This article was originally published in The Courier on 29th August 2020.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
SOUL AMERICA
Friday,
BBC Four, 9:30pm
The
revolution began on stage in 1959, when Ray Charles improvised a
call-and-response jam that eventually evolved into What’d I Say. A transcendent fusion of rhythm and blues and gospel,
it was the template for soul music: secular testifying. This beautiful series
articulates how soul became an expression of what it meant to be black in
America from the 1960s to the 1980s. It was the soundtrack to the Civil Rights
era. It fuelled Black Power. It paved the way for hip hop. A distinguished volley of talking heads provide persuasive definitions of what soul music actually is.
My favourite: it’s gospel with the word ‘God’ replaced by ‘baby’. The stars of
chapter one are Brother Ray, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin and the first wave
of Motown deities. The key themes: integration, emancipation, crossover.
PLANET EARTH: A
CELEBRATION
Monday, BBC One, 8pm
“We are living in extraordinary times,” intones David Attenborough at the start of this compilation of some of the most memorable sequences from Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II. He frames it as an emergency respite from the crisis currently surrounding us. A rather lofty pretext for a clip show, perhaps, but there’s no arguing with its content. Highlights include the bittersweet saga of a snow leopard and her cub, some flamingos performing a comical courtship dance, and that quite frankly distressing yet magnificently directed sequence in which baby iguanas are chased by snakes. It’s not all old content; Hans Zimmer and Jacob Shea have composed a new symphonic score featuring piano contributions from acclaimed rapper and singer-songwriter Dave.
COUNCIL HOUSE BRITAIN
Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm
Don’t be put off by the title, this isn’t another poor-bashing series from the channel that once brought you Benefits Street. On the contrary, it’s a humane appraisal of life in the London borough of Southwark, where over 100 thousand people live in council housing. A prominent figure in episode one is Charmain, a sympathetic local housing officer who was raised on a council estate. “These people are proud,” she says, “They want a good life for themselves and their families.” The programme doesn’t paint a naively positive portrait of the housing system, it’s openly critical of Universal Credit, local government underfunding and private rent increases, but it celebrates good people and challenges ignorant, patronising assumptions. Brought to you by the team behind the equally laudable 24 Hours in A&E, it cares.
LAST WEEK’S TV
MORTIMER &
WHITEHOUSE: GONE FISHING
Sunday 23rd August, BBC Two
Two genial old friends shooting the breeze against a backdrop of beautiful scenery. That’s all there is to this gentle ripple of comfort viewing. It doesn’t need to be anything else. Series three began with Bob and Paul salmon fishing in the River Tweed. As always, there was a wistful undercurrent. Bob, in his wholly unpretentious way, is a rather philosophical soul. If Gone Fishing is about anything, it’s about savouring the precious time we have here on Earth. Enjoy yourself, it’s later than you think. Bob being Bob, he somehow managed to inject humour into the story of how his dad died in a car accident. That must sound awful written down, but it was actually rather sweet. Welcome back, gents.
HARRY HILL’S WORLD OF
TV
Sunday 23rd August, BBC Two
Hill’s latest venture is an ersatz guide to various TV genres. He began with soaps, which have served him so well over the years. You know the score: incongruous narration, music and silly voices added to decontextualized archive clips. Rhys Thomas is now the king of this format; Hill sounds quite tired. The show is, at best, mildly amusing. Harmless. Quite dull for the most part. Hats off, however, to the writers and researchers for poring through acres of footage with no higher purpose than to score some silly and often downright obvious gags. They should also be applauded for deviating from the predictable Corrie/Eastenders/Emmerdale axis – when was the last time you saw clips of early British soaps The Grove Family and The Newcomers on TV? Full marks for effort.
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