AGATHA CHRISTIE: LUCY WORSLEY ON THE MYSTERY QUEEN | LOUIS THEROUX INTERVIEWS... | TOKYO VICE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 19th November 2022. 

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen – Friday, BBC Two, 9pm

Historian Lucy Worsley has enjoyed a lifelong fascination with Agatha Christie. In this typically persuasive new series, she seeks to explain how Christie, a rather enigmatic figure, became the most successful novelist of all time. 

In order to achieve that goal, she examines how the many societal changes Christie witnessed during her lifetime directly affected her work. This line of investigation naturally feeds into Worsley’s other stated aim: “to show you that she was a pioneering, radical writer and woman.” 

Like all historians worth their salt, Worsley is commendably obsessed with busting myths and received wisdom. Her detailed portrait of Christie is revealing; you actually get a sense of what she might’ve been like as a person. Mission accomplished.

Between the Covers – Tuesday, BBC Two, 7pm

Sara Cox’s book club guests this week are actor Paterson Joseph, BBC newsreader Sophie Raworth, and the comedians Jenny Éclair and Al Murray. 

One of the classic novels under review is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by the late, great Douglas Adams. Paterson Joseph’s passion for that magnificent work of art is just so delightful to behold. A man after my own heart. 

Also, to the surprise of absolutely no one, World War II buff Al Murray’s favourite novel is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Quite right too, it’s a masterpiece. 

Also, please steel yourselves for a wild revelation: Sophie Raworth was once so bored with a book, she chucked it off the side of a boat.

Louis Theroux Interviews… – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

The comedian, broadcaster and author Katherine Ryan is the latest subject of this series of one-on-one interviews. 

Alas, preview copies of the episode weren’t available in time for my deadline, but if you’ve enjoyed this series so far, you’ll know why I’m flagging it up. 

Ryan is a smart, funny person. The same goes for Theroux. So it should be interesting. 

I get the impression that Theroux, who’s spent the last 20 years mired in deeply distressing subject matter, is trying to remind viewers that he was once renowned as an exemplary interviewer of celebrities. 

He has, perhaps, gone as far as could with ‘serious frown’ Theroux mode. There’s more room for light and shade in this format.

Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland and Beyond – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

In the penultimate episode of their latest travelogue, celebrity pals Miriam Margolyes and Alan Cumming find themselves at chummy loggerheads on the subject of recreational drug use. This mild conflict takes place in a Santa Barbara ‘drugs den’. 

Their next destination is Palm Springs, which is home to many ageing members of the LGBTQ+ community. Miriam and Alan enjoy a bit of drag bingo and join a gay knitting group.

Their final port of call is Los Angeles, where Miriam takes Alan to meet a young relative she’s never in her life encountered before. 

Suffused with irreverence and total sincerity, these impish adventures are expertly designed to warm your cockles. Cut to: Margolyes raising a knowing Carry On eyebrow.

Tokyo Vice – Tuesday, BBC One, 9:10pm and 10:50pm

This jittery neo-noir thriller is based on the bestselling memoir by American journalist and crime writer Jake Adelstein, who has spent most of his career in Japan. 

The story begins in 1999, when the fresh-faced Adelstein was hired as a crime reporter by one of Japan’s largest newspapers. He was the first non-Japanese person to be employed by them. His first assignment involves a fatal stabbing. This leads him towards a brave – some might say foolhardy - investigation of the notorious Yakuza syndicate. 

As the danger escalates, Adelstein discovers that his main ally is a senior detective from the organised crime division. He’s played by the always compelling Ken Watanabe. The series begins with a double-bill.

You Won’t Believe This – Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm

A Would I Lie to You? rip-off starring everyday people, this new series involves groups of strangers spinning tall tales, only one of which happens to be true. 

They’re grilled by “an elite squad of police interrogators” while hidden observers search for clues behind a two-way mirror. If they correctly identify the truth-teller, they win £5,000. If they choose the wrong person, that disingenuous suspect pockets the money instead. 

The first group of suspects claim to have opted out of civilisation in a variety of unusual ways. Did one of them really live as an alpine goat? 

The second group have allegedly experienced the worst date ever. Sample claim: “We were caught up in an art heist.”

