THE DISASTERS THAT SHOCKED SCOTLAND + HEMINGWAY + GREAT CANAL JOURNEYS

This article was originally published in The Courier on 26th June 2021. 

NEXT WEEK’S TV 

The Disasters That Shocked Scotland – Wednesday, BBC Scotland, 8pm

Despite its traumatic subject matter, this new series is sensitively handled. It’s a touching tribute to the victims and survivors of the worst disasters to hit Scotland during the last 50 years. It begins with the Piper Alpha tragedy and the Stockline explosion. 

In 1988, Britain’s biggest oil and gas platform caught fire. 167 men lost their lives, but no criminal charges were ever brought against the company responsible for the rig’s safety procedures. 16 years later, in Glasgow, a gas explosion ripped through a plastics factory. Eight people died and more than forty were injured. 

The programme features thoughtful contributions from some of the people who were caught up in these terrifying incidents.

Hemingway – Tuesday, BBC Four, 9pm 

The great American writer Ernest Hemingway was a flawed and troubled soul with an acute interest in the human condition. His public image was that of a burly, hard-drinking man’s man, a macho poet mired in ugliness and beauty, but that’s a reductive view. 

This elegant six-part series from esteemed documentarians Ken Burns and Lynn Novick (The Civil War; The Vietnam War) goes beyond the partly self-made myth to gain a better understanding of the man. He could be cruel and vengeful, but also kind and considerate. A complicated human being, no less. 

As you would expect from Burns and Novick, this is an impressive achievement. Immersive and authoritative, it’s packed with lyrical insight.

Inside Tesco: 24/7 – Wednesday, Channel 5, 7pm

This series has chronicled the surprisingly interesting 101-year-history of Britain’s biggest supermarket retailer. 

The final episode unfolds over the last thirty years, a period during which Tesco introduced vast American-style superstores to agog British consumers. A more balanced and objective documentary would explore the political and cultural ramifications of that development, but Inside Tesco: 24/7 is firmly ensconced within the pocket of this all-powerful retail giant. 

Because it relies upon the participation of Tesco bigwigs, it never even hints at any of the controversies the company has faced over the years. It’s blatantly compromised. However, as frustrating though that is, it does at least partially succeed as a diverting piece of social history.  

Back to Jail: Crime and Punishment – Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm

According to research, around 60% of people released from prison following short sentences will reoffend within a year. The latest episode of this solemn series follows three prolific repeat offenders as they attempt to turn their lives around. 

It also sheds light upon a beleaguered probation system in which officers struggle with overwhelming caseloads and drastically reduced resources. The consequences of this situation are often disastrous. 

Jonathan has 44 convictions; he’s been categorised as a serious threat to the public. Daniel has struggled with homelessness and addiction since the age of 15. He went clean in prison, but is in urgent need of support outside. Lewis, whose previous convictions have involved acts of violence, also struggles with substance abuse. 

Big Dog Britain – Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm

Now that’s a title. No fat, no frills, it gets straight to the point: this is a programme about big British dogs. Count me in. 

Alas, preview copies weren’t available, but the premise suggests that it might carry a serious message about the welfare of our enormous canine friends. It would appear that sales of the biggest breeds are in decline. Why? All will presumably be revealed. 

A standalone documentary, it features contributions from families who understand the complexities of caring for large domestic beasts. I cohabit with an averagely-sized cat, a sitcom-style arrangement which sometimes stretches my meagre means. But he’s always my priority. Looking after a pooch the size of Geoff Capes can’t be easy.

Scotland: A Year in the Wild – Friday, Channel 5, 7pm

A furry, feathered stress-buster, this beautifully-shot wildlife series never fails to enchant. This week’s theme: infant creatures learning some essential life skills. 

In the Shetland Islands, we meet a baby otter who should by rights be branching out on his own, but he’s still attached to his mother. The situation is compounded by the return of his errant father, who regards the child as a nuisance. A sad tale as old as time. We’re also introduced to some young woodpeckers learning how to peck proficiently, and a knackered red squirrel with a brood of increasingly curious and adventurous children. 

