Tara Ward: Death Valley, I, Jack Wright, The Beast in Me

Death Valley  

Retired actor John Chapel and detective sergeant Janie Mallowan team up to investigate murders each week in Wales (TVNZ+, TVNZ1 from Sunday). 

 

I, Jack Wright  

When Jack Wright dies in what appears to be a suicide, Sally faces an earth-shattering revelation about her husband's will and DCI Morgan makes a shocking discovery (ThreeNow). 

 

The Beast in Me 

Author Aggie Wiggs has receded from public life since the death of her young son, unable to write, a ghost of her former self; but she finds an unlikely subject for a new book when the house next door is bought by Nile Jarvis (Netflix). 

 

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Ab Tara Award is our screen time expert. It is
her grave responsibility to come in this time every week
with three shows to recommend for watching or streaming at home.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Ylda Tara count Jacket's a responsibility I take very seriously.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
I wouldn't expect anything less from Utah. What a professional
you are. I am really looking forward to your first
recommendation this morning because I love Timothy Spaull. Tell us
about Death Valley.

Speaker 3 (00:38):
Yeah, this is a charming new British murder mystery series
Cozy Crime, I guess you call it. It stars Timothy Spall,
who plays an actor a national treasure who became famous
for playing a police detective on a long running TV
show in the UK, and he since retired from acting
and moved to a village in Wales where he has
become quite reclusive. Doesn't go out, isn't very friendly, doesn't

(01:01):
talk to anyone. But one of his neighbors dies in
suspicious circumstances and a detective knocks on his door one
day to see if he knows anything about the death.
And the detective is a young woman who was a
big fan of his TV show. She has some on
all the Dock's methods of investigation and they forge this
unlikely friendship and Timothy Spools character can't help himself from

(01:23):
getting involved in the case after all his years of
playing a detective on screen, and so together it's kind
of a murder case of the Week kind of show.
Each week they're going to solve a mysterious death in
this beautiful little village in Wales. And so if you
like Doc Martin, or if you like the Broken Wood mysteries,
you will like this as well. It's funny, it's charming,
it's got this gorgeous setting. It's very familiar. You know,

(01:46):
this is nothing groundbreaking, and the murder cases aren't the
side level complex, but it's about the quirky villagers and
the humor. It's not taking itself too seriously. It's one
of those warm, funny shows you can relax into on
a Sunday night and just enjoy it.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Oh so good. Okay, So that starts tomorrow on TVNZ
one and TVNZ Plus. It's called Death Valley. Next up
a show on three Now tell Us about I Jack.

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Right, Yeah, another British drama. This is a thriller made
by Chris Lang, who created the brilliant show Unforgotten, and
it's about the chaos that happens after a wealthy man
called Jack Wright dies. Jack's death initially looks like a suicide,
and it brings all his family together, his children, his
two wives, some loyal employees to his funeral and to

(02:34):
the reading of his will, and everyone there is anticipating
that they are about to inherit a huge fortune. But
the will reveals that Jack has left barely anything to
his family, and the autopsy shows that his death was
probably a murder. And so this feels a bit like
a cross between succession, with all the different family and
friends squabbling and vying for power and money and god

(02:58):
like an Agatha Christie sort of murder mystery, with lots
of connected characters who are all hiding something, who all
have secrets. There's lots of mysterious mysteries to be untangled here,
and it's done in quite a fun, over the top
way that pokes fun at people's greed and jealousy. What
I would say is that episode one is setting up
a lot of things, so just hanging there until the

(03:18):
end when the will is read, because that really kick
starts the conflict and the drama. But this is quite
a fun, juicy murder mystery about some very badly behaved
people who will do whatever it takes to get what
they want.

Speaker 2 (03:32):
Nice. Okay, So that's eye Jack right, that's on three now.
And another thriller on Netflix. Clear Danes and Matthew Reese
are in the Beast of the Beast in Me.

Speaker 3 (03:41):
Yeah, And a new psychological thriller dropped on Netflix this week.
And if you like a Harlan Coben thriller on Netflix,
I think you're like this as well. This stars Clear
Danes and Matthew Reese, who both give amazing performances in this.
Claire Danes plays Aggie, who is a Pulleitzerprize award winning writer.
She's struggling to finish her next book after the death
of her young son in the breakup of her marriage,

(04:03):
and she lives alone in a very big house in
a wealthy name the hood on Long Island. Matthew Reese
plays her creeping new neighbor, Nile, who is also famous
or infamous for being the number one suspect in the
suspicious death of his wife a few years earlier, and
strange things start to happen once Nile moves in. That

(04:23):
makes Eggie want to find out whether he did kill
his wife or not, and so she decides to write
her next book about him instead. And so there's this
tense cat and mouse game between the two of them.
They both really need each other, and they both find
each other quite intriguing, but they're both also extremely suspicious.
And this is just one of Netflix's reliable, bingeable, tense

(04:44):
psychological thrillers. You know, it's got cliches in't it, But
I think you can overlook them because it's fast paced,
it's easy to watch, and I think the performances from
Claar Danes and Matthew Rece really lift this up and
make it worth watching.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Okay, cool, So that's the beast in me. It's on Netflix.
I Jack Right, Jack Right? Is Jack Right with a W.
It is on three now and the one with Timothy
Spaul that's called Death Valley. It's on TV and ZED
one starts tomorrow and of course on TV and Z Plus.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks ed B from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio