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.

LAST WEEK’S TV

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.

THE SISTER + LIFE + HAIR POWER: ME AND MY AFRO

A version of this article was originally published in The Courier on 24th October 2020.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

THE SISTER

Monday to Thursday, STV, 9pm

This spooked pulp thriller is written by Neil Cross of Luther renown/infamy, which should give you some idea of what to expect. It’s knowingly daft and engulfed in histrionic murk. Typical Cross hokum. Russell Tovey stars as a man with a seemingly perfect life who is secretly haunted by his involvement in the death of a young woman several years ago. The only other person who knows what happened that night is Bob, an eccentric paranormal expert played by the shamelessly scene-stealing Bertie Carvel (he has the mien of a creepy, druggy Dickensian weirdo). To say any more would spoil the fun, but Cross does a good job of building tension as he gradually peels away the layers of his mystery. 

LIFE

Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

In the penultimate episode of this superior drama from Mike Bartlett, Gail (Alison Steadman) returns to her terminally ill husband Henry (Peter Davison) after a much-needed period of freedom. Henry is a self-centred bully, but Gail decides that, after 50 years of marriage, she should be by his side when he passes away. He’s a lucky man. Meanwhile, Belle’s (Victoria Hamilton) continuing struggles with alcohol leads to yet another excruciating scene. Bartlett is obviously more invested in the Gail, Henry and Belle storylines – the others are basically subplots – but he deserves praise for his compassionate excavation of the pain, fear, loneliness and disappointment of everyday life. A barrel of laughs it is not, but that’s Life. Sorry.

HAIR POWER: ME AND MY AFRO

Tuesday, Channel 4, 10:15pm

Now this is great. As part of Black History Month, academic and writer Emma Dabiri explores the vast cultural significance of afro-textured hair through the ages. For people of colour, to embrace the beauty of natural kinks and curls is an empowering form of self-expression. Dabiri meets people who grew up under pressure to conform to a Eurocentric ideal: straight hair equals good hair. Generations of kids felt compelled to attack their scalps with scorching chemical products. That’s yet another form of systematically racist oppression. Dabiri also examines the social significance of barbers and salons within the black community, while highlighting various forms of micro-aggression, unconscious bias and cultural appropriation. It’s a fascinating and rather beautiful essay.

DAMILOLA: THE BOY NEXT DOOR

Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

20 years ago, 10-year-old Damilola Taylor was stabbed and killed mere yards from his home. In this moving tribute, Yinka Bokinni, who is now a successful radio DJ, speaks about her late friend and neighbour for the first time. She paints a vivid portrait of a funny, bouncy, carefree kid whose life was tragically cut short. She also challenges the media-led view that her Peckham estate was Hell on Earth. Yes, there was crime and poverty, but it was a tightknit multicultural community. Bokinni makes a hugely important point: when you shovel people into substandard housing, you can’t just wash your hands of them. That’s a convenient way of ignoring the wider issue of cause and effect.

POWERING BRITAIN

Thursday, BBC Two, 7:30pm

Hornsea One, the world’s biggest offshore windfarm, is situated 75 miles off the Yorkshire Coast. In the first episode of this stats-encrusted series about the hardworking pros who answer to Britain’s energy demands, presenter Keeley Donovan meets some of the men and women responsible for running a hugely impressive eco-friendly project. With good reason, she marvels at this aquatic conurbation of massive turbines, each one taller than the Gherkin and wider than the London Eye (Donovan’s breathless claim that they’re wide enough to accommodate an adult elephant is inadvertently and pleasingly Chris Morris-esque). Mild peril warning: if you’re prone to claustrophobia and vertigo, you may be triggered by Donovan’s ascent of one of the turbines.

