators and make some extraordinary discoveries about an animal that developed a complex brain 30 million years before we did.
TENDING – PRINCES OF THE PALACE
STREAMING, TUBI
Whether it’s the revelation a jealous Prince Andrew made snarky comments about Kate Middleton or cringey home videos of Harry and Meghan Markle bumping and grinding in the delivery suite, the spare heirs keep making headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Having weathered Andrew’s car crash interview with Emily Maitlis and Harry’s biography Spare, the Palace is now dealing with the fallout of Andrew Lownie’s biography Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York which digs up more dirt on Randy Andy. Some of the lesser known the antics of Andrew, Harry and the House of Windsor’s other menfolk are also detailed in this salacious 2016 documentary.
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