ROCK TILL WE DROP + THE MYSTERY OF ANTHRAX ISLAND + STORYVILLE: WRITING WITH FIRE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 26th February 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Rock Till We Drop – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

Former pop star Martin Kemp joins forces with rapper Lady Leshurr in this rather beguiling search for talented musicians aged 64 and over. 

They’re aiming to assemble a band capable of storming a 15-minute slot at the Isle of Wight Festival, but that’s not really the point. It’s all about giving older people the opportunity to prove something to themselves and others: an autumnal confidence boost. 

Projects of this nature always run the risk of patronising the participants, but Rock Till We Drop is, thankfully, not that sort of show. No one is mocked or made to look foolish. 

Kemp and Leshurr discover some genuine talents along the way. These nice, interesting people deserve their moment in the spotlight.

Marcus Wareing’s Tales from the Kitchen Garden – Monday to Friday, BBC Two, 6:30pm

Here we go again, folks, another aspirational series in which a celebrity starts a new life in the countryside. 

This one follows the Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing as he follows his dream of setting up a smallholding. That inherently amusing word is constantly invoked throughout the series, so much so that it almost starts to resemble a running gag. But at no point does Wareing observe that it sounds like the name of a Carry On character, one presumably played by Charles Hawtrey. Weird. 

An entirely bland and inoffensive man, Wareing makes Titchmarsh look like Keith Floyd at his most bacchanalian. But he means no harm in the grand scheme of things. He’s a mere smallholder.

Rise of the Nazis: Dictators at War – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

The final chapter of this grimly compelling and authoritative essay begins in 1943 with the German Army retreating across the Western Front in the wake of its crushing defeat at Stalingrad. Hitler becomes increasingly remote, paranoid and desperate as the German public start to lose faith in his supposed infallibility. 

A prominent dissenter is the extraordinarily brave 21-year-old student Sophie Scholl, who risks her life by joining an underground resistance movement devoted to exposing Nazi lies about the war effort. The group’s ultimate goal is to encourage people to rise up and overthrow their despotic rulers before it’s too late. 

Meanwhile, senior German army officer Claus von Stauffenberg hatches a plan to assassinate der Fuhrer. 

Emergency – Monday to Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm

Stripped over four consecutive nights, this urgent frontline documentary gains access to London’s Major Trauma System, which was set up in the wake of the 2005 terrorist attacks. An interconnected NHS network of hospitals, air ambulances and paramedics, it provides a vital lifeline for major trauma patients. 

Yes, we’ve all seen programmes like this before, but they provide a valuable public service. It doesn’t matter that Emergency cleaves to all the familiar trappings of this genre (e.g. the bombastic narrator who sounds like he’s standing, legs wide apart, on a windswept hospital helipad), because its fundamentally sensitive message rings out loud and clear. 

Nothing can undermine the affecting human drama of these stories. A noble endeavour.

The Mystery of Anthrax Island – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 10pm

Gruinard Island is a tiny uninhabited mass situated just a few miles off the coast of Wester Ross. During WWII it was used by British scientists as a testing ground for the deadly effects of anthrax. The unfortunate guinea pigs were sheep. It was henceforth classed as a contaminated danger zone. 

However, as this documentary reveals, it became a political cause celebre in the early 1980s when a mysterious group of protesters claimed to have visited the island and unearthed mounds of lethal soil. They deposited this soil outside the perimeter fence at the secretive MoD base Porton Down and near the Blackpool location of the Conservative Party Conference. 

Preview copies weren’t available, but this sounds absolutely fascinating.

Storyville: Writing with Fire – Wednesday, BBC Four, 10pm

According to India’s oppressive caste system, Dalit people are considered to be so impure they don’t even qualify as members of that hierarchy. Dalit women are constantly subjected to horrific acts of violence, while the male-dominated authorities turn a blind eye. 

This deeply angering yet cautiously hopeful film – which has been nominated for the 2022 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary – follows a brave and brilliant group of female Dalit journalists as they take their pioneering newspaper into the digital age. 

Writing with Fire is both an unflinching indictment of human rights violations and an inspiring celebration of our vital universal need for journalistic integrity. Truth must always speak to power. It’s an important piece of work.

