This article was originally published in The Courier on 19th November 2022.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen – Friday, BBC Two, 9pm
Historian Lucy Worsley has enjoyed a lifelong fascination with Agatha Christie. In this typically persuasive new series, she seeks to explain how Christie, a rather enigmatic figure, became the most successful novelist of all time.
In order to achieve that goal, she examines how the many societal changes Christie witnessed during her lifetime directly affected her work. This line of investigation naturally feeds into Worsley’s other stated aim: “to show you that she was a pioneering, radical writer and woman.”
Like all historians worth their salt, Worsley is commendably obsessed with busting myths and received wisdom. Her detailed portrait of Christie is revealing; you actually get a sense of what she might’ve been like as a person. Mission accomplished.
Between the Covers – Tuesday, BBC Two, 7pm
Sara Cox’s book club guests this week are actor Paterson Joseph, BBC newsreader Sophie Raworth, and the comedians Jenny Éclair and Al Murray.
One of the classic novels under review is The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by the late, great Douglas Adams. Paterson Joseph’s passion for that magnificent work of art is just so delightful to behold. A man after my own heart.
Also, to the surprise of absolutely no one, World War II buff Al Murray’s favourite novel is Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Quite right too, it’s a masterpiece.
Also, please steel yourselves for a wild revelation: Sophie Raworth was once so bored with a book, she chucked it off the side of a boat.
Louis Theroux Interviews… – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm
The comedian, broadcaster and author Katherine Ryan is the latest subject of this series of one-on-one interviews.
Alas, preview copies of the episode weren’t available in time for my deadline, but if you’ve enjoyed this series so far, you’ll know why I’m flagging it up.
Ryan is a smart, funny person. The same goes for Theroux. So it should be interesting.
I get the impression that Theroux, who’s spent the last 20 years mired in deeply distressing subject matter, is trying to remind viewers that he was once renowned as an exemplary interviewer of celebrities.
He has, perhaps, gone as far as could with ‘serious frown’ Theroux mode. There’s more room for light and shade in this format.
Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland and Beyond – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm
In the penultimate episode of their latest travelogue, celebrity pals Miriam Margolyes and Alan Cumming find themselves at chummy loggerheads on the subject of recreational drug use. This mild conflict takes place in a Santa Barbara ‘drugs den’.
Their next destination is Palm Springs, which is home to many ageing members of the LGBTQ+ community. Miriam and Alan enjoy a bit of drag bingo and join a gay knitting group.
Their final port of call is Los Angeles, where Miriam takes Alan to meet a young relative she’s never in her life encountered before.
Suffused with irreverence and total sincerity, these impish adventures are expertly designed to warm your cockles. Cut to: Margolyes raising a knowing Carry On eyebrow.
Tokyo Vice – Tuesday, BBC One, 9:10pm and 10:50pm
This jittery neo-noir thriller is based on the bestselling memoir by American journalist and crime writer Jake Adelstein, who has spent most of his career in Japan.
The story begins in 1999, when the fresh-faced Adelstein was hired as a crime reporter by one of Japan’s largest newspapers. He was the first non-Japanese person to be employed by them. His first assignment involves a fatal stabbing. This leads him towards a brave – some might say foolhardy - investigation of the notorious Yakuza syndicate.
As the danger escalates, Adelstein discovers that his main ally is a senior detective from the organised crime division. He’s played by the always compelling Ken Watanabe. The series begins with a double-bill.
You Won’t Believe This – Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm
A Would I Lie to You? rip-off starring everyday people, this new series involves groups of strangers spinning tall tales, only one of which happens to be true.
They’re grilled by “an elite squad of police interrogators” while hidden observers search for clues behind a two-way mirror. If they correctly identify the truth-teller, they win £5,000. If they choose the wrong person, that disingenuous suspect pockets the money instead.
The first group of suspects claim to have opted out of civilisation in a variety of unusual ways. Did one of them really live as an alpine goat?
The second group have allegedly experienced the worst date ever. Sample claim: “We were caught up in an art heist.”
Unreported World – Friday, Channel 4, 7:30pm
Welcome to Gaza’s clandestine arts scene, where young Palestinians try to express themselves in the face of an Israeli blockade and fierce Hamas censorship.
In this investigative report, journalist Jonathan Miller emphasises that simple social and creative endeavours, things we take for granted in the western world, are a source of tremendous risk in Palestine.
His interviewees include a young female singer and actor who has been forced underground. Why? Because women over the age of 14 aren’t permitted to perform in public.
Miller also meets a Palestinian man who is determined to renovate an old derelict cinema, so that his fellow Gazans can learn from, and enjoy, suppressed works of art.
LAST WEEK’S TV
The People’s Piazza: A History of Covent Garden – Sunday 13th November, BBC Two
If you’ve ever visited London as a tourist, you’ve probably spent some time in Covent Garden. In this standalone documentary, that perceptive historian David Olusoga traced its centuries-spanning saga.
Olusoga focused on this small piazza to achieve his usual goal: while examining individual case studies, all of them based within a particular locale, he presented a penetrating essay driven by a deep, empathetic understanding of what can be learned from historical injustices.
It was also quite funny and colourful at times. He’s very good at this.
The Scotts – Wednesday 16th November, BBC One
Written by and starring Iain Connell and Robert Florence of Burnistoun renown, this likeable sitcom returned for a second series last week. If you haven’t seen it before, then imagine Modern Family set in a Glasgow suburb. A fairly apt description, if I do say so myself.
The plot of episode one centred upon the imminent arrival of a baby to the extended family fold. A standard sitcom trope, but as always Connell and Florence fleshed it out with some healthy cynicism and understated warmth. They actually like the characters they’ve created, and it’s clearly based on shared experience.
Best line,
delivered by the family matriarch: “I lived through Bible John, Thatcher and a
pandemic, I don’t dae jokes.”
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