Tara Ward: Day of the Jackal, In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery, Bad Sisters

Day of the Jackal  

An elite sniper, a master of disguise and a highly trained killer, the Jackal is an assassin, coldly carrying out hits for a fee. Following an attack on a high-profile and notorious politician, he's offered his riskiest job yet, one that could pay him enough to leave this life for good. But his work has attracted the attention of Bianca, a tenacious British intelligence officer, whose world-class expertise in firearms makes her the ideal candidate to hunt him down.  

What follows is a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, as the Jackal works to carry out his new mission, while being pursued by Bianca. However, as the hunt continues and more casualties are caught in their crossfire, it becomes clear that there may be other forces pulling the strings. As both Bianca and the Jackal's personal lives clash with their work, they risk everything, pushing themselves to their limits with disastrous consequences. (TVNZ+) 

  

In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery  

This true crime doc-series explores the mysterious drowning of a Canadian school teacher while on a fishing vacation. The only witness to her death was her New Zealand husband – former Napier city councillor Peter Beckett – who was later charged with her murder. (Prime Video; also on Sky Open 18-20 November) 

  

Bad Sisters  

A welcome return of the delightful Irish drama created, written by and starring Sharon Horgan, about five sisters who are bound together by the death of their parents and the promises they made to each other.  (Apple TV+) 

  

LISTEN ABOVE 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Tam podcast
from Newstalk.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
SEDB, and it is screen time and Tara Ward joins us. Now,
Good morning, Tara, Good morning. Hey tell me about In
Cold Water, the Shelter Bay mystery. This is screening on
Prime Video and it's a documentary series that has a
New Zealand connection.

Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yeah, this is a new true crime documentary series with
as you say, a very strong New Zealand connection to it.
It's a three part series and it's about a murder
investigation that happened in Canada in twenty ten and it
involved a New Zealand man named Peter Beckett who was
a former Napier City councilor. And Peter was fishing on
a lake in the Rocky Mountains with his Canadian wife Laura,

(00:51):
and Laura drowned in the lake. Peter says she fell
into the water, it was an accident. He tried to
save her and couldn't, but the police were suspicious and
a year later they charged Peter with his wife's murder
and Peter claims he's innocent. He's the only witness to
his wife death and for the next decade he's involved
in lengthy court trials and mistrials and appeals and what

(01:13):
he calls a huge miscarriage of justice. So it's a
very mysterious case involving all sorts of twists and turns
and shocking the allegations on both sides of this story.
But the documentary doesn't try to convince you one way
or the other. It just lays out all the details,
talks to a lot of people involved, from Laura's family,

(01:34):
to the police, to forensic experts, to Peter Beckett himself,
and just leaves you to make your own conclusions. Is
this a miscarriage of justice or is it as the
Canadian police would argue, a clear cup murder case. So
if you are a true crime fan, this is one
to watch. It's on Prime Video Now, but it's also
screening free to air on Sky Open from Monday.

Speaker 2 (01:54):
Night Fantastic Now. I had a look at the list
of shows that you were going to talk about this
week and I thought, oh, Dave the Jackal, that looks good.
So then I felt out of duty to be properly
prepared for the show. I'd watch an episode. Five episodes later,
I got back to my life. I really enjoyed this.
It's just look, I love a crime thriller, and this

(02:17):
one was just really easy to sort of mercyself in
and enjoy.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
Yeah, I agree. If you are looking for a sort
of an explosive, wonderfully tense, as you say, very binge
able spy thriller, you won't go wrong with Dave the Jackal.
This is based on the book by Frederic Fullscyth and
it stars Eddie Redmain who plays the Jackal. He is
an elite sniper. He's a master of disguise, and he
travels from city to city as a paid assassin. And

(02:43):
he's offered a job that pays so well that he
could stop doing this work forever. But at the same time,
an six officer is on his case. She's very good
at her job, she's very persistent, and they get caught
up in this cat and mouse game across Europe. The
jacker wants to get this last job done and the
six Officer wants to find him before he does. And
it's a matter of how far will each of them

(03:05):
go to succeed and how obsessed will they get with
the other. So it's a real classic spy thriller, you know,
the story is from the nineteen seventies, but they've made
this feel very fresh and modern and contemporary. Friderick Forsyth
was a producer on the show, so it sort of
honors that original story as well. It's very glossy and sleek,
and some great locations in Europe. Lots of action scenes,

(03:29):
but lots of quiet moments as well, which I really
like that balance between the big explosive moments and the
quiet tension that sort of builds through it. So it's
a ten part series, and as you say, the first
five episodes are up on TV and Z plus now
just enough to get you hooked, and then the next
five will come out weekly, and.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
That's so and that's call you in because normally tvans
it often just does it, you know, week by week,
puts out one episode per week. So I was like,
oh my gosh, the whole season's out. This is so exciting.
I think that's why I wented it so hard and fast.
And then I was like, oh no, what now I
have to wait. Now it's this weakly thing. No really
loved it. And look, I'm also so a huge fan

(04:07):
of Bad Sisters. I love that these Irish sisters and
I'm a big fan of Sharon Horgan as well, who
I do think was behind creating and writing this show?

Speaker 3 (04:18):
Was she not? Yes, she was. So It's based on
I think maybe a Danish series from a few years ago,
but she co created it and she's written in it
and starring in it, and I'm the same. I love her.
She made shows like Catastrophe and Divorce, and I'll watch
anything that Sharon Horgan makes. But this is one of
my favorites and it's back for a second season. This
is Bad Sisters on Apple TV Plus. This is a

(04:40):
show about five Irish sisters. One of them is married
to an awful, awful man, and the series begins with
his funeral, but we don't know how he died or
if someone killed him, and the show jumps back and
forth in time as these sisters jokingly plot to kill
their brother in law and then they give it a go,
but they are terrible at it. They bungle things every time,

(05:01):
they don't know what they're doing, and they're also being
investigated by the husband's insurance company you can't afford to
pay out on his death, and is determined to uncover
anything that will prove it wasn't an accidental death. So
season one was great. I'm interested to see how they
approached season two because season one ended so beautifully. It
was sort of its own, very nice, self contained story.

(05:22):
But there's such great chemistry here between the five sisters,
the ensemble cast and Clothes and Marie Duff and if Houston.
It's wickedly funny, but it's also emotional and thoughtful and clever,
and it captures all those dynamics of a family and
then just takes it to another level.

Speaker 2 (05:38):
Because I think I think the reason why you relate
to it is because it's very well written and as
you say, well acted. But actually, if you were eye,
Tara was thinking about trying to kill.

Speaker 4 (05:47):
Someone and then and then it kind of unfolds, and
you know what I mean, like you can kind of
relate to how things kind of go right and then
how things go wrong, because really it's not our Wheelhelth,
Yeah exactly, you know, it's not what you're not.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
The day of the Jackal. Now they don't know what
they're doing, so.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
You kind of relate from it, you know, from the
couch going yeah, no, okay, I'm not sure i'd be
able to put this off either.

Speaker 4 (06:09):
Hi, I love it.

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Thank you so much, Tarah. Always good to catch up
in cold Water the Shelter Bay Mystery That is the
true crime documentary series that's on Prime Video also on
Sky Open from the eighteenth to twentieth of November Day
of the Jackal TV and Z Plus and Bad Sisters
is on Apple TV Plus. We'll make sure that all
that information is up on our website newstalkszeb dot co

(06:32):
dot m Z.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, listen live
to News Talks EDB from nine am Saturday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio