Monday TV picks: Queen Elizabeth's Secret Agents, The Good Place and more
QUEEN ELIZABETH'S SECRET AGENTS
Series premiere ★★★½
7.30pm, SBS
The Virgin Queen is very much in vogue at the moment, what with Margot Robbie's controversial portrayal in the feature film, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lily Cole's interpretation in the docudrama, Elizabeth I and her Enemies. The re-enactments in this probe into her extensive spy network aren't overshadowed by a named actor and instead play an apt supporting role to the historians. They have much to impart about the murky world of Elizabethan espionage.
THE GOOD PLACE
Series premiere ★★★½
9.30pm, ABC Comedy
Ted Danson throws off the shackles of the alter ego for which he is perhaps best known, that of curmudgeonly GP John Becker, and embraces the role of Michael, a devoted company man newly appointed his own patch of Heaven to middle manage. Kristen Bell as his newest recruit is a cynical everywoman who can see through the rubbish but, due to regulations, can't say it, or any other curse word, no matter how hard she tries. This is a cartoonish scoff at mortality and the meaning of life.
YOU'RE THE WORST
Double episode series return ★★★
11pm, SBS Viceland
These two jaded young hipsters were at first quite annoying, with their world-weary attitudes to romance and total self absorption. But since they shacked up together and got on with the job of redefining themselves in a world of other young people searching for meaning in hashtags, British writer Jimmy (Chris Geere) and American party girl Gretchen (Aya Cash) have become much more interesting. In this second series, they begin the dance of the newly defacto-ed.