This article was originally published in The Courier on 3rd June 2023.
NEXT WEEK’S TV
Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig – Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm
The latest series of Toksvig’s staycation travelogue, in which she enjoys tranquil rural breaks with various comedy chums, kicks off (gently) with the brilliant Suzy Eddie Izzard.
Their getaway destination is the Republic of Ireland - Counties Clare, Kerry and Cork to be exact.
Toksvig tries to encourage Izzard, a famously driven person, to relax via apple crumbles, fried eggs, healing herbs, a treehouse and fly fishing.
Izzard talks movingly about losing her mother at an early age, as well as her recent decision to come out as trans. “I don’t mind [being called] Eddie Izzard, I don’t mind he, him, she, her. I’m keeping it very loose, baby, so that the entire world can just have a warm bath.”
Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm
In episode three of this exceptional five-part oral history of The Troubles, we enter the horrifyingly bleak era of dirty protests and fatal hunger strikes.
A key contributor is the wife of a former IRA member, a man you’ll be familiar with from the first two episodes.
She talks openly about how difficult it was being married to someone who, despite promising to leave the IRA behind, spent time in prison due to his staunch beliefs. While clearly not used to expressing outward displays of emotion, his regret is palpable.
We also meet the widow of a rural Northern Ireland policeman.
I can’t recommend this series enough (hence why I keep recommending it). It’s terribly sad, powerful and revealing.
Vicky McClure: My Grandad’s War – Monday, STV, 9pm
97-year-old Ralph McClure, a working-class man from Nottingham, played a significant role on D-Day. In this poignant programme, Ralph and his adoring granddaughter, Vicky McClure, return to the beaches of Normandy.
Ralph was eighteen when he joined the Royal Navy. His powers of recall are undimmed by age. A delightful man, he provides a fascinating eyewitness account of an absolutely pivotal moment in 20th century history.
Celebrity-fronted docs are often rather superficial affairs, but this is nothing of the sort. Ralph and Vicky are united in their mission to pay heartfelt tribute to every brave soul who fought, and who continue to fight, against fascism.
Britain’s Forgotten Pensioners: Dispatches – Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm
I urge you to watch this devastating documentary about older British people desperately struggling to make ends meet during the current cost of living crisis. As the old saying goes, if you’re not angry, then you’re not paying attention.
They can barely afford to eat. They’re literally sitting in darkness. These pensioners have worked hard all their lives, and for what? This is how the government and energy companies repay them. 13 years of enforced austerity and mounting bills.
“I’m sad all the time,” says John, who’s completely on his own. “I’m just here, and that’s it. Existing.”
No one should have to live like this. No one’s mental health should be impaired by the constantly overwhelming pressure to just survive.
Significant Other – Thursday, ITVX
This black comedy-drama stars Katherine Parkinson and Youssef Kerkour as lonely neighbours, Anna and Sam.
It begins with Anna knocking on Sam’s door after she’s suffered a heart attack. Sam has just attempted to take his own life. When the medics arrive, they’re both rushed to hospital. A bond gradually forms.
Significant Other doesn’t, of course, make light of loneliness and depression. Any subject, no matter how dark, can be mined for humour, just as long as it’s coming from a good, honest, intelligent place.
If episode one is anything to go by, that’s what’s happening here. It appears to be a humane and oddly life-affirming exploration of terrain that so many of us struggle to traverse.
Five Star Kitchen: Britain’s Next Great Chef – Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm
Another week, another ho-hum culinary competition. Your all-powerful overlord on this occasion is five-star hotel chef Michel Roux Jr.
“There is so much on the line here for me, my reputation as a chef,” he declares. Mate, unless this show is somehow hijacked by actual ghosts and aliens, no one will ever remember it. Your career will continue to thrive.
Anyway. The series follows 13 budding chefs as they compete for a potentially life-changing grand prize – running the Palm Court restaurant in London’s exclusive Langham hotel.
As you would expect, the contestants are faced with a series of challenges to prove they have what it takes to succeed in this high-pressure world.
Davina McCall’s Pill Revolution – Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm
Now here’s a genuinely responsible and informative piece of public service broadcasting.
A recent Channel 4 survey asked over 4,000 women and people assigned female at birth about their experiences with contraception. 77 % of them experienced debilitating side effects. 33 % stopped using contraception because of those side effects.
Following on from her excellent documentary about the menopause, Davina McCall challenges some of the myths and misconceptions surrounding contraception.
She’s shocked to discover that so many women just aren’t being made aware of the range of contraception treatments available to them.
This programme, which covers a myriad of solutions for anyone who’s struggling, will hopefully make a difference. Television really can be a force for good sometimes.
LAST WEEK’S TV
Close to Vermeer – Tuesday 30th May, BBC Four
Johannes Vermeer is one of art’s great enigmas. His small body of work includes classic paintings such as The Milkmaid and The Girl with the Pearl Earring. They’re familiar to millions, but little is known about the man himself.
In this elegant documentary/mystery yarn, renowned art expert Gregor J.M. Weber followed his dream of curating the largest Vermeer exhibition the world has ever seen.
While on the verge of retirement, Weber – a quietly engaging guide – was determined to refute controversial claims that one of Vermeer’s masterworks, Girl with a Flute, wasn’t actually painted by him at all.
I won’t spoil the ending in case you haven’t seen it, but no wonder Weber was moved to tears.
Who Do You Think You Are? – Thursday 1st June, BBC One
Series nineteen of this unstoppable genealogical warhorse began with Andrew Lloyd Webber discovering that his four times great uncle Peregrine fought at the battle of Waterloo, and that a sixteenth century ancestor, Katherine Duchess of Suffolk, married a 49-year-old man when she was only 14.
Never has the euphemistic phrase “different times” been more shockingly apt, so much so that the programme swiftly glossed over this uncomfortable finding.
Lloyd Webber’s ancestors weren’t all frightfully posh. His paternal great, great grandfather was a compassionate working-class missionary. And he did, of course, discover that musicianship runs in the family.
I’m no fan of Lloyd Webber’s work or
politics, but he came across throughout as a genial old satchel.
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