BEING MUM WITH MND + THE TERROR + THE OTHER ONE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 30th April 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Being Mum with MND – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 10pm

Lucy Lintott was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease (MND) at the age of 19. Doctors told her she would never be able to conceive. Lucy and her fiancé, Tommy, are now the proud parents of two young children. 

She is believed to be one of the few people with MND to have given birth twice. It’s also highly likely that she might be the youngest person in Scotland to have been diagnosed with MND. 

This touching documentary allows Lucy and her family to reflect upon their situation. She talks candidly about living with a degenerative condition, but she’s almost always upbeat. That’s her inherent nature. It’s also a beautiful love story. Lucy and Tommy are good, kind, inspiring people.

DI Ray – Monday to Thursday, STV, 9pm

This is not your standard ITV cop drama in the sense that it has an interesting, socially conscious point of view. It hits all the necessary beats of a thriller while exploring an important issue: the systemic racism, whether casual or overt, that exists within society.

DI Ray is a highly capable Asian-British police officer who is dismayed to learn that her recent promotion to the homicide department was based on her supposed suitability for “Culturally Specific Homicides”. It’s a racially insensitive box-ticking exercise. 

While investigating two Asian brothers accused of murder, she’s forced to confront the stark realities of working inside an institution that’s prone to making harmful assumptions based on ill-informed cultural stereotypes.

Davina McCall: Sex, Mind and the Menopause – Monday, Channel 4, 9pm

During the production of this documentary, Channel 4 carried out a survey of premenopausal and menopausal women. Their findings were shocking. Natural symptoms such as vague memory loss are being used against women in the workplace. People have lost their jobs as a result of losing their hormones. 

Davina McCall wants to find out if anything can be done to challenge this injustice. She also investigates some of the latest advances in hormone therapy, while meeting with experts who have studied the complex neurological effects of the menopause. 

I haven’t seen this programme, dear reader, it wasn’t available for preview; I’m basing my recommendation on McCall’s previous and entirely responsible documentaries about the memopause.

Married to a Psychopath – Monday, Channel 4, 10pm

Malcolm Webster is one of the most notorious psychopaths of recent times. He murdered his first wife, Claire, in 1994. He attempted to murder his second wife, Felicity, in 1997. He also had a series of bigamous relationships with women who he psychologically abused for his own financial ends. 

Webster, who was finally imprisoned in 2011, is a hideously dangerous man. This two-part documentary is primarily told from the perspective of one Charles Henry, a rural Scottish detective with time on his hands who proved instrumental in the case against Webster. Henry’s efforts were tireless. Admirable. 

I recommend watching this in conjunction with The Widower, an above-par 2014 TV drama starring Reece Shearsmith as Webster. 

The Terror – Friday, BBC Two, 9pm

You may recall that the first series of producer Ridley Scott’s supernatural anthology revolved around the real-life mystery of a lost Arctic expedition in the mid-19^th century: historical fact combined with speculative fiction. Series two follows suit. 

It’s set in California during World War Two, when thousands of Japanese-Americans were incarcerated in concentration camps. They were law-abiding citizens who posed no threat to anyone. Their internment was a heinous human rights violation entirely borne of racial prejudice. 

The cast includes George Takei, who resided in one of those camps when he was a child. He also serves as a series consultant to ensure accuracy. Episode one is intriguing, eerie and, needless to say, sensitively handled.

The Other One – Friday, BBC One, 9:30pm

Series two of Holly Walsh’s sitcom continues the eventful story of two adult sisters, Cathy and Cat, who only found out about each other’s existence following the death of their father. 

They’ve become quite close. They’ve also just discovered that they might have a half-brother. Cathy snogged him a few hours before anyone concerned was aware of their kinship. Hardly ideal. 

