Robyn (Anna Paquin) can fix any PR nightmare, which is a good thing since that’s her job – sorting out problems for celebrities in need of an image rejuvenation in new Foxtel series Flack (watch the trailer below).
Pity she can’t clean up her own life – she’s lying to her boyfriend about wanting to start a family and has a serious substance abuse problem that’s not helped one bit by the industry in which she works.
Flack depicts an extreme version of crisis management – a phrase Robyn refuses to use, preferring to describe her clients’ situations as “challenges”. In one episode, the team decide to film a fake sex tape to boost the career of a 17-year-old former reality-show winner … with her parents’ approval.
These “problem of the week” storylines aren’t the most interesting thing about the series, which has a tendency to go over the top when a touch more restraint could elicit greater laughs and make the show’s commentary on fame and celebrity more pointed.
Instead, come for Flack’s one-liners. The best dialogue lands courtesy of Robyn’s fellow publicist Eve (Lydia Wilson), a woman who manages to turn ordering coffee into an abuse-ridden put-down, and their forbidding boss, Caroline (Sophie Okonedo), whose deadpan (but deadly) delivery is the type of balance the rest of the show could do with more of. (Starts Thu., Feb. 28 at 8.30pm; Fox Showcase) 4 stars