Would I Lie to You? – Friday, BBC iPlayer

The latest edition of this genial panel show welcomes comedian Jo Brand, Inbetweeners star Joe Thomas, Olympic gold-winning hockey player and Question of Sport captain Sam Quek, and the endearingly eccentric maths teacher and broadcaster Bobby Seagull. 

Things we’re asked to believe this week include: Quek waking up the morning after her Olympic triumph with a cheeseburger down her bra; Seagull taking a book with him whenever he visits a nightclub; and team captain Lee Mack looking after a beehive with predictably disastrous results. 

Seagull and Thomas are very good at sounding like they might be lying, even if they aren’t. A useful weapon in this arena. Viewers in Scotland can access the episode on iPlayer from around 9:30pm on Friday night.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Paul Sinha’s TV Showdown – Saturday 19th February, STV

Sinha is a very sharp and likeable man, he’s the perfect host for a nerdy TV quiz show, but alas this format is flawed. There’s too much meandering banter and not enough quizzing. Say what you like about Noel Edmonds by all means, but at least Telly Addicts got down to business. 

And that’s the other major drawback: the contestants are celebrities. ‘Ordinary people’ will always be more au fait with television than the busy pros who appear on it. So what you end up with is an irreverent yet committed quizmaster posing occasionally quite tricky questions to a baffled panel who dance around the answers in the hope of getting laughs. It’s all rather pointless. 

Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America – Sunday 20th February, BBC Two

I’m a big fan of Louis Theroux, he’s facilitated some of the most memorable television documentaries of the last 25 years, but he slipped into repetitive self-parody with his latest report from The Troubled Fringes of American Society. 

A belated sequel of sorts to his 2000 documentary about gangsta rap, it found him looking concerned as he met various rappers from disadvantaged backgrounds who were engaged in futile and often violent feuds: victims of a culture based on macho posturing. 

While I appreciate the point he was (presumably) making – nothing has changed for the marginalised youth of America – the programme itself was Theroux on autopilot. A well-meaning yet insubstantial exercise, it sighed sadly, frowned then ended.

THE LAST STONE + MISSION JOY WITH ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU & THE DALAI LAMA + LOUIS THEROUX'S FORBIDDEN AMERICA

This article was originally published in The Courier on 19th February 2022. 

NEXT WEEK’S TV

The Last Stone – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 10pm

This expertly crafted documentary recounts the uplifting saga of the British women’s curling team who triumphed at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Those four great Scots made history: they were the first British women’s team to win gold in any Olympic event. 

The programme reminds us that curling was once regarded, if it was even regarded at all, as a niche and rather quirky sport; a parochial Scottish concern. Rhona Martin and her teammates changed all that. They captured the nation’s attention and affections: millions watched the nail-biting final live on BBC One. 

Not only is this a tremendous feel-good underdog story, it’s also a significant moment in the evolution of women’s sport.

Richard Osman’s House of Games – Monday to Friday, BBC Two, 6pm

Osman, that avuncular Grand Poobah of undemanding teatime trivia, returns for another weeklong showdown between four previous House of Games winners. They are: comedians Angela Barnes, Kemah Bob and Adrian Edmondson, plus his actor daughter Beattie. 

Barnes is a record-breaking five times champ who knows her pop culture inside out, so much so that you almost get the sense she’s politely holding back at times, lest she hog the limelight by knowing all the answers. 

As for the game itself, well you have to admire a quiz that features a rhyming round linking Hemingway’s Old Man of the Sea to the advertising slogan ‘buy one get one free’. And remember, please do play along at home.

Rise of the Nazis: Dictators at War – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

Chapter two of this insightful psychological study of Adolf Hitler and his fascist enablers begins with the newly self-appointed Commander in Chief of the German Army doubling down in his efforts to defeat Stalin. 

But he needs a new Machiavellian yes man by his side, as Goering has proved ineffectual. Enter Nazi architect Albert Speer, who despite his lack of military experience proves effective in facilitating Hitler’s demands. 

Meanwhile, the equally deranged Stalin draws up plans for a huge military offensive aimed at driving Hitler’s army from the Soviet Union. But when he’s told by one of his top generals that the operation is doomed, a furious Stalin takes matters into his own hands. Devastating carnage ensues.