THE TRUMP SHOW

Thursday, BBC Two, 9pm

As this grimly compelling series concludes, we come right up to date. By January 2019, Trump had sacked everyone in his administration who’d tried to reign him in. His behaviour became even more bizarre and messianic. When his chief of staff admitted that the Ukranian government had been blackmailed into smearing Joe Biden, the Democrats seized their chance to remove Trump from office. The impeachment process failed in large part because Trump managed to intimidate Republican members of the Senate into supporting him. Then came Covid and the murder of George Floyd. Trump’s blind mishandling of these situations has been utterly catastrophic. America, you know what to do next month. This pathological liar, this gangster narcissist, is utterly unfit for office.

MAXXX

Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm

Maxxx is a former boyband superstar who has fallen on hard times. He’s a desperate mess, an insecure buffoon who struggles with various personal issues. He’s also quite likeable, despite his many flaws. This new comedy actually made me chuckle. That, I assure you, is a ringing endorsement of sorts. Writer/director/star O.T. Fagbenle understands that failure is funny, but only when leavened with a bit of pathos. The latter isn’t overdone, it’s naturally ingrained within Maxxx’s character. He’s lonely, heartbroken, lost. All he wants to do is make a comeback and restore his flimsy sense of self-worth. Maxxx is a fairly sharp farce and Fagbenle inhabits his creation with just the right amount of oblivious arrogance.    

LAST WEEK’S TV

ROADKILL

Sunday 18th October, BBC One 

Hats off to the BBC for commissioning a slyly scathing political drama in which the central character is a thinly disguised hybrid of Johnson and Farage. Roadkill makes no bones about how manipulative and dangerous these self-styled ‘LOL legend’ charlatans are. Written by David Hare, this isn’t a cosy centrist satire. It has bite. Hugh Laurie is perfect as a philandering, superficially charming government minister who blithely assumes he can get away with anything. It began with him successfully suing a newspaper for libel, but the journalist who went after him refuses to back down. Hare is clearly enjoying himself as he spins several plates at once. Let’s just hope they don’t all come crashing down. Roadkill is promising. Of course, the BBC is largely responsible for the rise of Johnson, they helped him to cultivate his disingenuous persona, so in that sense Roadkill is too little too late. The damage has been done. But I will accept it as a form of atonement. Big of me, I know.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?

Monday 19th October, BBC One

In this particularly interesting episode, David Walliams discovered that his great grandfather, who served during WWI, suffered from severe PTSD. He spent the rest of his life in a psychiatric hospital, or ‘lunatic asylum’ as they were known in those very different times. His tragic story illustrated just how valuable this show can sometimes be as a sensitive piece of social history. On a much lighter note, Walliams was delighted to learn that his great-great grandfather was a travelling showman who eventually escaped from poverty via the fairground business. Cynical caveat: WDYTYA proves that celebrities with a hitherto weirdly incurious attitude towards their family history will suddenly develop a deep and solemn interest when there’s a fee involved.

 

 

 

 

 

THE TRUMP SHOW + THE MILLION POUND CUBE

A version of this article was originally published in The Courier on 17th October 2020.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

THE TRUMP SHOW

Thursday, BBC Two, 9pm

In episode two of this damning account of Trump’s presidency, we reach his second year in office. He’s facing 18 allegations of sexual assault. The CIA claims to have proof of his electoral collusion with Russia. He’s a wanton liability mired in corruption. But Trump is untouchable, impervious. When under attack, he doubles down, invents his own ‘alternative facts’ and attempts to smear anyone who dares oppose him. All Trump cares about is how he can get away with things and spin himself as a winner. The former Apprentice host is a petty, fragile egomaniac without a shred of integrity, he cannot accept defeat on any level. A monstrously dangerous fool.

Contributors this week include Stormy Daniels, the porn star who was paid hush money during the election (she comes across as entirely plausible), and despicable Trump enabler Rudy Giuliani. Not that the rancid petulant child-man will ever see this show, but if he did he’d instantly dismiss it as more fake news from the lamestream liberal media. And so it goes on.

