Among the millions of channels and streaming services available it’s hard to believe that we still sometimes struggle to find something to watch. But as Bruce Springsteen once sang, you can have fifty-seven channels and there’s still nothing on.

Here’s a few new shows that the OUTinPerth team have checked out.

Vigil – Season 2

The first season of Vigil came out in 2021 and saw Detective Chief Amy Silva of the Scottish police sent onboard and underwater to investigate a suspicious death on a British submarine. Aided by her ex-girlfriend Detective Seargent Kirsten Longacre who followed up leads on shore, the duo battled naval bureaucracy and sinister characters.

Now the pair are back to tackle a new mystery on a British army base. Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster, Scott and Bailey, Gentleman Jack) returns as Detective Silva, and Rose Leslie (Games of Thrones, Downtown Abbey, The Good Fight, The Time Traveller’s Wife) is back too, except now they are a couple again.

Their investigation takes them to the fictional Middle Eastern country of Wudyan, where homosexuality is illegal, and people’s sexuality can be used against them.

The first three episode of the new series are available on Foxtel, and it’s a gripping and suspenseful thriller. While the first series was built around the claustrophobia of a submarine, this follow-up is just as compelling.

The Crown – Season 6

The first four seasons of this show were incredibly compelling, but the show’s quality took a dip when the cast changed once again for its final two seasons.

One of the captivating factors of this show is learning about the history, scandals and events that Queen Elizabeth II encoutered during her reign.

However, as time has progressed, for many viewers we’ve moved from history to events we personally witnessed on the front pages of newspapers. The experience of watching the show’s final episodes has felt more like a trashy bio-pic than quality television.

The final episodes that are now screening on Netflix bring the show to its conclusion have just been released, and it takes us through teenage infatuation with Prince William, the troublesome years of Prince Harry and the marriage of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles.

The Queen begins contemplating her mortality and legacy as those closest to her pass away including her sister Princess Margaret, and the Queen Mother.

Oddly, the writers of the show have introduced a new storytelling technique in the final season which sees characters enter dream sequences and talk to characters who have passed. At first this is grating, given the previous five seasons have been delivered as a linear narrative., but it pays off as the final episodes roll by.

Time – Season 2 

The first season of this British drama was set in a male prison and saw Sean Bean playing a man in prison for the first time, while Stephen Graham played a prison guard who was pulled between his job and his loyalty to his family.

The second season moves the story to a women’s prison, and you can easily watch this without having seen the first season. Its a gritty drama that will appeal to fans of Prisoner, Bad Girls and Wentworth. It’s written by acclaimed writers Jimmy McGovern (The Street, Cracker, Accused) and Helen Black (Life)

Jodie Whittaker (Doctor Who, Broadchurch, Trust Me, One Night) plays Orla O’Riordan, a single mother who unexpectedly finds herself sent to a six-month stint in prison for fiddling with her electricity meter.

Entering the prison at the same time is another first-time offender Abi Cochrane played by Tamara Lawrence. The third member cellmate she meets is Kelsey Morgan, a drug addicted teenager who upon incarceration discovers that she is also pregnant.

The only cast member from the first series is Nun and counsellor Sister Marie Louise played by Siobhan Finneran (Downton Abbey, Happy Valley, The Syndicate).

The show really shows the harsh life of prison and poses questions about whether people are better or worse off after a stint behind bars. You can find the series on Foxtel and Binge.

Found – Season 1

In this new procedural drama Shanola Hampton (Shameless) plays Gabrielle Mosley, a recovery specialist who helps families who have had a member kidnapped.

Mosley’s team is made up of people who themselves have been kidnapping victims, or relatives of people who have been snatched. Mosley herself was kidnapped as a teenager and was rescued alongside Lacey, who is also now a member of her team.

The rest of the team includes Margaret Reed, played by Kelli Williams (The Practice), whose son has been missing for thirteen years, tech expert Zeke Wallace who suffers from debilitating agoraphobia, and security expert Dhan Rana, who is helped in his recovery by his psychologist husband.

While the team solve kidnappings each week and bring bad guys to justice, one bad guy who is potentially still out roaming free in the world is Hugh ‘Sir’ Evans, then man who kidnapped Gabi and Lacey all those years ago. Except he’s not out in the world, he’s locked up in Gabi’s basement and she’s forcing him to help her solve the cases that come to her firm.

If you liked Dexter or Scandal, this might be a show you’ll love.     

Smothered – Season 1

In this British comedy-drama Sammy (Danielle Vitalis) and Tom (Jon Pointing) meet one night at a karaoke bar. They hit it off and decide to embark on three weeks of sex, fun and frivolity.

They agree not to share too many details about their lives, and at the end of the three weeks they’ll go their own ways, and never meet again. Except it doesn’t quite work out that way.

You’ll fly through this highly digestible six-part series which is filled with a supporting cast of gay-best-friends. It’s got a slightly hard to swallow plotline, but it’s delightful overall. Find it on Foxtel or Bringe.

Strife – Season 1

This new Australian series is inspired by journalist and publisher Mia Freedman’s book Work Strife Balance. Asher Keddie plays Evelyn Jones, the fictional founder of Eve – a web site for women.

She’s recently separated, she overshares on television leading to her teenage children despising her, her new business is struggling and she’s bouncing from one crisis to the next.

It’s an odd choice for Keddie, she’s already played Ita Butrose in the mini-series Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo, and this role seems to tread similar territory but is far less engaging. We checked out after the fourth episode which features Kylie Minogue playing an ageing pop star.

OIP Staff

You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.