We also catch up on the developing relationship between their mismatched mothers. This is a sharp, dry-witted yet ultimately rather warm farce populated by likeable, well-drawn characters. It revels in silliness and nice little details. A great cast too: it’s a proven fact that you can’t go wrong with Siobhan Finneran and Rebecca Front.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Peacock – Monday 23rd April, BBC Three

I was quite impressed by episode one of this new sitcom. Allan ‘Seapa’ Mustafa, the co-creator of People Just Do Nothing, stars as a personal fitness trainer in his mid-thirties. 

Peacock is stuck in a rut. Single, lonely and riddled with anxieties, he’s fallen for a ridiculous notion of What It Means To Be a Man; but he’s clearly far too sensitive to embody that futile Alpha Male fantasy. 

The writers have a solid handle on their hapless protagonist. He’s an innocent, unworldly fool who means no harm, but his posturing need to be seen as something he’s not gets him into trouble. And from thence the humour and pathos arises. There’s a lot of promise here.

Searching for Michael Jackson’s Zoo with Ross Kemp – Wednesday 25th April, STV

Yep, I know. That title sounds like one of Alan Partridge’s ridiculous programme pitches. But Kemp’s documentary actually exposed some appalling animal cruelty. 

Michael Jackson’s Neverland zoo was always controversial. Even during his lifetime, investigations revealed that his ‘pets’ were treated unethically. Kemp’s M.O: whatever happened to the animals who survived? A dispiriting search ensued. 

Kemp is an inherently silly yet well-meaning man, but even in its clumsy tabloid TV way, the programme did tacitly confront the (pun half-intended) elephant in the room: Jackson’s love of animals was part and parcel of a calculatedly innocent Peter Pan image. You can join the dots from there.

IMAGINE... MIRIAM MARGOLYES: UP FOR GRABS + INSIDE NO. 9 + DOCTOR WHO

A version of this article was originally published in The Courier on 23rd April 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Imagine… Miriam Margolyes: Up for Grabs – Monday, BBC One, 11:40pm

The latest episode of this long-running arts strand focuses on an eccentric National Treasure ™. In the tolerable company of Alan Yentob, Miriam Margolyes reflects upon her fascinating life and career. 

The opening scene is quite telling. Margolyes has an effusive review framed in her hallway. She rolls her eyes and shrugs while pointing out that it’s from the Daily Mail. The irony isn’t lost on her. She’s gay, left-wing and progressive. Which makes it all the more remarkable that she’s so warmly embraced by just about everybody. Such is the force of her charmingly smutty, witty personality. 

Eloquent and self-deprecating, Margolyes is a good egg. The programme also reminds us of her impressive acting range.

Long Lost Family Special: Shipped to Australia – Monday, STV, 9pm

This is terribly sad and angering. After World War Two and right up until the early 1970s, thousands of British children were shipped off to Australia with the promise of a better life. Many of them ended up in horrific institutions mired in physical and sexual abuse. Long Lost Family mainstays Nicky Campbell and Davina McCall highlight a scandal that should be common knowledge. 

The episode revolves around a lovely man who lost all contact with his brothers when he was sent to Tasmania. For decades his British relatives assumed that he was living the dream. He’d forgotten all about them. Nothing could be further from the truth. 

When he finally reunites with his family in England, well, you can imagine.

Inside No. 9 – Wednesday, BBC Two, 10pm

Our latest setting is a Welsh village primary school. A newly hired teacher (Reece Shearsmith) has big shoes to fill, as the pupils and staff (Steve Pemberton plays the headmaster) are still in thrall to his much-loved predecessor. But he tries his best to inspire the kids with his heartfelt lessons about environmental issues. 

This being Inside No. 9, things take a cruel and unusual turn. Inappropriate comments and vegetable-based misunderstandings ensue (trust me, that makes sense in context). 

It isn’t one of the strongest episodes, but the denouement, while not entirely surprising, is quite good fun. And I will never tire of Pemberton and Shearsmith’s unabashed fondness for Carry On style humour. They have no shame.

