RISE OF THE NAZIS: DICTATORS AT WAR + IMAGINE... LABI SIFFRE: THIS IS MY SONG + CHLOE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 12th February 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Rise of the Nazis: Dictators at War – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

This engrossing new series examines the psychology of homicidal dictators and the morality of those who empower them. 

The rise and fall of Adolf Hitler is the ultimate illustration of how dictatorships always destroy themselves. They’re founded on hubris, corruption and paranoia; an inherently unstable power structure commandeered by ruthless megalomaniacs who cannot accept reality. 

The series begins in 1940, with Hitler plotting his invasion of the Soviet Union. He fully believed that global domination was within his grasp, and woe betide anyone who suggested otherwise. Fate had ordained that he would be victorious. 

Solidly compiled using archive footage, dialogue-free dramatic reconstructions, contemporary reports and contributions from esteemed historians, it’s an acute study of sanctioned insanity.

The Millionairess and Me – Monday, Channel 4, 10pm

Former model Amanda Cronin is apparently one of the UK’s richest women. You’ve probably never heard of her, and Cronin isn’t happy about that. 

She’s got everything she could possibly want apart from celebrity. Hence why she agreed to star in this potentially brand-building programme from documentary filmmaker Martin Read, a man whose life experience couldn’t be more at odds with that of his glamorous subject. He’s been homeless and once served time in prison. 

It’s a sly, wry film about obscene class divisions. Read and Cronin have an obvious rapport, they like each other, but he never loses sight of his fundamental point. These shallow, selfish, oblivious fools will never understand what it’s like to be poor.

Imagine… Labi Siffre: This Is My Song – Monday, BBC One, 10:35pm

Labi Siffre is perhaps best known for his indelible anti-Apartheid anthem Something Inside So Strong. He also wrote the Madness hit It Must Be Love. 

Fine achievements both, but this poignant profile places him front and centre: a brilliant, iconoclastic singer-songwriter who has never quite received the respect he deserves. 

A gay black man, Siffre endured prejudice for most of his early life. Twice widowed, he retired from music several years ago. But now he’s back, his warm, soulful voice undimmed. 

He comes across as a lovely fella – a bright beacon of integrity – who is modestly proud of his entirely natural hybrid of folk, soul and funk. One particular new performance brought tears to my eyes.

This Is Going to Hurt – Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

In the second episode of this commendably brutal comedy drama about an exhausted NHS surgeon, Adam (Ben Whishaw) continues to juggle some sort of personal life with the endless, sleepless pressures of his job.

Adam Kay's adaptation of his own memoir never self-pitying, it understands that gallows humour and self-deprecation/laceration naturally coexist with genuinely-felt trauma. A coping mechanism. Kay is presumably a fan of M*A*S*H: the smart-aleck asides never undermine the overall seriousness.

It’s a direct political statement on behalf of the overworked, understaffed and underfunded NHS. But, you know, with jokes.

24 Hours in A&E – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

Our hospital rounds continue with the latest chapter of this peerless observational series. Patients this week include a 15-year-old boy who has been stabbed in the thigh while on his way to school. His doting mother reflects upon her own childhood in Ghana and the way it compares with the often violent nature of south London culture. 

Elsewhere on the ward, a sports commentator with an inflamed ankle talks about the highs and lows of his career thus far, and an 11-year-old girl shares her unique philosophy while being treated for a broken finger. 

As always, you will count your blessings and marvel, quietly, at the wit, warmth and resilience of the human spirit.

Loggerheads – Thursday, BBC Scotland, 8:30pm

Davy Crockett hats off to whoever came up with the punning title of this genial new series in which woodworking artisans compete for splinter-fingered glory. I would’ve gone for ‘Tree Amigos’, but what do I know? Nothing. 

Each episode is based in a woodland enclave – the leisurely race begins in Glenlude in the Scottish Borders – but the competitive aspect is basically irrelevant. It’s just a nicely convenient angle, an easy-access way of providing some insight into how these rather groovy people (one of whom looks like Jerry Garcia on a promotional visit to Endor) devote themselves to reconstituting timber while causing no harm to surrounding wildlife and the ecosystem generally. 

An entirely benign endeavour.

Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig – Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm

Series two of this vicarious weekend break begins with Toksvig trundling around Devon with the comedian Sarah Millican. 

Yes, it’s a cosy and rather twee confection in which our hosts enjoy bespoke holiday residences situated in the beauteous wilds of Britain, but you’d really have to go out of your way to take umbrage at a programme in which naturally amusing and affable people look at pebbles and ponies. 

Speaking of whom, I daresay comedy nerds (not a pejorative term, I’m as nerdy as they come) will have something in their eye when Toksvig names one of the ponies after her late great friend Jeremy Hardy. It’s what he would’ve wanted. This is a genuinely pleasant little distraction.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Chloe – Sunday 6th February and Monday 7th February, BBC One

Beware of social media. That appears to be the takeaway message of this discomfiting and rather opaque psychological thriller about a young woman, Becky, who’s obsessed with a school friend she hasn’t seen in years (or so we’re led to believe). 

Chloe is beautiful and glamorous. Her Instagram account suggests she leads a perfect life. And then she’s found dead. Meanwhile, Becky inveigles her way into Chloe’s circle of swanky gallery-dwelling friends by adopting an idealised alter ego: Chloe Mark II. 

Becky (the excellent Erin Doherty) is an ambiguous protagonist who, I suspect, is seeking to avenge the tragic death of her friend. And that ambiguity provides just enough intrigue to keep one’s attention. For now at least.

Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad – Monday 7th February, STV

Bradley Wash and his son Barney are ITV’s very own Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. We get the adventurers we deserve. I do like them, though. In a world wracked with division and schism, they’re commendably open-minded. 

The show is predicated upon the idea that Bradley is a daft old fella endearingly out of his depth compared to his cosmopolitan millennial son, but that concept falls apart as soon as you watch it: they’re an affable duo who thumb their noses at the generation gap. They clearly adore each other and enthusiastically embrace every aspect of the foreign cultures they encounter. 

Viewed from a certain angle, this silly little fleck of harmless filler is almost quite inspiring.

 

THIS IS GOING TO HURT + NO RETURN + CHEATERS

This article was orginially published in The Courier on 5th February 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

This Is Going to Hurt – Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

Based on Adam Kay’s bestselling memoir, this arresting comedy drama stars Ben Whishaw as a junior NHS doctor desperately overworking on an obstetrics and gynaecology ward. 

It begins with him waking up in his car following a gruelling twelve-hour shift. He’s then immediately dragged back into the never-ending thick of it. The pace never lets up.

Adam is witty, sarcastic, a little bit full of himself, but fundamentally decent and dedicated. Whishaw, who resembles a sleep-deprived adolescent, is perfectly cast. This Is Going to Hurt exposes, in kinetic semi-real-time detail, the sheer amount of stress experienced by NHS hospital staff on a daily basis. 

The physical and psychological consequences are self-evident. It’s a timely transmission from the frontline. 

No Return – Monday, STV, 9pm

Does Sheridan Smith ever rest? Barely a week goes by without her starring in an angst-ridden TV drama. She’s an excellent actor, but overexposure will do her no favours: beware the Bradley Walsh effect. 

This time she plays the matriarch of a happy Manchester family on holiday in Turkey. One night her teenage son attends a beach party. The next day he’s arrested on a charge of sexual assault. A waking nightmare ensues. 

Written by Jimmy McGovern protégé Danny Brocklehurst, No Return clearly has its heart in the right place with regards to tackling homophobia and dodgy policing. But it does feel quite familiar, principally because we recently witnessed Smith playing an almost identical role in Four Lives.

60 Days with the Gypsies – Monday, Channel 4, 9pm

Channel 4 have notoriously poor form when it comes to dealing with Britain's traveling community; the sneering tone of their Big Fat Gypsy franchise will never be forgotten. But this new series is thankfully more insightful and sympathetic. 

It follows explorer Ed Stafford as he spends time with some travellers. Their entire culture is in danger of being wiped out by increasingly hard-line authoritarian measures. They’re constantly being evicted from their campsites, and have nowhere else to go. Fearful of reprisals, some of the travellers are understandably reluctant to appear on camera. 

