A League of Their Own | Five Days at Memorial | Faking It | Darby and Joan

Well, hello and welcome to binge. Watch the podcast where we take a look at the hottest new TV and film releases on streaming television platforms. I'm Hannah Fernando, the editor of woman magazine,

and I'm in the QAN writer on TV and satellite week magazine and watch.com. And today we're looking at the new releases for the week, starting Friday, the 12th of August, including.

Amazon prime videos, baseball movie spinoff, a league of their own, an apple TV's real life, disaster drama, five days at Memorial.

And we'll also be looking acorn TV's crime drama, Darby and Jones, starring Brian Brown and Greta SCOI and discovery plus documentary. Faking it about the Emily Siller parachute mad plot. The first. What is in the.

Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt have joined the cast of apple TVs, Godzilla, and the Titans, which is part of the high octane monster verse series.

And it explores the fallout from a battle between Godzilla and the Titans that destroyed San Francisco. What else is in the news? Hannah?

Well, there's an action. Thriller airing on Netflix called carry on and see Taran Eron takes center stage as a young agent who works in airport security and his life is thrown turmoil when he encounters an enigmatic passenger and is forced to allow a very dangerous item onto a flight on.

Christmas day. Oh yes. Shades of diehard there. Um, anyway, a good week this week, I think, um, certainly three outta four. I quite liked. We're gonna start with the best, which is on Amazon prime video. It arriving on Friday, the 12th of August. It's a new comedy drama. Called a league of their own. And here is a clip we're here for the tryouts.

I don't think you understand. This is the all American league. We're pretty all American. Who was that? Showing that knuckle ball. They didn't even let me try out dad. Max, you've

got to make some smarter

thinking, oh, wasn't there a: 1992

at. In wartime America in the: 1940

However, it's much more modern in that it's looking in greater detailer issues, such as racism, sexism, and sexuality. The league has been announced. The, the formation of the league has been announced and we see these hopefuls arriving in Chicago to try out, to get on the baseball team. The first one we see is this woman called Carson.

Now she's played by the coor of this series. Abby Jacobson. Who's very talented woman and she's basically left town and she hasn't even told her husband who is away in the war. that? That's what she's doing. So yeah, there's this group, it's a good group of characters. I really like Greta. Who's a very glamorous one.

Bisexual she's really liberated and, and she kind of has quite profound effect on cars. Few people would want to follow Tom Hanks in a role. But Nick Erman from parks and recreation is doing that in this he's playing the coach. Who's put in charge of the team. He's called dove Porter. He does a really good job.

What's particularly interesting about this is, is they portray the horrendous sexism of the era. I mean, lots of people don't think women should be playing baseball, but if they do, they've gotta wear skirts and they should be short skirts and they've gotta wear makeup. And if they go out, they have to be chaperoned.

I mean, it's, it's unbelievable. Really. It's a fascinating, true story. Penny Marshall directed the original film, which was good. It was a great film, but I think this is a really good update. And also because it's not really a star vehicle in the way that the original film was. I think it works really well.

It's great. Great script. It looks amazing. The period detail is, is superb and yeah, I, I bought into it pretty much straight away. What did you think, Hannah?

I agree with you. I, I think it it's really good and it could have been really bad. And I think that's the key here. Like you say, anyone wanting to follow Tom Hanks.

Is is a difficult path to follow. Um, but I think what's interesting is in a relatively short period of time, how much society thank goodness has changed for the better on this front. You know, the idea that women shouldn't be playing, um, these types of games. And if they did, like you said, they had to wear short skirts and look a certain way, chaperone on dates.

And of course, you know, the, the whole race system then was absolutely. Horrific, you know, black women. Um, and there's only a brief nod in this, but the black women were excluded from the league. So, you know, and it's kind of seems very, um, almost unbelievable yet. Not very long ago. So I, I think this is, this is, has been done well, and it sort of it's emotionally involving as well as, um, I suppose it takes you on a journey, I guess.

Um, it sort of fills you in on the backstory. Um, it involves you emotionally and it is also that sort of competitive, um, element of it. That I like as well.

Good stuff. Well, something rather different that you are going to tell us about arriving on apple TV. Plus it's a new drama series called five days at Memorial.

They found 45 dead bodies there. Does that make any sense to you? I'm under a great deal of pressure to look into what. There were five days, the most ungodly conditions

it's very well put together. And this kind of had to be because this is a drama of a real story. And it, it basically, um, shows the very harrowing, true story of a hospital flooded in hurricane Katrina, which most people will remember that.

Um, and we hear a lot about storms on news on, on the news channel. Don't we not happening hear so much but happening. I, I, in America a lot of the time, and we don't necessarily see the aftermath, the kind of the devastating impact that these, that these storms actually have. Um, we sort of hear about it in the moment and then it moves on and this very much focuses on that devastating impact.

