This article was originally published in The Courier on 10th December 2022.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
Joe Lycett vs David Beckham: A Got Your Back Christmas Special – Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm
The comedian Joe Lycett is rightly renowned for his politically motivated stunts, all of which are dedicated to highlighting social injustice to varying degrees, but he made more headlines than ever before with his recent ultimatum to that supposed ambassador for LGBTQ+ rights, David Beckham.
The superstar footballer accepted a multimillion pound sponsorship deal with the Qatar World Cup. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar. Lycett promised to donate £10,000 to LGBTQ+ charities if Beckham pulled out of the deal. If not? He’d shred the money.
This documentary follows Lycett as he makes a considered stand against bigotry and hypocrisy. His actions raised awareness of a vital human rights issue and angered/confounded all the right people. Mission accomplished.
The Disappearance of April Jones – Monday to Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm
Ten years ago, five-year-old April Jones went missing from outside her home in a quiet Welsh market town.
This three-part series chronicles Britain’s largest ever police search. It was made with the cooperation of April’s family, alongside their local community and constabulary, so please rest assured: this isn’t a prurient true-crime enterprise told from afar. It’s handled with care.
Episode one focuses on the day April disappeared. The subsequent news coverage encouraged people from all over the UK to assist the police in their enquiries.
It gradually transpired that this horrific crime was perpetrated, not by a random stranger, but by someone who lived in the town. The shock and despair is palpable.
Undercover: Sexual Harassment – The Truth – Monday, Channel 4, 10pm
In this documentary, reporter Ellie Flynn poses undercover as a drunk young woman separated from her friends during a fun night out in the centre of town. Her goal: to expose the heinous reality of sexual harassment against women in Britain today.
Flynn also poses online as her eighteen-year-old self, to illustrate the torrent of graphic messages and images that women receive from predatory men. She eventually confronts them. Why are they doing this? Why do they think it’s acceptable?
The programme also features candid testimonies from women whose lives have been utterly devastated by sexual harassment and abuse. Preview copies weren’t available, but this sounds like an important, urgent and disturbing piece of work.
Vienna Blood – Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm
Adapted from the popular novels by clinical psychologist Frank Tarris, Vienna Blood is a fairly solid thriller set in early 20th Century Vienna. Now in its third series, you may have caught it before.
The latest batch of adventures begins with Freud apostle Max (Matthew Beard) and senior Detective Oskar (Jürgen Maurer) investigating the murder of a young seamstress. They end up mired in an unfamiliar world of luxury and glamour, beneath which – wouldn’t you know it? – lurks a seedy subculture of exploitation, violence and corruption.
Beard and Maurer make for a watchable addition to TV’s never-ending pantheon of clue-sniffing duos. Their odd couple chemistry is quite pleasing, and the psychological sub-current adds a certain frisson.
Children of the Taliban – Wednesday, Channel 4, 11:05pm
Shoukria and Arezo are young girls growing up in Taliban-ruled Kabul. They both lost their fathers during the war in Afghanistan. They’re illustrative of the hundreds of thousands of Afghan children who have to work to support their families under a brutal totalitarian regime.
This documentary examines their plight. It also introduces us to Abdullah and Ehsanullah, who are the sons of high-ranking Taliban members. They live in different worlds, and yet these boys and girls have certain things in common.
Channel 4 receives a lot of stick, and quite right too, but I cannot fault its commitment to documentaries of this particular nature. It’s not all Naked Attraction, y’know. It does produce some work of actual value.
Stacey Solomon’s Crafty Christmas – Thursday, BBC One, 8pm
All good people agree that Stacey Solomon is a splendid human being. Why, she’s the nation’s sweetheart™.
In this typically cheery spin-off from her regular Sort Your Life Out gig, Stacey and her hapless, harmless husband Joe Swash share various ingenious homemade ways of brightening up your festive season without having to spend much money. Their kids gets involved too.
They upcycle some knackered old Christmas decorations, bake an inexpensive cake, and rustle up some personalised crackers. Stacey also transforms a neighbouring barn into a glittering Christmas party destination.
I’m loath to recommend lifestyle programmes during these direly straitened times, but Stacey has her heart in exactly the right place: make no mistake, she’s the anti-Kirstie Allsopp.
Celebrity Gogglebox 2022 – Friday, Channel 4, 9pm
When Gogglebox first wriggled its way onto our screens in 2013, I instinctively took against it. People watching television and passing critical comment? That’s my job! Who the ever-loving heck do these people think they are?!
Reader, I’m a fool. A judgemental kneejerk snob. I’ve grown fond of this format over the years, it’s a comforting presence. A fun distraction. So while I’m no devotee, I do enjoy catching up with it from time to time.
This special edition compiles some of the highlights from 2022’s celebrity spin-off. Our sofa-bound guests include Bill Bailey, Joanna Lumley, Oti Mabuse, Fred Siriex, the aforementioned Stacey Solomon, and that bumbling Madchester comedy duo Shaun Ryder and Bez.
LAST WEEK’S TV
Trailblazers: A Rocky Mountain Road Trip – Monday 5th December, BBC Two
In the penultimate episode of this travelogue, Emily Atack, Melanie Brown and Ruby Wax continued to trek in the footsteps of Victorian explorer Isabella Bird.
No one will ever mistake Trailblazers for a particularly in-depth enterprise, but that’s not the fault of the evidently sincere presenters. Within the standardised TV restrictions placed upon it, the series does manage to educate and entertain.
One gets the impression, however, that lead guide Wax in particular would’ve made a different programme if left to her own devices.
Still, she managed to cut through the light-hearted exterior to express some thoughtful critiques of the American Dream, and the sequence devoted to the appalling discrimination endured by generations of Native Americans was sensitively handled.
Agatha Christie: Lucy Worsley on the Mystery Queen – Friday 9th December, BBC Two
Worsley concluded her latest essay in typically engaging and ruminative style.
I take issue (yes, actual issue) with those who blithely criticise Worsley for her alleged failings: she’s a whimsical populist, bleat the naysayers, she looks like she’s having far too much fun. History is a serious business.
Well, anyone who’s ever bothered to watch her best work, and this series was a fine example, will be aware that her wry sense of humour operates in tandem with a rigorous devotion to subverting received wisdom. She’s irreverent, sincere, insightful and persuasive.
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