Screen Queen TV Reviews: Paul McCartney: Man On The Run, Bridgerton, Scrubs and The Lady

Paul McCartney: Man On The Run

Friday, streaming on Prime Video

Paul McCartney and Wings were the soundtrack to my childhood, their “best of” double cassette tape a staple on long car rides for many years.

Trust me when I tell you there were plenty of those: my dad had a company car with free petrol, so instead of paying to fly to the Eastern States each Christmas to visit family, my tight-arse dad would load us all into the Holden Commodore and take the days-long trip across the Nullarbor instead.

Needless to say, after hours, days, weeks in the back seat of that car stuck listening to that one tape, Paul McCartney and his Wings bandmates started to feel like old friends to me and my sister, who only had Daryl Braithwaite and his Horses as an alternative.

No, that’s not fair — sometimes Mum would win out and we’d all get to listen to Kate Bush wuthering on her heights. But on the whole, Wings was the only tape we could all agree on as a family.

Needless to say, it has always held a special place in my heart and this excellent and highly personal doco delves into the formation of the band and how McCartney managed to re-create himself during that post-Beatles era.

McCartney never actually appears on camera. It matters not: he’s narrating the story off-screen with his words, and those of his bandmates, family and close friends, filling in the gaps alongside the incredible never-before-seen archival footage taken straight from his personal collection.

This doco sits comfortably beside Peter Jackson’s fantastic The Beatles: Get Back, over on Disney Plus — it’s a great companion watch.

Controversial opinion: McCartney’s Wings-era music is just as good (better?) than his Beatles stuff, and this fantastic doco sees his side project finally getting the recognition it deserves.

Now, if you need me, I’ll be listening to Band On The Run on repeat and reliving my days in the Commodore. Stockholm syndrome, much?

Australia’s Greatest Conman

Tuesday, 8.30pm, SBS

There are some seriously good documentaries doing the rounds right now, and this one, from Marc Fennell, is right up there with the most fascinating I’ve seen this year.

It zeroes in on the story of Australia’s most brazen fraudster, a man named John Freidrich, who in the 1980s led an elite sea and land rescue squad in Victoria. He even won a Medal of the Order of Australia for his troubles.

But the thing is, he wasn’t at all who he said he was, and as this show details, he ended up swindling an enormous amount of money via his organisation — equivalent to a whopping $900 million in today’s value.

“This is probably one of the most frustrating stories I have ever done,” journalist Kerry O’Brien tells Fennell, and you can see why it still troubles him: this story truly makes no sense and beggars belief.

Do not miss it.

The Lady

Monday, streaming on Binge

Starring Mia McKenna-Bruce and Natalie Dormer and from the producers of The Crown comes this fascinating four-part drama, which details the stranger-than-fiction true story of Jane Andrews, a royal dresser to Sarah Ferguson (aka the former Duchess of York) who ended up being convicted of murder. Worth a look.

Scrubs

Thursday, streaming on Disney Plus

Bill Lawrence is responsible for some of the best sitcoms to ever grace our screens (think Ted Lasso, The Good Place, Shrinking), but Scrubs remains my all-time fave. It’s back after 16 years, with the original cast reprising their roles alongside a new crop of interns. Can’t wait for this one.

Bridgerton S4, part 2

Thursday, streaming on Netflix

The second part of the fourth season hits screens this week and we’ll finally get to find out whether Sophie (Yerin Ha) gets her Cinderella-esque happy ending and some semblance of justice after Benedict (Luke Thompson) uttered THAT offensive “mistress” line. Here’s hoping.