Unreported World – Friday, Channel 4, 7:30pm

Welcome to Gaza’s clandestine arts scene, where young Palestinians try to express themselves in the face of an Israeli blockade and fierce Hamas censorship. 

In this investigative report, journalist Jonathan Miller emphasises that simple social and creative endeavours, things we take for granted in the western world, are a source of tremendous risk in Palestine. 

His interviewees include a young female singer and actor who has been forced underground. Why? Because women over the age of 14 aren’t permitted to perform in public. 

Miller also meets a Palestinian man who is determined to renovate an old derelict cinema, so that his fellow Gazans can learn from, and enjoy, suppressed works of art. 

LAST WEEK’S TV

The People’s Piazza: A History of Covent Garden – Sunday 13th November, BBC Two

If you’ve ever visited London as a tourist, you’ve probably spent some time in Covent Garden. In this standalone documentary, that perceptive historian David Olusoga traced its centuries-spanning saga. 

Olusoga focused on this small piazza to achieve his usual goal: while examining individual case studies, all of them based within a particular locale, he presented a penetrating essay driven by a deep, empathetic understanding of what can be learned from historical injustices. 

It was also quite funny and colourful at times. He’s very good at this.

The Scotts – Wednesday 16th November, BBC One

Written by and starring Iain Connell and Robert Florence of Burnistoun renown, this likeable sitcom returned for a second series last week. If you haven’t seen it before, then imagine Modern Family set in a Glasgow suburb. A fairly apt description, if I do say so myself. 

The plot of episode one centred upon the imminent arrival of a baby to the extended family fold. A standard sitcom trope, but as always Connell and Florence fleshed it out with some healthy cynicism and understated warmth. They actually like the characters they’ve created, and it’s clearly based on shared experience. 

Best line, delivered by the family matriarch: “I lived through Bible John, Thatcher and a pandemic, I don’t dae jokes.”

THE CLEANER + THE SCOTTS + A HOUSE THROUGH TIME

This article was originally published in The Courier on 4th September 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

The Cleaner ‐ Friday, BBC One, 9:30pm

Greg Davies stars in this new sitcom about a crime scene cleaner with no emotional investment in the carnage he’s tasked with scrubbing. But then he meets a blood‐spattered murderer played by Helena Bonham Carter, who fascinates him strangely. 

Adapted by Davies from a critically acclaimed German series called Der Tatortreiniger, this ‐ as if you hadn’t already guessed ‐ is a black comedy farce. And it’s ideally suited to Davies’ disgruntled, bewildered, buffoonish middle‐aged man persona. 

Episode one is a tad self‐conscious in its efforts to establish an offbeat ‘anything goes’ tone, but it’s still quite entertaining. Davies is a naturally funny farceur and the premise is intriguing. There could be something here. 

The Scotts ‐ Monday, BBC One, 10:35pm

Written by and starring Iain Connell and Robert Florence of Burnistoun renown, this likeable sitcom charts the internecine dysfunction of an extended Scottish family and their best pals. 

Brothers Vincent and Henry are relatively normal, at least when compared to the absurdist characters Connell and Florence created for their sketch show. The Scotts is set in the real world or thereabouts. 

But don’t worry (if indeed you were), this isn’t an embarrassing bid for ‘mature artistic growth’ from the Burnistoun boys. It’s still very silly and acerbic, although it does have a bit of heart underneath all the ‘slaggings’ and cheerful crudity. 

Episode one revolves around failed attempts at familial bonding. You might relate to some of its anguish.

Wonders of Scotland with David Hayman ‐ Tuesday, STV, 7:30pm

The Scottish actor David Hayman was born and bred in Glasgow, but his roaming heart lies in the Highlands. This series is just another celebrity‐fronted travelogue, of course it is, but it’s elevated somewhat by Hayman’s seasoned gifts as an orator. His presentation style is borderline poetic and the man’s genuine passion for the project is never in doubt. 

Sure, Tam Weir did all of this years ago; that woolly‐hatted, dram‐thirsty bard was the Alan Whicker of Scotland’s highlands and islands. But Hayman is a worthy successor. His warm bath of a programme also illustrates how television has changed. Everyone Weir met looked terrified. Hayman’s interviewees are only too happy to banter on camera.

