Happy Friday! This week’s “global TV to watch” includes titles from Australia, Italy, and the UK that center on people who are members of religious orders.
Today is Good Friday and this is Easter Weekend, two of the most important Christian holidays. (We’re also in the midst of the Jewish holiday of Passover.) So today we look at international TV series whose lead characters are members of the clergy and lay people who are members of a religious order, each of whom makes for a great story(s).
Broken (UK)
Say the name “Sean Bean” and I am there (as I am able), whether for his short-lived turn (ahem) on Game of Thrones, his BAFTA TV-nominated role in the original British version of Accused, his lead role in the historical drama series Sharpe, or some other TV show or film. One of his most notable shows, which was one of my favorites in 2017, is the six-part contemporary drama Broken, in which the multi-award-winning actor took home the BAFTA TV Best Leading Actor award.
Father Michael Kerrigan (Bean) is a Catholic priest in some unnamed city in the north of England, where he does everything he can to help and support his parishioners, most of whom are working class folk in vulnerable positions. That he can’t do more for them — such as jobless and penniless single mum Christina (Anna Friel, Marcella) — troubles him deeply. But there is more that weighs on Father Michael’s conscience, heart, and soul; he is also facing the impending the death of his ill, bedridden mother, while still being haunted decades later by a childhood trauma, which is causing him to question whether he should even be a priest anymore.
Featuring stories of personal devastation that can help restore one’s faith in humanity, Broken is currently available for streaming in the US and Canada on BritBox and its digital channels, including BritBox on Amazon, as well as on Amazon Video.
Don Matteo (Italy)
Don Matteo is one of the few TV-G-rated mystery series that isn’t made specifically for younger viewers (like the Australian series The InBESTigators, which, by the way, is a great show!). The long-running series (13 seasons and counting) stars Terence Hill (My Name Is Nobody) as the titular Catholic priest, a devout man with a big heart, a God-given gift of understanding human nature, and a keen interest in and talent for solving crimes — be they murders, thefts, or other offenses.
The first eight seasons are set in the town of Gubbio, located in the province of Perugia in the Umbria region of Italy (roughly the “thigh” part of “the boot” on a map), where Don Matteo tends to his flock’s spiritual needs and helps them with other matters, such as proving the innocence of a falsely-accused person by catching the actual culprit. He does the same in Spoleto, a city in Perugia about 100km from Gubbio, with is the setting for the series starting in Season 9. In both places Don Matteo works in concert, albeit unofficially, with Marshal Nino Cecchini (Nino Frassica, Mafia Only Kills in Summer), a police officer with the area’s Carabinieri and Don Matteo’s best buddy, to investigate the crimes.
If you enjoy shows like Father Dowling Mysteries, Grantchester, Father Brown, and its spinoff series Sister Boniface Mysteries, check out Don Matteo. The first twelve seasons are currently available for streaming in the US and Canada on MHz Choice and its digital channels, including MHz Choice on Amazon. (Seasons 1-8 are also available on Amazon Video.)
Lambs of God (Australia)
Based on the novel Lambs of God by award-winning Australian author Marele Day, Lambs of God is a multiple award-winning, deliciously dark, and gothic four-part limited series that centers on three cloistered nuns — Sister Margarita (Ann Dowd, The Handmaid’s Tale), Sister Iphigenia (Essie Davis, The Babadook), and Sister Carla (Jessica Barden, The End of the F***ing World) — who, amongst other things, believe the newborn lambs of their flock of sheep are the reincarnations of their dearly departed sisters.
These nuns, forgotten by the Catholic Church, are the last remaining members of the closed order of St. Agnes. They live peacefully in a rundown, isolated convent on a remote island off the coast of Britain — spending their days telling stories to each other, growing their own vegetables, tending to their sheep, and knitting their own clothing using the sheep’s wool. Their lives change forever with the arrival of Father Ignatius (Sam Reid, Interview with the Vampire), a smug young priest who stumbles upon them while surveying the presumed abandoned abbey for the Bishop. When the nuns learn what the Bishop plans to do with the abbey, they do what needs must, including breaking one or another of their vows, to protect their home…
A tale that’s part thriller, part fantasy, and even part romance, where good triumphs over evil and where miracles do happen, Lambs of God is currently available for streaming in the US and Canada on Topic and its digital channels, including Topic on Amazon.
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