SHOW OF THE WEEK NO. 1: The Nest (July 13, Acorn TV)

Mirren Mack as Kaya in “The Nest.” PHOTO CREDIT: Studio Lambert and all3media International

The best TV drama paints its pictures in shades of grey with layered, fallible characters, which is exactly what “The Nest” does. The psychological drama plays like a thriller and keeps you guessing from episode to episode who the heroes and villains are.

It begins with Dan and Emily, a wealthy Glasgow couple who’ve tried repeatedly to conceive a child. After Emily almost runs over a troubled teenager named Kaya she comes up with a reckless scheme to have Kaya act as a surrogate. Dan goes along with it because he’d do anything to make Emily happy, but things go off the rails when he discovers a secret from Kaya’s past.

Much of the credit for how absorbing “The Nest” is belongs to the three lead actors. “Line of Duty” favourite Martin Compston plays Dan; and Sophie Rundle, a standout in shows like “Gentleman Jack” and “Peaky Blinders,” is Emily. Mirren Mack is the real revelation as Kaya. Her only other listed credits are a few episodes of “Sex Education,” but she brings much depth to Kaya, who matures from aimless teenager to determined young woman over the five episodes.

No one gets to claim the moral high ground in “The Nest,” which keeps your sympathies shifting from character to character. The most consistent villain is Kaya’s mother, Siobhan, played by Scottish stalwart Shirley Henderson (“Trainspotting,” “Happy Valley”) with simpering loathsomeness.

Nor is anyone untouched by the fallout when Kaya’s secret is revealed, including Dan’s sister (Fiona Bell, “Shetland”) and her family; and Kaya’s social worker (James Harkness, “The Victim”).

“The Nest” offers food for thought, about social inequality and the commodification of fertility; about defining people by their pasts and rushing to judgment. But most importantly, it’s just good entertainment.

SHOW OF THE WEEK NO. 2: Decoys (July 17, CBC Gem)

Brian Paul, Keram Malicki-Sanchez, Alice Moran, Rup Magon and David Pelech in “Decoys.”
PHOTO CREDIT: CBC Gem

What “Best in Show” did for dog competitions this web series does for competitive duck carving. 

Like that brilliant Christopher Guest mockumentary film, “Decoys” makes a group of obsessed losers funny by playing their devotion to their craft absolutely straight. And its underlying affection for the characters leavens the mockery with sweetness.

Three months before the Northern Alberta Carving Cup contest, we meet five of the competitors: lonely single girl Mary Jane (Alice Moran), who gives her decoys names and voices; Sikh immigrant Amandeep (Rup Magon), who sees duck-carving as a way to be more Canadian; Donald Sinclair (series creator David Pelech), who’s trying to live up to the reputation of his deceased father, the “Loonatic”; tortured artist Zeke (Keram Malicki-Sanchez), who’s battling “carver’s block”; and old-timer Frank (Brian Paul), who’s bitter that he’s never won despite his mastery of traditional techniques.

Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll and Tracey Hoyt are also spot on as competition organizers Dennis and Barb. So are Kelly Van der Burg and Nelu Handa as Margaret and Simran, the long-suffering partners of Donald and Amandeep, and Brandon Oakes as Rhett, “the original bad boy of Alberta carving.”

Some of the dialogue is laugh-out-loud funny and the ending will leave you with a smile on  your face. And at just six episodes ranging from nine to 15 minutes each you can watch and still have time to carve a duck.

The Secrets That She Keeps (July 16, Sundance Now)

Jessica De Gouw and Laura Carmichael in “The Secrets That She Keeps.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Sundance Now

Two pregnant women – one a married blogger living in a tony neighbourhood, the other an unmarried supermarket shelf stocker – both with secrets about their pregnancies. The secrets that Agatha (Laura Carmichael of “Downton Abbey”) keeps intertwine her life with that of Meghan (Jessica De Gouw, “Arrow”) in devastating ways. The baby-crazy woman is a well-worn trope and you can easily see the main plot twists coming, but the story hums along over its six episodes. It’s based on a book by Australian crime novelist Michael Robotham.

Cursed (July 17, Netflix)

Katherine Langford as Nimue and Devon Terrell as Arthur in “Cursed.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Netflix

I’m not allowed to review this until the day it debuts, but I can tell you it’s a fantasy series, a sort of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table prequel starring Katherine Langford of “13 Reasons Why” as teenage sorceress Nimue, the future Lady of the Lake. It also stars Devon Terrell as young knight Arthur, Gustaf Skarsgard of “Vikings” as sorcerer Merlin and Peter Mullan (“Westword,” “Ozark”) as leader of a band of religious zealots out to destroy fae and other “demons.” It’s based on the illustrated YA novel by Frank Miller and Tom Wheeler.

Odds and Ends

A scene from the new Starz series “P-Valley.” PHOTO CREDIT: Starz/Bell Media

“P-Valley” debuted on Starz on Sunday, which means it’s still available on Crave to anyone with the Starz add-on. Alas, I didn’t get to screen this one, a female-centred look at a strip club in the Mississippi Delta, but it’s getting good reviews.

Lifetime has Variety’s Power of Women: Frontline Heroes (July 15, 8 p.m.), which sounds like another “rah rah, we’ll get through the pandemic together” kind of thing, but it does feature some impressive women, including Cate Blanchett, Patti LuPone and Janelle Monae.

The pandemic has brought us one gift, TV cast reunions, and there’s a special episode of “30 Rock” airing on NBC (July 16, 8 p.m.)

If you’re game to give Canadian cinema a shot, Canadian Screen Award winner “The Song of Names,” directed by Francois Girard and starring Tim Roth and Clive Owen, screens on Crave on July 17 at 9 p.m.