Luxury Food for Less – Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm

Plump up a cushion and get out your notebooks as lifestyle experts – nice work if you can get it – Michelle Ackerley and Sophie Morgan explain to we mere mortals how it’s apparently quite possible to stock your larder with great food while on a budget. Yep, it’s one of those programmes. 

They meet with various supermarket insiders and the culinary boffins responsible for some of Britain’s most popular healthy ready meals. 

I haven’t seen the show, but it sounds well-meaning. I’m recommending it only because I can practically guarantee that it will contain at least one or two nuggets of useful information. Which, if you’re anything like me, you’ll immediately forget while devouring a packet of crisps.

Julia Bradbury: Breast Cancer and Me – Thursday, STV, 9pm

The popular television personality Julia Bradbury was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021. During this candid, tender and sensitive programme, she talks us through her arduous emotional and physical ordeal. We also spend time with her sister and their octogenarian mother. 

Bradbury doesn’t want anyone to feel sorry for her. She’s fully aware that her story is of no more importance than anyone else’s. She’s also aware that her celebrity status can be exploited as a force for good: one hopes that other breast cancer patients will gain some succour from her honest and open account. 

There is anguish. There is hope. Hats off to all concerned for this valuable and admirably unsentimental essay.

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

Channel 4’s stalwart investigative journalism series visits St Louis this week. It’s a city in the harrowing grip of a drug addiction crisis. Fentanyl is a powerful opioid that, according to research, has claimed more African American lives in recent years than Covid. 

When Krishnan Guru-Murthy meets with local residents, he discovers that many of those addicted to Fentanyl exist, barely, within the ignored margins of society. Some of them are homeless. Some of them are sex workers. He also interviews a local pastor who explains how drug use has become a source of self-medication for these tragically neglected people. 

Same as it ever was, but it’s a vitally important point that’s always worth repeating.

Here We Go – Friday, BBC One, 8:30pm

Here’s a new pre-watershed family sitcom for which I can only provide some faint yet vaguely hopeful praise. It’s amusing, likeable, and I can’t fault its cast of excellent comic actors. 

Jim Howick (Horrible Histories; Ghosts) plays the unemployed patriarch of an extended middle-class family. He’s a textbook harmless ‘dad joke’ buffoon. His wife is played by Katherine Parkinson. Alison Steadman and Tom Basden (who also wrote the series) crop up as his in-laws. 

The whole thing is filmed from the perspective of the teenage son, who’s working on a documentary for his Media Studies course. 

Your obvious reference points are Peep Show and Outnumbered. I’ll reserve judgement on this one, but it does show some promise.

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Doctor Who – Sunday 17th April, BBC One

Jodie Whittaker’s penultimate adventure - the 13^th Doctor will regenerate in one final special later this year – reintroduced the Sea Devils, a classic series foe who last appeared on screen in 1984. They barely made an impression.

Set in early 19^th century China, this slapdash yarn also involved a real-life historical figure, the pirate Madame Ching.

A potentially great Doctor Who supporting character, but inevitably that potential was squandered by the entirely incompetent outgoing showrunner Chris Chibnall in an episode flooded with all the frustrating hallmarks of his era: perfunctory plotting, characterisation and dialogue. Does he ever bother with a second draft? 

Despite the shoddy writing and direction, it did at least boast some arresting visuals; the TARDIS resting on the seabed provided a rare moment of magic in an era conspicuously bereft of the stuff. Mild credit where it’s due.

As always, Whittaker transcended Chibnall’s shortcomings with her natural charm and energy. But she deserved so much better. Such a waste.

The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe – Sunday 17th April to Wednesday 20th April, STV

Twenty years ago, John Darwin from Hartlepool faked his own death in order to claim his life insurance. He then proceeded to live next door to his wife, Anne, while keeping a supposedly low profile. In 2007, the Darwins were exposed, charged and imprisoned. 

