We’re finally getting to see our ‘friends’ again with the Friends Reunion streaming on Thursday, May 27th, on HBO Max in the US and on Binge here in Australia. The full cast will be there including Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt Le Blanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer. Oh yes, and Prince Harry’s been busy working on a mental health documentary series with Oprah Winfrey and the trailer hints he’ll revisit the trauma he experienced after his mother’s death.
In the Friends reunion trailer above, the actors recreate the trivia game they used to play to determine if the boys or the girls score the good apartment. They also look back and share memories from filming and it’s pretty emotional stuff. So take a look for yourself but be prepared – there’s going to be some tear-jerking memories here for sure.
There’s a host of guest stars turning up for the Friends reunion and we get to see some of them in this trailer, including James Corden (but there’s been a bit of a backlash about this inclusion), Tom Selleck (who played Richard) and Maggie Wheeler (who played Janice).
The list of guests includes: David Beckham, Justin Bieber, BTS, Cindy Crawford, Cara Delevingne, Lady Gaga, Elliott Gould (who played Ross and Monica’s dad), Kit Harington, Larry Hankin (who played Mr Heckles), Mindy Kaling, Thomas Lennon (who played Joey’s hand twin), Christina Pickles (who played Ross and Monica’s mama), James Michael Tyler (who played Gunther), Reese Witherspoon (who played Rachel’s sister Jill) and Malala Yousafzai.
Some comments from the Friends stars include Courteney Cox who says that while they were making the reunion: “I was flooded with 10 years of irreplaceable memories.” Matt Le Blanc admitted the reunion had been a bit “melancholy,” and Lisa Kudrow said it was an “emotional” time for them.
Friends ran for an epic 10 seasons and over that time the six stars formed an incredibly close bond with each other. At one time, they all banded together and negotiated an equal salary hike for all of them, resulting in a $1 million payday apiece per episode.
The unscripted reunion will see them talk about their memories of the show and at one point they read through the episode: The One With The Jellyfish. During this episode, Chandler urinates on the leg of Courteney’s character, Monica, to alleviate the pain from a jellyfish sting.
At the end of that season Monica and Chandler become romantically involved with one another, eventually becoming the series’ most enduring couple. The show concludes when Monica and Chandler finally leave their Greenwich Village apartment to move to a house in Westchester with their newborn twins.
Whatever happens at this Friends reunion, we know we want to be there and share in those memories. Many of us remember that time when we’d turn on the television to catch the latest episode of Friends and it would be uplifting and funny at the same time. So now we get the chance to do it one more time – next Thursday.
The Friends reunion will stream on Binge at 5.02 AEST on Thursday May 27th…
Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey will premiere The Me You Can’t See – a documentary series about mental health – on 21st May on Apple TV+
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex feature in an emotional trailer for Harry’s mental health documentary series with Oprah Winfrey, and the footage hints that Prince Harry will be going over the trauma he experienced after his mother’s death. The trailer includes archive film from the 1997 funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, showing Harry, then 12, standing with his head bowed as his mother’s coffin passes by, alongside the Prince of Wales, who then turns to speak to his son.
At the time, we were all watching thinking how hard that must have been for both Harry and William. Now, in this Apple TV+ documentary, Harry is shown in conversation with Winfrey, saying: “To make that decision to receive help is not a sign of weakness. In today’s world, more than ever, it is a sign of strength.”
The Me You Can’t See began streaming today and as well as Prince Harry, it features several other celebrities talking about mental health. The trailer shows clips of interviews with Winfrey, Lady Gaga, Glenn Close and the San Antonio Spurs basketball player, DeMar DeRozan.
Several of the interviewees appear close to tears as they discuss their experiences. Winfrey says: “It’s just something I accepted.” Meghan makes a brief appearance, coming into shot at Harry’s side. The duchess is smiling and wearing a T-shirt with the slogan ‘Raising the Future’. Later on the Sussexes’ son, Archie, is shown sitting on his mother’s lap, in footage filmed at around the time of his first birthday.
Harry says in the trailer: “The results of this year will be felt for decades. The kids, families, husbands, wives, everybody.”
Harry and Winfrey are the co-creators and executive producers of the project. The Sussexes’ Archewell website says they’ll guide “honest discussions about mental health and emotional wellbeing, while opening up about their personal journeys and struggles.”
Harry has previously spoken of the emotional turmoil he faced after his mother was killed in a Paris car crash in 1997, saying he spent nearly two decades “not thinking” about her death before eventually getting help after a period of “total chaos.”
“Now more than ever, there is an immediate need to replace the shame surrounding mental health with wisdom, compassion and honesty,” said Oprah Winfrey. “Our series aims to spark that global conversation.”
“We are born into different lives, brought up in different environments, and as a result are exposed to different experiences. But our shared experience is that we are all human,” said Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex. “The majority of us carry some form of unresolved trauma, loss or grief, which feels – and is – very personal. Yet the last year has shown us that we are all in this together, and my hope is that this series will show there is power in vulnerability, connection in empathy, and strength in honesty.”
