This article was originally published in The Courier on 1st February 2020.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
MARY BEARD’S SHOCK OF
THE NUDE
Monday,
BBC Two, 9pm
The
history of Western art is crammed with naked bodies. Mary Beard casts her
shrewd expert eye over this orgiastic obsession in a probing, irreverent and
informative two-part series, wherein she grapples with “the problems, the
anxieties and the scandals surrounding the image of the naked body ever since
the Ancient Greeks.” The art establishment has always tried to defend itself
from accusations of objectifying women, but Beard sees
right through such mendacity, hypocrisy and gross oversimplification. She
analyses problematic expressions of the erotic male gaze – many of them
considered masterpieces – and looks at how female artists have responded to
this fig-leafed tradition. She also traces the unusual history of idealised naked men
in art.
INSIDE NO. 9
Monday,
BBC Two, 10pm
All
good people agree that Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s darkly comic
anthology series is one of the best and most consistently inventive television
shows of recent years. Series 5 kicks off in a football referee’s changing room
before, during and after a fraught match. David Morrissey plays a consummately
professional ref on the verge of retirement, with Pemberton, Shearsmith and
Ralf Little as his temperamentally mismatched linesmen. Although it’s not one
of the strongest episodes – it feels quite slight by Pemberton and Shearsmith’s
usual standards – it still displays their impressive ability to weave comedy,
drama and rounded characters into a single 30 minute narrative. They’re masters
of the form, Rod Serling by way of Victoria Wood and Alan Bennett.
UNIVERSAL CREDIT:
INSIDE THE WELFARE STATE
Tuesday,
BBC Two, 9pm
Universal
Credit is the biggest and most controversial (i.e. catastrophic) overhaul of
the welfare state in a generation. The government insists that it was supposed
to simplify the benefits system and encourage the unemployed back into work,
but instead it has caused chaos and suffering for the millions of people who
rely on it to survive. It has driven claimants further into poverty. People are
dying as a result. This sobering series gains access to the much-maligned
Department of Work and Pensions. We also meet sympathetic jobcentre employees and
claimants, including a desperate middle-aged man who’s recently been made
homeless, and a single mother of two who struggles with depression and anxiety
caused by her dire situation.
BARRYMORE: THE BODY IN
THE POOL
Thursday,
Channel 4, 9pm
In
March 2001, Stuart Lubbock died at a drug-fuelled party held at Michael
Barrymore’s home. To this day the case remains unsolved. This research-heavy, 90-minute
documentary attempts to examine the full, murky story. Preview copies weren’t
available at the time of writing – possibly for sensitive legal reasons – but
it sounds potentially fascinating. The Lubbock case is rife with unanswered
questions, as no one has ever spoken openly about what happened that night. We
do know that Barrymore denies any involvement and that his once successful
career has, for obvious reasons, never recovered. The film features
contributions from members of the Lubbock family, as well as eyewitnesses,
detectives and forensic pathologists. Barrymore himself appears only in archive
footage.
LAST WEEK’S TV
DOCTOR WHO
Sunday 26th January, BBC One
Fair
play to Chris Chibnall, he managed to keep the grin-inducing return of good old Captain Jack
(the effervescent John Barrowman, having a ball as usual) under wraps; a
welcome rarity in this spoilerific age. Also, in another fine twist, this
enjoyably berserk episode introduced the first person of colour (Jo Martin, pictured) to play the
Doctor. Or did it? I don’t trust Chibnall to satisfactorily conclude his
intriguing story arc, but I’ll gladly eat humble P if I'm wrong.
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