We’re all familiar with the surface details of this bizarre saga, but writer Chris Lang’s engrossing dramatization dug into the complex emotional core. 

Darwin came across as an irresponsible narcissist, a truly awful, selfish bully who gaslit Anne (the story was primarily told from her guilt-ridden, sympathetic perspective) while sparing no thought for the feelings of his children: they genuinely thought their dad was dead. A harrowing ordeal for Anne and those boys. They were John Darwin’s victims. 

Lang and his cast – outstandingly led by Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan – got the nuanced tragicomic tone just right.

INSIDE NO. 9 + HOUSE OF MAXWELL + CHIVALRY

This article was originally published in The Courier on 16th April 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Inside No. 9 – Wednesday, BBC Two, 10pm

The latest series of Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith’s exceptional anthology begins with something fans have long been waiting for: a reunion with their erstwhile League of Gentlemen cohort Mark Gatiss. 

They play old university friends meeting up for the first time in years. Lawrence (Shearsmith) has arranged an off-season (and highly symbolic) pedalo ride on a remote lake. Much to Lawrence’s chagrin, Darren (Pemberton) has brought his new girlfriend (Diane Morgan) along. She thinks they’re heading for a fun boat party. In fact, they’re going nowhere. You can never go back. Sometimes people just drift apart. 

A compact study of loss and nostalgia, but with jokes, the episode confounds expectations in typical Inside No. 9 style.

Yorkshire Midwives on Call – Monday and Tuesday, BBC Two, 8pm

This gently uplifting factual series follows a team of homebirth midwives based in Bradford. On average they look after 160 women each year. Thoroughly nice people, these midwives are also great at what they do. 

The series grants insight into the practical details of their workaday labours, while examining the bittersweet emotional aspects. Naturally, they always form an attachment with their patients. But once a midwife’s work is done, she has to move on to another family. 

The series also spends time with some of the pregnant mothers who have decided to give birth at home. They all have their reasons. After watching this, some younger viewers may feel inspired to add midwifery to their list of potential job options.

House of Maxwell – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

If their accounts are to be believed, some of Ghislaine Maxwell’s closest friends were shocked by the revelation that she’d trafficked underage girls for the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and his wealthy friends. The final episode of this grimly compelling series attempts to explain how Maxwell and Epstein got away with their crimes for so long. 

It features heartrending interviews with two of their many victims, both of whom describe the horrific ordeals they went through. We also hear from some of the lawyers who acted on behalf of the victims. Their anger is palpable: the system, the establishment, betrayed those vulnerable young women. 

Prince Andrew makes his presence felt in the final 20 minutes. He isn’t spared.

Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof – Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

Wim Hof, aka The Iceman, is a Dutch motivational guru renowned for his ability to withstand freezing temperatures. It’s a skill he attributes to a unique combination of breathing exercises, yoga and meditation. 

Hof is the benignly eccentric star of this otherwise drab and dubious reality series in which eight celebs face a series of extreme sub-zero challenges in the mountains of northern Italy. It’s basically I’m a Celebrity with a spiritual self-help angle, or The Apprentice hijacked by a hippie Alan Sugar. Which sounds amazing, I know. It’s not amazing. It’s a tiresomely formulaic piece of television. 

A snow-capped turkey, it has to be seen at least once. Just so you can prove that it really happened.

Life After Life – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

Based on the critically acclaimed novel by Kate Atkinson, this is not your standard period drama. Structurally ambitious if nothing else, it explores various alternative possible lives for its protagonist. 

Ursula is born in 1910 to an upper middle-class English family. That’s the only fixed point in time. The splintered story then unfolds as a series of vignettes in which Ursula’s lives are beset by tragedy. 

I appreciate the stark philosophical ‘What if?’ message - life in all its permutations is cruel and unpredictable – but the overall effect is rather cold, calculated and alienating. It falls short of its profound ambitions. 

I haven’t read the book, but I gather it explores this premise in a far more affecting way.