Jobfished – Monday, BBC Three, 9pm

Investigative journalist Catrin Nye has spent the last year trying to find out how so many young people ended up working for Madbird, a supposedly successful graphic design agency that doesn’t actually exist. 

The Madbird website boasted an impressive roster of clients. It all looked legit. For several months the new sales team worked hard on a promise of commission – they never actually met anyone from the company in person - but in fact the whole thing had been set up to steal their ideas. Hugely out of pocket, they felt angry and humiliated. 

So just who was behind this elaborate online con, which cruelly took advantage of unemployed people during lockdown? Nye eventually tracks him down in classic door-stepping style.

Moors Murders – Monday, Channel 4, 9pm

This new series gains access to letters written by Britain’s most notorious serial killers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. It’s a chilling tale of two psychopaths who never exhibited the slightest hint of genuine remorse – the letters reveal them blaming each other for entirely self-serving reasons – but it also grants insight into their attempted coercion of Hindley’s brother-in-law David Smith. 

In 1965, Smith witnessed Brady murdering teenager Edward Evans. Frightened for his life, he helped Brady and Hindley clean up the crime scene. “I would’ve done anything just to get out of that house,” he says in an archive interview (Smith died in 2012). Once he’d escaped, Smith called the police. Brady and Hindley were subsequently arrested.

Mission: Joy with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama – Wednesday, BBC Four, 10pm

In 2015, two great humanitarians sat down for a filmed conversation full of mutual respect and affection. This cheering documentary is the result. 

Tutu (who passed away on Boxing Day 2021) and the Dalai Lama were avuncular kindred spirits: or, in their shared description, “mischievous spiritual brothers”. The holy man banter flows freely as they hold hands, crack jokes and spread their message of tolerance and kindness in the face of adversity. 

You may find yourself agreeing with their steadfast belief that most human beings are fundamentally decent and compassionate. We live in a cruel and unjust world, Tutu and the Dalai Lama are all too aware of that, but their wit, warmth and wisdom are highly persuasive.

#CancelKarenDunbar – Thursday, BBC Scotland, 10pm

Karen Dunbar presents this well-meaning yet confused documentary in which she argues that, during her early ‘00s heyday, comedy was allowed to be “controversial, contentious and occasionally offensive.” 

Not like now, apparently (the programme conveniently ignores the continuing popularity of ‘edgy’ comics such as Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr and Ricky Gervais).

It pivots around the false premise that cancel culture is muzzling so-called provocative comedy. Is it? Neither Dunbar nor her interviewees provide any evidence of this actually being the case. 

Our host is a likeable and thoughtful person, but she frets too much and her frustratingly vague report chases its tail while inadvertently fanning the flames of bogus culture war baloney. A missed opportunity.

LAST WEEK’S TV 

Louis Theroux’s Forbidden America – Sunday 13th February, BBC Two

Theroux’s latest series began with a despairing report on the vile young online figureheads of America’s far right movement. 

Racist, homophobic and misogynistic, they’re trying to rebrand themselves as ‘ironic’ social commentators as opposed to outright white supremacists, but that veneer is so transparent it didn’t take much for Theroux to trigger them with his typically direct line of questioning. 

Obnoxious, thin-skinned, hate-fuelled cry babies who crave validation, these dangerous losers are the biggest ‘snowflakes’ of all. They simply cannot handle being challenged on any level. No wonder Trump is their spiritual king. 

Theroux effortlessly exposed their contradictions and lies. He allowed them to express their freedom of speech while offering his right to reply. Democracy in action.

The Most Beautiful Boy in the World – Sunday 13th February, BBC Four

Swedish actor Bjorn Andresen starred as a teenage object of desire in Luchino Visconti’s 1971 film Death in Venice. Visconti ‘discovered’ him during a nationwide search to find a flawless vision of beauty. Andresen became an overnight sensation, but fame proved fleeting. 

This haunting, if flawed, documentary revealed what became of him. Andresen has struggled with depression and alcoholism. His life has been beset by personal tragedy. He came across as a vulnerable soul whose unwanted period of fame - during which he was treated as a sexualised commodity - exacerbated pre-existing traumas. 

But I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was being exploited all over again. I hope he doesn’t add this film to his list of regrets.