Stafford admits to having conflicted feelings at first, but through his first-hand experience he gains a greater understanding of this way of life. The programme, to its credit, confronts prejudice and challenges misconceptions.

Imagine… Marian Keyes: My (no so) Perfect Life – Monday, BBC One, 10:35pm

The work of Irish author Marian Keyes is renowned for its darkly comic honesty and acute conversational prose. A recovering alcoholic, she writes about addiction and depression with disarming clarity. Her empathy is borne of experience. 

This enlightening profile confirms that the person on the page is the real confessional deal. She’s clever, funny and frank; a charming individual with no time for self-aggrandising or self-pitying ordure. 

And Keyes is basically in charge here, which means she gets to narrate her own life story without too many buffoonish intrusions from Imagine editor Alan Yentob. Glory be. 

The programme also addresses her discomfort with the ‘chick lit’ tag. It’s a reductive, snobbish double-standard. 

Cheaters – Tuesday, BBC One, 9:50pm

Spread over eighteen ten-minute episodes, this new comedy drama is a faintly depressing study of neurotic, unhappy, dysfunctional people. Dunno about you, but I get enough of that at home. 

It begins with a man and a woman cute-meeting in a Finnish airport. They both have partners at home in London, but one thing leads to another etc. Then a highly unlikely coincidence occurs, thus leading to all manner of domestic complications. 

How many stories about awkward middle-class people do we really need? Four at most. 

Fictional characters don’t have to be sympathetic necessarily, but they do have to be interesting in some way. We need to be invested in their situation. Cheaters is a struggle. 

Storyville: President – Wednesday, BBC Four, 10pm

The tyrannical dictator Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years. In 2017 he was ousted by a military coup. 

The leaders of that coup then called a supposedly democratic election; opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, a former student activist who bravely staged a non-violent campaign against Mugabe’s regime, was the favourite to win. This despairing documentary follows his election campaign. 

Set against a backdrop of corruption and economic chaos, the film depicts Chamisa as an honourable man struggling to instil hope within a populace that’s been oppressed for decades. How can you have faith in rigged game? 

It’s a powerful meditation on the universal fight for basic human rights vs a system diametrically opposed to allowing such freedom.

First Dates: Valentine’s – Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm

Fred Sirieix must rotate like a fizzing Catherine Wheel whenever Valentine’s Day rolls around. It’s the ultimate time of year for his restaurant o’ love. 

I haven’t seen this episode, but as a fan I can offer a cast-iron guarantee: it will provide some mildly uplifting cheer. 

This week’s hopefuls include a man who’s been hit with divorce, redundancy and a heart attack, a set of 75-year-old twins with showbiz in their veins, and a woman who can’t resist an Irish accent. Her date ticks that box, but will they click? 

The First Dates formula will never wear out its welcome, because we all want to see people being happy. Sounds trite, I know, but it’s true.

LAST WEEK’S TV

The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver – Monday 31st January, Channel 4

Jamie Oliver’s latest intrusion is a standard-issue competitive showdown in which eighteen non-famous kitchen wizards attempt to win a cookery book publishing deal. Expect to see said book in the shops once this series is over: cross brand synergy in action. 

Jamie’s role is that of the bighearted mentor: “Today I work for you, anything you want I’m here to support you.” 

Meanwhile, the contestants have to prove to a panel of judges that their book will stand out in an oversaturated market. What’s their angle? It’s basically MasterChef meets Dragons’ Den. That was the pitch, you can practically guarantee it. 

Anyway. Good luck to the eventual winner; Jamie will definitely write a nice foreword. 

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World – Tuesday 1st February, BBC Three

This new spin-off from RuPaul’s fabulous TV powerhouse finds nine drag queens competing to be crowned ‘Queen of the Mothertucking World’. The winner even gets to record a charity single with RuPaul himself, so the stakes are higher than ever. 

It boasts a justice league of all-star queens plucked from international versions of the show, including three from the UK. Your judges are Melanie Chisolm, Graham Norton and Michelle Visage. 

As usual, it’s an upbeat and inclusive affair in which everyone is supportive of each other. Yes, some sly comments are murmured occasionally, but never in a malicious way. This latest iteration is basically a celebration of the franchise itself, but that indulgence is deserved.