But the centrepiece of this episode involves some intense sibling rivalry between a pair of eaglets. High drama ensues.

Great Canal Journeys – Friday, Channel 4, 8pm

The original iteration of this series, starring the married couple Prunella Scales and Timothy West, was a poignant meditation on devotional love and gradual loss. Scales has Alzheimer’s. That tragedy underpinned the entire endeavour. Unlike most programmes in this vein, Great Canal Journeys was about so much more than pretty sun-dappled scenery. It was rather profound. 

Sadly, Scales is no longer able to participate, so the series is now fronted by Gyles Brandreth and his friend Sheila Hancock. Brandreth is 73. Hancock is 88. It’s now just a modestly affirmative piece of television. Carpe diem etc. A pleasant watch, but the new hosts can’t recapture the tender chemistry of Pru and Tim. How could they? A thankless task. 

LAST WEEK’S TV

Location, Location, Location: 20 Years and Counting – Wednesday 23rd June, Channel 4

Isn’t it amazing to think that there was once a time when no one apart from their friends and families knew who Kirstie Allsopp and Phil Spencer were? And yet here we are. 

Channel 4 lifestyle royalty, Allsopp and Spencer are currently celebrating the 20^th anniversary of their TV marriage with this weekly retrospective. It nominally presents itself as a chronicle of how the British housing market has changed since 2001, but really it’s all about the affectionately bickering relationship between Allsopp and Spencer. 

They settled into their roles early on: Allsopp the jolly hockey sticks bossy-boots, Spencer the genially hapless stooge. Hardly one of the all-time great TV double-acts, but their shtick has paid off.

Escape to the Chateau: Make Do and Mend – Thursday 24th June, Channel 4

Dick Strawbridge is an extraordinary man. His Carry On-style name is inherently worthy of note, but he has so much more to offer than that. Strawbridge’s enormous walrus moustache is one of humankind’s greatest achievements. It makes David Crosby’s facial topiary look like the sparse delusions of a callow youth. 

An always welcome presence on our screens, the affable Strawbridge returned last week alongside his equally likeable and highly creative wife, Angel. 

Still in the process of renovating a derelict French chateau, the Strawbridges took time out of their busy schedule to assist viewers with their various home projects. Escape to the Chateau is critic-proof; an utterly benign confection that no one could ever possibly object to.

 

DIANA + PHILLY D.A: BREAKING THE LAW + PETER TAYLOR: IRELAND AFTER PARTITION

This article was originally published in The Courier on 19th June 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Diana – Thursday, STV, 9pm

Princess Diana would’ve turned sixty this year. This feature-length documentary recounts the story of her eventful and ultimately tragic life. 

It’s a sympathetic portrait of someone who was hounded by the press from the moment she emerged into the public eye at the age of nineteen. It doesn’t ignore the fact that Diana used the media to her advantage at times, but such is the nature of celebrity. 

I’m no royalist, but nor am I a knee-jerk cynic. For all her wealth and privilege, Diana was a sensitive human being whose adult life wasn’t especially happy. While the film occasionally borders on hagiography, I have no reason to doubt its overall assessment of her as a genuinely warm, caring person.

Devon and Cornwall – Monday, Channel 4, 8pm

The best thing about this series by a picturesque country mile is John Nettles’ hilariously rich and fruity narration. It’s an absolute masterclass in rococo over-enunciation; he makes Matt Berry sound like one of those fuzzy mumbling teachers from the Peanuts cartoons. 

As the latest series begins, we meet some more people enjoying seemingly idyllic lives. Chief among them are a trawlerman, a wildlife ranger and the head gardener at Cornwall’s Lost Gardens of Heligan. 

It’s a perfectly pleasant programme. Lovely scenery, genial protagonists, what a wonderful world etc. But Nettles catapults it into a bizarre realm far beyond its simple remit. And I’m still not entirely convinced that everyone involved, including Bergerac himself, isn’t in on the gag.

Philly D.A: Breaking the Law – Tuesday, BBC Four, 10pm

This engrossing eight-part series chronicles the controversial first term of Philadelphia’s District Attorney Larry Krasner, a veteran civil rights lawyer hell-bent on fixing the city’s broken criminal justice system. 

