A version of this article was originally published in The Courier on 16th October 2021.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
Ashley Banjo: Britain in Black & White ‐ Tuesday, STV, 9pm
Last year, on Britain’s Got Talent, Ashley Banjo and Diversity performed a powerful interpretive dance piece in response to the murder of George Floyd.
Banjo knew it would spark a debate, that was the point, but he wasn’t prepared for the overwhelming torrent of criticism he received. In this probing programme, Banjo examines how racism manifests itself in Britain today.
One of his interviewees is the always astute historian David Olusoga, who makes the key observation that, although institutional racism is no longer overt in our society, it still exists in more insidious forms.
Banjo also meets notoriously bigoted comedian Jim Davidson, who storms off when his logical fallacies are challenged ‐ thus proving Banjo’s point that all forms of prejudice are irrational.
Michael X: Hustler, Revolutionary, Outlaw ‐ Monday, Sky Showcase, 10pm
Michael X was a radical civil rights activist who, in the 1960s and early 1970s, positioned himself as the face of Black Power in Britain.
Born Michael de Freitas in Trinidad and Tobago, he was eventually found guilty of murder and sentenced to death in his homeland. This documentary attempts to make sense of his complex, murky legacy.
De Freitas once worked as an enforcer for a notorious slum landlord, until a chance encounter with Malcolm X changed the course of his life. He was a charismatic, articulate and often controversial (self‐appointed) spokesman for Britain’s black community. He was also violent, messianic and ruthless.
The film features contributions from some of those who knew him, as well as the brother of one of his victims.
Impeachment: American Crime Story ‐ Tuesday, BBC Two, 9:15pm
From the team that brought you vivid dramas about the trial of O.J. Simpson and the assassination of Gianni Versace, comes this fairly promising miniseries about the infamous Clinton‐Lewinsky scandal.
The tone is slightly camp and knowing, but it’s sympathetic towards Lewinsky. She’s depicted as a harmless ingénue who was betrayed and unfairly vilified. The scene‐stealing villain of the piece is Linda Tripp, the disgruntled civil servant who manipulated Lewinsky into doing her bidding. Clinton is played by, of all people, Clive Owen, although he only turns up at the end of episode one.
Despite the bleakly amusing tone, this is a fundamentally serious drama about sexism and abuse of power.
Shetland ‐ Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm
Series six of this atmospheric, windswept detective yarn begins with DI Jimmy Perez (the always watchable Douglas Henshall) mourning the recent death of his mother. Shetland is rarely cheerful, but that’s why people tune in: it is, at its core, a rather sad and occasionally quite soulful piece of Celtic noir. Plus the stories are generally solid.
This week, Perez investigates the murder of a controversial local businessman. As if the poor guy doesn’t have enough on his plate (his widowed dad is struggling with dementia).
Yes, the sheer amount of crime that occurs in this fictionalised Shetland is fundamentally absurd, but if that can’t be overlooked then other shows of a similar ilk are available.
Four Hours at the Capitol ‐ Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm
On 6th January 2021, a violent mob of alt-right yahoos ‐ who couldn’t accept that their spiritual king Donald Trump had been dethroned ‐ invaded the Capitol in Washington. Trump, stung and embittered by his humiliating defeat, encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell”. He instigated a riot.
This blow‐by‐blow documentary, most of it filmed by the protestors themselves, hurls us directly into the chaos. It’s a tense, disturbing study of mob mentality; of how people with axes to grind can be fired up by inflammatory rhetoric and safety in numbers.
It also reminds us that four protesters and a police officer died during the riot. Four officers subsequently took their own lives. Trump escaped scot‐free.
Extraordinary Extensions ‐ Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm
The musician and rapper Tinie Tempah is a property developer/designer on the side. That’s why he’s hosting this barely disguised version of Grand Designs, in which he follows various people as they add ambitious extensions to their homes.
In episode one he meets a pleasant pair of ageing hippies ‐ the husband makes lysergic graphic novelist Alan Moore look like William Rees‐Mogg ‐ who are renovating their 17th century yeoman’s cottage. He also witnesses a suburban Edwardian home being given a stylish experimental makeover.
The only real difference between this and Grand Designs is that Tempah is sympathetic towards the participants. He’s a natural presenter too; a relaxed and likeable presence.
Charlene White: Empire’s Child ‐ Thursday, STV, 9pm
Black History Month continues with this poignant programme in which genial journalist and Loose Women host Charlene White examines how the painful legacy of Britain’s empire has shaped the lives of black people in Britain; her own family included.
It’s basically an episode of BBC One’s Who Do You Think You Are?, but the stolen format works well in this particular context. The more White digs into her tangled family tree, the more saddened she becomes. This, inevitably, is a story of slavery and exploitation.
“Is it a nice history?” she asks. “No. But I still feel it was something I needed to know.” And she’s also, quite rightly, proud of what her ancestors achieved.
LAST WEEK’S TV
The Larkins ‐ Sunday October 10, STV
A big hit for ITV in the early 1990s, The Darling Buds of May was always due a comeback. Bradley Walsh and Joanna Scanlan are perfectly cast as Pop and Ma Larkin, a bumptious married couple presiding over their large happy family in an early 1960s English village.
The central premise of these stories has always been appealing: the Larkins are benign bohemian rebels who thumb their noses at snobbery and hypocrisy. From a certain angle they could be mistaken for working‐class socialist heroes.
But the problem, as before, is that the show is whimsical to a fault. Its relentless bonhomie comes across as smug and ingratiating, rather than charming. Still, a harmless bit of fluff.
Angela Black ‐ Sunday October 10, STV
Joanne Froggatt stars in this stark drama as a victim of domestic violence. Every day, Angela has to pretend that everything is fine. She and her physically abusive and coercively controlling husband are the only people who know the truth.
Or so it initially seemed: in episode one, Angela was approached by a seemingly sympathetic private investigator who’d been hired by her husband to manufacture evidence that would make her look like an unfit mother. He eventually revealed that his employer was planning to murder her.
Written by Harry and Jack Williams (The Missing; Baptiste), Angela Black
is quite delicately handled for the most part, and its message is important.
Victims of abuse can’t just leave, they’re trapped.
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