Chivalry – Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm

Steve Coogan and Sarah Solemani write and star in this new comedy-drama inspired by the #MeToo movement. Highly sensitive territory, but it’s clear from recent interviews that Coogan and Solemani have thought deeply about how to handle this subject within a semi-comedic context. Whether they succeed remains to be seen. 

Set inside the A-List Hollywood film industry, it examines the tense professional relationship between a serious feminist auteur and a bigshot film producer with a reputation for dating much younger woman; an awkward dinosaur trying to navigate his way through a modern world he doesn’t quite understand. 

Episode one shows only vague promise, but I’m inclined to trust these writers. They obviously have something to say.

The Rising – Friday, Sky Showcase, 9pm

A young woman, Neve, has been murdered and dumped in a lake. The next day, she returns as an invisible, inaudible ghost. Neve can’t remember what happened, but she’s determined to track down her killer. And from thence does this new supernatural drama from Sky unfold. 

Episode one is quite arresting. It establishes the central mystery without any undue fuss: a no-filler thriller with hints of emotional depth. The ghostly premise and rural, gloomy lakeside community setting stir memories of the excellent French drama Les Revenants. While it may not live up to that comparison, it strikes me as something that could be worth sticking with. 

Unless you have an aversion to ghost stories, I daresay you’ll be intrigued.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Rock Family Trees: The Birth of Cool Britannia – Saturday April 9, BBC Two

In the early 1970s, music journalist Pete Frame begat his treasurable Rock Family Trees: hand-drawn artworks tracing the complex roots of famous bands and musical movements. 

Frame’s work formed the basis of a fondly-remembered late 1990s TV series. Last Saturday it returned for an enjoyable one-off special exploring the origins of Britpop. 

This was the story of three closely intertwined bands: Suede, Elastica and Blur. It served as a reminder that early Britpop had nothing to do with the jingoistic laddism of Oasis. It was sexy, arch and arty. 

Brett from Suede and Justine from Elastica (who were once romantically involved) reminisced with warm, self-deprecating and occasionally regretful candour. Blur, strangely, were unavailable for comment.

The Brian Cox Interview – Tuesday April 12, BBC Scotland

The title says it all. Dundee’s very own Brian Cox sat down for a half-hour chat with BBC Scotland’s Amy Irons. 

Actors can often be hard work – humourless, pretentious and full of hifalutin self-regard – but Cox came across as a genuinely nice man. He’s been a very successful and esteemed thespian for over 40 years, but his leading role as Logan Roy in Succession has turned him into a kind of cult global treasure. 

He’s understandably delighted by this late career development. He’s also a pragmatic jobbing actor who understands that talent operates in tandem with random acts of good fortune. 

Hats off to Irons, too. A very good interviewer. Her questions were considered and concise.    

DERRY GIRLS + HOUSE OF MAXWELL + WORLDS COLLIDE: THE MANCHESTER BOMBING

This article was originally published in The Courier on 9th April 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Derry Girls – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9:15pm

The third and final series of Lisa McGee’s semiautobiographical sitcom begins with the gang nervously awaiting their potentially life-changing GCSE results. Such is their anxiety, they impetuously decide upon an unwise course of action. Inadvertent criminality ensues. 

Derry Girls is Channel 4’s most popular comedy since Father Ted, and you can easily see why. It’s warm, funny, charming and truthful, a perfectly cast sitcom set against a tumultuous backdrop which, thanks to McGee’s deft writing, never once strayed into sentimental or earnest territory. 

This particular episode returns to the underlying theme of sectarianism, but typically in a way no one could ever find offensive. Well, apart from the 1990s Derry police force perhaps. Also, two words: surprise cameo.

House of Maxwell – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

And the awful plot just thickens. Episode two of this disturbing series begins with the discovery of Robert Maxwell’s drowned body. His distraught daughter Ghislaine, who has hitherto maintained a low public profile, speaks to the world’s assembled press. 