An uncompromising anti-establishment figure, Krasner vows to introduce sweeping changes with regards to law enforcement. He feels that far too many Philadelphians are being incarcerated for relatively trivial reasons. Naturally, this places him in direct conflict with the city’s police department (during his former career as a defence attorney, he sued them some 75 times). 

Krasner is a charismatic progressive whose dedicated fight against racism, police brutality and mass incarceration represents some hope for America as a whole. The series begins with a double-bill.

Eat Shop Save – Thursday, STV, 7:30pm

Presenter Ranvir Singh returns for another volley of consumer lifestyle assistance. Her guinea pigs this week are Michelle and Neil from Dudley, who are worried about their unhealthy diet.

Michelle and Neil mostly work from home, hence why they often rely on a quick and easy diet of takeaways. Believe you me, when you’re very busy and working to deadlines, it’s all too easy to slip into that rut. Fortunately, Singh and her team of experts are on hand to improve Michelle and Neil’s fitness levels while helping them to save money. 

But why this couple, who come across as nice people, have decided to address their problems on television is beyond me. That’s just something I will never understand.

The Supervet: Noel Fitzpatrick – Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm

If they ever make a biopic about Noel Fitzpatrick, he should definitely be played by Gabriel Byrne. A quietly charismatic, genial Irishman, Fitzpatrick is a veterinary surgeon who has never met a sickly snout or paw he couldn’t mend. 

He’s James Herriot with cutting-edge RoboCop technology at his disposal. Thank God he’s a force for good, otherwise we’d all be in trouble. A world ruled by cyborg cats is a horrifying proposition. 

The latest episode of this always watchable series focuses on Fitzpatrick’s pioneering experiments in joint replacement treatment. His patients include a beautiful black Labrador with debilitating arthritis and a quite magnificently massive Great Dane who Fitzpatrick sadly describes as “a neurological disaster”. But he’s on the case.

Dragons’ Den – Thursday, BBC One, 9pm

The latest episode of this never-ending series in which tycoons make anxious entrepreneurs squirm for their idle amusement is, of course, business as usual. The Dragons’ Den formula must never bend or yield. 

With Den stalwart Peter Jones still in self-isolation at the time of filming, his old mucker Theo Paphitis once again steps up as a temporary replacement. What a hero. 

This week’s hopefuls include an enthusiastic multi-instrumentalist who has invented a training aid for drummers, a woman with an eco-friendly recyclable shoe range, an LA-raised entrepreneur who has created a culinary alcohol product, and a couple from Leeds who bring four of their six kids along to pitch a mini-first aid course.

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

In this stark report, journalist Seyi Rhodes meets some of the Syrian and Afghan migrants who can no longer find safe refuge in a once welcoming Europe. 

These desperate people, many of whom have been brutally assaulted, are stuck in Serbian limbo. They’ve trekked for miles on foot, only to be beaten back from the European Union by border guards. They’re living in abandoned farmhouses with no electricity or running water. Outside, anti-migrant vigilante groups circle them menacingly. It’s a horrifying situation. 

These men and women have nothing left, no homes to go to. Their lives and careers have been destroyed by war. And if they do manage to escape into Europe, will they really be any better off?

LAST WEEK’S TV

Phil Collins at the BBC – Saturday 12th June, BBC Two

Phil Collins is a curious contradiction. He’s always struck me as an affable fella with a self-deprecating sense of humour. Collins understands why people became utterly sick of his ubiquity in the 1980s. He gets the joke. 

But this archive compilation reminded me of why he was such a bête noire during my militant indie youth: so much of the music he released as a solo artist was terribly bland and self-pitying. Yes, he was a Great Drummer, but there was no evidence of that here. The classic likes of In the Air Tonight weren’t included, as he never performed them on Wogan or TOTP. As such, it didn’t really provide a fair overview of the man’s undoubted talents.

Peter Taylor: Ireland After Partition – Monday 14th June, BBC Two

For almost 50 years, the estimable British journalist and documentary filmmaker Peter Taylor has been covering the political situation in Northern Ireland. 

