This article was originally published in The Courier on 15th April 2023.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
Painting Birds with Jim & Nancy Moir – Thursday, Sky Showcase, 8pm
Jim Moir, aka Vic Reeves, has combined his lifelong passion for drawing and painting with a love of birdwatching.
In this tranquil new series, Jim and his wife Nancy travel around the more scenic parts of Britain in search of feathered treasure. It’s an absorbing celebration of creativity and the natural world.
Jim is no dilettante, he’s a talented artist; each episode involves him painting a delicate portrait of the birds he spies along the way. His sweet relationship with Nancy is central to the show’s appeal, they’re easy-going company.
Fans of Great Canal Journeys with Prunella Scales and Timothy West – as well as Gone Fishing with Jim’s erstwhile comedy partner Bob Mortimer – will find much to enjoy here.
Deborah James: Bowelbabe in Her Own Words – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm
Deborah James was diagnosed with incurable bowel cancer at the age of 35. Via podcasts, blogs and a hugely popular social media presence, she shared her story to raise awareness and reach out to people in a similar situation.
This moving documentary, which was filmed during the last few months of her life in 2022, follows Deborah as she arranges her “death admin”. It’s an understandably difficult watch at times, especially towards the end, but Deborah’s frankness is to her eternal credit.
She was funny, charming, articulate and always truthful about just how awful it is to live with cancer. Her Bowelbabe Fund for Cancer Research UK has so far raised more than £7 million. She made a difference.
First Dates – Monday, Channel 4, 10pm
The latest series of this romantic old warhorse commences with a father of three who can’t find someone to accommodate his somewhat complicated family commitments.
We also spend time with an avid gamer who’d quite like to meet a fellow ‘geek’, a former holiday rep and fulltime dog lover, and an acting student who requires a similarly creative partner in her life.
I haven’t seen this particular episode, preview copies weren’t available, but I’ll always flag up First Dates whenever space allows.
If you’ve somehow never seen it before, well, it’s not what you might expect from a shamelessly contrived show in which we eavesdrop upon first daters in a restaurant. Voyeuristic, yes, but never cruel. A cute endeavour.
Manhunt: The Raoul Moat Story – Wednesday, STV, 9pm
Thirteen years ago, Raoul Moat from Tyneside embarked upon a killing spree. One of the biggest manhunts in British police history ensued.
This grimly compelling documentary features interviews with police officers, journalists and, most importantly, family members of one of Moat’s victims, Christopher Brown.
There’s no denying that programmes of this nature prey upon our discomfiting fascination with terrible crimes and the circumstances surrounding them, but this one is more tasteful than most. It does at least pay tribute to the people who lost their lives during those eight days of high alert.
The Hunt for Raoul Moat, a three-part ITV drama based on the case, begins on Sunday 16th April. I’ll review that in next week’s column.
The Highs and Lows of a Kosher Marriage – Wednesday, BBC One, 10:40pm
This epistle from the Love, Faith and Me strand focuses on Saul and Shoshi, a happily married young couple who observe the strict laws of their Orthodox Jewish faith. They avoid all physical contact for twelve days of every month, when Shoshi has her period. The marital bed is separated to avoid temptation.
The couple, who first met as teenagers, ruminate candidly about their devout faith and their struggle to conceive.
They also gently disagree at times. Shoshi asserts that she already has a loving family with Saul, she’s content with what they have together, but he thinks there’s no such thing as a family without children.
Like every episode of this series, it’s illuminating and non-judgemental.
Taskmaster – Thursday, Channel 4, 10:30pm
In this week’s crackerjack tumult of entertaining silliness, Kiell Smith-Bynoe is forced to play Bingo without any shoes on, Mae Martin treats us to an unorthodox drum solo, and the entire team of our professionally mirth-making contestants - Smith-Bynoe, Martin, Frankie Boyle, Jenny Éclair and Ivo Graham – are tasked with devising an ingenious egg-carrying boat race.
Taskmaster is basically Heinz Wolff’s Great Egg Race – there’s a reference for the teenagers – with a more knowing cadence, and that’s precisely why it works. An endless streak of inventiveness and a whole load of nonsense unified in tandem for our entertainment.
And your kids, if you have kids or find yourselves kid adjacent, will enjoy it too. Actual family fun.
Unreported World – Friday, Channel 4, 7:30pm
The latest episode of this current affairs stalwart involves investigative reporter Guillermo Galdos following Brazilian federal police officers as they crack down on illegal Amazonian gold mining.
Brazil officially exports a hundred tonnes of gold each year, but evidence suggests that almost half of the country’s gold trade comes from illegal sources. This has raised serious concerns for tech companies using gold in their products.
Galdos discovers that the police have spent the last two years building a case against gold traders suspected of selling their ill-gotten gains to tech giants such as Apple. He also travels deep into the Amazon rainforests to witness first-hand the huge amount of damage wrought by the illegal gold mining trade.
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