War story doesn’t do justice to Kiwi
so Arnett was allowed to ask the patsy questions.
Mostly, the drama was an over-long waste of time, but the world got to see bin Laden, not his four wives. ‘‘I keep them close and give them an equal share,’’ he confessed to Arnett.
Speaking of Granville, a new series of Still Open All Hours (Jones, Sundays) has begun and it’s better than the first. Granville, played by David Jason, may have replaced Arkwright, but the same daft and colourful characters still visit.
The greatest moment occurred when the till was in freefall. It flew off its mountings and leapt across the shop.
‘‘It’s the beating heart of the establishment,’’ Granville claimed. He’s wrong, he is. Without him, Still Open All Hours would need to merge with Tesco around the corner. Roy Clark’s script has sadly lost its sharpness. Granville prevails, so does Gastric and Mavis, but Nurse Gladys Emmanuel sadly does not.
Two major series started on competing channels last Monday. The Gulf (TV3) is set on Waiheke Island, where a child, Nathan Baum, reappears after being missing for five years. Detective Jess Savage is reassigned after initially working the case. It may be cold, but it’s been microwaved back to life.
Nathan is mute and can’t help, so Savage starts from the beginning. She meets the parents, friends and detectives who worked with her. She’s assigned Detective Justin Harding who she doesn’t like.
Very quickly we discover she doesn’t like much. She’s an atypical Kiwi TV character with so much baggage she could fill a refuse tip. But being damaged goods, she might find a culprit even more damaged than her.
Competing against The Gulf is Wild Bill (TV One, Mondays). Bill Hixon (Rob Lowe) is an American police chief who’s been appointed by Crime Commissioner Keith Metcalfe to clean up East Lincolnshire. He was leaping up the promotion ladder until he smacked his daughter’s boyfriend.
Now, he’s banished to Boston, which has the highest murder rate in England.
He finds a decapitated head in a fridge.
The head belongs to 19-yearold Melissa, who’s been missing for about 10 years. By sheer deduction, Hixon discovers it could’ve been severed by the sort of giant turbine blade you find by the Saddle Road.
While Hixon needs a headsup, it’s not the sort you find in a fridge.
Tunnel Vision