This article was originally published in The Courier on 16th November 2019.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
HOME FREE
Monday,
Channel 4, 10pm
In
this tender new series, a group of young people with learning disabilities are
given the opportunity to live independently for the first time. They’re sharing
a purpose-built apartment block as part of a progressive scheme funded by local
health authorities. Participants include Anna and Joe, who have Down’s
syndrome. They’re about to share a bed after being in a relationship for
several years. The programme also features candid contributions from proud,
supportive yet tearfully concerned parents, all of whom realise that, despite
their fears, their children deserve to experience this rite of passage. As one
of the young residents observes, they’re able people who just need a bit of
extra support to take control of their own futures.
24 HOURS IN A&E
Monday,
Channel 4, 9pm
I
know, of course, that this long-running series can at first glance be easily dismissed as a
rubbernecking voyeur’s delight, but anyone who’s taken time to actually watch
it knows it’s a sensitive, responsible and quietly profound piece of
beautifully made television. A nurse sums it up in the intro: “You see people
from every thread of life, and it makes you realise that our common humanity
far outweighs any differences.” The latest series commences with a
broken-legged Bulgarian teenager and his adoring mother, a wrist-sprained
bra-fitter, and a severely dehydrated pregnant woman. 24 Hours in A&E is a celebration of humanity, a compassionate character study. Life is precious. Look after each other, please, and may your God bless
the NHS.
BOOM, BUST &
BANKERS
Tuesday,
Channel 4, 9pm
I
urge you to watch this chilling documentary about the government-backed redevelopment
of Broadgate. That vast, oppressive banking complex, that toxic monument to
rampant capitalism, was once the thrusting epicentre of Thatcher’s free market
revolution. Vive le banks! You know what happened next. Broadgate is still a
financial hub, but in order to keep it afloat it needs to branch out. Enter a
new generation of champagne-quaffing toffs who just can’t wait to transform it
into an elite leisure hub for the very worst people in the world. They’re contrasted
with the security staff, engineers and minimum-wage migrant cleaners working
14-hour shifts to keep this repulsive symbol of inequality alive. An eloquent
blast of utter disgust.
WHAT MAKES A MURDERER
Thursday,
Channel 4, 9pm
John
Massey is Britain’s longest serving convicted murderer. In 1975, he shot and
killed a bouncer. A cold-blooded premediated attack, declared the judge.
Massey, who was released on parole last year, disagrees. He’s the first guinea
pig in a series based on the findings of scientists who believe that certain
biological traits make some people more likely to kill. Criminal experts place
him under a battery of tests to determine whether neural and environmental abnormalities
caused him to commit his crime. “I’m as curious as you are to find out,” says
Massey, a bitter, angry, damaged man who attempted to escape from prison on
three occasions. My expert conclusion: a broiling psychological stew of risibly
self-evident analysis masquerading as mind-blowing insight.
WOULD I LIE TO YOU?
Friday,
BBC One, 9:30pm
Let
joy be unconfined: Bob Mortimer, the world’s funniest living human, has
returned to the only comedy panel show worth watching. I detest most TV panel
shows, they’re cheap, lazy vessels of weakly satirical/whimsical pointlessness (please
put Mock The Week, Q.I. and the unforgivably Boris
Johnson-enabling Have I Got News For You? out of their moribund
misery), but Would I Lie To You? is
an often hilarious source of spontaneously silly comfort. It exists only to
entertain, especially when Bob is on board. This week he tries to convince the
panel that he once commanded a daring heist on a campsite tuckshop. As always,
you never can tell with Bob. He’s a liar you can rely on.
LAST WEEK’S TV
ANT & DEC’S DNA
JOURNEY
Sunday
10 to Monday 11 November, STV
I
like Ant and Dec. I don’t watch Saturday
Night Takeaway, obviously, it’s an unbearably shrill light entertainment
version of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music,
but I’m rather fond of its presenters. Two bright, funny friends, effortlessly
comfortable in each other’s company, the apotheosis of their simple craft can
be found in the semi-adlibbed links which brighten uneventful episodes of I’m A Celebrity.
This
adequately pleasant Who Do You Think You
Are-style forage – delayed by two years due to Ant’s personal problems –
reintroduced their seemingly unstoppable brand, just in time for the latest series of jungle mayhem.
Important
caveat: at the time of writing this, dear reader, the press were only granted
preview access to episode one, during which Ant/Dec spent most of their time
eating biscuits in extended family kitchens. If, in episode two, Ant/Dec
discovered that they were distant yet direct bloodline relatives of, not only
each other, but Isambard Kingdom Brunel, then you will forgive the lack of
excitement on my part.
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