Scott & Bailey is like any other good British crime show. It has gripping and often disturbing storylines, workplace banter and plenty of trips to the pub after work. But in one particular way, the show stands out: its two title characters are women, working under the leadership of a female boss in the Manchester…
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Sci-fi as a genre undeniably has something of a shaky history when it comes to feminism. All too often sci-fi’s female characters fall into one of two categories: the ‘slutty nemesis’ or the ‘damsel in distress.’ This is why BBC America’s science fiction series Orphan Black is a great addition to our screens. Here’s what…
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This week, the ABC has devoted lots of airtime to bringing mental illness into the spotlight. Titled ‘Mental As’, the suite of programming coincides with Mental Health Week and is all about removing the stigma from illnesses that are not always physically apparent, yet can be truly debilitating. On Wednesday night, viewers were treated to…
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The documentary Felicity’s Mental Mission aired last Monday night as part of ABC’s Mental As week. In honour of world Mental Health Week, the ABC is dedicating much of its programming to shows and features that deal with mental health issues. Felicity’s Mental Mission is just one of the many things you can watch on…
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A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend Oz Comic-Con in Sydney and meet Buffy the Vampire Slayer stars Nicholas Brendon and Emma Caulfield. I managed to keep my cool during my very brief chat with them, but on the inside I was squealing at a decibel that would have rivalled that…
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This week (5 – 10 October) is Mental Health Week in Australia. You can find various events happening around Oz by checking out websites such as this one for Victoria, and this one for Western Australia. This is in support of world Mental Health Day, which takes place on 10 October every year. For…
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Transparent, Amazon’s newest comedy-drama, is, on its face, about a family. It follows the daily lives of the Pfeffermans at their most mundane; they go to the mall, they get their kids ready for school, they go on dates with rabbis. Throughout the course of its ten-episode first season, however, Transparent reveals itself to be about…
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Comedy Central’s new female-based comedy, Broad City, created by and starring newcomers Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, has been one of the most pleasantly surprising, bizarre, stoned-out-of-its-mind and profoundly funny shows TV has had to offer. Some of that can be attributed to its beginnings as a web series before making the leap to primetime,…
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Among the countless Twitter users live-tweeting Monday night’s Primetime Emmy awards was Janet Mock, an author and transgender activist from New York City. Her tweets were unrelentingly funny, astute and honest about the awards, as well as the industry being awarded. None were as biting, however, as one of her most popular tweets of the…
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It is hard to deny the somewhat mythical significance of the ANZACs and Gallipoli in popular understandings of Australian history. The connotations of mateship, bravery and nationhood that are all tied up with the ANZAC figure seem predominantly masculine, but how often do we hear about female ANZACs? It was not just men who experienced…
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Josh (Josh Thomas) is a gangly, light-haired young man who describes himself as looking like a ‘fifty-year-old baby,’ and he has just ordered a massive sundae. He’s talking about not being able to properly enjoy things, and complaining about his ‘rubbish face.’ Across from him, his girlfriend Claire (Caitlin Stasey) waits for him to…
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After an eight-year hiatus, Kim Cattrall is finally returning to the small screen to play the headlining role in HBO Canada’s Sensitive Skin. Based on the 2005 British series of the same name that starred Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous), Sensitive Skin is a black comedy about a married woman coming to terms with the inevitable effects…
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‘When I started [in journalism], females were a little bit of a novelty,’ said The Morning Show co-host Kylie Gillies, in a 2013 interview with news.com. Some might call this an understatement. In 1986, when Gillies was a 17-year-old cadet, women represented less than one quarter of Australian television news presenters. At the time, Australian reporters…
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Can talent shows such as Afghan Star transform Afghanistan’s outlook on women? Afghan Star is a TV talent show, similar to American Idol, that started up in Kabul about eight years ago. For those that do not know much about American Idol or this show, Afghan Star is a popular reality television show which searches…
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