THE HUNT FOR THE WORLD'S END KILLERS | ROB BURROW: LIVING WITH MND | FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 15th October 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

The Hunt for the World’s End Killers – Monday and Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

45 years ago, the bodies of two young women, Christine Eadie and Helen Scott, were discovered six miles apart in East Lothian. They’d been brutally murdered. Close friends since childhood, they were last seen alive in the World’s End pub on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile. A major investigation ensued. 

Sensitively handled and impressively researched, this absorbing two-part documentary recounts an utterly tragic saga with far more depth and context than one usually finds in programmes of this nature. 

Bolstered by insightful contributions from various journalists, authors and retired police officers, it’s a rigorous piece of social history which, among many other things, covers some landmark developments in the support for female victims of sexual violence. An exemplary essay.

Rob Burrow: Living with MND – Tuesday, BBC Two, 7pm

Rugby League legend Rob Burrow was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2019. This intimate documentary follows Rob, wife Lindsey and their kids as they deal with the everyday reality of living with a degenerative condition. 

It’s a frank, tender portrait of a loving family doing everything within their power to get by.

The Burrows are abundantly nice, kind and decent people. Their love for each other is quietly inspiring. 

Life is awfully cruel, but if you’re lucky enough to have a devoted support network, well, that must never be taken for granted. It helps us to cope with all the other difficult things we’re sometimes forced to deal with. We endure. We have to.

Unapologetic – Wednesday, Channel 4, 11:05pm

I haven’t seen this topical talk show, but it sounds quite interesting. Hence why I’m flagging it up. 

Your hosts are Yinka Bokinni and Zeze Millz. Their M.O. is this: discussing nuanced subjects – in a light-hearted way - that public figures tend to avoid for fear of being ‘cancelled’. 

That’s an absolute minefield, obviously. I’m no fan of culture war mendacity, but bear in mind that Bokinni and Millz are people of colour. This isn’t yet another forum for middle-aged white celebrities to drone tediously on about how “you can’t say anything anymore.” 

Does that mean it’s any good? I’ve no idea. But you may be intrigued by some of the socio-political issues under discussion.

Aldi’s Next Big Thing – Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm

Anita Rani and award-winning grocer Chris Bavin host this new series in which small-scale British food and drink producers get the rare opportunity to pitch their products to Britain's fourth biggest supermarket chain, Aldi. The ultimate prize is a life-changing contract with those towering Gods of retail. 

So yes, it’s very much your standard competitive TV hootenanny. Dragon’s Den on a manageable budget. But that’s fine, it means no actual harm. 

Episode one throws a glaring spotlight upon two budding entrepreneurs who reckon that our tiny insect friends are the future of nutrition, plus some obsessive pie and sauce makers. 

This will never be mistaken for essential television, but it serves as a distraction.

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

This week, investigative journalist Sahar Zand delves behind the scenes of Japan’s increasingly controversial Sumo wrestling industry. 

Sumo is a centuries-old tradition, an important and respected facet of Japanese culture, but in recent years it’s been criticised for failing to take care of the wrestlers who partake in it. 

Zand spends time with a 12-year-old boy, Kyuta, who hopes to become a grand champion. To achieve that goal, he’ll have to earn a place in the ‘Sumo stable’, an institution that’s shrouded in secrecy. 

Zand meets former wrestlers who describe life in the ‘stable’ as nothing more than servitude. Concerns are mounting for the physical and psychological health of these men.

Friday Night Live – Friday, Channel 4, 9pm

The Channel 4 alternative comedy showcase Saturday/Friday Night Live was a formative experience for myself and millions of other ‘80s comedy-crazed kids. 

We already loved The Young Ones and The Comic Strip Presents, Rik Mayall et al were our heroes, but this anarchic variety extravaganza also introduced us to the brilliant likes of Jo Brand, Julian Clary, Ben Elton, Harry Enfield, Fry & Laurie and Paul Merton. 

This one-off revival, hosted by Elton of course, won’t pack such a punch, it’s an exercise in nostalgia, but I suppose it’ll be quite nice to revisit the format. 

The bill includes the aforementioned Brand, Clary and Enfield, plus some young, current circuit comics.