A House Through Time ‐ Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

The latest series of this expansive British history lesson is based in a three‐storey Victorian house in the suburbs of Leeds. As always, host David Olusoga examines the lives of those who have resided there over the years to compile a fascinating sociohistorical document. 

The very first resident was a progressive lawyer who devoted his career to protecting poor and vulnerable people. Among his successors were a ruthless factory owner, a traumatised soldier and a widowed war bride. 

Olusoga is an astute and rigorous historian. Although practiced in the art of sculpting richly detailed, colourful essays, he has no interest in sensationalism. A House Through Time is a humane endeavour; its yellowed chapters are thoughtful and revealing.

Death on the Common: My Mother’s Murder ‐ Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm

When Alex Hanscombe was just two‐years‐old, he witnessed the murder of his mother, Rachel Nickell. Everyone who’s ever read about that awful case has wondered about the fate and wellbeing of Alex. Now, for the first time in public, he discusses what he’s been through. 

Preview copies weren’t available at the time of writing, but one assumes that Alex’s involvement in this programme speaks for itself. The synopsis suggests that it’s a sensitively‐handled endeavour. I hope so anyway, for the family’s sake. 

Alex and his father, Andre, reflect upon their lives in the everlasting wake of Rachel’s murder, while meeting up with some of the police officers and child psychiatrists who dealt with Alex at that time.

Our Lives: For Peat’s Sake ‐ Wednesday, BBC One, 7:30pm

A documentary with that punning title was always going to be made one day, but I’m glad this one stole the honour. It’s a charming excursion to the Isle of Lewis, in which the 80‐year‐old peat digger Domhnull Iain ‐ a delightful gent who could make the four‐minute‐warning sound like a source of comfort ‐ guides us through his daily activities. 

We also meet Margaret, who left her old life behind to accompany the reluctantly retirement‐bound Domhnull on this stunningly remote and tranquil terrain, plus a local radio DJ/farmer who provides the perfect country and western soundtrack. 

Like most of the epistles from this series, it’s a little window of calm.

Grenfell: The Untold Story ‐ Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm

The Grenfell Tower fire was an appalling tragedy, a stark, shameful symbol of social inequality and neglect. This documentary honours its legacy via previously unseen footage collated by Grenfell’s artist in residence, Constantine Gras. 

Just a few years prior to the disaster, Gras embarked upon a project of vital importance. He chronicled the struggles of deeply concerned residents, all of whom were locked in an exasperating battle with the local authorities. The building was clearly unsafe, it was in dire need of refurbishment; but nothing was done. 72 people died when Grenfell Tower caught fire. 

The programme features contributions from some of those who survived. Their voices must be heard. This must never be forgotten.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Parkinson at 50 ‐ Saturday 28th August, BBC One

I’ve always had mixed feelings about Parky. He’s facilitated some memorable TV moments. He was, at his best, an undeniably skillful interviewer: ask a straightforward question, shut up and listen. Be he’s also an indefatigable curmudgeon. 

In this retrospective, which celebrated the 50^th anniversary of his chat show, he did ‐ to be fair ‐ admit that he sometimes came across as pompous. But he couldn’t quite bring himself to fully apologise for that excruciatingly sexist interview with Helen Mirren. It was considered dodgy at the time, Mike, the new‐fangled ‘woke’ police aren’t retroactively censoring you.

Anyway. His star‐spangled oeuvre was often brilliant. A greater legacy than I’ll ever have.

Vigil ‐ Sunday 29th August and Monday 30th August, BBC One

This new thriller is an unbidden gift from the producers of Line of Duty, so you know what to expect on a surface level: twists, conspiracies, and a high‐profile actor being killed off in episode one (TV’s Martin Compston in this case). But these tricks have grown tired. Vigil is a slog. 

Suranne Jones stars as a Glasgow‐based cop tasked with investigating the mysterious death of a Trident submarine crew member. She has just three days to crack this claustrophobic case.

For all its faults, Line of Duty was an audacious drama that tackled Big Themes in a vaguely subversive way. It was fun, exciting; silly in most of the right ways. This is a wholly uninvolving potboiler: Das Bore. Down periscope.  

