Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey are going to be totally occupied with just ONE show from May 19: Eurovision, Eurovision and more Eurovision. But what do the pair like to watch when they aren’t hosting all the glitz, glam, songs and sensations of SBS’s Eurovision coverage?
The will be broadcast live and also in primetime exclusively on SBS and SBS On Demand from 19 to 23 May, so to mark the occasion, the pair have curated a list of their SBS On Demand favourites.
Can you guess what Myf and Joel like to watch? Check out their lists and why they love these shows below, and make sure you have your diary blocked out for catching all the Eurovision action. (See full details of the live early morning broadcasts and primetime evening broadcasts , and Eurovision party food ideas .)
MYF WARHURST’S PICKS
Gomorrah
“I love Italy, and I love a crime drama and Gomorrah is the combination of the two. It’s like watching the mafia in action,” says Warhurst of this gritty Italian drama, which takes a look inside the Neapolitan camorra, an organisation every bit as fierce and deadly as the mafia. Based on the book by Roberto Saviano (whose later book ZeroZeroZero has also been adapted into a series, now streaming at ), this dive into the Naples underworld is packed with family ties, lies, power struggles and shifting alliances.
The Beach
“The most amazing documentary,” says Warhurst. “Warwick Thornton, who’s an amazing Australian filmmaker, isolated himself up in Australia’s north, and what he made was extraordinary. It was him, on the beach, living in a shed, in the elements. I highly recommend it… beautifully shot by his son [Dylan River], an extraordinary watch. I loved it.” The six-part series follows Thornton, whose international success has come at personal cost, as he takes himself out of the fast lane and heads to an isolated beach on the Dampier Peninsula in remote north-western WA. Thornton reconnects with Country, ponders his life, hunts and catches food, talks to the three chooks he brought along with him, and tries to find some balance and peace.
Atlanta
“Donald Glover, who you might also know as Childish Gambino, he’s an amazing musician, rap artist, but also a producer and director of this particular show and it’s just fabulous. It starts out quite straight and gets totally mad towards the end. It’s a wonderful, wonderful series,” Warhurst says of Atlanta, a multiple Golden Globe Award-winning comedy drama created, co-written, produced by and starring Glover. The series follows the lives of Earnest ‘Earn’ Marks (Glover) and his rapper cousin Alfred ‘Paper Boi’ Miles (Brian Tyree Henry), who break into Atlanta’s music scene and try to get their lives off the ground.
Why Women Kill
“When I saw that tile, I thought, ‘I’ll watch that!’, and it’s worth every minute, it’s beautiful,” says Warhurst. “It’s got Ginnifer Goodwin, Lucy Liu and Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and they are in different ‘houses’ in different generations, we’ve got the ‘60s house, the ‘80s house – which I want to live in forever! – and we’ve got the 2000s house. It’s like Desperate Housewives, but camper and sillier. Adored it!”
Created by Marc Cherry, this clever series plays out three stories, all set in the same Californian house. In 1963, Beth Ann (Ginnifer Goodwin) lives there with her aerospace engineer husband, who treats her more like a servant than a partner. By 1984, it’s socialite Simone Grove (Lucy Liu), who discovers her husband has been unfaithful. Many times. And in 2019, Taylor (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), a bisexual lawyer who has an open marriage, decides to bring a third party into their house. Things get complicated. There are excellent performances, twists, turns, and yes, murders. But who dies? It’s not always predictable, and that’s just part of the appeal of the series.
Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi
“I love a cooking show, and Padma Lakshmi is one of the best presenters on television. I adore her. And she’s made Taste the Nation, and it’s her looking at her own experience in America, the food of America and where it comes from, its migrant beginnings and its Indigenous beginnings, and it’s just beautiful. It’s more than a food show and it’s more than a travel show,” Warhurst says. Lakshmi is a multi-talented Indian-American actress, activist, cookbook author and television host and producer. Creator, host and executive producer of Taste the Nation, she travels across America to explore the rich cultures, events and attitudes that have shaped American food today, revealing stories that touch on global themes of identity, conflict and change.
JOEL CREASEY’S PICKS
If You Are The One
Creasey gives a big thumbs up to this hugely popular and long-running series – he even briefly hosted an Australian version. “The original and best is sensational,” he says of the Chinese dating show phenomenon. “It’s brutal!” chimes in Warhurst. The show, hosted by Meng Fei, which has been running since 2010, is indeed tough on the lone males who line up to be scrutinised and questioned by 24 female contestants. It’s speed dating in the spotlight, with a real risk of humiliation but equally, an honest approach to possibly finding ‘the one’.
Filthy Rich and Homeless
“It’s really hard-core. It features high-profile Australians living out on the streets. It’s a beautifully made documentary and it’s so worth a watch,” Creasey says. Three seasons of this SBS original series have been made, exploring the issues and challenges facing Australia’s homeless. In each series, a group of prominent Australians swap their high-profile lives for life on the street. Past participants have included author Benjamin Law, actor Cameron Daddo, restaurateur Pauline Nguyen and model Ellie Gonsalves.
Years and Years
“I love Emma Thompson and Years and Years is fantastic,” says Creasey of this British series. “It sort of looks to the future and where we’re headed and some things are coming scarily true! But it’s brilliant, and you cannot look away!” The series, which compacts 15 years into the six episodes, stars Thompson as an ambitious politician but the heart of the story is what happens to one close-knit family as dramatic changes in the political landscape see their daily lives changed in ways no one could have expected.
Years and Years (also available with and subtitles) is streaming now :
The Family Law
“Benjamin Law is everything I aspire to be!” says Creasey of the writer whose book, and life, was the inspiration for this funny, tumultuous, heart-warming show. “Essentially it’s the story of a sprawling Chinese-Australian family of seven who are unlike any family I’ve ever met, and it’s fantastic.” The real Benjamin Law was closely involved in the creation and writing of the series. Of the experience of turning his real-life experiences into a TV show, Law “onscreen Benjamin is kind of me, but not really. For starters, he’s better dressed (the baggy shorts and lanky hair of the 1990s weren’t ever a great look for an underweight Asian kid), has noticeably less acne and is much more photogenic (thank you, Trystan Go). Real-life Jenny is just as inappropriate as her TV version, but everyone who knows my mum can confirm she’s more outrageous than the Jenny we’ve written.” The result is a vibrant show with heart – and lots of laughs, awkward moments, life lessons and good times.
All 3 seasons of The Family Law are streaming now . (Also available .)
The Handmaid’s Tale
“It’s one of the best shows ever made, I think. Elisabeth Moss is sensational. It is not the easiest watch at times but it is just incredible,” Creasey says of the dystopian drama that has gripped audiences around the world. The long-awaited fourth season is finally with us, bringing more challenges for June (Moss) and continuing the story first inspired by the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name. (And for devoted fans, there’s also SBS’s award-winning , which offers engrossing analysis of each episode, along with interviews with stars and talent from the show.)
The Handmaid’s Tale is screening weekly on SBS at 9.30pm on Thursdays. Episodes are also being made available .
The 65th Eurovision Song Contest, being held in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, will be broadcast live and in primetime exclusively on SBS and SBS On Demand from 19 to 23 May.
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