Meanwhile, panicked executives within Maxwell’s empire are finally free to investigate suspicious holes in their company finances. An intrepid young journalist is also on the case. Maxwell is eventually exposed as a monstrous fraudster. 

The programme also traces Ghislaine Maxwell’s emergence as a schmoozing socialite with friends in high places. One of her new cohorts is the mysterious multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein. 

A miasmic saga populated by truly despicable people, House of Maxwell triggers strong feelings of anger and despair.

Worlds Collide: The Manchester Bombing – Monday and Thursday, STV, 9pm

On 22^nd May 2017, a British-born terrorist detonated a suicide bomb at the Manchester Arena. He killed 22 people and injured more than 1,000 others. 

This two-part documentary pays moving tribute to the victims and survivors. It’s also a damning critique of Greater Manchester Police, who were allegedly responsible for a chaotic breakdown in communication which impeded the emergency services. More lives could’ve been saved. 

These programmes also investigate the background of the bomber, a young man from Manchester, and attempts to explain how he came to be radicalised. MI5 had flagged him up as a potential threat to national security, and yet he somehow went on to commit this atrocity. 

The message is clear: it could’ve been prevented.

Hullraisers – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9:45pm

Channel 4’s Tuesday night comedy power hour continues after Derry Girls with this new sitcom co-created by Lucy Beaumont (Meet the Richardsons). 

Set in her hometown of Hull, it revolves around Toni, a happily married yet frustrated thirtysomething mum who misses the wildness of her untethered youth. Toni’s best friends are a libidinous policewoman and a perfectly contented matriarch. 

The opening episode of every sitcom faces a tough climb. Over the space of 30 minutes it has to establish the premise, the characters and the various things that drive them. Hullraisers does a pretty decent job. It’s good-natured and amusing. The characters are sympathetic. A laugh riot? No. But mirthsome skirmishes are hard to come by.

Grand Designs: The Streets – Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

In this spin-off from Kevin McCloud’s stalwart lifestyle show, he visits an ever-expanding community of self-builders. Seven years ago, an Oxfordshire district council sold ten plots of land to members of the public. An ambitious architectural project ensued. 

Episode one focuses on Carlos and Maite. The latter has always wanted to build a grand house inspired by her rural Spanish homeland, but she has no formal design training. Nevertheless, McCloud is impressed by her elegant if somewhat risky vision. 

Fans of Grand Designs always look forward to those moments when the host regards his subjects with wry scepticism, bordering on contempt, but Maite is nobody’s fool. McCloud is even moved to describe her as a nonconformist pioneer.

Brickies – Thursday, BBC Three, 9pm

The building site fun continues in this sunny new factual series about a group of young British bricklayers. The main protagonist in episode one is Jeorgia. Laying bricks is in her blood, she learned everything she knows from her successful brickie father. 

Jeorgia lives with her boyfriend in a large static caravan situated on her parent’s land. She’s saving up to buy an expensive car. If Brickies teaches us anything, it’s that this is a potentially lucrative business. Just as long as you put the hours in. 

Jeorgia and her bantering colleagues are a nice bunch of kids. They all appear to be loving life, and no wonder. Working on the site from morning ‘til night, that’s living alright.

Taskmaster – Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm

Series thirteen of this genial harlequinade introduces another group of professional funsters intent on conquering daft tasks set by Greg Davies and his co-host Alex Horne. 

Your competitors this time around are Bridget Christie, Sophie Duker, Judi Love, Ardal O’Hanlon and Chris Ramsey. Highlights include their efforts to paint a portrait of Davies using only their lips – some of the finished products are actually quite impressive – and a task in which they get to lay down the ridiculous rules of a duel with Horne. 