 

OUR NHS: A HIDDEN HISTORY + KATHY BURKE: MONEY TALKS + THIS WAY UP

This article was originally published in The Courier on 10th July 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Our NHS: A Hidden History – Thursday, BBC Two, 9pm

Hosted by the always reliable and eloquent historian David Olusoga, this thoughtful documentary unpacks the stories of people who migrated to Britain to work for the NHS. 

From day one, the NHS owed its survival to the recruitment of doctors and nurses from all around the world. They were needed, but – to put it mildly – weren’t always treated with the respect they deserved. 

Olusoga makes the point that one of our most beloved national institutions is intrinsically entwined with one of the most divisive political issues of the last 70 years: immigration. 

He speaks to several first-generation migrants and the descendants who have followed in their footsteps. It’s both a proud celebration of unsung NHS heroes and a despairing indictment of racial prejudice.

Kathy Burke: Money Talks – Monday, Channel 4, 10pm

In the concluding episode of her acute and generous study of wealth inequality, Burke shifts her attention to people living in poverty. 

She visits Jaywick, the most deprived area in England, and drops in on a food bank – “they shouldn’t exist in this country, it’s disgusting.” 

She also addresses the way in which poor people are negatively stereotyped in the media. Burke, who is entirely self-aware, worries that the Slobs sketches she made with Harry Enfield may have contributed to this demonisation. 

“The majority of people who are poor, it’s not their fault,” she says. “But they’re always told by society and the media, ‘Oh, anyone can get a job.’ It’s such a crock of sh*t."

She wouldn't thank me for saying this, but Burke is an absolute hero.

The Dog Rescuers with Alan Davies – Tuesday, Channel 5, 7pm

Warning: this series contains scenes of dogs in distress. It’s not gratuitous, the whole thing is handled sensitively, but it may prove upsetting to some viewers. 

In the latest episode, Davies presents another tranche of bittersweet stories. The centrepiece involves an RSPCA inspector who is concerned about William, an overweight black Labrador with a large painful tumour on his paw. 

William’s elderly owners have refused further treatment following a dispute with their vet. They’re not cruel people at all, but initially they don’t quite grasp how serious the situation is. The RSPCA inspector must tread gently yet firmly. Much like William etc. Oh, please yourselves.

I don’t think I’m spoiling anything by revealing that things do get better for William. It would be unbearable otherwise.

The Two Ronnies: Ronnie Corbett’s Lost Tapes – Wednesday, STV, 9pm

Messrs Barker and Corbett (a soubriquet always bestowed upon them by TV continuity announcers) were BBC men through and through, so one wonders why this documentary has ended up on ITV. They’re presumably hungry for some of that hot Ron dollar. 

I haven’t seen the programme, it wasn’t available for preview, but failing to highlight it would be a dereliction of duty. 

We’re promised unprecedented access to Corbett’s home movies and some rare behind the scenes footage. It also features contributions from his widow, Anne, his daughters Emma and Sophie, plus celebrity friends and admirers such as Rob Brydon, Harry Hill and Jimmy Tarbuck. 

In short (pause; adjusts glasses), an affectionate tribute to a master comic. Sounds lovely.

This Way Up – Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm

Aisling Bea’s comedy-drama about a young woman gradually recovering from a nervous breakdown is charming and frank. It’s not plot-driven as such, the hook is the relationship between Aine (Bea) and her protective older sister (co-producer Sharon Horgan). 

Bea and Horgan share a warm, natural chemistry, they’re entirely convincing as a pair of siblings with years of history behind them. Some of their dialogue sounds improvised; a typical episode involves the sisters just hanging out and talking nonsense. But it never comes across as a self-indulgent vanity project. The characters are likeable and amusing, it’s a pleasure spending time with them. 

Before series two begins, I recommend catching up with the first one on All 4. 

Can I Improve My Memory? – Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm

Sandi Toksvig hosts this new series in which five celebrities from various age brackets attempt to sharpen their powers of recall. Each week they’re tasked with mastering general knowledge topics they previously knew nothing about. 

