TV worth watching
Sun October 13 — Sat 19 October

In 1800, it was widely believed that a strait probably separated the 
east coast of New Holland, where the British had only recently set up a 
colony at Port Jackson, from the largely unknown west coast. If this were 
so, then the unclaimed western half could prove a colonial possession worth 
having.

Britain and France had been imperial rivals for over a century, and were in 
fact once again at war. So Napolion Bonaparte outfitted a scientific 
expedition, under the command of noted explorer Nicolas Baudin for the most 
ambitious French "Voyage of Discovery" ever assembled.

No less than 22 scientists were included. But although the British 
Admiralty granted the "scientific expedition" safe conduct, they sent 
Matthew Flinders in a hastily fitted out (and leaky) ship in hot pursuit. 
Matthew's mission was to overtake the Frenchman and map the west coast for 
Britain.

Both expeditions were austensibly scientific. Both were marked by drama. 
Flinders tried to take his new bride with him, but the Admiralty made her 
stay behind. He would not see her again for ten years.

There was death, desertion, dysentry as well as treachery and despair. The 
well researched and brilliantly filmed two-part program The Navigators: 
Baudin Vs Flinders (ABC 7.30pm Sundays) imaginatively recreates the 
twin voyages of these two explorers.

The scenery is magnificent and the artworks used to illustrate the tale are 
generally new and unusual, drawn from more than 20 galleries and libraries. 
Even the "talking heads" are above average, including well-informed 
descendants of Flinders.

It is the two French experts who stand out, however: Robert Fleurie, a 
descendant of the Comte de Fleurieu, the man who wrote Baudin's sailing 
orders, and Martine Marin, the delightful President of the "Friends of 
Baudin" society, are erudite and stimulating.

Written, produced and filmed by Klaus Toft for ABC TV's Natural History 
Unit, The Navigators is outstanding — an absolute bottler. Its 
often impressionistic style manages to faithfully recreate events without 
having to "dramatise" them.

The program illuminates a part of Australian history now largely forgotten 
and is well worth watching.

The publicity would have you believe that Armadillo (ABC 8.30pm 
Sundays) is a "darkly comic and acute exploration of modern life", but 
actually it's a thriller, albeit a very stylish one.

Unfortunately, the preview tape I was sent from the ABC had sound problems 
which no amount of adjusting of the tracking would fix. So I have only seen 
— and poorly — the early part of the program.

James Frain plays Lorrimer Black, a rather strange loss adjuster for an 
insurance company. All is not as it seems with Lorrimer, nor with the 
insurance company he represents.

It's the kind of program where the viewer is given not so much a puzzle as 
bewilderment. The question is not "Whodunnit?" but "What the hell is going 
on?".

Whatever it is, it is done with real style and so long as you go with the 
flow and don't waste your time trying to analyse the plot — not in the 
first episode, anyway — you should find it quite entertaining.

It's pretentious, of course (the copper corrects Lorrimer's pronunciation 
of his name and then adds "It's very old Norman French, you know") as 
things are that are made for the latte set.

Also in the cast are such talented people as Stephen Rea, Catherine 
McCormack, Hugh Bonneville (excellent, as always), Neil Pearson and James 
Fox (playing James Fox, of course, but as the Observer noted "he does it so 
much better than most").

Adapted by William Boyd from his own novel, the three-part series is 
directed with some panache by Howard Davies.

In my opinion, Howard Goodall's programs about music are among the finer 
works of TV. It is with pleasurable anticipation that I note a new series, 
Howard Goodall's Great Dates starts this week (ABC 9.30pm Sundays).

The theme alone should make the new series of interest to Guardian 
readers. I quote from the publicity handout: "Are great pieces of music 
freak accidents of genius or the direct product of their time, place, 
culture and politics? In Howard Goodall's Great Dates the presenter 
and composer puts his case for the latter."

The first episode is Wagner 1874. In that year Wagner was completing 
Gvtterdammerung, the final work of his monumental Ring Cycle. This huge, 
High Romantic work is an extraordinary attempt to express a philosophy 
through music.

It was written as an all-encompassing response to the times in which Wagner 
lived. Marx's Capital had appeared seven years earlier. Darwin's 
Origin of the Species had only been published in 1859 and its 
repercussions were still reverberating through Western society.

The six-part series Everyday Brave (SBS 7.30pm Fridays) is from Film 
Australia in association with SBS Independent. The series profiles 
relatively unknown indigenous Australians who have fought against 
discrimination, apathy and ignorance.

Series producer Rod Freedman says: "We wanted to show that people have 
overcome a lot in their lives, and their disadvantages haven't stopped them 
achieving something significant".

The six stories told in Everyday Brave resonate with the power of 
the fundamental cornerstones in indigenous Australian life — community and 
land.

Episode One, For Who I Am — Bonita Mabo, tells the story of Eddie 
Mabo's wife, "the quiet strength" in his struggle for land rights on behalf 
of Torres Strait Islander people. Since his death she has become a fierce 
fighter for recognition of the South Sea Island community in Australia.

Dirty Tricks (ABC 8.30pm Fridays) is clearly meant to be comedy-noir 
(you know, being funny about murder and so on), but seems curiously smug. 
The ABC describes it (accurately) as "salacious" and you get the impression 
that the producers think lots of sex makes up for weaknesses elsewhere.

For me what's missing is charm. However, it won the 2001 International Emmy 
for Best Drama so what do I know?

Martin Clunes, Men Behaving Badly star, mugs too much for my taste 
but the rest of the cast perform well enough. The program was adapted from 
the Gold Dagger award-winning book by crime writer Michael Dibdin.

Finally, take a look at Feast Of The Giant Sharks on Richard 
Morecroft Goes Wild (ABC 6:30pm Saturday). We join marine biologist 
Will Heyman of the Nature Conservancy and Rachel Graham from the University 
of York as they try to find out why once a year Gladden Spit in Belize 
attracts large numbers of whale sharks.

Gladden Spit is an amazing place and so is the whale shark, which is not a 
whale but a fish — a fish over 40 feet (13 metres) long with a mouth like 
a huge open suitcase! Marvellous stuff.