Backroads
ABC, 8pm
Episode 5 of Heather Ewart's series takes us to Katanning, Western Australia, where we see first hand the legacy of a more "innocent" time in Australian society. The sheep and wheat town three hours' drive south of Perth was where many refugees found work in the 1970s, and it has continued to welcome migrants from all over the world. On the eve of Harmony Day, 40 flags representing the town's national mix are raised in Katanning's modest main street. We meet a handful of the town's new and original residents, who attest to a community that has successfully embraced the ideals of multiculturalism and collectively benefited from the influx of new members. While Ewart acknowledges that there have been bumps on the road, the profile of Katanning she offers here is an antidote, not only to how many tabloids represent social cohesion but life on the land today.
Paul Kalina
Code Black
7Flix, 8.30pm
This hospital-show-on-adrenalin is not for the fainthearted, especially tonight's episode, which is set in the aftermath of a horrific car pile-up on a foggy night on a busy freeway. The medivac team arrives to find total chaos and some tough medical and ethical dilemmas when it comes to determining which of the badly injured survivors should be treated and which should be left to die. Forty minutes of unrelenting action may leave many viewers checking their own heart rate.
Paul Kalina
pay Jay Leno's Garage
Discovery Turbo, 8.30pm
Affable comedian Jay Leno gives the supercars a rest this week and goes in search of what he calls automotive "anarchy". That can mean a lot of things, starting with Wasteland Weekend, the Californian desert convention that attracts thousands of hard-core Mad Max fans and 150-odd highly customised post-apocalyptic vehicles worthy of a spot in the next film. Then there's the 24 Hours of Lemons, the endurance race in which each car and its mods can cost no more than $US500 ($685); "stance" culture, which involves the extreme lowering of cars and cambering of wheels; and a 1930 Bentley "Aerocar" powered by a 27-litre engine designed for the Supermarine Spitfire. Perhaps most interesting is the modern incarnation of sidecar racing, in which the sidecar "monkeys" get a serious workout clambering from side to side to keep the bikes from flipping. Eye-opening and entertaining, as always.
Brad Newsome
movie The Fugitive (1993)
Nine, 8.30pm
The television series The Fugitive (1963-67) is a riveting account of the flight of Dr Richard Kimble (David Janssen), who has been wrongfully convicted of murdering his wife. The 1993 big-screen adaptation, directed by Andrew Davis, is even better. You can tell in the opening sequence, when Kimble (Harrison Ford) extricates himself from a spectacular train wreck and darts alongside a river in homage to the opening of 1966's escapee-on-the-run classic, The Chase. James Newton Howard's Fugitive music makes the connection even more haunting with subtle hints of John Barry's iconic Chase score. Davis then builds his brilliant opening with the arrival of Deputy US Marshall Samuel Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones), setting an ingenious narrative gambit: how Kimble must prove his innocence to the very man whose career and status depends on capturing Kimble and dispatching him to death row. Elegant, stylish and tense, this hypnotic and fun film showcases Ford and Jones at the heights of their charismatic powers.
Scott Murray