The celebs are boxer Chris Eubank, Love Island winner Amber Gill, hoofer Len Goodman, TV presenter Anna Richardson and actor Nina Wadia. 

Eubank is ordered to learn about dinosaurs; Gill gets to grips with great British birds; Goodman throws down with 1990s American hip-hop; Richardson investigates the solar system; and Wadia embraces the human skeleton. They’re coached by a memory man who clearly regards himself as a bit of a character. 

Memorising facts isn’t the same as learning, though, is it? Think on.

Michael Ball’s Wonderful Wales – Friday, Channel 5, 8pm

This week, Britain’s second favourite amplified Welshman – Sir Tom will always reign supreme in that hotly contested niche – pitches up in southwest Wales, a part of his homeland he’s never visited before. 

While striding along the Pembrokeshire coastal path, he visits a protected haven for seals and seabirds, delves into some local history and ancient myths in the company of a charismatic storytelling tour guide, and rustles up a soufflé with a French chef who moved to Wales to improve his English. He also meets two direct descendants of Dylan Thomas (Ball is a big fan). 

And yes, it concludes with another lusty hillside musical performance. A standard-issue travelogue, the show fulfils its utterly harmless, gentle brief.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Pride Hits at the BBC – Saturday 3rd July, BBC Two

This joyous deep-dive into the BBC archives served as a reminder – as if we needed reminding – that LGBTQ artists and gay icons have been responsible for some of the best pop music ever made. 

Highlights included Scissor Sisters performing I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’ (a co-write with Elton John, who was represented by a 1970s performance of The Bitch is Back); The Weather Girls barnstorming through It’s Raining Men (a song, fact fans, co-written by David Letterman’s bandleader Paul Shaffer); and some thrilling footage of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, who were briefly the greatest and most subversive band in the world. 

But the best moment of all was Gloria Gaynor being introduced by Keith Harris and Orville.

Diana’s Decades – Thursday 8th July, STV

What a strange series. Presumably in an attempt to differentiate itself from the sombre mien of ITV’s recent Diana documentary (ITV are utterly obsessed with the Royal Family; let it go, guys, you’ll never get a knighthood), it opts for an incongruously jocular tone. 

I’m not the sort of person who thinks the Royals should be treated with uncritical respect – heaven forfend – but telling Diana’s story with a cheeky nod and wink makes for awkward viewing. 

It nominally presents itself as a sweeping piece of social history shot through the prism of the People’s Princess, but episode one was largely preoccupied with cheap gags about 1980s fashions. Who is it aimed at? What is it for? Baffling.

 

INSIDE NO. 9 + THE PACT + THE PURSUIT OF LOVE + GODS OF SNOOKER

A version of this article was originally published in The Courier on 15th May 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Inside No. 9 – Monday, BBC Two, 9:30pm

And they’re back. I didn’t enjoy last week’s tiresomely meta series opener at all, but this episode is very good indeed. 

Steve Pemberton stars as the multi-award-winning creator of a Game of Thrones-esque fantasy series. Reece Shearsmith plays an obsessed fan who blackmails his hero into rewriting the show’s unpopular finale. Loosely inspired by Stephen King’s Misery, it’s a witty, deftly-plotted comment on the way a certain type of entitled fan feels they have the right to dictate how their favourite shows should be written. 

Pemberton and Shearsmith couldn’t have known this at the time, but it ties in neatly with the recent – and entirely warranted - disappointment surrounding the Line of Duty finale.

The Pact – Monday and Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

Laura Fraser and Julie Hesmondhalgh star in this fairly enjoyable twist-strewn thriller about a close-knit group of Welsh brewery workers whose lives go horribly wrong during a drunken work’s night out. 

They decide to exact some playful revenge on an obnoxious colleague. In the panicked aftermath of this prank, a desperate pact of silence is formed. 

To say any more would spoil the fun, but writer Pete McTighe – whose credits include Doctor Who and the Prisoner Cell Block H reboot Wentworth - does a pretty good job of exploiting the fraught ramifications of his premise. The solid cast also includes Eddie Marsan and Adrian Edmondson.

Innocent – Monday to Thursday, STV, 9pm

Stripped throughout the week, Innocent is an utterly generic ITV crime drama elevated somewhat by sensitive performances from Katherine Kelly and Shaun Dooley. 