 

 

 

 

TV Review: LONDON SPY and JOSH

This article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 14th November 2015.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/lifestyle

London Spy: Monday, BBC Two

Josh: Wednesday, BBC Three

Paul Whitelaw

A few years ago Ben Whishaw starred in Criminal Justice, a gripping BBC drama about a young man trapped in a waking nightmare after being wrongly accused of murder. Last week he starred in London Spy, a gripping BBC drama about a young man trapped in, well, you get the picture.

It's easy to see why Whishaw, a fine, interesting actor, gets cast in such roles. His ability to project boyish, vulnerable charm makes him an ideal candidate for torture of this kind. The scrawny sod, he's innately sympathetic.

In London Spy he plays Danny, a lonely gay romantic on a path of self-destruction. Early one morning by the Thames, after a solitary night of hedonism, he has a chance encounter with Alex, a fellow lost soul.

In typical romantic fiction style, they couldn't be more different. Danny is garrulous and indie-kid scruffy, while Alex is an inscrutable model of Savile Row elegance with the face of a sad-eyed camel. After a faltering start, they eventually embark upon an intense eight-month relationship.

Socially maladroit Alex claims to be a virgin, so Danny – who has a complex sexual past – takes care of that. They fall madly in love. It's all rather touching, and hardly what you'd expect from a drama titled London Spy. We're all expecting some sort of thriller twist, of course, but the slow-burning build created an unexpected, disarming mood.

Then one day Alex mysteriously disappears. Danny is heartbroken. Under curious circumstances, he eventually manages to enter Alex's apartment, where he's shocked – as you would be – to discover a secret attic full of bondage gear drugs, sex toys... and Alex's corpse squeezed inside a trunk.

Suddenly, and quite brilliantly, a sensitive love story has transformed into a bizarre, dark conspiracy thriller. Naturally, Danny is suspect number one, but how can he answer questions about a partner who'd apparently lied to him all along? It's a classic Hitchcockian 'Wrong Man' premise, made all the more effective for taking its time to establish character first.

Handsomely shot, thoughtfully written and superbly performed – Jim Broadbent, without a hint of “old queen” cliché, is wonderful as Danny's wealthy saviour/mentor – London Spy is one of the boldest dramas of the year so far. Despite playing along with standard spy conventions, it's emotionally richer and more offbeat than yer average thriller.

Writer Tom Rob Smith is the partner of Ben Stephenson, the Controller of BBC Drama Commissioning. Normally that would set off the nepotism klaxon to cacophonous levels, but in this case it's clearly been commissioned on its own merits. No, really. It's excellent.

By contrast, Josh, a new sitcom vehicle for comedian Josh Widdicombe, is entirely standard stuff. Based around three flatmates in their early thirties, plus their know-it-all landlord (Jack Dee, clocking in), its humour is almost exclusively based around tired, overdone pop culture puns and references: vaguely amusing pub banter at best.

It's also cursed by a particular kind of 21^st century comedy performance style that's like Kryptonite to myself and anyone else who's latched onto it. It's basically an irksome marriage of Alan Partridge emphasis, Martin Freeman awkwardness and Bill Nighy vagueness, which around 80% of British comic actors under 40 have appropriated in the last decade. 

Widdicombe is particularly guilty. He sounds like a helium-addled Partridge with lockjaw.

Still, nice use of Big Maybelle's version of 96 Tears over the end credits. I'll give them that.

TV PREVIEW: Everyday, The Hour

This article was originally published in The Scotsman on 10th November 2012.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/tv-and-radio

EVERYDAY

Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm

THE HOUR

Wednesday, BBC2, 9pm

Paul Whitelaw

Proving the old adage that a stopped clock will be right at least twice a day, Kevin Bishop – an otherwise perfunctory footnote in the collected works of television comedy – once produced a memorable sketch presumably titled 'Gritty BAFTA'. Specifically inspired by the then inescapable hype surrounding Channel 4's heavyweight adaptation of Red Riding, it took an amusingly blunt swipe at those ostentatiously prestigious TV dramas seemingly designed to reduce BAFTA voters to quivers of admiring jelly.