In this typically authoritative and thoughtful programme, Taylor looked back over his impressive body of work – which taken as a whole amounts to a vital piece of sociopolitical history - to examine the highly contentious and ongoing issue of a united Ireland. 

2021 marks the centenary of the Partition, which split Ireland into two separate states. Initially intended as a temporary measure, it has caused several lifetimes of chaos. While addressing the viewer directly, Taylor placed a complex and highly divisive situation in clear-eyed context. As always, he allowed room for all sides of the argument. Exemplary television.

 

HORIZON SPECIAL: THE VACCINE + GREAT BRITISH GARDENS WITH CAROL KLEIN + TIME

A version of this article was originally published in The Courier on 12th June 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Horizon Special: The Vaccine – Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm

“We knew it was going to happen, it was just a question of when.” 

So says a leading medical expert at the start of this report on the urgent yet painstaking development of the COVID-19 vaccine. Its humble stars are the pioneering scientists from all around the world who toiled incessantly to combat an unprecedented pandemic. 

The last eighteen months have been awful, devastating; hats off to these backroom geniuses for rolling out a vaccine in record time. At the risk of sounding sentimental, we must never take a single thing for granted. Stay safe.

Great British Photography Challenge – Monday, BBC Four, 9pm

If you’ve not been following this series, the set-up is simple: top photographer Rankin mentors six talented snappers as they’re “pushed to their creative limits”. It’s a standard format, terribly straightforward, but anyone with an interest in photography and/or portraiture will probably enjoy it. 

This week we’ve reached the final. Rankin isn’t a natural host, he’s quite timid and awkward; clearly a man who would rather stay behind the camera. Nevertheless, it’s quite refreshing to see a competitive TV talent show entirely lacking in aggression and spite. Give me Rankin’s mildness over Ramsay’s bullying any day. 

Sure, it skirts with hipster pretension – that goes with the territory – but this is basically a sincere celebration of creativity.

Great British Gardens with Carol Klein – Monday, Channel 5, 9pm

Carol Klein, a Gardeners’ World stalwart, has a highly distinctive presentation style.  She always sounds like she’s on the verge of breaking into fits of uncontrollable giggles, as if she can barely contain her utter glee when it comes to topiary and architecture. More power to her elbow, I say, she’s a charming presence. I’d love to be that happy. 

Her latest series kicks off, ever so gently, with a four seasons visits to Arundel Castle in West Sussex. Its spectacular gardens are rather dreamlike and theatrical; an eccentric work of art. 

It’s all very “Sing Hosannah for this green and pleasant land!”, but not in an egregious way. This is a verdant tuft of comfort viewing.

Between the Covers – Tuesday, BBC Two, 7:30pm

In the final episode – for now – of this cosily quarantined series, host Sara Cox asks another panel of celebrity guests to opine about some books. 

Her prose-guzzlers this week are Good Morning Britain presenter Ranvir Singh, comedians Sophie Willan and Reginald D. Hunter, plus Micky Flanagan, a sweaty man who just says things into a microphone for coins (in all seriousness, I hope he’s okay; during this episode he looks like a haggard and bewildered Donovan after three days trapped in a shipping container). 

Anyway. They review a small heap of tomes as usual. It’s all quite pleasant. I’ll get back to previewing more substantial television once the usual summer drought is over. Thumbs up emoji!

The Hotel Inspector – Thursday, Channel 5, 9pm

Alex Polizzi has been hosting this series for thirteen years. You can tell. Her whole shtick – a ‘cruel to be kind’ expert who revives the fortunes of struggling hoteliers – was always dubious, but it’s even worse now that she’s clearly bored with it all. 

The latest series begins in a traditional Dorset pub owned by Yvonne and James. They come across as nice people, but Polizzi takes issue with their appearance. Yvonne and James are overweight, and apparently that just won’t do. 

I don’t think Polizzi genuinely intends to come across as rude, she’s clearly playing a role, but I’m not a big fan of vulnerable people being belittled by solvent television personalities. Perhaps I’m just old-fashioned that way.

