This article was originally published in The Courier on 26th October 2019.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
GUILT
Wednesday,
BBC Two, 9pm
In
this new black comedy from Bob Servant creator Neil Forsyth, two brothers
accidentally run over and kill an elderly man. When they try to cover it up,
their lives become increasingly complicated. The brothers are a study in
contrasts. Max (Mark Bonnar) is a rich, amoral lawyer. Jake (Jamie Sives) is a
humble, sensitive record shop owner. Max’s plans to get away scot-free are
compromised by his hapless brother’s pesky conscience and burgeoning
relationship with the dead man’s niece. Guilt
is great, a sharp farce-cum-thriller that confirms Forsyth’s status as one of
Scotland’s best comedy writers. It’s also buoyed by an enjoyably demonic
performance from the always reliable Bonnar, who’s positively Limmy-esque at
times.
WHO ARE YOU CALLING
FAT?
Monday
and Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm
Britain
is in the grip of an obesity crisis, but there’s a growing movement in favour
of reclaiming what it means to be overweight. In this challenging two-part
experiment, nine people who identify as fat or plus-size spend a week together
under the same roof to share their experiences of living with obesity. Sharp differences
of opinions ensue. That’s hardly surprising, as the participants include a pair
of anti-diet, body-positive activists, a man who swears by his liposuction, a
woman who’s ashamed of her body, and the CEO of a charity that regards obesity
as a disease. It’s guaranteed to trigger debate and, alas, idiotic comments on
Twitter. You know what people are like.
CHILDREN IN NEED: GOT
IT COVERED
Wednesday,
BBC One, 7:30pm
Earlier
this year, ten well-known British actors assembled at the legendary Abbey Road Studios
in London to record an album for Children in Need. Under the tutelage of a team
including hit-making songwriter and producer Guy Chambers, these warbling
novices were asked to choose songs that have personal meaning to them. Hence
this rather pleasant documentary in which we’re treated to the unlikely
spectacle of Jim Broadbent doing a countrified version of Blue Moon, Olivia Colman performing Portishead’s Glory Box with her Fleabag co-star Phoebe Waller-Bridge on ukulele, and genuinely touching
versions of Yellow by Coldplay and Sunshine on Leith by The Proclaimers performed,
respectively, by Doctors Jodie Whittaker and David Tennant. Don’t worry, it’s
not as luvvie-ish as it sounds. Cynics need not apply.
GET RICH OR TRY DYING:
MUSIC’S MEGA LEGACIES
Friday,
BBC Four, 9:30pm
Hosted,
with commendable dedication to maximum archness, by Ana Matronic from Scissor
Sisters, this depressing, number-crunching documentary explains how the estates
of superstar music artists continue to rake in billions posthumously. We meet a
financially secure roster of producers, publicists, lawyers and family members,
all of whom seem blissfully happy. Deceased legends and born again ‘brands’ under
review include the Ramones, David Bowie, Bob Marley (“Sustainability was so
important to him,” smarms the American businessman in charge of his estate), Prince
and Elvis Presley, who laid the lucrative blueprint for the entire so-called legacy
industry. The King has been dead for 42 years and currently has over 14 million
followers on Twitter. It’s what he would’ve wanted.
LAST WEEK’S TV
TRAVEL MAN
Monday
October 21, Channel 4
The
relentlessly ironic Richard Ayoade began his latest series of supposedly
affordable 48-hour travel breaks in Dubrovnik, Croatia. His celebrity companion
on this occasion was Stephen Merchant. I’ve never understood the point of Travel Man, it’s so lightweight you
never get a satisfying sense of the destinations it visits. That’s sort of the
point, but so what? Come back Cliff Mitchelmore, where e’er you may be.