In spite of its post-watershed slot, Taskmaster is wholesome fun for all the family. Channel 4 are aware of this, hence why they bleep out the swearing. It’s a big hit for good reason.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Thatcher & Reagan: A Very Special Relationship – Sunday 3rd April, BBC Two

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan were in power together throughout the 1980s. They were closely aligned in terms of political philosophy. And they apparently liked each other on a personal level. This series examines their union. 

It’s presented by Charles Moore, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph and Thatcher’s authorised biographer, so obviously it has a right-wing bias. Moore admires these people. But even a milksop hippie clown such as myself can appreciate the heft of this fascinating saga. It covers a tense and dramatic period in late 20^th century history. 

Moore’s interviewees include some of Thatcher and Reagan’s closest professional associates. Their candour is quite refreshing. I guess they have nothing to lose at this stage.

Pilgrimage: The Road to the Scottish Isles – Friday 8th April, BBC Two

This series has a straightforward remit: seven celebs with differing religious beliefs embark upon a 15-day hike of spiritual self-discovery. Among the seekers this year are Laurence Lewellyn Bowen (a Pagan), Nick Hewer (an agnostic), Shazia Mirza (a Muslim) and Scarlett Moffatt (a Christian). 

They’re following in the sandaled footsteps of St. Columba, an Irish monk revered for his pivotal role in the early development of British Christianity. The journey began in Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Their final destination is St. Columba’s abbey on the Inner Hebridean island of Iona. 

It’s an entirely sincere and benign endeavour, a modest celebration of theological diversity. With a slightly One Show-esque celebrity angle, because, y’know, television. 

 

 

HOUSE OF MAXWELL + NIKKI GRAHAME: WHO IS SHE? + LONG LIVE MY HAPPY HEAD

This article was originally published in The Courier on 2nd April 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

House of Maxwell – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

The media tycoon Maxwell dynasty has always been mired in scandal and corruption. It finally collapsed for good last year when Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of grooming and trafficking underage girls. 

This riveting three-part series, which plays out like an epically horrific thriller, examines the relationship between Robert Maxwell and his daughter: two utterly disgraced people who exemplify the toxic brutality of extreme wealth and power. Those white collar criminals felt they were entirely above the law. 

Episode one focuses on Maxwell Senior, a megalomaniacal gangster who ‘mysteriously’ fell off his luxury yacht and drowned in 1991. The programme boasts access to secret recordings – paranoid Maxwell bugged his own phones – and a revealing wealth of hitherto unaired footage.

Cadbury Exposed: Dispatches – Monday, Channel 4, 8pm

Cadbury: a much-loved confectioner you can trust. Or so you and I thought until Dispatches came along with this undercover report. 

Legal disclaimer: for tedious technical reasons I haven’t seen the programme, so please, Cadbury, don’t sue me or DC Thomson for what I’m about to write based on the official Channel 4 press release. Thanks. 

Filmed in Ghana, the report exposes child labour in Cadbury’s supply chain. We hear from exhausted farmers who earn less than £2 a day, and children who have been injured while working long hours in searing heat conditions. Cadbury pride themselves on being an ethical company. 

This sounds like an important piece of journalism, hence why I’m bringing it to your attention.

Travel Man – Monday, Channel 4, 8:30pm

For obvious reasons, Travel Man took an enforced sabbatical in 2019. Now it’s back. Original host Richard Ayoade has been replaced by fellow comedian Joe Lycett, but the format remains the same: Lycett spends 48 hours in a foreign city alongside another professional mirth-maker. Shallow fun ensues. 

Lycett is joined this week by James Acaster (check out his Netflix stand-up specials, he’s great). Their destination is the Spanish part of the Basque Country. As always, it’s an affable diversion, but wouldn’t it be nice if Travel Man occasionally deviated from the same old roster of podcast/panel show guests? Imagine 48 Hours in Zagreb with Julian Cope. Or Ruth Madoc. We’d all watch that.