Great Paintings of the World with Andrew Marr – Friday, Channel 5, 9pm

“Art, not politics, is the greatest passion of my life.” Which is fair enough, Andrew Marr, but maybe you should’ve been making programmes like this all along instead of failing to properly challenge Michael Gove (I am aware that Andrew Marr isn’t actually reading this). 

Politics aside, I do quite like Marr. He’s an amusingly emphatic presenter who is clearly in his element when hosting television he actually cares about. The Hay Wain by John Constable is his latest fave-rave subject, and he manages to convey his enthusiasm for that rural masterpiece in a quite contagious way.  It’s a decent little arts programme.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Tina Turner at the BBC – Saturday 5th June, BBC Two

Ideal Saturday night viewing, this tribute to Turner delved into the BBC archives. A blatant piece of cheap filler, but sometimes that’s all you need. 

It cleaved to the standard TOTP2 format: a panoply of clips accompanied by fact-packed streams of scrolling text. Turner, who is now in her eighties, retired from the spotlight over ten years ago, but this compilation served as a valuable reminder of her natural-born charisma: she clearly taught Mick Jagger everything he knows. 

The undoubted highlight was her supremely camp performance of Goldeneye on TOTP, during which she was flanked by a bunch of ridiculous male models in full Bond regalia. Turner was a true star. A fun and funky iconoclast.

Time – Sunday 6th June, BBC One

Jimmy McGovern’s prison drama isn’t an easy watch. It’s not supposed to be. I haven’t been so unnerved and engrossed by a piece of television in quite some time. In typical McGovern style, it’s relentlessly bleak and brutal while being deeply etched in compassionate shades of grey. 

Sean Bean plays Mark, a timid schoolteacher serving his first prison sentence. Mark has committed a terrible crime, but he’s sympathetic - a haunted man trapped in a terrifying environment. Stephen Graham plays a seemingly respectable prison officer struggling with his own personal dilemma. 

The entire cast is faultless, and McGovern has found the perfect setting in which to explore his recurring themes of guilt and forgiveness. Time is wounding. It lingers.

 

 

THE STATUE WARS: ONE SUMMER IN BRISTOL + INSIDE NO. 9 + INTELLIGENCE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 5th June 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

The Statue Wars: One Summer in Bristol – Thursday, BBC Two, 9pm

Last summer, a statue of the 18^th century slave trader Edward Colston was torn down in Bristol and tossed into the harbour. That Black Lives Matter protest was a powerful symbolic gesture, but all some people could talk about was criminal damage and erasing history. Which is missing the point entirely; a myopic simplification. 

This nuanced documentary follows Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees during the immediate aftermath. The first directly-elected black mayor of a European city, Rees had to delicately negotiate his way through a tense period when Bristol represented a microcosm of our harshly divided society. He received death threats. 

The programme dissects a complex issue encompassing racism, social inequality, poor housing and education. It addresses the bigger picture. 

Inside No. 9 – Monday, BBC Two, 9:30pm

The penultimate episode of series six finds Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith at their most Tales of the Unexpected-esque. 

It’s an absorbing chiller, largely swathed in witching hour gloom, starring Derek Jacobi as a formidable old barrister with a reputation for never losing a case. But his glory days are far behind him. He’s on his death bed, wheezing and railing against the dying of the light.

Shearsmith plays his sensitive, kindly nurse: a probable nod to the relationship between Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jason Robards in Magnolia. 

Set over a single night – naturally, Jacobi’s luxury apartment is situated on the ninth floor – it has gleefully twisty fun with those age-old themes of guilt and forgiveness.

Hospital – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

As this exceptional series continues, the staff at University Hospital, Coventry are trying to get back to some form of normality. But as one senior doctor says, the aftershock of the pandemic will be felt for years. 

University Hospital is famous for being the first hospital in the world to administer the Covid vaccine following its clinical approval. Now – the series was filmed during the spring of this year – it’s dealing with a whole range of non-Covid-related emergencies. 

The staff are even busier than they were during lockdown, but the amount of available beds is smaller than it was before Covid. The episode also highlights the importance of treating patients with mental health issues exacerbated by the pandemic.

