I found season one of "The Newsreader" on the BBC last year, around a year after it's Australian debut- Fortunately I didn't have to wait anything like as long for the second run of this well performed prestige drama.
Australia's bicentennial approaches, which will include a visit from members of the Royal Family. Channel Six has a new CEO, Charlie Tate (Daniel Gillies), who insists that the News should become less formal and more sensational than it was. He introduces comedian Gerry Carroll (Rory Fleck Byrne) to the mix and whilst Dale (Sam Reid) is initially wary, as aspects of Gerry's personal life are revealed to him, they become better friends. Helen (Anna Torv) tries to increase her profile as an investigative journalist but is conspired against on several fronts.
I said in my review of the first run that I hope the BBC would push this second run a little more that it did previously and, to be fair, they have - with the show featuring prominently on the Iplayer for several weeks now. Again, the series mixes its storylines in with real-life news events, some like the bicentennial and Black Monday were international news, others like the Hoddle Street Massacre I've never heard of before.
Performances are really good. The focus remains on Dale and Helen, but all the supporting characters have storylines that continue on. The historical recreation is pretty good too, with the fashions and the vehicles replicated. There's a couple of scenes in this run when our characters interact with an existing interview, with a young Kylie Minogue for example.
It feels like they reached what would be a natural end point for the series, but a third is being filmed as I write this review and should be with us later in the year.
Australia's bicentennial approaches, which will include a visit from members of the Royal Family. Channel Six has a new CEO, Charlie Tate (Daniel Gillies), who insists that the News should become less formal and more sensational than it was. He introduces comedian Gerry Carroll (Rory Fleck Byrne) to the mix and whilst Dale (Sam Reid) is initially wary, as aspects of Gerry's personal life are revealed to him, they become better friends. Helen (Anna Torv) tries to increase her profile as an investigative journalist but is conspired against on several fronts.
I said in my review of the first run that I hope the BBC would push this second run a little more that it did previously and, to be fair, they have - with the show featuring prominently on the Iplayer for several weeks now. Again, the series mixes its storylines in with real-life news events, some like the bicentennial and Black Monday were international news, others like the Hoddle Street Massacre I've never heard of before.
Performances are really good. The focus remains on Dale and Helen, but all the supporting characters have storylines that continue on. The historical recreation is pretty good too, with the fashions and the vehicles replicated. There's a couple of scenes in this run when our characters interact with an existing interview, with a young Kylie Minogue for example.
It feels like they reached what would be a natural end point for the series, but a third is being filmed as I write this review and should be with us later in the year.