Am I Being Unreasonable? – Friday, BBC One, 9:30pm

We’ve reached the penultimate episode of this delightfully dry and eccentric comedy thriller about a village-dwelling wife and mother (co-writer Daisy May Cooper) whose already complicated life becomes even stranger when she befriends a woman (co-writer Selin Hizli) with a mysterious past. 

Am I Being Unreasonable? is one of those addictive shows that takes you completely by surprise. A gut-punching sleeper hit. Thanks to the excellent This Country, we already knew that Cooper was a talented writer/performer, but this is a more striking piece of work as far as I’m concerned. 

And I hope it’s a one-series deal, as next week’s finale is perfect. A sequel might dilute its impact.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Our Dementia Choir Sings Again with Vicky McClure – Monday 10th October, BBC One

Four years ago, the actor Vicky McClure formed a choir of people living with dementia. Like so many of us, she’s lost a loved one to that illness. The therapeutic power of music proved to be very effective. 

In this poignant sequel to her original programme, McClure reconvened with various members of the choir. Inevitably, some of them aren’t in great shape. 

Hats off to McClure, her choir and their family members/carers for refusing to hold back on the fundamental point of this endeavour: people with dementia require so much more support from a system that’s skewed against them. 

An uplifting show tempered with deep-seated despair, this is public service broadcasting at somewhere near its best. The series concludes on Monday 17th October.

Rise of the Nazis: The Downfall – Monday 10th October, BBC Two

The final series of this estimable documentary project began in December 1944. Hitler’s regime is in freefall, they’ve clearly lost the war. Hitler, of course, refuses to accept reality. 

As always, the purpose of this series is to examine the psychology, not only of Hitler and his chief enablers, but also that of the German footsoldiers and everyday citizens. It’s a grimly fascinating study of what happens when fascism prevails over a nation. 

As strange as this may sound, it offers some hope: fascist dictatorships will always fail because they are, by their very nature, chaotic cults founded on the monomaniacal obsessions of ‘charismatic’ yet utterly insane bigots. 

This episode, and the previous six, are available on iPlayer. Highly recommended.  

BROWN & BLAIR: THE NEW LABOUR REVOLUTION + DEMENTIA & US + SAVILE: PORTRAIT OF A PREDATOR

A version of this article was originally published in The Courier on 2nd October 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

This fascinating series traces the epochal rise and fall of New Labour, a nominally successful project in which the Labour Party made itself electable by abandoning its socialist principles.

The timing isn’t accidental: Labour, post-Corbyn, are currently struggling to repeat that trick. The key difference between then and now, as the programme makes clear, is that Tony Blair once presented himself as a plausible and vaguely charismatic leader. 

Episode one illustrates how Labour managed to overhaul its image. Blair comes across as an ambitious, ingratiating salesman. Brown, a serious political thinker, emerges as the better man. 

They both provide telling contributions, as do Mandelson and Campbell. Once Johnson’s reign is over, I hope the team behind this project – who tackled Thatcher’s legacy a few years ago – are able to make a similar series about him.

Scotland’s Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 8pm

Ben Fogle, with his face like a bemused Easter Island statue, is an affable and mostly harmless buffoon. He presumably means well, as you’ll see in this slightly peculiar Hebridean travelogue/spiritual quest. 

His journey begins in the Inner Hebrides, where he explores its enduring connection with the peaceful tenets of Christianity. These islands have, for aeons, been a magnet for pilgrims, hippies, artists, musicians and poets: people who just want to get away from the noise of life on the mainland. 

One of our host’s interviewees is a transgender woman who hasn’t faced any prejudice at all within her remote island community. If Fogle’s goal was to present the Hebrides as some sort of utopia, then he’s succeeded.

Dementia & Us – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

The symptoms of dementia cannot be strictly diagnosed. It affects people in a complex variety of ways. Filmed over two years, this revealing two-part series follows four people with dementia as they and their loved ones adjust to life with this cruel, debilitating disease. 

The tone at first is somewhat optimistic: people always find a way to thrive with love and laughter. How else are we supposed to get through this unjust ordeal? If you’re diagnosed with dementia, that doesn’t mean your life is over. Far from it. But there is no happy ending. 

Dementia & Us is an honest, sensitive, sad, unflinching and important piece of television. It strikes a nerve. It matters.

