AIDS epidemic is a surprising subject for a musical

But it doesn't seem an obvious subject for a musical.

And yet, that's what In Our Blood is, inspired by the play Never Let Me Go by Adrian Cappellata (who is also a writer and producer in this series).

So I wasn't expecting it to be quite as good as it is.

The four-part series is tagged a musical-drama and a "musical-anything" hybrid always gives me pause because the move from characters speaking to suddenly singing is so often jarring.

But it's pulled off so well here that I didn't immediately notice the change.

Also it uses a series of narrators to tell the story, which I've felt is the easy way out for the writers to set the scene.

Again, it tends to work here. Like the music, the narration is blended into the whole, rather that sticking out and being obvious.

Set in the early 1980s, it focuses on gay man David who has just scored a job with the incoming federal Labor health minister (who, in real life was Neil Blewitt but has been fictionalised here as Jeremy Wilding).

David finds himself at the forefront of Australia's response to the AIDS epidemic, while carefully disguising his own sexuality.

I've only viewed one episode, but what I saw was enough to make me keen for the other three.

In 2006, brothers Antonio and Egidio De Benedetto took an intern into their Tacabanda Ristorante in Italy.

Niccolo Vallese, who has Down Syndrome, had dreamed of working in hospitality; the brothers hadn't worked with someone with an intellectual disability and so they really didn't know what to expect.

Soon they found Niccolo was totally capable, which sparked an idea to create a hotel where people with intellectual disabilities could get on-the-job training.

That first restaurant was called Albergo Etico and it led to others being created around the world, including Australia.

This documentary goes behind the scenes at the restaurant and focuses on Chef Antonio's training of staff members.

These include Mirko who has his sights set on becoming a chef, and Jessica, who wants to work as a waitress before broadening her hospitality horizons.

The most surprising thing in this documentary about Australian conductor Simone Young is that it reveals the sexism in the orchestra world.

Not only did she face prejudice in trying to break through as a female conductor, there were some famous orchestras that didn't even allow female musicians to join until the 1990s.

I'd always seen the arts community as more tolerant and accepting of others, compared to broader society so it's a shock to discover elements of it can be so backward.

That revealing insight is part of what makes the Cate Blanchett-produced documentary Knowing The Score so interesting - even if you're not one to ever go and watch an orchestra perform.