What’s on TV: El Camino Breaking Bad Movie, Batwoman, Struggle Street and more - NEWS.com.au

From the return of an old favourite to two new superhero shows, there’s a wide variety on offer this week.

EL CAMINO: A BREAKING BAD MOVIE

(Netflix — Friday, October 11 from 6pm AEDT)

In the six years since Breaking Bad ended, fans have never had to feel as if they had left that world behind — prequel spin-off Better Call Saul came along less than 18 months later and is still going strong.

But, be honest, as great as Saul Goodman’s origin story has been, haven’t you always wanted the continuing (mis)adventures of Jesse Pinkman?

El Camino picks up right after Jesse escapes from his neo-Nazi abductors and now he’s on the run in a 1978 Chevy from the bad buys, but also the good guys (ie. cops). Yes, he’s a popular man.

Creator Vince Gilligan had the idea for this spin-off sequel as early as the final season of Breaking Bad but hadn’t told anyone of his plans until recently. And even then, some of the movie’s stars don’t even know what happens.

The project was so secret some of the actors didn’t get full scripts, checked into hotels under false names and filmed fake scenes. No one really clued on the movie was even a thing until filming wrapped.

Gilligan wrote and directed the movie and roped in not just Aaron Paul but also familiar faces Charles Baker as Skinny Pete, Matt Jones as Badger, Jonathan Banks as Mike and Larry Hankin as Old Joe.

Are you excited yet?

TOTAL CONTROL

(ABC/iview — Sunday, October 13 at 8.30pm)

In the aftermath of a shocking tragedy caught on camera, Alex Irving (Deborah Mailman) becomes a national hero — which makes her exactly the person desperate PM Rachel Anderson (Rachel Griffiths) needs to fill a vacant senate seat.

The PM wants to use Alex’s popularity for her own gains, banking on the political neophyte’s inexperience in Canberra. But Alex can’t be that easily manipulated. When she’s double-crossed, Alex is out for revenge.

Directed by Rachel Perkins (Mystery Road), Total Control premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival under the working title of Black Bitch, which speaks to the show’s confrontational and thriller vibes.

The premise of two formidable women trying to outmanoeuvre and outwit each other in a high-stakes political game is a seductive prospect.

With the crew involved — Perkins and Blackfella Films, Griffiths, Mailman and a supporting cast that includes Aaron Pedersen, Rob Collins and William McInnes, this is one local series you’ll want to check out.

BATWOMAN

(Fox8 on Foxtel/Foxtel Now — Tuesday, October 8 at 8.30pm)

Ruby Rose’s highly anticipated Batwoman series is finally dropping. Rose made her splashy debut in the costume in an Arrowverse crossover event last year and her own series was picked up soon after.

Batwoman is one of DC’s few openly gay superheroes and the character’s place on TV is something of a momentous occasion.

Batwoman’s alter ego is Kate Kane, Bruce Wayne’s cousin. She takes up the winged costume after Bruce’s disappearance drags into its third year and crime gets out of control in his absence. Of course, she has demons to overcome — all your regular superhero stuff.

The series also stars Rachel Skarsten as Alice, Meagan Tandy and Dougray Scott.

Fans of the the ever-expanding Arrowverse may want to check this one out.

STRUGGLE STREET

(SBS/SBS On Demand — Wednesday, October 9 at 8.30pm)

Struggle Street is moving the action away from the outer suburbs of the metro cities to rural and regional communities, where the struggle is compounded by the lack of resources and infrastructure.

It lends a different layer to a series that some have labelled “poverty porn” while others have praised for its insight into how the other half lives — and by the other half, for once it’s not the richie rich in their harbourside mansions.

Want to feel better about your own lot? Watch Struggle Street. Because there’s always someone doing it worse.

The new four-part season features stories from Wagga Wagga and the surrounding smaller towns, looking at a range of issues including unemployment, homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, but also, in a sign of the times, the effect of the drought on the livelihoods of families who depend on the land.

WORLD ON FIRE

(BBC First on Foxtel/Fetch — Sunday, October 13 at 8.30pm)

World on Fire is an ambitious and expansive seven-part BBC miniseries set during World War II — it’s the very definition of epic television.

With an ensemble cast that includes Helen Hunt, Sean Bean, Lesley Manville, Jonah Hauer-King and Julia Brown, the series follows several strands in its endeavour to tell the stories of ordinary people swept up by world-changing events.

Those stories are drawn from real-life experiences of people from the UK, US, Germany, Poland and France, such as that of a young English translator in Warsaw.

PENNYWORTH

(Fox8 on Foxtel/Foxtel Now — Thursday, October 10 at 9.30pm)

It’s a really Batman-themed kind of week. If you haven’t had your fill with Joker and Batwoman, there’s also Pennyworth, a prequel series about Batman’s right-hand-man, Alfred Pennyworth.

Here, we meet Alfred as a young man, a former British SAS officer in an alternate version of 1960s London. It’s a stylish spy series disguised as a comic book show, and it comes from the creator of Gotham, Bruno Heller, and not the Arrowverse machine.

Jack Bannon plays the titular character and there are tie-ins to the greater Batman canon including pop-ins from Thomas Wayne and the occasional easter egg.

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