 

 

RISE OF THE NAZIS: DICTATORS AT WAR + IMAGINE... LABI SIFFRE: THIS IS MY SONG + CHLOE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 12th February 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Rise of the Nazis: Dictators at War – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

This engrossing new series examines the psychology of homicidal dictators and the morality of those who empower them. 

The rise and fall of Adolf Hitler is the ultimate illustration of how dictatorships always destroy themselves. They’re founded on hubris, corruption and paranoia; an inherently unstable power structure commandeered by ruthless megalomaniacs who cannot accept reality. 

The series begins in 1940, with Hitler plotting his invasion of the Soviet Union. He fully believed that global domination was within his grasp, and woe betide anyone who suggested otherwise. Fate had ordained that he would be victorious. 

Solidly compiled using archive footage, dialogue-free dramatic reconstructions, contemporary reports and contributions from esteemed historians, it’s an acute study of sanctioned insanity.

The Millionairess and Me – Monday, Channel 4, 10pm

Former model Amanda Cronin is apparently one of the UK’s richest women. You’ve probably never heard of her, and Cronin isn’t happy about that. 

She’s got everything she could possibly want apart from celebrity. Hence why she agreed to star in this potentially brand-building programme from documentary filmmaker Martin Read, a man whose life experience couldn’t be more at odds with that of his glamorous subject. He’s been homeless and once served time in prison. 

It’s a sly, wry film about obscene class divisions. Read and Cronin have an obvious rapport, they like each other, but he never loses sight of his fundamental point. These shallow, selfish, oblivious fools will never understand what it’s like to be poor.

Imagine… Labi Siffre: This Is My Song – Monday, BBC One, 10:35pm

Labi Siffre is perhaps best known for his indelible anti-Apartheid anthem Something Inside So Strong. He also wrote the Madness hit It Must Be Love. 

Fine achievements both, but this poignant profile places him front and centre: a brilliant, iconoclastic singer-songwriter who has never quite received the respect he deserves. 

A gay black man, Siffre endured prejudice for most of his early life. Twice widowed, he retired from music several years ago. But now he’s back, his warm, soulful voice undimmed. 

He comes across as a lovely fella – a bright beacon of integrity – who is modestly proud of his entirely natural hybrid of folk, soul and funk. One particular new performance brought tears to my eyes.

This Is Going to Hurt – Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

In the second episode of this commendably brutal comedy drama about an exhausted NHS surgeon, Adam (Ben Whishaw) continues to juggle some sort of personal life with the endless, sleepless pressures of his job.

Adam Kay's adaptation of his own memoir never self-pitying, it understands that gallows humour and self-deprecation/laceration naturally coexist with genuinely-felt trauma. A coping mechanism. Kay is presumably a fan of M*A*S*H: the smart-aleck asides never undermine the overall seriousness.

It’s a direct political statement on behalf of the overworked, understaffed and underfunded NHS. But, you know, with jokes.

24 Hours in A&E – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

Our hospital rounds continue with the latest chapter of this peerless observational series. Patients this week include a 15-year-old boy who has been stabbed in the thigh while on his way to school. His doting mother reflects upon her own childhood in Ghana and the way it compares with the often violent nature of south London culture. 

Elsewhere on the ward, a sports commentator with an inflamed ankle talks about the highs and lows of his career thus far, and an 11-year-old girl shares her unique philosophy while being treated for a broken finger. 

As always, you will count your blessings and marvel, quietly, at the wit, warmth and resilience of the human spirit.

Loggerheads – Thursday, BBC Scotland, 8:30pm

Davy Crockett hats off to whoever came up with the punning title of this genial new series in which woodworking artisans compete for splinter-fingered glory. I would’ve gone for ‘Tree Amigos’, but what do I know? Nothing. 

Each episode is based in a woodland enclave – the leisurely race begins in Glenlude in the Scottish Borders – but the competitive aspect is basically irrelevant. It’s just a nicely convenient angle, an easy-access way of providing some insight into how these rather groovy people (one of whom looks like Jerry Garcia on a promotional visit to Endor) devote themselves to reconstituting timber while causing no harm to surrounding wildlife and the ecosystem generally. 

An entirely benign endeavour.

Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig – Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm

Series two of this vicarious weekend break begins with Toksvig trundling around Devon with the comedian Sarah Millican. 

Yes, it’s a cosy and rather twee confection in which our hosts enjoy bespoke holiday residences situated in the beauteous wilds of Britain, but you’d really have to go out of your way to take umbrage at a programme in which naturally amusing and affable people look at pebbles and ponies. 

Speaking of whom, I daresay comedy nerds (not a pejorative term, I’m as nerdy as they come) will have something in their eye when Toksvig names one of the ponies after her late great friend Jeremy Hardy. It’s what he would’ve wanted. This is a genuinely pleasant little distraction.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Chloe – Sunday 6th February and Monday 7th February, BBC One

Beware of social media. That appears to be the takeaway message of this discomfiting and rather opaque psychological thriller about a young woman, Becky, who’s obsessed with a school friend she hasn’t seen in years (or so we’re led to believe). 

Chloe is beautiful and glamorous. Her Instagram account suggests she leads a perfect life. And then she’s found dead. Meanwhile, Becky inveigles her way into Chloe’s circle of swanky gallery-dwelling friends by adopting an idealised alter ego: Chloe Mark II. 

Becky (the excellent Erin Doherty) is an ambiguous protagonist who, I suspect, is seeking to avenge the tragic death of her friend. And that ambiguity provides just enough intrigue to keep one’s attention. For now at least.

Bradley & Barney Walsh: Breaking Dad – Monday 7th February, STV

Bradley Wash and his son Barney are ITV’s very own Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. We get the adventurers we deserve. I do like them, though. In a world wracked with division and schism, they’re commendably open-minded. 

The show is predicated upon the idea that Bradley is a daft old fella endearingly out of his depth compared to his cosmopolitan millennial son, but that concept falls apart as soon as you watch it: they’re an affable duo who thumb their noses at the generation gap. They clearly adore each other and enthusiastically embrace every aspect of the foreign cultures they encounter. 

Viewed from a certain angle, this silly little fleck of harmless filler is almost quite inspiring.

 

THIS IS GOING TO HURT + NO RETURN + CHEATERS

This article was orginially published in The Courier on 5th February 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

This Is Going to Hurt – Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

Based on Adam Kay’s bestselling memoir, this arresting comedy drama stars Ben Whishaw as a junior NHS doctor desperately overworking on an obstetrics and gynaecology ward. 

It begins with him waking up in his car following a gruelling twelve-hour shift. He’s then immediately dragged back into the never-ending thick of it. The pace never lets up.

Adam is witty, sarcastic, a little bit full of himself, but fundamentally decent and dedicated. Whishaw, who resembles a sleep-deprived adolescent, is perfectly cast. This Is Going to Hurt exposes, in kinetic semi-real-time detail, the sheer amount of stress experienced by NHS hospital staff on a daily basis. 

The physical and psychological consequences are self-evident. It’s a timely transmission from the frontline. 

No Return – Monday, STV, 9pm

Does Sheridan Smith ever rest? Barely a week goes by without her starring in an angst-ridden TV drama. She’s an excellent actor, but overexposure will do her no favours: beware the Bradley Walsh effect. 

This time she plays the matriarch of a happy Manchester family on holiday in Turkey. One night her teenage son attends a beach party. The next day he’s arrested on a charge of sexual assault. A waking nightmare ensues. 

Written by Jimmy McGovern protégé Danny Brocklehurst, No Return clearly has its heart in the right place with regards to tackling homophobia and dodgy policing. But it does feel quite familiar, principally because we recently witnessed Smith playing an almost identical role in Four Lives.

60 Days with the Gypsies – Monday, Channel 4, 9pm

Channel 4 have notoriously poor form when it comes to dealing with Britain's traveling community; the sneering tone of their Big Fat Gypsy franchise will never be forgotten. But this new series is thankfully more insightful and sympathetic. 

It follows explorer Ed Stafford as he spends time with some travellers. Their entire culture is in danger of being wiped out by increasingly hard-line authoritarian measures. They’re constantly being evicted from their campsites, and have nowhere else to go. Fearful of reprisals, some of the travellers are understandably reluctant to appear on camera. 

Stafford admits to having conflicted feelings at first, but through his first-hand experience he gains a greater understanding of this way of life. The programme, to its credit, confronts prejudice and challenges misconceptions.

