BEST INTERESTS | AFRICA RISING WITH AFUA HIRSCH | COUNT ABDULLA

This article was originally published in The Courier on 10th June 2023. 

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Best Interests – Monday and Tuesday, BBC One, 9pm

This gut-punching four-part drama stars Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen as a happily married couple with two daughters, one of whom has a life-threatening illness. 

Writer Jack Thorne has form for handling difficult material with the utmost care. His estimable credits include the 2021 COVID drama Help and Shane Meadows’ semi-autobiographical The Virtues. 

If you’re familiar with his work, then you won’t be surprised to hear that Best Interests is incredibly moving but never mawkish. It’s honest and authentic, a sensitive meditation on the complex moral quandary surrounding terminally ill patients and their quality of life. 

Thorne sympathises with every single one of his characters. You will too. There are no easy answers.

Sarah Beeny Vs Cancer – Monday, Channel 4, 9pm

Last year, the television personality and property developer Sarah Beeny was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her mother died of the same disease when Beeny was just 10-years-old. 

In this poignant standalone documentary, our host investigates the past, present and hopeful future of breast cancer treatment in the UK. 

While recording an intimate video diary, Beeny – who has four children - reflects upon everything her mother went through in the 1980s. It’s a frank, tender and relatable essay. We’ve all lost loved ones to cancer. 

Beeny meets with various medical experts who provide some insight into how care for cancer patients has changed and improved over the last 40 years.

Africa Rising with Afua Hirsch – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

Journalist and broadcaster Afua Hirsch hosts this fascinating exploration of Africa, a continent which is home to the world’s most culturally diverse population. 

Her eventful journey begins in Morocco, Africa’s leading tourist destination. She meets several young creative people, one of whom is a world-renowned photographer: the Andy Warhol of Africa. His playful post-modern work subverts lazy cultural stereotypes. 

Hirsch also encounters a rapper influenced by traditional Moroccan music, an innovative rug-stitching entrepreneur, and some artists whose work challenges outdated assumptions about sex and gender. 

Hats off to Hirsch and everyone involved with this upbeat and progressive series, it restores a bit of faith in human nature.

Staged – Wednesday, BBC One, 10:40pm

Originally devised during lockdown, Staged is a comedy starring Michael Sheen (that man again) and David Tennant as mildly bickering versions of themselves conversing via Zoom. 

It’s inherently self-indulgent and potentially infuriating, but it more or less works because Sheen and Tennant are likeable and self-aware. Their semi-improvised conversations mock the petty insecurities of successful actors who have nothing much to worry about in the grand scheme of things. 

The latest series begins with a bored Tennant contacting Sheen from a Tokyo airport. 

Hilarity never ensues in Staged, it just ambles along, but spending downtime with Sheen and Tennant is always fairly pleasant. A ringing endorsement, I know.

Count Abdulla – Thursday, ITVX

This likeable new sitcom revolves around an unlikely group of British Muslim vampires. 

Our sweet-natured protagonist is Abdulla (Arian Nik), a nerdy junior doctor and classic horror film fan. He’s not particularly religious, but pays respectful lip service to appease his devout and loving mother (Nina Wadia). 

And then one Halloween party night, while immaculately attired as Christopher Lee’s iteration of Dracula, Abdulla is bitten by an outrageously camp vampire played by Jaime Winstone – imagine, if you will, Fenella Fielding in an even more deranged version of Carry On Screaming!. 

It’s all rather intriguing; a sharp comedy-horror underpinned with a wry message about the subtle nuances of racial identity and faith.

Queen of Oz – Friday, BBC One, 9:30pm

Catherine Tate is a self-evidently talented and versatile actor who’s wallowed in lacklustre material for most of her comedy career. This tiresome sitcom is no exception. 

She plays a disgraced member of the Royal Family who is exiled to Australia. There’s plenty of scope here for some biting satirical commentary on the dysfunction inherent within our monarchy, but Queen of Oz squanders that in favour of Tate playing yet another thoroughly obnoxious person. 

There’s obviously nothing wrong with that in theory, British comedy is festooned with beloved anti-heroes, but Tate’s self-generated characters are actively annoying. 