Kelly stars as a schoolteacher accused of murdering one of her pupils. After serving five years in prison, she wins an appeal and returns home to a less than welcoming reception. Determined to prove her innocence, she offers her assistance to a police officer (Dooley) who is heading up a re-investigation. Innocent wants to make a serious point about how people deserve the right to a second chance in life, but it gets bogged down in all the usual tired tropes. 

The dialogue is laughable. Sample: “I want my job back, or I’m going to get seriously legal on your arse!” I mean, really.

Extra Life: A Short History of Living Longer – Tuesday, BBC Four, 10:05pm

In this timely new series, historian David Olusoga and popular science author Steven Johnson celebrate the unsung heroes of global healthcare while asking what we can learn from previous global pandemics. 

They begin with the fascinating history of vaccinations, which naturally feeds directly into our current situation. It’s an episode populated by various pioneering medical scientists, whose bold experiments resulted in the eradication of formerly fatal diseases and an increase in life expectancy around the world. 

Olusoga and Johnson are clear-eyed guides, they knit the whole saga together with quiet authority. Their interviewees include Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Fauci never expected to become famous, that's not why he took the gig, but 2020 changed everything.

Escape to the Farm with Kate Humble – Thursday, Channel 5, 8pm

The latest episode of this green and pleasant series gets up at the crack of dawn to bask in birdsong. Humble teams up with an ornithologist neighbour to explain what those delightful chirrups and tweets actually mean: in short, sex and violence. No joke. 

She also visits one of her most cherished hidden spots on the farm, a wild garlic patch, looks on proudly as her favourite pig gives birth for the first time, and, as usual, gets busy in her farmhouse kitchen. This week, our genial host rustles up a lamb broth and “a proper British pesto.” 

Humble comes across as such a nice person, it’s impossible to resent this cosy celebration of her seemingly perfect life.

Subnormal: A British Scandal – Thursday, BBC One, 9pm

This damning documentary exposes a shameful chapter in British history.  

In the 1960s and 1970s, hundreds of black Caribbean children were officially categorised as ‘educationally subnormal’ and sent to schools for pupils deemed to have low intelligence. A blatant case of institutional racism, it was a concerted effort to remove black children from the mainstream education system. 

The programme features devastating contributions from some of the people who were cruelly mis-labelled. They talk about how the whole experience instilled within them deep-seated feelings of shame and a terrible lack of self-esteem. They have struggled with that pain for decades. 

And this scandalous practice isn’t a relic from the past, it’s still happening now. Prepare to be appalled.

LAST WEEK’S TV

The Pursuit of Love – Sunday 9th May, BBC One

Based on the novel by Nancy Mitford, this self-consciously hip and stylised period drama is supposedly a wry satire on the sheer weirdness of insular upper-class English families. But writer/director Emily Mortimer also expects us to care about these people, who are just too exhausting to engage with. 

You don’t necessarily have to like characters in a drama, but you do have to find them interesting on some level. This lot are ghastly bores. 

It focuses on the intense relationship between teenage cousins Linda and Fanny as they fantasise about love and escaping from the patriarchy. Dominic West has a ball as the appallingly bigoted king of the castle, but his scenery-chewing performance fails to rescue a fundamentally alienating and aggravating production.

Gods of Snooker – Sunday 9th May, BBC Two

Now this is television. Executive-produced by Louis Theroux, it’s a hugely entertaining and lovingly-curated tribute to the dickie-bowed heroes who transformed snooker into a national obsession in the 1980s. Snooker loopy nuts were we (we were snooker loopy).

Naturally it began with Alex Higgins, the rebellious working-class hero and people’s champion who was pretty much solely responsible for killing off snooker’s hitherto staid and gentlemanly image (the octogenarian Ray Reardon couldn't hide his understandable bitterness during his interview). Higgins was a wayward genius; the footage of him in mind-bogglingly audacious action was hilarious. 

But the programme didn’t romanticise him unduly – he was, after all, a troubled and difficult character. 

Suffused with wit and warmth, Gods of Snooker perfectly encapsulates the cultural impact of that most beautiful of games. Highly recommended.