This article was originally published in The Courier on 2nd November 2019.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
RICH HALL’S RED MENACE
Tuesday,
BBC Four, 9pm
It’s
always a treat whenever the lugubrious Hall pops up to present another one of his feature-length
history lessons shot through the prism of popular culture. This one, which is part of a series of programmes commemorating
the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (see below), recounts the bizarre,
sinister saga of the Cold War. Steeped in archive footage and assiduous
research, it’s a typically droll, myth-busting essay in which Hall explores
decades of anti-Communist hysteria and nuclear panic. While cowering from the insanity
of Mutually Assured Destruction, the vast majority of ordinary Americans learned
about the Red Menace via films, television and comic books. Meanwhile, ordinary
Soviets endured a drab life of toil. As Hall observes, they were too exhausted
to even think about invading America.
A BRITISH GUIDE TO THE
END OF THE WORLD
Monday,
BBC Four, 9pm
This
chilling Arena documentary examines the
extent of Britain’s nuclear ambitions and preparations for attack during the
Cold War. It eschews conventional narration in favour of horrifically vivid
testimonies from some of the people directly affected by these plans, including
soldiers involved in Britain’s first major nuclear weapons test. As one man
recalls, “It actually turned out there were birds on fire… hundreds of them
burning. A lot of them were still alive, and blind.” Many soldiers got cancer
as a direct result of the tests: “They sent us to that island to suffer the
effects.” We also hear from civil servants who were responsible for making emergency
plans in the seemingly inevitable event of nuclear war. Essential viewing.
THE FALL OF THE BERLIN
WALL WITH JOHN SIMPSON
Thursday,
BBC Four, 9pm
In
this ruminative programme, senior BBC News journalist John Simpson exhumes his
frontline reports on what he describes as “one of the great days of modern
human existence”. With typical journalistic rigour, he wants to analyse the
accuracy of his reporting of history. After all, things didn’t work out quite
as he expected them to. Like all of us who lived through that terrifying epoch,
Simpson assumed that the world could end at any moment. So no wonder the
demolition of the Iron Curtain was a cause for celebration. Today, however, Russia
and the West are still at loggerheads. It’s an insightful unravelling of a
complex saga, overseen by a man who’s actually encountered the likes of
Gorbachev and Putin.
THE END OF THE F***ING
WORLD
Monday
to Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm
Despite
its title, this rather brilliant series has nothing to do with the above spate of
Cold War documentaries. It’s a deadpan, David Lynch and Wes Anderson-influenced
black comedy-drama about a pair of severely dysfunctional yet oddly likeable
teenagers on a British Badlands-esque
odyssey. As series two commences, we’re introduced to a troubled and vengeful young
woman with connections to one of their (deserved) victims. Series one, which I
loved, felt like a perfectly self-contained piece, a standalone blast of curious subversion, but writer Charlie Covell has hit upon an effective way of
continuing the saga. As before, it somehow manages to combine hip
post-modernism with a tender yet unsentimental depth of feeling. Quite an
achievement.
LAST WEEK’S TV
WESTWOOD: PUNK. ICON.
ACTIVIST
Saturday
October 26, BBC Two
Artful
and unorthodox, this hugely enjoyable profile of fashion legend Vivienne
Westwood struck precisely the right note. A lifelong rebel, distrustful of
received wisdom, she came across as a reluctant interviewee. Bored of talking
about her life and legacy, at one point she sighed, “But you need this, so I’ll
tell you.” Her refusal to play nicely was part of the film’s charm. She was
grumpy, funny, generous, unpretentious and eccentric all at once. A rounded
human being, no less.
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