'Dead' dad in the attic: Perverse dilemma at the heart of dark new ABC comedy

His dad William has been hiding in the attic this whole time, and his mum Debbie knew all about it.

It was a plan they came up with to get their hands on William's life insurance policy without him having to go to the trouble of actually dying.

Well, Debbie initially thought he was dead. And so did a less-than-thorough doctor who was called round to check him out.

Turns out he was just really, really sleepy.

After Harry finds out he has to decide whether to keep quiet and be a party to mum and dad's fraud or expose the truth.

This series, now in its second season, is effectively Paramedics but with First Nations people.

Nothing wrong with that. As a white guy, I get to see myself on TV every day of the week. It's good that First Nations people get a chance to see themselves.

It's also good because a show like this can provide an example for people, to show that working as a paramedic, a doctor, a nurse or something else in the health sector is quite possible.

It is a tad irritating that the narrator and some of the talent keep talking about how First Nations people don't trust the health system, but don't explain why that is the case.

Apparently Cape Wessel, in the Gulf of Carpentaria, is known as "Cape Carnage".

That's what this reality TV show reckons anyway, though the only example of that name I could find is from the show itself.

So I call shenanigans on that claim.

Clearly the title is trying to plug into the Deadliest Catch idea where commercial fishing is shown to be incredibly dangerous.

Watching this episode it didn't seem all that dangerous to me. The worst injuries were someone getting sick and breaking out in a rash, or a fisher taping up his hand so the lines didn't hurt.

The lack of danger or "carnage" doesn't matter, because this is a surprisingly good show.

It focuses on the Davey family, who go out on the ocean to catch loads and loads of Spanish mackerel.

There are at least three generations on board the Wild Card, including small kids and a pregnant wife - in this episode she explains how hard it is to tee up an appointment for an ultrasound when you're out catching fish all the time.

Contrary to what I expected, they don't catch the fish by dragging huge nets behind the boat. Instead, they get into one of a number of small dinghies that carry one person.

The lines are trailing out the back and, when they land a fish, they fling it into the boat and cast off again. Before long they end up with a pile of mackerel on the deck of their tiny boat.