Um, It happened in: 2005

Um, the generator goes down and they have to kind of choose, um, Who that, who they can care for and who they called. And this doctor is, is an excellent doctor. And I think that the horror, um, of this is that there is no backup here. There is no plan B um, this wasn't expected and absolutely, um, Nothing works.

So on day three, the generators fail. There's no air conditioning, no ventilators, no monitors to help keep the patients alive. And so, you know that they're having to choose who they help and who they don't and who, who stays alive and who doesn't, I suppose, blame God to a degree. And, um, She's incredulous over this lack of contingency and rescue plan.

Um, it's, it's quite harrowing to watch because it's true. It's done. I think. Well, and it certainly has the star wattage of, of, of the kind of stuff we, we see coming from the apple TV, stable. I dunno what you thought.

I, well, I really like Vera farer because of course she starred in among other things.

Bates motel has norm Bates, um, from psycho. So if you've not watched that get onto BBC eye player, it is brilliant. And she's supernate so I just thought, okay, it's just gonna be, um, a disaster real life disaster series about, yeah. This, this hospital. Dealing with hurricane Katrina. Funnily enough, I was in Florida when hurricane Katrina struck, but it starts after the hurricane with these people going into the hospital to kind of survey the damage and they find all these bodies.

And I did, I wasn't aware that there was this whole storyline about, okay, well, how come more people died in this hospital? Than anywhere else, what really happened. And that's what we're gonna find now is about we then flash back to the hospital during the hurricane. So I, it's kind of got a slight feel of those old school disaster movies.

That, of course, in this case, it's a true story. Things like that, Haring Inferno, cuz you're gonna see the disaster unfolding and you're gonna have all these little vignettes of different members of staff. Different patients. I wasn't quite sure that all of them works that well, but Pharmaca is good. And I mean, it is a, it is a fascinating story and it's, it's based on a book, uh, by a journalist who, who, who wrote about, okay, well, what, what did happen?

Was there kind of criminal negligence or what, something even worse? It's a fascinating story. Um, I didn't think it was brilliant, but it's certainly, I, I do want to find. What happens at the end and whether there's any kind of legal action and all that. So it's another one of those where I always say don't Google it because you'll spoil kind of the unfolding of the story, but yeah, it's.

Logistically, as you say, I mean, it, they must have spent a lot because for instance, they've got to flood streets, they've got to recreate the inundation of the hospital and the evacuation. So it's a, I mean, we were doing the caving thing last week. Weren't we, which again was a huge challenge. Yeah. It it's, it's an expensive and I think, well, made

drama.

I think what also is good is that it it's highlighting something. Could have been swept away that people didn't know about. And I think it brings to life, the tragedy that actually happened that we wouldn't necessarily have known about. So I think it's sort of, sort of different levels of it, I suppose.

Exactly. Like you say, you know, all those, why so many people died there, you know what, and, and, and that, to me struck me as something that could have been a massive cover

up, or wasn't on acorn TV. We have a new comedy drama series called Darby and Joan. And here's a clip it's madness

to drive across an empty country, looking for heaven.

Knows what, what out

are you in any pain? Not until you came along. So what are you doing in Australia? My husband,

he died. I need to find out what he was

hiding. Think I'll tag along and just make sure you don't get into anymore scrapes. So this one's certainly got a bit of star power because it features Brian Brown from gorillas and the mist.

Greta. SKAI so pretty impressive. Double act. There is set in Australia and the beginning of episode one Greta Scotty's character who is an English nurse. She finds out that, although she thought her husband was on holiday in Barcelona, he was actually. In Australia and he winds up dead. So she's off on a mission.

She's decides she's gonna go to the Outback to try and get some answers. And it's one of those kind of meet cute situations. So she's driving her RV and she narrowly avoids crushing into Brian Brown's character, who is a. Ex cop, they sort of form an unlikely Alliance. So it's a, it, it made me think of a little bit about sort of reaming the stone, but with Sonin if you like, so they're gonna head off this, this odd couple, and they're gonna try and solve the mystery of her husband's death.

So I really wanted to like this. Because I like Brian Brown. I mean, I think he does, he does get typecast and he's very much playing a, a character we've seen before. I love Greta sketchy. I wouldn't say they're given the greatest script in the world. However, the backdrop and the setting is great. They do work together.

There's good chemistry there. And I think you've just gotta sort of suspend your disbelief and just go along for the ride. What did you think, Hannah, did you enjoy this? Yeah,

I, I must admit, I, I didn't I know what you mean. It should be good and you want it to be good and every part of it should work, but maybe you are right.

Maybe it is the script. That's the problem. I, I, I don't know. All I know is that. I found it slightly irritating other than the fact that the, like you say, the backdrop is, is absolutely beautiful. So just, you should go along for a ride just, just for that reason alone. But you know, each episode has this kind of self-contained mystery.

Um, it, it just doesn't feel very credible. A lot of it, to me, it doesn't gel very well. Um, and I think that you, when you have a drama like this, You, you kind of need that. You need that, um, that gelling between characters, you need the script to work. You, it kind of needs to fire on all cylinders. And even if you, you know, like you say, sort of turn a blind eye to a few things, you.