The Me You Can’t See will stream on Apple TV+ and the Apple TV app on over 1 billion screens on May 21st…
Marvel Studios’ Black Widow will be in cinemas on July 8th and then streaming on Disney+ on July 9th
Check out this trailer above from Marvel Studios’ Black Widow starring Scarlett Johansson and Florence Pugh. In this movie, Johansson plays the Black Widow, confronting the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force which will stop at nothing to bring her down, she has to deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.
Florence Pugh stars as Yelena, David Harbour portrays Alexei/The Red Guardian, and Rachel Weisz is Melina. Directed by Cate Shortland and produced by Kevin Feige, Black Widow is the first film in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe—the action-packed spy thriller.
Black Widow will be in cinemas on July 8th and streaming on Disney+ With Premier Access on July 9th…
The Pact – about five friends bound together by a fragile pact of silence – is now streaming on Stan
An unexplained death and suddenly five friends are bound together by a fragile pact of silence. What really happened that night in the woods? The six-part thriller, The Pact, is now steaming on Stan.
When a young brewery boss is found dead, a chain of events is triggered that draws four of his employees; Anna (Laura Fraser; Breaking Bad), Nancy (Julie Hesmondhalgh; The A Word, Broadchurch), Louie (Eiry Thomas; Keeping Faith) and Cat (Heledd Gwynn; Ordinary Lies) into a fragile pact of silence, bound by a secret which will change their lives forever.
Anna’s police officer husband, Max (Jason Hughes; Three Girls), investigates Jack’s (Aneurin Bernard; Dunkirk) unexpected death alongside his fierce superior DS Holland (Rakie Ayola; Noughts + Crosses), unaware that his own wife and her best friends are at the heart of a conspiracy. While brewery worker Tish (Abbie Hern; The Twilight Zone) becomes increasingly suspicious of her co-workers, Jack’s estranged father Arwel (Eddie Marsan; Ray Donovan) struggles to conceal dark family secrets.
What really happened that fateful night? You’ll need to watch it to find out but it’s clear The Pact is a gripping, contemporary thriller. Written and created by Pete McTighe (Doctor Who, A Discovery Of Witches) and directed by Eric Styles (Hidden) & Rebecca Johnson (Honeytrap, The Flash) for the BBC, this one comes with everything a thriller needs – mystery, intrigue and the shock factor.
The Pact is streaming now on Stan…
See What You Made Me Do is a moving documentary about domestic abuse, streaming now on SBS On Demand
See What You Made Me Do is a new 3-part SBS documentary series which explores what is one of the most urgent issues of our time – domestic abuse. Presented by investigative journalist Jess Hill, the series examines the fine lines between love, abuse and power.
According to Jess Hill, domestic abuse is rife within Australia and she says it’s all the more shocking because so many stories remain hidden. She says Australia is facing a domestic abuse epidemic that shows no signs of slowing down. On average, one woman a week is killed by a current or former partner in Australia, and well over three million adults and children are victims of domestic abuse.
Behind these sobering figures, this new series offers us a series of stories and faces of everyday Australians. Jess Hill is a Walkley-award winning investigative journalist and author who’s been reporting exclusively on domestic abuse since 2014. As Hill travels across Australia, she also shines a light on much-needed innovations with the power to make a seismic difference to curbing the domestic abuse epidemic facing our country.
This year, there’s already a feeling of change in the air – a rejection of the idea more deaths can go unnoticed and stories of domestic abuse and assault can go untold. In March of this year, tens of thousands of people turned out to marches across Australia, protesting against the sexual abuse and harassment of women in the country.
As See What You Made Me Do points out, there is still more work to be done, and as Jess Hill notes: with “millions of Australians [who] have been subjected to domestic abuse and coercive control, the time to confront it is now.”
The strength of See What You Made Me Do is that it delivers important statistics and examples of how domestic abuse is seen and reported in Australia, while also putting human faces and stories at the heart of the documentary.
In episode one, viewers are introduced to domestic abuse survivor Jessica Nitschke, an independent career woman, who, alongside her mother, tells her story of being trapped in a debilitating relationship. One where she was targeted and then sexually and emotionally abused by a man she met on a dating app. By telling her story, Jessica shows how any person can become a victim of controlling behaviours and cease all contact with friends and family as a result of it.
See What You Made Me Do also sees Hill tackle a misguided question she is often asked when reporting on domestic abuse and that is: “Why doesn’t she just leave?”
After watching this series, it’s hard to imagine anyone ever asking that question again. It shows that leaving an abusive partner is one of the most dangerous moves a person can make. For a range of complex reasons, in so many cases women will stay with their abuser, living under the threat that the situation will become much more dangerous if they tried to leave.
Another example is Sue and Lloyd Clarke, who lost their daughter Hannah and their three grandchildren, Aaliyah, Laianah and Trey, to a man who refused to let them leave. In the series the couple detail the extreme lengths they went to protect their loved ones and keep them safe, but in the end it was not enough.
See What You Made Me Do shines an important light on how domestic abuse is still so badly misunderstood in Australia and how all of our systems, including police and family law, need to change in order to be truly protective. There’s a bigger conversation we need to have around domestic abuse in Australia, and See What You Made Me Do is here to kick-start it.
If this article or the documentary raises issues for you, or if you’re concerned about someone you know, please call 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or visit 1800respect.org.au.
See What You Made Me Do is streaming now on SBS On Demand…
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