THE MILLION POUND CUBE

Monday to Friday, STV, 9pm

There are few things I enjoy more in life than growling “THE CUBE” to myself while pottering around the house. That’s because I’m easily amused and have nothing better to do. So you can imagine my almost tear-sodden delight upon discovering that The Cube (“THE CUBE”), that Schofield-fronted quiz o’ nonsense, has returned after a gap of five long years. This triumphant week-long comeback involves celebs trying their best to raise £1,000,000 for charity. If you haven’t seen it before, imagine The Crystal Maze crossed with a light-entertainment Black Mirror. A dystopian game show with meerkat ad-breaks. Philip Schofield hosting The Running Man via RoboCop. I’d buy that for a dollar.

IN THE FACE OF TERROR

Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

Far right groups are the world’s fastest growing terror threat. In the final episode of this resonant series about ordinary people directly affected by acts of terror, we visit Christchurch, New Zealand, where in March 2019, a far right terrorist carried out a mass shooting in two mosques. His attack was streamed live on Facebook. The programme features brief, chilling clips from the livestream, but please don’t be alarmed: no one is shown being hurt or killed, we only see him approaching the mosques in his car. This isn’t an exploitative series, it’s a moving tribute to the victims and their families. It also seeks to understand how confused and angry people can become radicalised online by extremist groups. A thoughtful piece.

LIFE

Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

In episode four of the only British drama worth following this year, things go from bad to worse (then worse again). I’ve praised the brittle, queasy performances of Peter Davison and Alison Steadman in previous columns, but this week it’s Victoria Hamilton who steals every moment she’s given. Belle (formerly known as Anna from Doctor Foster) is one of Life’s most sympathetic characters. A functioning alcoholic who detests her uptight, lonely life, she puts up a front of cynical self-awareness. Until she has a drink or six. And then it all comes crashing down. Writer Mike Bartlett has hit upon something quite resonant here: a drama about people suffering in their hermetic pods of anguish and pain.

THE NOUGHTIES

Wednesday, BBC Two, 10pm

This cheap filler makes me feel old. I was 25 when the new millennium flipped its calendar. That feels like only yesterday. As The Noughties makes abundantly clear, it wasn’t only yesterday. It’s a mildly diverting time capsule in which Angela Scanlon and her guests – comedians Geoff Norcott and Ellie Taylor in episode one – gather in a socially distanced living room for a natter about the not so distant past. They begin, naturally enough, in the year 2000. Subjects under review include the weird anti-climax of the Y2K bug and the relatively innocent debut of Big Brother. We’re also reminded of Parkinson’s appallingly insensitive interview with Victoria Beckham. His opening gambit: does David wear your knickers and are you anorexic? Even the charmless Norcott looks appalled.

BETWEEN THE COVERS

Friday, BBC Two, 7:30pm

I don’t actually mind the fact that, due to COVID, most television now consists of people chatting in small studios. It reminds me of certain strands of television when I was a child. Appealingly dull, a minor source of low-budget comfort. Between the Covers is a weekly book group in which the likeable Sara Cox tasks various celebrities with… well you know what a book group is. This week, they begin with A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. Guest Bill Bailey cites it as his favourite novel. Book of the week is Fifty-Fifty, a crime thriller by Steve Cavanagh. Not my sort of thing – I’m a voracious reader of non-fiction only – but some of you might find their recommendations useful.

COUNT BASIE: THROUGH HIS OWN EYES

Friday, BBC Four, 9pm

Count Basie was a swinging big band pioneer. He was also very private. This home movie-assisted documentary sheds some light on the man behind the superstar alias. It’s partially told via the notes Basie wrote for his memoirs during train journeys. He spent most of his adult life on the road; the Count worked hard for a family which included his disabled daughter, Diane. During an era when children with cerebral palsy were often hidden from view, Basie and his wife did no such thing. They doted on her. There is so much to chew on here. Basie was a hugely talented African-American artist who refused to let racism grind him down. He didn’t ignore it, of course, but he never became bitter or angry. That didn’t appear to be part of his character. He even seemed to roll with it when, in the early 1970s, the Black Panther movement accused him of being a bourgeois sell-out.

