Three TV Shows You Must Watch!

Usually I write about fabulous books and incredible authors, but I felt that it was time for me to share some inspiring TV shows that are well worth a watch. Often the TV that I binge reflects what I read, but not always. Today I wanted to write about three wonderful series that really managed to keep me hooked.

1) Mare Of Easttown

Kate Winslet is brilliant as a rough-round-the-edges small town cop.

As a massive Kate Winslet fan, I was pleased that she had committed to a HBO limited series and had enough faith in it to also become the executive producer. When I eventually caught a glimpse of the trailer, I was unsurprisingly immediately drawn in.

Mare is a down-to-Earth detective in the kind of small town where everybody knows everybody else’s business. She has a lot to cope with: a deceased son, a grandson she cares for embroiled in a custody battle, a daughter feeling anxious about university and an ex-husband who lives opposite her with a new fiancee.

Haunted by an unsolved missing person case, Mare discovers a new tragedy which unravels in a complicated way. This hard to predict story had me desperate for more as each instalment was released weekly.

This was originally on HBO and Sky TV and it is reported that its audience grew week by week, which is a really rare outcome. Many now tip Kate and the series for many awards in the coming months. If you have access to this dramatic, twisted story, then definitely check it out.

2) War Of The Worlds

The Countess of Grantham (Elizabeth McGovern) has found an alien and Gabriel Byrne wants to keep it.

This Star original series on Disney Plus is a take on the well known space invasion story, but without the Tom Cruise element. It is a joint British and French television production and has a stellar cast including Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) and Elizabeth McGovern (of Downton).

A scientific research centre in the Alps discovers sound patterns in space and before long some mysterious vessels have landed on Earth. They send out waves which wipe out millions of people, though our main characters have luckily found ways to avoid falling victim to this attack.

Each episode builds tension and the narrative is carefully woven, revealing nuggets of information slowly and leading to more and more questions needing answering. Can a couple of scientists, a refugee and a split family find a way to defeat these weird, unpredictable invaders?

3) Love, Victor

Season Two is well underway.

Now I can stick a YA tag to this show but it really appeals to all ages. From the incredible world of Becky Albertalli, this ‘Love, Victor’ spin-off has plenty of heart, humour and a really interesting storyline.

Victor is confused about his feelings and dates a professor’s daughter, but is side-tracked by a new guy who he comes across, working at the coffee house. The whole bunch of characters are fun, sparky and lovable. Victor’s mum is brilliantly played and has a challenging marriage to his dad. His neighbour soon becomes his best friend and confidante and his siblings have interesting storylines of their own.

I can’t put my finger on why I like it so much but it just generally has that feel-good factor. For my review of Becky Albertalli’s writing see my previous article: https://jamieadstories.blog/2021/06/01/5-talented-ya-writers/

Hopefully you found this blog post interesting and perhaps you will consider following my blog for similar posts.

Kate Winslet – Iconic

Take a moment to appreciate one of Britain’s biggest movie stars.

I was just thinking earlier about how some actors were hot ten years ago and seem difficult to trace nowadays. It takes real skill to stay at the top of the movie industry game but somehow the wonderful Kate Winslet has achieved this, sustainably now for over twenty years.

My English A-Level teacher advised me to watch a Jane Austin film back in 1996 starring the incredibly talented Emma Thompson, so I took my mum along and thought it would be handy for subject knowledge. Early on, a young Miss Dashwood (Kate) stepped onto the screen and the rest literally was history. She was a brilliant sidekick to Emma and made her mark as a slightly rebellious sister, who was chasing a dream.

I later saw her being interviewed by Gaby Roslin and learned that she had begun with Peter Jackson in ‘Heavenly Creatures,’ a small New Zealand movie which had taken her away from her beginning in teen drama TV programmes. Excelling in ‘Jude’ and Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Hamlet,’ she chased a famous movie maker for a role in a movie which was based upon the doomed Titanic vessel. This job captured our imaginations and took Kate warmly towards a huge worldwide fan base. It became the highest grossing movie of all time until it was tipped by the same director’s next outing – Avatar.

Having already been nominated for an Oscar in Sense and Sensibility, she went on to earn one as Best Actress in the beautifully shot story of a World War Two German prison camp warden who could not read. Her character had an affair with a young guy who went on to study law and discover that she was to be imprisoned for a crime that she had not committed.

Kate continued to show her diversity in roles such as ‘Romance and Cigarettes,’ and with the cheekily rebellious Clementine who shared the screen with Jim Carrey in ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.’ Her recurring role in the Young Adult genre series ‘Divergent’ gathered her a whole new audience and she explored being a gang leader as well as that stable ground for British actresses, the Rom-Com with her recent venture alongside Iris Elba in, ‘The Mountain Between Us,’

Cleverly, she took some time to make a five part mini-series for HBO known as ‘Mildred Pierce,’ about a 1920s American woman dealing with divorce and striving to open her own eatery, whilst balancing life as the single mother of two children. This was stunning in its backdrops and involved encounters with Guy Pearce of 1980s Neighbours notoriety.

It is funny that she is now involved in the newest Avatar movie which brings her back to her beloved director, James Cameron. I always love the choices that she makes and look forward to seeing what she decides to do next. This woman is extremely talented and has become an English Rose who represents us around the world. ‘Rose’ from titanic is etched into our heads, but we also respect her many other film roles which have made her career one of such interest.

Have you seen a Kate film and which do you feel was her greatest role to date?