Tara Ward: The Hack, Death by Lightning, Playing Gracie Darling

The Hack 

Examining the "News International" phone hacking scandal, through the work of Nick Davies, a journalist who uncovered evidence of phone hacking, as well as the investigation into the murder of Daniel Morgan, a private investigator (TVNZ+, from Sunday). 

 

Death by Lightning 

Presenting the story of James Garfield, who rose from obscurity to become America's 20th President and Charles Guiteau, the man who assassinated him (Netflix). 

 

Playing Gracie Darling 

When Joni's best friend Gracie vanished at 14 during a séance, it haunted her; 27 years on, a girl vanishes when a group of local kids are playing "Gracie Darling" and Joni must face her fears to uncover the truth (ThreeNow). 

 

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:11):
At b It is screen Time Time on your Saturday morning.
That's when Tara Reward, our screen time expert, joins us
every week with three shows to recommend for watching or
streaming at home.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Get a Tara that good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Lead's begin with a new show on TV and Z Plus.
It starts tomorrow. It's called The Hack.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
Yeah. This is a new British drama based on a
true story about one of the biggest media scandals of
recent times. It stars David Tennant and it's about the
investigation into the phone hacking at the News of the World,
where the newspaper hired private investigators to illegally hack the
phone messages of celebrities and politicians and people in the

(00:52):
news as a way of getting news stories. And David
Tennant plays Nick Davies, who's a journalist for The Guardian.
He gets a tip off about the hacking and digs
into this story and we see how the impact that
the story has on life. But there's also a second
storyline that starts in the second episode, where Robert Carlyle
plays a police detective who's investigating a murder cold Case,

(01:16):
and the two storylines do feel quite different, but they're
going to come together at some point. And this is
written by Jack Thorne, who wrote Adolescents and Toxic Town,
so we're in safe hands here and he's injected a
lot of energy into the story. There's a lot of
breaking the fourth wall and talking directly to the camera
and some surreal elements which makes what is quite a

(01:38):
big and complex and detailed story feel quite alive. It's
also got a great British cast. Toby Jones, Catherine Kelly,
Eve Miles also star. Lots of familiar faces if you
watch a lot of British dramas, and a bit like
mister Bates in the Post Office. This is one of
those real life stories that will get under your skin

(01:58):
and make you mad and shock you, and David Tennant
just captures your attention straight away and just holds the
whole thing together.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Great, Okay, that's the hack. It's on TVNZ Plus from
tomorrow on Netflix's Death by Lightning.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, this is another show based on a true story,
but quite different and not a show I was expecting
to enjoy it. Almost didn't talk about this one today,
but I really liked this. I was really intrigued by it.
This is an American historical drama set in the eighteen eighties,
and it's about two men. One is James Garfield, who
rose from political obscurity to become the twentieth President of

(02:34):
the United States, and another is Charles Gattow, who went
on to assassinate James Garfield. And I think why I
enjoyed this so much is because of the cast. Matthew
mcfagen plays Charles Gattow, who is this shady figure. He's
a liar and a scammer, and he decides he's going
to become Garfield's most trusted ally. And if you've seen
Matthew mcfagen in Succession, you'll know how good he is

(02:57):
at playing deluded losers, and he's playing another one here.
I just wanted him to be in every scene. And
Michael Shannon plays James Garfield, who was only president for
a few months before he was shot. And you've also
got all this political maneuvering going on in the background
and his party as well. With actors like Bradley Whitford
and Nick Offerman and Betty Gilpin. The cast is just

(03:19):
full of actors who know what they're doing and are
all just brilliant together. I came to this not knowing
anything about the story and I'm really looking forward to
finishing it. There's only four episodes, but it's full of
style and energy and humor. There's a lot of really
great facial here in this as well. All these men
have really big, impressive beds, so they're really leaned into

(03:42):
the period detail of this. It's a great watch.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Yes, okay, so that's Death by Lightning. It's on Netflix
and on three now playing Gracie Darling.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah. This is our new Australian dark mystery series that
stars New Zealand actor Morgan O'Reilly, who is fantastic in
this as she is and everything. She plays a woman
called Jonie who is haunted by the disappearance of her
best friend. When they were teenagers, they were having a
say which went wrong and her friend disappeared afterwards. Fast
forward twenty seven years and Joanie is now a psychologist

(04:13):
living in the city when there is another disappearance in
the same place, same family, same small town, involving another
teenager who was playing the game of having a seance,
and so Jooni decides to revisit the town and try
and work out what has happened, and has to confront
her past and the loss of her friend. In a
lot of ways, this feels quite familiar. You've got your

(04:35):
small town, you've got lots of secrets, you've got a
really compelling heroine. But this is a bit more spookier
and more haunting than other Australian mysteries. It's not a horror,
but it's got a darker, more supernatural vibe to it.
But very bingeable, very watchable, quite moody, and beautifully shot
as well.

Speaker 2 (04:52):
Nice, okay, cool. So that's playing Gracie Darling. That is
on three now, Death by Lightnings on Netflix, and The
Hack is on TVNZ plus. From tomorrow, all of those
shows will be up on the News dogs z'd be website.

Speaker 1 (05:05):
For more from Saturday. More with Jack Tame. Listen live
to news Talks at b from nine am Saturday, or
follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.