HONOUR + FREDDIE FLINTOFF: LIVING WITH BULIMIA + US

This article was originally published in The Courier on 26th September 2020.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

HONOUR

Monday, STV, 9pm

Keeley Hawes stars in this queasy factual drama about Banaz Mahmod, a young Iraqi Kurdish woman who was murdered by men from her own family. A so-called honour killing. Mahmod had been forced into a marriage with an abusive partner. When she fell in love with a good man, her father sanctioned a death sentence. Mahmod went to the police on five occasions. She received no assistance. She was ignored. Hawes plays the sympathetic, newly appointed senior police officer who did everything in her power to bring these men to justice. At first glance, Honour could be mistaken for a standard ITV crime drama. But there’s more to it than that. The tone is nuanced, angry, sensitive, despairing. It lingers.

FREDDIE FLINTOFF: LIVING WITH BULIMIA

Monday, BBC One, 9pm

Over 1.5 million people in the UK suffer from eating disorders. One in four of them are men. In this welcome report, cricketer Freddie Flintoff talks frankly about his own struggle with bulimia while going in search of more information about the illness. Flintoff struggled with fluctuating weight during his cricketing heyday. The tabloid press published terribly cruel articles about his appearance; that’s when he started to make himself vomit after meals. Outdated social norms discourage men from talking about physical and mental health issues, hence why Flintoff meets the mother of a young man who died as a result of his condition. The doctor didn’t listen. One hopes that things are improving. Programmes such as this can only help.

THE SHIPMAN FILES: A VERY BRITISH CRIME STORY

Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

GP Harold Shipman murdered hundreds of his own patients, most of them elderly women. He is the most prolific serial killer in modern history. In this new series, documentary filmmaker Chris Wilson focuses on some of Shipman’s victims via interviews with their friends and families. What can their deaths tell us about our attitudes towards the elderly? And do those attitudes explain how Shipman got away with it for so long? The series suggests that local police and health authorities were slow to follow up on accusations. Wilson’s approach is commendably sensitive. Shipman’s face doesn’t appear until 20 minutes into the first episode, and barely at all after that. His crimes aren’t sensationalised, that’s not why Wilson is here.

LIFE

Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

Written by Mike Bartlett of Doctor Foster fame, this promising new drama revolves around a large house in Manchester divided into four flats. The residents are lonely Belle (Victoria Hamilton, reprising her role from Doctor Foster), who reluctantly agrees to look after the daughter of her mentally ill sister; David (Adrian Lester), who meets a young woman while on holiday without his wife (Rachael Stirling); heavily pregnant Hannah, whose relationship with her new boyfriend is complicated by the presence of the man who fathered her child; and most compelling of all, Gail (Alison Steadman), who starts to feel that she’s wasted years of her life married to a passive-aggressive ‘japester’ (Peter Davison). There are twists. There are turns.

LAST WEEK’S TV

JONATHAN ROSS’ COMEDY CLUB

Saturday 19th September, STV

Whatever happened to Jonathan Ross? Sachsgate happened; his own stupid, hubristic fault. And here he is, in the autumn of his once occasionally interesting career, hosting a socially distanced stand-up showcase on ITV. A contractual obligation, a way of paying off the school fees. 

Younger readers may find this difficult to believe, but when the Letterman-influenced Ross first cropped up on Channel 4 in the late 1980s, he was a breath of fresh, flippant air. Subversive, even. Still, at least his Covid emergency Comedy Club allows very funny and inventive comedians such as Bec Hill to inveigle their way into the mainstream. Ross, for all his faults, loves comedy. 

