Square Eyes

Television Reviews

Movie of the week, Go Big, Ten, Sun, 8.30pm

Only a couple of weeks into the ratings season, things have already turned dull, so this new Aussie drama gets the nod unseen and unknown. A bored telemarketer (Justine Clarke) teams up with a mate (Tom Long) for a get-rich scam that takes on all the get-richer spivs. They set up a fake company that appeals to greedy businessmen keen for a rort and the race is on. A top cast includes Geoff Morrell, Alex Dimitriades and Sacha Horler.

Silent Witness, ABC, Fri, 8.30pm

Forensic pathologist Prof Sam Ryan (Amanda Ryan) is back for a new series, trying to figure out what the dead can tell her about their untimely demise. It's gripping drama, not for the squeamish.

On the Beach, Prime, Sat, 8.30pm

40 years down the track, Bryan Brown and missus Rachel Ward reprise Neville Shute's apocalyptic novel. Armand Assante's the sub commander heading down under waiting for the nuclear winter to fly south.

Looking for Alibrandi, NBN, Sat. 8.30pm

Pia Miranda is a delight in this coming of age comedy-drama. Anthony La Paglia and Greta Scacchi add class as her parents.

Over the fence, SBS, Sun, 7pm

This sometimes amusing and insightful four-part doco series looks at how Aussie neighbours get along. Or don't. First up there's Mr Moon and his chilli patch in a 2000 apartment housing estate. People nicked his chillies, so he put up a fence. The neighbours want it torn down.

Thirteen days, NBN, Sun, 8.30pm

: If you thought it was JFK and Khrushchev playing doomsday bluff during the Cuban Missile Crisis, you're wrong. Apparently we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Presidential advisor Kev Costner. It's a well told tale, despite dishwater-dull Costner (if only he'd been sacrificed for peace) and suspenseful - even if we know how it ends.

Planet of the Apes, Prime, Sun, 8.30pm

You can hang around for the 36-year-old classic original at 11.05pm, or watch director Tim Burton monkeying around with this remake, starring Tim Roth as the nasty ape, Helena Bonham-Carter as the goodie and Mark Wahlberg as Charlton Heston. (Buffs should keep an eye out for Chuck). It's so over-the-top it borders on parody.

Beyond Baghdad, SBS, Tues, 8.30pm

The US forces really are trying , but Iraq is a basket case of competing forces content to let the country disintegrate into civil war. This doco shows it doesn't take much for the best of intentions to turn to hell in a handbasket.

The Great Escape: the untold story, ABC, Weds, 8.30pm

You know the Steve McQueen film. This is the truth behind the 73 POWs who escaped. 50 were caught and executed on Hitler's orders. Interviews with surviving POWs and dramatisations bring to life an breathtakingly ambitious break out with a tragic end.

The President v David Hicks, SBS, Thurs, 8.30pm

Hicks is, at best, strange, at worst, dangerous. But does that give the US the right to hold him for two years in prison without charges or trial? This doco tries to understand how he became so forsaken, as his father, Terry, retraces his footsteps through Afghanistan using his son's long and surprisingly eloquent letters from the time as a guide.