Banned! The Mary Whitehouse Story – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

In the concluding episode of this excellent series about the censorious busybody, we arrive at Whitehouse’s imperial phase – if only in terms of her prominent public profile. 

It suggests that, while this self-appointed moral guardian was presumably sincere in her clueless crusade against the permissive society, she also really enjoyed being famous. Whitehouse craved power and celebrity, but I daresay the irony of that ambition never occurred to her. This was not someone troubled by nuance of thought. 

The programme does attempt some balance, with more even-handed decency than perhaps she deserves, but the abiding impression is one of a fearful, guilt-ridden person who went to her grave convinced that she was right. And we were all wrong.

A Believer’s Guide to… – Tuesday, BBC One, 10:35pm

Regardless of your faith or lack thereof, this warm-hearted series is a gentle force for good. It follows people from various religious backgrounds as they experience pivotal moments in their lives. 

This week’s stars are Grace and Jess, a young gay Christian couple who are engaged to be married. They’re also about to move into their first home together: a canal boat. Their extended family is fully supportive, but they need to find a similarly inclusive new local church. And that, alas, isn’t straightforward. 

Naturally, they start to question their commitment to Christianity. “I can’t change loving Grace,” says a tearful Jess, “but I can change my faith to suit me, to have a better life, a richer life.”

The Great Home Transformation – Wednesday, Channel 4, 8pm

Imagine the meeting at Channel 4 HQ. They’ve made every home renovation show you could ever possibly conceive of. But they need to make more. They absolutely have to make more. The beast must be fed. But are there any gimmicks left, any extra layers of froth on the formula? 

Agonising minutes of silent brainstorming ensue. And then, at last, the Eureka moment: Hey! Why don’t we hire a massive lorry stocked with emergency furnishings and some specialist heat-mapping technology? Which will, I dunno, somehow help people to declutter their homes while filling several hours of airtime? 

A reigning TV executive smiles quietly and nods. Make it so. Meanwhile, a TV critic files some heavy-handed satire.

Nikki Grahame: Who Is She? – Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm

I’m recommending this programme with caution. Please bear in mind that previews weren’t available, but one hopes that it will pay sensitive tribute to the Big Brother contestant who died from anorexia nervosa last year. 

Grahame was the ‘breakout’ star of the Big Brother series she appeared in; an endearing, funny person prone to verbose emotional tantrums. Viewers, myself included, really liked her. But it was blatantly obvious that she should never have been selected for Big Brother in the first place. She was far too vulnerable. 

Whether Channel 4 are capable of making a programme that admits to their culpability remains to be seen. All I can say for sure is this: Nikki Grahame’s story is terribly sad.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Chernobyl: The New Evidence – Saturday 26th March, Channel 4

Well this is timely. Chillingly so. And presumably by somewhat pure coincidence. 

A two-part series, it seeks to reveal the KGB cover-ups surrounding a catastrophic disaster. As we all know, in 1986 the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine suffered a horrific meltdown. 26 years later, the site is still highly radioactive. 

Episode one unpicked the tangled chain of events which led to that disaster. It also laid bare the ongoing political ramifications of something that could have easily been avoided. And here we are in 2022, frightened and appalled by the news we see around us. 

This is a solid piece of reportage, but allow me to recommend HBO’s 2019 miniseries, Chernobyl, as a vital companion piece.

Long Live My Happy Head – Sunday 27th March, BBC Scotland

Scottish comic book artist Gordon Shaw was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour at the age of 32. Doctors gave him an average life expectancy of two to three years. Gordon, who is now 40, shared his story in this touching and ruminative feature length documentary. 

Gordon calls his tumour Rick, a character who features heavily in his autobiographical work. A lovable, witty, self-deprecating person, Gordon attempted to explain how it feels having the ever-present spectre of death hanging over you. 

He also extolled the therapeutic virtues of writing and drawing. Art can’t cure us, but it can make some sense of what we’re going through. It can help. 

A beautiful film, I thoroughly recommend it.