But really, the cutaways to his guffawing face during the performances are so unnecessary. The cameras should be pointed at the acts, this is their moment. His potentate-like presence is a terrible distraction.

US

Sunday 20th September, BBC One

Urgh. This miserable comedy-drama stars Tom Hollander and Saskia Reeves as a frightfully middle-class couple having one last summer together before splitting up. Writer David Nicholls, who adapted Us from his novel of the same name, is clearly labouring under a chronic delusion. He thinks we will care about these boring, charmless characters. Hollander and Reeves are good actors, but there’s nothing they can do to rescue this arid gust of middle-aged ennui. It’s what happens when comfortably sheltered TV executives commission programmes for the huddled masses.

TV Review: CHURCHILL'S SECRET + MURDER + BROKEN BISCUITS

A version of this article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 5th March 2016.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/lifestyle

Churchill's Secret: Sunday, STV

Murder: Thursday, BBC Two

Broken Biscuits: Friday BBC One

Michael Gambon is an actor who's never been troubled by vanity. 30 years ago he gained TV immortality as the psoriasis-ridden centrepiece of Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective. In Churchill's Secret he reaffirmed his prone position as Britain's leading bed-based Thespian. It was a finer performance than most actors manage in a vertical lifetime.

In 1953, during his final term as Prime Minister, Churchill suffered a life-threatening stroke which left him in no state to govern. Unbeknownst to the public at the time, the king was on his deathbed, leaving Britain without a leader.

Though he eventually recovered and lived for another 12 years, this standalone drama proved quite effective in examining the trials of an almost mythical symbol of indomitable spirit struggling with mortal decay. It was King Lear, basically, but with a vaguely happy ending.

A slurring mound of crumpled pathos, Gambon's Churchill was surrounded by his family – and by tacit extension, the nation - in a state of disarray. Having lived for decades in the Great Man's shadow, how would they cope without him? They needed him, were defined by him. But did he ever truly need them? Yes, as it turned out.

Chief among his bedside fretters was his loyal wife, Clemmie, played by Lindsay Duncan with her usual powdery steel and poise. Her determination to preserve his dignity was quite touching, but typical of the (very British) reserve which defined the production; unseemly displays of sentiment were kept under wraps.

While its avoidance of schmaltz was commendable – just think of how glutinous this story of undying love between a Great Man and his Rock could've been – its reserve worked against it in the end; while it's probably asking too much of a drama to teach us anything “new” about Churchill at this stage, this modest little chamber piece didn't say much of interest about him at all.

He was an irascible ox with a marshmallow centre? I suppose that counts as insight, of sorts.

It's a shame, as on the whole the script managed to avoid the usual biopic crime of grinding heavy-handedness. That is, apart from when it came to Romola Garai's no-nonsense northern nurse – no screen northerner has ever been shown to suffer nonsense knowingly – who wasn't so much a character as a fictional plot device against which Clemmie could deliver exposition and gradually unload her repressed emotions.

The subtext of Garai's nurse being a working-class, left-wing modern woman rebelling against Churchill's patriarchal empire was so half-hearted, they needn't have bothered.

It was a quietly admirable production in many ways, but like Churchill after a few too many brandies and cigars, it could only be approached at arm's length.

The disappointing follow-up to a BAFTA-winning single drama from 2013, Murder comprises three plays in which a small cast of actors explore different facets of a fictional murder case via monologues delivered straight to camera. This inventive approach worked the first time, but here the effect proved cold, mannered, alienating and pretentious. 

For a supposedly intense meditation on grief and trauma, it was curiously flat and underwhelming; an overcooked bore. The mystery involving the corpse of a man dragged from the River Tweed near Peebles wasn't sufficiently interesting, and for all his attempts at emotional complexity, writer Robert Jones failed to get under the skin of his tortured characters. An ambitious failure, sadly.

