Tara Ward: Rivals, The Diplomat, The Office Australia

Rivals 

David Tennant and Aidan Turner star in the small-screen version of Jilly Cooper’s novel set in 1980's England about a rivalry between two powerful men that takes over their lives (Disney+).  

The Diplomat  

British consul Laura Simmonds and her Barcelona colleague Alba Ortiz fight to protect British nationals in trouble in the Catalan city. Their diplomatic skills are stretched to the limit by the cases that walk through the Consul's doors (Neon).

The Office Australia  

Hannah Howard is the managing director of packaging company Flinley Craddick. When she gets news from Head Office that they will be shutting down her branch and making everyone work from home, she goes into survival mode, making promises she can’t keep in order to keep her “work family” together. The staff of Flinley Craddick indulge her and must endure Hannah’s outlandish plots as they work toward the impossible targets that have been set for them (Prime Video). 

 

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Right now it is time to get our screen time
picks for this weekend. Tara awards our screen time experts.
She has the tough gig of watching heaps of different
shows for watching and streaming that she can recommend to us. Hey, Tara,
good morning Jack.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
It's a tough job.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
It is such a tough gig. Someone's got to do it.
Someone's got to curl off on the couch, you know.
But the thing is, we have really come to trust
your tastes on this front. Oh, no pressure. Yeah, so
tell us tell us first all this morning about a
new show streaming on Disney Plus Rivals.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah. This is one of the most fun shows I've
watched in ages. This is the TV adaptation of the
Jilly Cooper book Rivals, which was published in the eighties
and has quite a reputation for being a bit of
a steamy read. Well, Disney Plus have brought the book
to life and given us this really big energy, big hair,
delicious nightteen eighties drama. It comes with a fantastic cast.

(01:02):
It stars David Tennant and Aidan Turner. Set in the
mid eighties in this upper class English horse riding set
of people. The plot is almost not important, but the
main storyline is about two rival journalists, Rupert Campbell Black
and Tony Baddingham even the names of fabulous, who are
both very powerful and trying to take each other down

(01:23):
amid all this fabulous nineteen eighties excess of champagne and
concord flying and very indulgent lifestyles. And you know from
the opening scene you know where you are with this show.
It's about fabulously terrible people doing fabulously terrible things, and
it's just having such a great time. It's a romp
of a show. It's a satire. It's got some swagger

(01:43):
to it. Obviously, the book was written thirty years ago,
so there's stuff in there that you know, is probably
a bit problematic from today's perspective, but the show is
sort of giving a cheeky wink to some of that.
It's quite self aware, as if to say, look, you know,
we wouldn't say these things today, but it was the eighties.
That are awful people. We're going to run with it
a bit. So I just love this. It's well made,

(02:05):
it's well, it's over the top but it's so confident
and just so much fun.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Superb sounds great. That is Rivals. It's on Disney Plus
on Neon. A show I'm excited about. Tell us about
The Diplomat.

Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, so this is a BBC drama on Neon, And
there is a show called The Diplomat on Netflix. But
this is on Neon and quite different to the other one.
But if you're looking for something a bit more sedate
and quiet, this is a great choice. This stars Sophie Rundle.
It's set in Barcelona and it's about a group of
British diplomats who work in the British Consul in Catalonia.

(02:38):
So it's their job to help any British citizens who
get into trouble or who need some help. And the
series opens with an unexplained death of a British man.
The police think it's an accident, the victim's father think
it's murder, and the staff at the console become evolved
and so each week, each episode there's a different situation
that they need to help with, working with the police

(02:59):
and locals. But this is a bit of an unusual
show and that it's not really a political thriller or
a spy draw or a murder mystery of the week
type show. It's got a bit of It's got elements
of each of those genres in it. So it's very light,
lots of likable characters. I think it will get tenser
as it goes on. But it's filmed in location in

(03:20):
Barcelona as well, which just gives it such a wonderful setting.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yeah nice, I mean, you can't really go wrong, can you.
And on Prime Video The Office Australia.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
This is the latest version of the global hit mockumentary
comedy series The Office. Of course, it started in the
UK with Ricky Gervase and then we had the very
popular American series with Steve Carrell, and now we've got
the Australian version, which has been written and directed by
New Zealander the wonderful Jackie van Beek. Set in the
office of a packaging company, and so it feels very

(03:51):
familiar in a lot of ways. It's got all those
traits of the office, the looks to camera and the
awkward silences, those office politics. But the Australian version is
a little different in that it features the first female boss,
Hannah Howard, who's played by Felicity Ward and Josh Shompson
and Edith Paul are in this as well to other
New Zealanders. Now, I'm not a loyal fan of the Office,

(04:12):
so my opinion might be different to people who really
love the show and are very loyal to a particular franchise.
But I liked this. It's not as awkward and uncomfortable
as the British one, and I think it's just going
to get more self assured and sort of find its
own niche as it goes on. You know, it feels familiar,
but it also feels fresh, and there's some genuine laugh
out moments, laugh out loud moments in there as well.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Oh fantastic. Okay, that's the Office Australia. That's on Prime Video.
The Diplomat is the one set in Bartholona that's on
Neon and on Disney Plus. You can see the one
with David Tennant and Aidan Turner that is rivaled. All
of those shows up on the News Talks 'DB website.
You Know the Deal.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to Newstalk Z'B from nine am Saturday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio,