{"id":794070,"date":"2026-07-11T19:18:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:18:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/794070\/"},"modified":"2026-07-11T19:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-11T19:18:19","slug":"screen-queen-tv-reviews-the-f-ward-ride-or-die-alone-australia-lucky-and-heartstopper-forever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/794070\/","title":{"rendered":"Screen Queen TV Reviews: The F Ward, Ride Or Die, Alone Australia, Lucky and Heartstopper Forever"},"content":{"rendered":"

The F WardFriday, streaming on Stan<\/p>\n

I absolutely love medical dramas, but I find them incredibly difficult to watch \u2014 I get anxious and my heart races as soon as I see anyone being wheeled into an emergency room.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all thanks to a particularly traumatic experience I had in a Sydney ER some 25 years ago. I\u2019ll save that story for another time, but as soon as I hear a heart-rate monitor beep, or a code blue called over the PA, I immediately break into a cold sweat.<\/p>\n

This fear is something of a problem, given my job. It\u2019s even trickier when you consider that two of the best shows on TV right now \u2014 HBO\u2019s excellent, award-winning The Pitt, and this great new local production \u2014 are medical dramas.<\/p>\n

The F Ward hails from the team from Bump \u2014 namely co-creators and producers Dan Edwards and Kelsey Munro \u2014 and it sees UK actress Anna Friel starring as Dr. Gloria Wall, an emergency doctor at the overstretched The Pines hospital in Sydney\u2019s Northern Beaches.<\/p>\n

Gloria is in charge of a crop of new doctors who have been dispatched to the hospital after they stuffed up in their other placements. This is their last chance to get their certification after each failed their first year as interns \u2014 this series is our up-close look at how they fare this time around.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fabulously watchable. In fact, much to my body\u2019s distaste \u2014 it was stuck in fight or flight mode the entire time \u2014 I loved everything about this first episode.<\/p>\n

The cast is great \u2014 Dan Wyllie a particular standout as the head of the ER \u2014 the script cracks along at a ripping pace (miraculously managing to avoid many a medical drama trope), and the performances of the ensemble cast are all terrific. It\u2019s must-see TV.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m determined to watch the whole series, though I fear it may give me a heart attack.<\/p>\n

Someone have the crash cart handy \u2014 I\u2019m going in.<\/p>\n

Ride Or DieWednesday, streaming on Prime Video\"HannahCamera IconHannah Waddingham and Octavia Spencer in Ride Or Die. Credit: Prime Video<\/p>\n

A female-centric espionage thriller that\u2019s also quite funny? And stars two of my all-time favourite actresses, Hannah Waddingham and the always-incredible Octavia Spencer?<\/p>\n

Say less.<\/p>\n

In Ride Or Die, they play a pair of middle-aged besties who find themselves on the run after it\u2019s revealed Waddingham\u2019s character, Judith, has been living a double life as a gun-for-hire assassin. Spencer plays Debbie, her ride-or-die (get it?) bestie, who\u2019s unwittingly forced to flee for her life alongside her mate when she\u2019s entangled in Judith\u2019s shenanigans.<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t wait for you to see this one.<\/p>\n

Lucky Wednesday, streaming on Apple TV Plus\"LuckyCamera IconLucky is coming to Apple TV Plus. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

Based on the book by Marissa Stapley, this seven-episode miniseries stars Anya Taylor-Joy as a fugitive con artist wanted by the authorities. Timothy Olyphant and Annette Benning also star. Yes, please!<\/p>\n

Alone AustraliaWednesday, streaming on SBS on Demand\"AloneCamera IconAlone Australia sees this year\u2019s contestants headed to Finland. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

This time our intrepid Aussie survivalists are off to the Arctic Circle. For the WA contestant taking part, it\u2019s the first time he has seen snow \u2014 deep end much? This gets off to a cracking start \u2014 hooked.<\/p>\n

Heartstopper ForeverFriday, streaming on Netflix\"HeartstopperCamera IconHeartstopper Forever is coming to Netflix. Credit: Supplied<\/p>\n

Netflix are ending this delightful love story with a feature-length film, which will wrap up the teen love story of Nick (Kit Connor) and Charlie (Joe Locke), and give us a hint at what\u2019s to come for the core group of friends. One for fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The F WardFriday, streaming on Stan I absolutely love medical dramas, but I find them incredibly difficult to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794071,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,134,1625,44,67258,427,67259],"class_list":["post-794070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-lifestyle","tag-news","tag-stm","tag-tv","tag-tv-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794070"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794070\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}