Striding around an artfully photographed rain and blood-lashed North, Bishop and his cohorts, playing intense TV character actors for whom the craft is paramount, starred in a spoof trailer muttering nothing but “Gritty BAFTA” in a variety of dramatic timbres. “Coming soon, to Channel 4,” whispered the ersatz announcer with maximum faux portent. Not the most sophisticated satirical attack, perhaps, but it made its point cheekily and succinctly enough.

I mention this, not to automatically discredit Michael Winterbottom's latest opus, EVERYDAY, nor, heaven forbid, to suggest some sneaking admiration for the work of Kevin Bishop. But I can't deny that, if ever a C4 drama had “Gritty BAFTA” stencilled through its core, it's this ponderous slice of dour social realism.

Now, I'm all for unflinching British dramas that hold up a mirror to the harsh realities of society. But I'd rather they achieved that while telling an engaging story stocked with three-dimensional characters. Everyday resolutely fails on the second count.

One of the most versatile British auteurs of recent times, writer/director Winterbottom has given us such idiosyncratic comedies as 24 Hour Party People and the powerful dramas Welcome to Sarajevo and A Mighty Heart. He's a maverick talent in the cross-wired vein of Ken Loach and Julien Temple. But his willingness to experiment is occasionally a weakness, as evinced by the dreadful 9 Songs – live footage of Franz Ferdinand spliced with unsimulated sex scenes, what could possibly go wrong? - and the meandering Everyday.

Filmed sporadically over five years, it strives to examine the impact of the British penal system on a prisoner and his wife, portrayed by John Simm and Shirley Henderson. The action, such as it is, is divided between home and prison, as Henderson struggles to raise their four kids – portrayed by actual siblings – while awaiting her husband's release.

Incarcerated for an unspecified crime, he lives for their staggered visits. Watching his kids grow up in fits and bursts, he hears about missed Christmasses and birthdays, offers banal enquiries - “How's school?”, “Have you been good?” - and, whenever they're out of earshot, expresses to his wife his sexual frustration. And that's about it.

Shot in grainy pseudo-documentary style, it certainly captures the loneliness, angst and monotony of such an existence. But Winterbottom's dogged unwillingness to impose any dramatic embellishments on his deliberately spare and repetitive saga results in a film almost entirely composed of the boring bits we wouldn't normally see. I appreciate what he's trying to do, but it's like staring at a stranger's home movies.

Henderson and Simm are fine actors, but they can't do much with such thinly-sketched characters. As for the conceit of filming over five years, the only vaguely noticeable result is that the seasons change and the children age. But so what? Was that really worth the time and effort?

Possibly aware that his experiment wasn't working, Winterbottom attempts to broaden the canvas with painterly landscapes (Henderson and co conveniently live near picturesque fields and woodlands) that contrast heavy-handedly with the claustrophobia of Simm's cell. And Michael Nyman provides a pastoral score that tries in vain to make the film feel more profound than it actually is.

Even the most forgiving (gritty) BAFTA voter would struggle to stay awake during this well-intentioned misfire.

Incidentally, I'm aware that my opening analogy implies that Kevin Bishop has been responsible for at least two funny sketches in his career, rather than the paltry one. But I think you'll find that technically a stopped clock is right only once a day, equivalent to the time that it originally expired. Believe me, I'm tremendous fun at pub quizzes.

The first series of Abi Morgan's '50s period thriller THE HOUR was flawed, implausible and naggingly anachronistic, but as a piece of winningly performed, suspenseful entertainment, it ticked along quite effectively. But with its threads tied up in the final episode, it felt like a self-contained piece unburdened by the need for a sequel. So where can it go from here?

It's 1957 and, against the increasing tumult of the Cold War, our crusading BBC news team face fresh competition from an ITV rival. Hector is now a complacent star, Bel is undermined by her superiors, and maverick journalist Freddie returns from his travels with an unconvincing bohemian beard (that's not a euphemism). Meanwhile, crime is on the rise in London, but the government are more concerned with pumping money into the nuclear arms race.

Dominic West, Romola Garai and Ben Whishaw are as solid as ever, and Peter Capaldi is a welcome addition as the taciturn new Head of News. But there's little in the first episode to suggest that another bout of The Hour is entirely necessary.