Oh well, she’ll be back on TV later this year as Donna Noble, one of the greatest ever Doctor Who companions.

They All Came Out to Montreux – Friday, BBC Four, 10:15pm

This absolutely wonderful documentary recounts the rather touching and inspiring story of Claude Nobs, a charismatic music enthusiast who launched the world-renowned Montreux Jazz Festival. 

Nobs had no real knowledge of the music industry back in 1967, he just wanted to invite some of his favourite artists to perform on the banks of Lake Geneva. His maverick pipe dream is currently celebrating its 56^th anniversary. 

Spread over three parts, all of which are shown tonight, the film traces the evolution of a jazz festival which gradually encompassed some astonishing performances from major rock, soul and blues artists. 

God bless Friday music nights on BBC Four, long may they groove into infinity.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Spy in the Ocean – Sunday 4th June, BBC One

Narrated by David Tennant (that man again; there’s a theme developing here), the BBC’s latest oceanic deep-dive introduced us to various creatures gently affixed with non-invasive cameras. Some sperm whales and coconut octopi were the stars of this particular episode.

Whenever one delves into the depths of the ocean, the results are always rather surreal and sweetly comical. Psychedelic whimsy writ large. 

While coasting above the waves, we also met some shore-based monkeys – a great bunch of lads – who’ve worked out how to feast upon oysters. Spy in the Ocean is the very definition of exotic Sunday night comfort viewing.

Gods of Tennis – Sunday 4th June, BBC Two

A companion piece to Gods of Snooker, which was also executively produced by Louis Theroux, this assiduously researched volley of social history focuses on 1970s and early 1980s tennis titans. It’s utterly riveting. 

Television was responsible for creating tennis’ mass appeal. That daily Wimbledon coverage coincided with the emergence of charismatic players such as Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King, who took centre stage in the opening episode. 

Ashe, who passed away in 1993, was African-American. King, whose fresh contributions to the programme provided a vital through-line, is gay. Their stories are thematically entwined. 

Ashe and King, while not always in agreement, both fought for equality.

AIDS: THE UNHEARD TAPES + STORYVILLE: CITIZEN ASHE + DISPATCHES – UKRAINE: LIFE UNDER ATTACK

This article was originally published in The Courier on 25th June 2012.

NEXT WEEK’S TV 

AIDS: The Unheard Tapes – Monday, BBC Two, 9:30pm

This new three-part series revolves around audio interviews with young gay men recorded throughout the 1980s and 1990s, recordings subsequently archived at the British Library. They’ve never been broadcast in public before. 

Their voices are meticulously lip-synched by actors. The filmmakers took quite a risk here; with a little less care and attention that borderline gimmicky device could’ve easily undermined their sincere intentions, but it works. I daresay you’ll find yourselves immersed in these candid, moving stories. 

It all takes place against a bleak bigoted backdrop of virulent homophobia and scaremongering, which eerily foreshadows the horrific transphobia we’re currently witnessing in this supposedly enlightened day and age. AIDS: The Unheard Tapes is powerful television.

Murder in the Alps – Monday and Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

Gruesome catnip for true crime addicts, this series (which starts on Channel 4 on Sunday at 9pm) investigates the unsolved case of a British family who were murdered in an idyllic French beauty spot almost ten years ago. 

The brother of one of the victims was once a prime suspect, but he’s since been exonerated. His story is told in tandem with that of the various investigators. It’s a twist-strewn saga. 

In Monday’s episode, journalists dig into the victim’s connections with the Iraqi regime. Meanwhile, the police stumble across a Swiss bank account containing almost a million euros, and the FBI help to uncover details of a secret marriage. A truth/stranger than fiction scenario.

Dispatches – Ukraine: Life Under Attack – Monday, Channel 4, 10pm

Narrated by Cate Blanchett, this starkly intimate documentary tells the story of the battle for Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city. For ten weeks, the film crew were trapped alongside the civilians and frontline workers who bore the brunt of Russia’s initial onslaught. 

We follow fireman Roman and his team as they attempt to combat a relentless blitz. Paramedics Tatjana and Irina are tasked with rescuing civilian casualties. And the people of Kharkiv, all of whom are innocent victims of a heinous invasion, talk candidly about what they’re going through. 