Murder Island – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9:30pm

Crime writer Ian Rankin is the brains behind this new genre-bending reality series, in which eight members of the public investigate a specially-written murder mystery. Preview copies weren’t available at the time of writing, but the premise is intriguing. 

Our amateur sleuths pitch up on a craggy island in the hope of solving that week’s case and winning a £50,000 reward. They’ll receive expert guidance from (presumably fictional) police officers while encountering various suspects – all of whom appear to be harbouring dark secrets. Episode one apparently involves a fatal land dispute. 

It sounds, in essence, like a more extravagant version of that old Cluedo TV adaptation from the 1980s, so it could be lots of fun.

Our Lives: Boots & Beards – Wednesday, BBC One, 7:30pm

A Scots-Asian hillwalking group, Boots & Beards is a healthy, heartening community endeavour. This delightful documentary meets its Glasgow-based founders, cousins Naveed and Kashif, who devised the concept five years ago as a way of bringing friends and family members together. It blossomed from there. 

We follow the group – which includes men, women and children - as they return to Scotland’s great outdoors after a year in lockdown. They’re also preparing for their one hundredth walk. 

As with all Our Lives documentaries, this is a sweet celebration of good, inspiring, ‘ordinary’ people. Treat yourselves to a pick-me-up marathon on iPlayer. When viewed from a certain angle, the world’s not so bad after all.

Iceland with Alexander Armstrong – Wednesday, Channel 5, 9pm

According to ‘Xander’ himself, the only thing he knew about Iceland before making this series is that it’s where Bjork comes from. Oh, and there are puffins. So you do get the impression that he’s actually learning something about that beautiful, rugged isle. 

To his credit, he seems genuinely smitten with the geography, people and culture of Iceland. In episode one he circles an active volcano via helicopter, meets a nice woman who believes in elves, hangs out with Iceland’s ‘scary’ 2019 Eurovision entrants, visits a male genitalia museum and marvels at an actual massive organ (oh, please yourselves etc.).

Iceland comes across as an impeccably groovy and eccentric place. They’re way ahead over there. 

Savile: Portrait of a Predator – Thursday, STV, 9pm

How did Jimmy Savile, one of Britain’s most prolific sex offenders, manage to commit his crimes without punishment? This damning report reveals all. Well, sort of. 

Savile was a calculating opportunist who inveigled his way into environments – hospitals, nightclubs, television studios – where he could prey upon vulnerable young people. 

He formed a shield of protection around himself via supposedly altruistic charity work and friendships with powerful establishment figures such as Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles (neither of whom, the lawyered-up programme hastily points out, were aware of his heinous ulterior motives). 

Those with suspicions either turned a blind eye or felt powerless to challenge him. A sickening saga, it features testimonies from victims, witnesses and a former Yewtree detective. One hopes that programmes such as this will encourage people to listen to victims of abuse.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Spice Girls: How Girl Power Changed Britain – Tuesday 28th September, Channel 4

The final episode of this surprisingly thoughtful and touching series followed the individual Spice Girls in the wake of their split. They weren’t prepared for life in the spotlight on their own; they’d always had each other for protection. 

The grubby tabloid media had a field day with them. The sheer amount of sexism and misogyny they were subjected to was appalling. Mel B also experienced blatant racism. 

This wasn’t ‘just’ the story of a successful pop group, it was a frank critique of the double standards that women are forced to endure in a male-dominated world. And via testimonies from their fans, it proved that the Spice Girls actually meant something. The power of pop is a beautiful thing.

The Cleaner – Friday 1st October, BBC One

Episode four of this enjoyable farce took place in a stately home, where crime scene cleaner Wicky (writer/star Greg Davies) encountered a rude, patronising aristocrat played by the great Stephanie Cole. 

She told the police that a burglar had fallen down the stairs – hence the bloody mess – but it eventually transpired that she’d beaten him to death with a golf club. Her failed attempt to buy Wicky’s silence confirmed that, for all his verbal blundering, he’s a fundamentally decent man who’s good at his job. 

This instalment, which hung together neatly, also featured a fantastic cameo from Donald Sumpter – who’s been an old man since birth – as a mad, bellicose bigot. Good, clean, grisly fun.