999: What’s Your Emergency? – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

One of Channel 4’s hardy perennials, this documentary series about Britain’s emergency services is generally quite sensitive, but occasionally its attempts to balance light and shade trigger some bizarre tonal shifts and errors of judgement. 

For instance, this week’s episode contains a sequence in which a woman comes home to find her husband in bed with two sex workers. Set against an incongruously cheerful soundtrack, the whole thing is played for knockabout laughs, when in reality it’s incredibly bleak. 

A very strange production choice, as this episode is, at heart, a serious report about a growing lack of faith in the criminal justice system and how people can be driven to violent forms of revenge caused by emotional distress.

Intelligence – Tuesday, Sky One, 10pm

A sitcom inspired by the espionage-fuelled likes of 24, Intelligence stars David Schwimmer as one Jerry Bernstein, a self-centred and buffoonish American National Security agent working in the UK’s distinctly unglamorous Government Communications Headquarters. His de facto sidekick is played by series creator Nick Mohammed. 

As series two begins, terrorists have hijacked a cyber-weapon with the intention of blowing up a nuclear power station. Bernstein worked on the device back in 2016, but he can’t remember the override password. 

Intelligence is pitched as an escalating farce, but it’s only mildly amusing at best. Still, Mohammed is a likeable presence and Schwimmer is a great comic actor, so it’s worth watching if only to witness him in action.

In the Footsteps of Killers – Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm

On Boxing Day 1996, Patrick Warren and David Spencer, two young boys from Birmingham, disappeared without trace. This cold case documentary, which is hosted by Silent Witness actor Emilia Fox and criminologist David Wilson, tries to find out what happened to them. 

Patrick and David were the first missing children to be pictured on milk cartons in the UK. And yet despite that effort, Wilson argues that, due to their working class background, Patrick and David were dismissed as unimportant in the eyes of the police. They didn’t fit a neat media-friendly profile. It’s deeply angering. 

Although the programme suffers from some of the usual contrived and borderline dubious trappings of this genre, it strikes me as fundamentally well-intentioned.

Billion Pound Bond Street – Thursday, STV, 9pm

Bond Street is London’s most exclusive shopping thoroughfare. According to this one-off documentary, it hawks more luxury brands than any other half-mile on Earth. 

We’re gravely informed that the bespoke businesses on Bond Street have struggled due to the pandemic, but they all seem to be doing just fine. As long as there are people who can afford to hoover up their wares, then it will continue to thrive. 

This is a blithe celebration of filthy riches and shallow flash. At one point, without a trace of irony, a Dior employee describes Bond Street as “one long Instagram location.” With so many people struggling at the moment, programmes such as this come across as utterly tone deaf.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Brian Cox’s Adventures in Space and Time – Sunday 30th May, BBC Two

During the last year of lockdown, we’ve become used to emergency programmes in which popular presenters such as Louis Theroux and Michael Palin look back upon their work: cheaply-produced clip shows garnished with fresh perspective. Now it’s Cox’s turn to “revisit some fundamental questions again.” 

First up: how far can we go in our exploration of the cosmos? Cox started hosting his own shows in 2010, so he’s not short of things to discuss with regards to the ever-evolving landscape of scientific discovery. 

This series is a reminder of why he’s been so successful. A popular science expert who makes his subject accessible while never patronising the viewer, Cox is, quite simply, very good at his job.

24 Hours in A&E – Monday 31st May, Channel 4

The latest series of this compassionate stalwart began by focussing on urgent respiratory cases. 

The first patient to be treated was a man who’d collapsed on a tennis court. The doctors saved his life by administering a shock to his heart; a dangerous procedure, but apparently the best way of ‘resetting’ someone in that condition. Thankfully he survived. 

The centrepiece of the episode was an Afghan refugee who collapsed at home due to shortness of breath. This man had survived the Russian invasion and Taliban rule. He’d built a new life for his family in Britain. Sadly, he was eventually diagnosed with motor neuron disease. 

As always, this was a touching study of how fragile and precious life is.