Imagine… Marian Keyes: My (no so) Perfect Life – Monday, BBC One, 10:35pm

The work of Irish author Marian Keyes is renowned for its darkly comic honesty and acute conversational prose. A recovering alcoholic, she writes about addiction and depression with disarming clarity. Her empathy is borne of experience. 

This enlightening profile confirms that the person on the page is the real confessional deal. She’s clever, funny and frank; a charming individual with no time for self-aggrandising or self-pitying ordure. 

And Keyes is basically in charge here, which means she gets to narrate her own life story without too many buffoonish intrusions from Imagine editor Alan Yentob. Glory be. 

The programme also addresses her discomfort with the ‘chick lit’ tag. It’s a reductive, snobbish double-standard. 

Cheaters – Tuesday, BBC One, 9:50pm

Spread over eighteen ten-minute episodes, this new comedy drama is a faintly depressing study of neurotic, unhappy, dysfunctional people. Dunno about you, but I get enough of that at home. 

It begins with a man and a woman cute-meeting in a Finnish airport. They both have partners at home in London, but one thing leads to another etc. Then a highly unlikely coincidence occurs, thus leading to all manner of domestic complications. 

How many stories about awkward middle-class people do we really need? Four at most. 

Fictional characters don’t have to be sympathetic necessarily, but they do have to be interesting in some way. We need to be invested in their situation. Cheaters is a struggle. 

Storyville: President – Wednesday, BBC Four, 10pm

The tyrannical dictator Robert Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years. In 2017 he was ousted by a military coup. 

The leaders of that coup then called a supposedly democratic election; opposition leader Nelson Chamisa, a former student activist who bravely staged a non-violent campaign against Mugabe’s regime, was the favourite to win. This despairing documentary follows his election campaign. 

Set against a backdrop of corruption and economic chaos, the film depicts Chamisa as an honourable man struggling to instil hope within a populace that’s been oppressed for decades. How can you have faith in rigged game? 

It’s a powerful meditation on the universal fight for basic human rights vs a system diametrically opposed to allowing such freedom.

First Dates: Valentine’s – Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm

Fred Sirieix must rotate like a fizzing Catherine Wheel whenever Valentine’s Day rolls around. It’s the ultimate time of year for his restaurant o’ love. 

I haven’t seen this episode, but as a fan I can offer a cast-iron guarantee: it will provide some mildly uplifting cheer. 

This week’s hopefuls include a man who’s been hit with divorce, redundancy and a heart attack, a set of 75-year-old twins with showbiz in their veins, and a woman who can’t resist an Irish accent. Her date ticks that box, but will they click? 

The First Dates formula will never wear out its welcome, because we all want to see people being happy. Sounds trite, I know, but it’s true.

LAST WEEK’S TV

The Great Cookbook Challenge with Jamie Oliver – Monday 31st January, Channel 4

Jamie Oliver’s latest intrusion is a standard-issue competitive showdown in which eighteen non-famous kitchen wizards attempt to win a cookery book publishing deal. Expect to see said book in the shops once this series is over: cross brand synergy in action. 

Jamie’s role is that of the bighearted mentor: “Today I work for you, anything you want I’m here to support you.” 

Meanwhile, the contestants have to prove to a panel of judges that their book will stand out in an oversaturated market. What’s their angle? It’s basically MasterChef meets Dragons’ Den. That was the pitch, you can practically guarantee it. 

Anyway. Good luck to the eventual winner; Jamie will definitely write a nice foreword. 

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World – Tuesday 1st February, BBC Three

This new spin-off from RuPaul’s fabulous TV powerhouse finds nine drag queens competing to be crowned ‘Queen of the Mothertucking World’. The winner even gets to record a charity single with RuPaul himself, so the stakes are higher than ever. 

It boasts a justice league of all-star queens plucked from international versions of the show, including three from the UK. Your judges are Melanie Chisolm, Graham Norton and Michelle Visage. 

As usual, it’s an upbeat and inclusive affair in which everyone is supportive of each other. Yes, some sly comments are murmured occasionally, but never in a malicious way. This latest iteration is basically a celebration of the franchise itself, but that indulgence is deserved.