Writer/director Craig Cash (The Royle Family; Early Doors) employed a similar stylistic approach to more promising effect in Broken Biscuits, a sitcom pilot shown as part of the BBC's Comedy Playhouse strand.

Indebted to Alan Bennett's peerless Talking Heads, this compendium of gently overlapping vignettes was faultlessly delivered by a cast including Alison Steadman and Alun Armstrong as fussy B&B owners – Steadman's fixed grin was a particular highlight – plus Stephanie Cole and Timothy West as a gossipy couple obsessed with their smoke alarm. But the most intriguing segment involved a young doctor and his disabled brother, whose wry inner monologue only we were privvy to.

Infused with Cash's usual warmth and observational wit, I hope it returns for a full series. Plus, any show that uses Tom Waits' heart-tugging Take It With Me as its theme song is A-okay by me.

TV Review: BOOMERS and ALMOST ROYAL

This article was originally published in The Courier on 16th August 2014.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/lifestyle

Boomers: Friday, BBC One

Almost Royal: Sunday, E4

Paul Whitelaw

I magnanimously welcome the idea of a sitcom aimed at older viewers, but I'd prefer a funnier example than the lacklustre Boomers. Set in a quiet seaside town inhabited by pensionable baby boomers, it contains nary an original bone in its body.

The setting for this first episode was a funeral, which in more capable hands can be a fecund source of black comedy and pathos. Unfortunately, such pleasures are beyond the reach of writer Richard Pinto, whose most notable credit to date is the bland Citizen Khan.

I can't argue with the quality of Boomers' all-star cast – including Alison Steadman, Stephanie Beacham, Russ Abbot and Phil Jackson – but I can easily take issue with Pinto's second-hand script. Unforgivably light on gags, whenever it does attempt a funny line, e.g. Paula Wilcox saying of the deceased, “Most of my memories of Jean are mainly power walking-based,” they come across as self-consciously sculpted and clumsy.

Pinto also made the schoolboy error of building up a character before he arrived on screen, with inevitably anticlimactic results. That character is Mick, an ageing lothario played by Nigel Planer who was the subject of every conversation within the first ten minutes. The subtext was: wait 'til you get a load of this guy, viewers. Someone even described him as “a real character”.

Of course, when Mick finally arrived he was a mid-life crisis stereotype with – God help us from this knackered cliché – a much younger eastern European wife. Does Pinto really think this is an original, funny character? Even the dire Little Britain based some sketches around an older British man with a mail order bride, and that was nearly ten years ago.

Still, at least Mick's wife gave the ever-reliable James Smith, alias Glenn from The Thick of It, a chance to perform his repressed bumbler shtick. It was the only mildly amusing highlight.

The problem with Boomers is it's gentle to a fault. Low-key character pieces of this kind require the wit and observational depth of an Alan Bennett or Victoria Wood. Pinto has all the right pieces in place, but he lacks the inspiration to crank them into life.

The cast are as solid as you'd expect, but they provide the only hint of sparkle on an otherwise dull and unremarkable trinket.

Funnier by far is Almost Royal, a Borat-style comedy in which comedians Ed Gamble and Amy Hoggart pose as aristocratic British siblings on a mission to bamboozle America. But whereas Sacha Baron Cohen was partially concerned with exposing the prejudices of those he encountered, there's no real point being made here. Free of malice, it's simply an excuse for a welter of daft gags delivered by two nimble comic actors.

While it gently exploits America's love of all things British, no one is made to look foolish. The pleasure comes from watching real people indulge the sublimely naïve Georgie and Poppy Carlton with a mixture of confused politeness and amusement.

The admirably straight-faced Gamble and Hoggart never miss a chance to misunderstand or question their patient hosts. I particularly liked Georgie innocently asking a car dealer, “Where does this car go?” and later, while observing production on daytime soap The Bold and The Beautiful, saying to one of its stars, “Is this set in a different world?”.

It's a neat, breezy twist on the innocents abroad formula.