Mercado on TV: Warnie will please cricket fans with a 20-1 of his biggest scandals

If you’re into cricket, you are going to love Warnie (Sunday on Nine). If you’re not, then it’s going to be a bit of a slog thanks to some tepid performances and a script that offers nothing that we don’t already know. 

Marny Kennedy and Alex Williams as Simone and Shane in Nine’s Warnie

Nine’s other cricket drama, Howzat: Kerry Packer’s War (9Now and Prime) was grounded by a much more powerful performance (Lachy Hulme as Packer) and a fascinating untold story, because who knew that John “Strop” Cornell (Abe Forsyth) was the brains behind World Series Cricket? 

Warnie lacks any new insight and comes across like a 20-1 countdown of his greatest scandals. The most interesting thing about it is the timeslot because it screens at 7pm on Sunday and 7.30pm on Monday. If it rates well, that could be a sign that audiences might like a break from wall-to-wall reality.

Riptide

Riptide (Wednesday on 10), the new British-Australian co-production, could also do with some innovative programming. In the UK, Channel 5 screened this mystery thriller over four consecutive nights, thereby turning it into an event.

No such luck here in Australia, even though Riptide has a great Aussie cast including Peter O’Brien, Ally Fowler, David Berry, Ben Turland and Asher Yasbincek. British actors include Jo Joyner and Ciaran Griffiths and the production model is similar to Lie With Me (2021), using Neighbours’ producer Jason Herbison and director Scott Major. Thumbs up.  

It’s nice that 10 have set aside Wednesday nights for Aussie dramas, but much of its audience wants to binge and 10Play doesn’t want to play. That’s not the case though with new comedy Queen of Oz which screens weekly on ABC, but drops all its episodes onto iview to be binged.

Catherine Tate in Queen of Oz

Queen of Oz is a big improvement on Catherine Tate’s previous series, Hard Cell (Netflix), which saw her playing multiple characters in a prison send-up that wasn’t very funny. Now it’s a more ambitious Royal send-up and all Tate has to do is play the central character, a disaster-prone Princess in need of rehabilitation.

Another strong Aussie cast includes Robert Coleby, Anthony Brandon Wong, Rachel Gordon and Rob Collins and although the situations are ridiculous, it is often laugh-out-loud funny. Thumbs up.

And Just Like That (Foxtel/Binge), the Sex And The City spin-off back for a second season, has not gotten any better with age. Some fans insist it’s refreshing to see a show about women in their 50s, but surely they deserve better than Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) learning how to poach an egg and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) in a strap-on. 

At least And Just Like That is not the worst show on HBO anymore. That dubious honour goes to The Idol (Foxtel/Binge), a show that is trying so hard to be shocking, but ending up as boring as Warnie.