Given Australia’s obsession with war, The Australian Wars (from Blackfella Films – SBS On Demand) should be the most important show of the year. These extraordinary stories of our Frontier Wars, fought between First Nations people and early British settlers, are finally being told and it is more than time to listen.
There were many shocking revelations from the first episode, but the one that sticks with me is how the skulls of beheaded Aboriginal women are still being kept in cardboard boxes at the Australian Museum. Seriously? The second episode (Wednesday on SBS) is just as gobsmacking as it looks into the military atrocities and reprisals that rocked Tasmania 200 years ago.
Blackfella Films’ Rachel Perkins
Hosted by Rachel Perkins, this is another superb production from Blackfella Films. They started this new truth-telling with the landmark production First Australians (2008, SBS On Demand) and The Australian Wars is a worthy addition to that history.
Bali 2002 (Sunday on Stan) is the new four-part mini-series about the 2002 bombing. It traces the delicate investigation between Balinese and Australian police (headed by Richard Roxburgh) and the burns unit (headed by Rachel Griffiths) where many of the victims end up at.
It’s good to see some acknowledgement of the local people who were also killed with so many Aussie victims. Sri Ayu Jati Kartika is outstanding playing a widow of one such casualty, and the cast is rounded out nicely with Sean Keenan, German Widjaja and Arka Das.
Bali 2002
Star Hotel Riot (Fox Docos) is a look back at the 1979 incident when thousands of angry punters clashed with police as an infamous Newcastle pub was being shut down. Footage shot by NBN 3 was beamed all over the world and went on to win a Logie.
Star Hotel Riot reunites some of the rioters with the police and their admissions are fascinating. Made by Glenn Dormand (aka Chit Chat) and Tony Whittaker, the pair are also working on some equally interesting Indigenous documentaries that will soon air on NITV.
Kath & Kim is the most successful Aussie sitcom ever, given it is being aired yet again (Thursday on Seven). Originally made by the ABC, bought by Seven, then repeated on Nine, now it’s back for marathons and sounds like a prelude to the recently filmed 20th-anniversary special. Noice.
Next week, Kenneth Branagh embodies Boris Johnson in This England (coming to BBC First) and Evan Peters is Jeffrey Dahmer in Monster (Netflix).
Read more Mercado on TV columns here.
Mercado & Manning weekly TV podcast
Listen now on your favourite podcast platform for 30 minutes of reviews and recommendations every week from Andrew Mercado and James Manning. This week Andrew and James recommend Stan’s Bali 2002 and Last Light, Foxtel’s Star Hotel Riot and SBS series The Australian Wars from Blackfella Films. They also finally catch up with season two of Physical on AppleTV+.
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