Channel 4’s Dispatches, which began way back in 1987, is a venerable example of British television journalism at its most vital. We cannot afford to lose it.

Storyville: Citizen Ashe – Tuesday, BBC Four, 10pm

The legendary sportsman and social activist Arthur Ashe was the first black tennis player to be selected for the US Davis Cup team. This thoughtful 90-minute documentary gives him his thoroughly deserved due. 

Ashe’s socio-political activism was initially inspired by the Civil Rights movement, but as time rolled on he expanded his horizons to encompass oppressed people from all around the world. 

Ashe died of AIDS-related complications in the early 1990s. In the last few years of his life, he founded the Arthur Ashe Foundation for the Defeat of AIDS and the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health. He was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. A truly remarkable man.

Lenny Henry’s Caribbean Britain – Wednesday, BBC Two, 9:30pm

In the concluding episode of Len’s tender cultural odyssey, he examines the ways in which second and third generation British-born Caribbean kids integrated their identity into their art. 

As a young comedian in the 1970s, he often made awkward jokes at his own expense. Kids of colour no longer have to do that, and Len explains why in an episode devoted to the progress we’ve made over the last 40 years. 

Comedy, music and drama have enriched our multicultural society. And Len himself, although he’s too modest to say this outright, played a huge role in bringing the black experience to the masses. For people of a certain generation (i.e. my generation) he will always be a cherished comedy hero.

Sarah Beeny’s Little House Big Plans – Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm

This week, industrious property developer Sarah Beeny meets more folk who are brave/foolhardy enough to buy and ambitiously convert small living spaces. 

First up are a couple from Poole who got their first taste of the property market when they purchased a poky semi-detached house that was built in the 1930s. Their bold plan: expand the space by creating an open-plan kitchen diner. 

Unfortunately, by the time Beeny rocks up they’ve already spent their budget. The whole thing is being precariously funded on a week to week paycheque basis. 

We also spend time with a couple who are in the process of transforming their Victorian terrace into a modern, spacious home complete with indoor garden.

The Undeclared War – Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm

The latest political thriller from writer/director Peter Kosminsky is set in 2024. TheUK is still in the grip of COVID while struggling through one of its worst ever economic slumps. The new PM (Adrian Lester) is even more unpopular than Boris Johnson. 

Meanwhile, a preeminent team of computer analysts led by Simon Pegg deal with an increase in cyber-attacks. 

Potentially interesting subject matter, but it’s a terribly dry affair primarily devoted to people frowning at screens while chatting about codes and viruses; watch out for an inadvertently funny moment just before the second ad break, when Kosminsky ramps up some dramatic music in lieu of any actual drama occurring. 

Suffice to say, it’s not his finest work.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Glastonbury: 50 Years and Counting – Sunday 19th June, BBC Two

The radical left wing ethos of the Glastonbury Festival has been totally usurped by the sheer commercial scale of the event in recent years. This 100 minute documentary sought to remind us of its once close association with CND, Greenpeace and numerous outsider performance artists. 

It still is, in idealistic essence, a celebration of diversity. Alas, that point was undermined by the prominent presence of white, male interviewees such as the preternaturally small-minded Noel Gallagher. Women and people of colour were reduced to supporting roles. 

A compromised documentary, it did, however, confirm that festival organiser Michael Eavis is a canny pragmatist who probably lost interest in music circa 1972.

Who Do You Think You Are? – Thursday 23rd June, BBC One

In the latest episode of this hardy perennial, actor Anna Maxwell Martin from Motherland and Line of Duty travelled to Northern Ireland to find out more about her beloved father, who passed away at the tragically young age of 59. She also uncovered some uncomfortable facts about her mother’s Scottish side of the family.  

It was a poignant saga, sensitively told, but as always I was ever so slightly staggered by just how little the stars of this show know about their family heritage. Why have they never bothered to look into this stuff before? They’ve presumably heard of the internet. 

Anyway, Maxwell Martin came across as a thoroughly nice and genuine person. Those tears weren’t performative.