I'm not, I'm not sure I can turn my heads to all of them. Shall we say,

well, we're gonna finish off with a documentary, which you are gonna tell us about Hannah. It's on discovery plus, and it's called faking it. Victoria was an exceptionally experienced sky diver. I think she'd done more than two and a half thousand jumps up to that point.

The reason she was jumping that day was she'd had her second child. And this was a sort of present to her from husband to.

This really is. I mean, we've, we've ended on a goodie here. Haven't we really, because this is just absolutely fascinating and, and draw jaw droppingly. Fascinating. I, I actually got really interested in, um, criminal psychology and people that could read body language many years ago.

Uh, there was a chap called Paul Britain. That wrote, uh, who was a criminologist and, and wrote many books about lots of different crimes that we'll all have heard about in the news. And this reminded me of that and tapped into that kind of intrigue. You know, the part I'm interested in my brain, I suppose.

nd of course this happened in: 2015

I mean, the, the attempt was to kill her. Um, But he was arrested, but they couldn't actually charge him. And so they had to let him go, but they were very, very wary. Or, or of what? Not nothing added up, but they, they couldn't keep him there. And they went and spoke to her. And then of course she released more information.

Like there was a gas leak and then they looked into it. And of course the gas leak actually had been, um, something was again sabotage and he'd gone away that night. And he, he was having an affair and suddenly the Dawn of realization. On her as well, where she sort of became a main witness in this. It is just a real, it is just quite mind boggling, actually the whole thing.

Um, we know obviously now this is, this is kind of post all of that, that he was jailed for life. But watching that footage, seeing those police officers, um, interview him, I just find absolutely fascinating. And then of course seeing these people and I go back to what I said before about this guy, Paul Britain, um, Seeing people read his body language, seeing how the police, uh, go back and watch that footage to kind of extract the truth from the false and the, and, and, and the little.

Things that he or she might do that makes you think actually that's, can't be right. So for example, somebody says something in the past tense, but they think they're alive. Why would you talking about the past tense? It's a, it's a small slip up where they're watching every step of the way. And so this, this is a documentary that takes you through that journey from beginning to end and it interviews all the different people that are watching his behavior.

Um, he was after her 120,000 pound life insurance policy, the charmer, um, and wanted to start a new life with his lover. Um, again, we know all of this, but absolutely fascinating, really well done. Um, definitely I would say, want to watch,

what do you think? Yeah, it's a fascinating case, isn't it? A grim as well, and it's been well covered.

Yeah. But as you say, so it's part, part of this faking its series, which the angle that, that takes as you say, is the, um, Looking at the sort of telltale signs that someone is guilty from body language or, or the sort of the way they speak, the words they use or don't use. What particularly struck me about this guy is, um, well, he he'd had.

Two kids with somebody else before he met Victoria and he'd completely abandoned them. And then when he tried to kill her with the gas leak, his two young kids were in the house as well. I mean, the guy is so utterly callous. It's just staggering, but yes. We are both big fans of 24 hours in police custody.

And what I love watching that police interview footage is, is fascinating. It's really good, cuz he's quite sort of bullshit with him initially. Isn't he and saying, you know, you're asking the wrong questions, you know? Yeah. And then he gradually gets quieter and quieter and, and then notice things like he stops using.

I in what he's saying, or if he's explaining what he, he did, he says I would have done X, Y, Z rather than I did X, Y, Z. So it is an interesting area. And. It's a staggering case. So although I was familiar with it, there were some details I'd forgotten and yes, this, this CCTV of the interviews is, is gripping.

Now we've got to that time, Hannah, where you're gonna tell us what you've been binging on. So yes, please reveal all. Well,

we, I think I mentioned a few weeks back, but we watched the original top gun with the children. We decided we'd take the plunge and, uh, and show them that. And they enjoyed. So then we want went to watch the second top gun , which is absolutely brilliant.

Really loved it. How does Tom cruise look as good at, at, I think he's 60 now looks amazing. Um, and of course he looks pretty good in that film. I think if we, you know, I dunno, I think he looks pretty good. I think it's a bit weird, but. Should I fancy him. I kinda still do, you know, uh, anyway I digress. And also the Commonwealth games of course have been on.

We've been watching the, uh, the diving, particularly the children have been very involved in

ary on all four called India,: 1947

So yes, it's quite a sobering watch and I'm still. Getting through stranger things, but these incredibly long episodes towards the end, I mean, it's about 140 minutes per episode. I late at night. They're a challenge. Anyway, we've just got time to look ahead to next week. So what's on the agenda, Brenda. Well,

Sharon Horgan's offbeat comedy drama bath sisters comes to apple TV.

Plus I love Sharon Hogan and. Tatiana Malan adds a new Marvel superhero to the family as she Hulk attorney at law on Disney plus. So we look forward to those and more, but in the meantime,