A version of this article was first published in The Courier on 16th January 2021.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
It’s a Sin – Friday, Channel 4, 9pm
The great Russell T. Davies returns with this '80s-set drama about a group of friends dealing with the AIDS epidemic. It begins optimistically, with four young gay men and one straight woman embracing their newfound lives. Freedom at last. But we know what’s just around the corner.
In typical Davies style, It's a Sin explodes with energy, wit and a sharp eye for detail. His dialogue sings, his characters are textured. No ciphers here. He handles human tragedy with compassion, but never sinks into cheap sentiment. And he absolutely does not judge with the benefit of hindsight. It’s frank, stark: it pulls no punches. It’s also funny. He can’t help being funny.
Ever since Queer as Folk over 20 years ago, he’s been telling vital stories about the LGBT community. This is an essential addition to his life’s work.
Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema – Monday, BBC Four, 9pm
Everybody’s talkin’ ‘bout pop movies! Well, Kermode is anyway, as his enlightening series of essays continues. This genre combines his twin passions, so no wonder it’s one of his favourites.
He begins with Bessie Smith in 1929 and ends with Beyoncé in 2020, taking in along the way various notable biopics, pop star vehicles, jukebox musicals and rockumentaries.
Kermode fans won’t be surprised by some of his choices – famously, he once described the surprisingly gritty Slade in Flame as “the Citizen Kane of British pop movies” – but that doesn’t matter. It’s a pleasure listening to him wax lyrical about cult classics such as Jimmy Cliff’s trailblazing reggae drama, The Harder They Come, and The Monkees’ psychedelic masterpiece, Head.
Long Lost Family – Monday, STV, 9pm
If you’ve seen this show before, you’ll know how sensitive it is. The latest series begins with an Irish couple desperate to find out what happened to their first-born child. Phyllis and Kevin fell in love as teenagers.
When she became pregnant, they knew it would cause a scandal within their strict Catholic community. They tried to run away, but were eventually forced to give their baby up for adoption. Ever since they’ve wanted him to know that he was loved.
Meanwhile, we meet a Scottish man who was, for complicated reasons, given away by his mother at an early age. He was taken in informally by a family, leaving no paper trail. Prepare to shed a tear or two.
Silenced: The Hidden Story of Disabled Britain – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm
In 2009, CBeebies presenter Cerrie Bernell attracted criticism from ‘concerned’ parents who claimed that her right arm, which ends just below the elbow, was frightening their children.
Most people were appalled by such a blatant display of prejudice in our supposedly enlightened age, but as Bernell illustrates in this thoughtful documentary, these attitudes have been ingrained within society for an aeon and beyond.
Her history lesson exposes a litany of blinkered assumptions, many of them made by well-meaning progressives who intensified the notion that people with disabilities can’t function within able-bodied society. They must be pitied, othered. For their own good.
An often shocking saga, but Bernell provides some hope. We can challenge fear and bigotry by talking, listening and learning.
First Dates – Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm
Lovers of the world unite, French Fred is back. I was suspicious of this amorous warhorse when it first appeared in 2013. A contrived, voyeuristic blind dating show? That’s bound to be quite nasty and embarrassing. But it’s not.
Granted, the first episode of this latest series features a pair of young Tories who are objectively awful, but for the most part it’s a generous show that doesn’t beg us to sneer at people (sneering at Tories doesn’t count, they deserve it; fight the power, First Dates).
Bittersweet
service resumes with a charismatic former roadie, a charming Lithuanian woman and two men
who have already slept with each other. Not all at the same time, of course!
Sigh. Anyway, enjoy.
Back – Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm
Series one of this Mitchell and Webb sitcom was broadcast way back in the halcyon Before Times of 2017. Like their previous sitcom, the (journalese warning) cult smash Peep Show, it was enjoyed by the relatively small number of dedicated viewers who bothered to tune in. I was a member of that happy band, so I welcome its belated return.
A farcical black comedy, it stars Mitchell as Stephen, a – what else? – stuffy neurotic whose life in rural Gloucestershire is sent into freefall when Andrew (Webb), a suspiciously benign stranger, turns up claiming to be his long-lost foster brother. The family welcome Andrew with open arms, but Stephen regards him as a scheming sociopath intent on stealing his soul.
Created by Simon Blackwell (Peep Show; The Thick of It), it's notable for containing lots of actual jokes. Glory be.
LAST WEEK’S TV
Paul Sinha’s TV Showdown – Saturday 9th January, STV
This new TV quiz is quite good fun. The questions are incredibly easy, but it’s an amiable Saturday night time-passer.
Dry-witted Chaser Paul Sinha is an obsessive pop culture trivia hound, a man after my own heart, so he’s the perfect choice of host. Team captains Rob Beckett (a professional comedian) and Faye Ripley (a Cold Feet actor) are merely there to make up the numbers.
Episode one’s undoubted highlight was Sinha deliberately mispronouncing John Fashanu’s surname a la Chris Morris in The Day Today, a niche comedy reference that pleased me to bits. The show inevitably leans towards TV that happened five minutes ago – no one was asked to identify Talfryn Thomas – but Sinha just about makes it work.
Happy Birthday Mr Bean – Sunday 10th January, STV
On New Year’s Day 1990, Rowan Atkinson unleashed his latest comic persona: the semi-silent Mr Bean, a selfish, spiteful yet weirdly endearing agent of chaos. Bean went on to become a global phenomenon, delighting millions with the universal language of slapstick.
This was a cut above most comedy retrospectives in that it focused on the people who were actually responsible for creating the work in question. There were no celebrity talking heads gushing pointlessly over their favourite scenes. Instead, writers Richard Curtis, Robin Driscoll and the rubber-faced funnyman ™ himself delivered some insight into their creative process.
Atkinson is renowned for his perfectionism, but wishes he wasn’t.
“It’s more of a disease,” he lamented. “It’s very draining.”
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