TALENT + TWO DOORS DOWN + DOCTOR WHO

This article was originally published in The Courier on 4th December 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Talent – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 10pm

This charming documentary peers behind the scenes of a Scottish talent agency run by one Sonia Scott Mackay. A documentarian’s dream, Sonia is colourful, tenacious and utterly dedicated to her eclectic roster of clients. 

The programme focuses on four of them: a paramedic and mother of four who has recently broken into acting; an all-rounder (he’s in a Steps tribute act among other things) who’s had a tough time of late; a charismatic chap with a chance of appearing as an extra in a major Hollywood film; and a young actor/model who has experienced prejudice due to her disabilities. 

They’re all lovely people. And while their stories are sometimes poignant, the overall tone is celebratory.

Two Doors Down – Monday, BBC Two, 10pm

Series five of this deservedly popular BBC Scotland sitcom only runs to a mere three episodes. But it’s always a pleasure spending time with these discomfited suburban neighbours. 

In episode one they gather for champagne and curry. While Christine (Elaine C. Smith) struggles with an upset stomach, Ian reveals that he was recently beaten up by some thugs; but that’s nothing compared to the consternation that ensues when his partner Gordon refrains from drinking alcohol. 

As always, writers Simon Carlyle and Gregor Sharp bless their exceptional cast with sharply observed material. Two Doors Down has earned its place on the sofa alongside great single-setting sitcoms such as The Royle Family and Friday Night Dinner.

The Cult of Conspiracy: QAnon – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

The American far-right movement QAnon revolves around one of the most bizarre conspiracy theories of recent years. The details are too sordid to divulge in a family newspaper, but suffice to say these people are members of a deluded cult who believe that sinister forces were conspiring against Donald Trump during his time in office. As if he needed any help in torpedoing his presidency. 

This documentary from journalist Ben Zand spends time with some of QAnon’s most devout believers, in an attempt to understand them on a human level. What led them down this convoluted path of outlandish lies? Louis Theroux will presumably be narked that Zand arrived at this grimly fascinating subject before him.

Nadiya’s Fast Flavours – Thursday, BBC Two, 8:30pm

Nadiya Hussein’s latest culinary odyssey is all about experimenting with flavour in a relatively simple way. 

A sprightly wizard at play in her spacious pastel-coloured kitchen, this week she bakes a loaf of banana bread with salted caramel sauce and a sprinkling of thyme; sculpts some sky-scraping Bombay burgers; serves a platter of sweet and spicy chicken bites; and unveils her very own apple and dumpling pie. “The ultimate put your feet up pie,” she enthuses. Which is a rather pleasing arrangement of words, isn’t it? 

‘Perfect lifestyle’ programmes such as this can often be quite vexing, but Hussein keeps annoyance at bay with her natural sunny charm. She’s a nicely unpretentious host.

And Just Like That… – Thursday, Sky Showcase, 9pm

All we really know about this sequel to Sex and the City is that Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon are reprising their roles. Kim Cattrall has declined to take part, for reasons she’s discreetly kept to herself. And they’re none of our business, frankly. 

She’ll be missed, but if these ten half-hour episodes somehow manages to recapture everything that was good about the show before it became a parody of itself, then the whole thing will be worth it. 

Revivals rarely work, but exceptions aren't unheard of. And surely it can’t be worse than the widely reviled Sex and the City 2? That’s not humanly possible. The series begins with a double-bill.

Grayson’s Art Club: An Exhibition for Britain – Friday, Channel 4, 8pm

Grayson Perry and his wife Philippa are an always welcome presence on our screens, they’re a united force for good. In this one-off instalment of their egalitarian series, the Perrys curate an exhibition displaying artworks created during lockdown. 

Earlier this year, they received more than 17,000 submissions from members of the public, as well as pieces created by professional artists and various celebrities (their guests include Boy George and Johnny Vegas). 

The exhibition opens in Bristol on 4^th December, hence why the programme is still being edited as I write these words on 28^th November, but I can pretty much guarantee that it will be worth your time. Grayson’s Art Club is a quietly life-affirming project.

Vienna Blood – Friday, BBC Two, 9pm

Set in early 1900s Vienna, this pulp melodrama unfolds at times like a fever dream. That’s a compliment of sorts. Matthew Beard stars as Dr Max Liebermann, a Sigmund Freud acolyte who assists the police with their inquiries. 

Series two begins with the death of an elderly Hungarian countess, who has seemingly drowned in her bath. The police assume that she took her own life. Naturally, there’s more to the case than that. The deceased was one of Liebermann’s patients, but he can’t betray her trust. At least not at first. 

Vienna Blood is written by Stephen Thompson, whose credits include Doctor Who and Sherlock, which might give you some idea of the slightly heightened tone.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Freddie Mercury: The Final Act – Saturday 27th November, BBC Two

Freddie Mercury has been the subject of numerous documentaries since his untimely death from AIDS in 1991, but this excellent 90-minute endeavour wasn’t just about His Majesty. 

A sensitive chronicle of Freddie’s tragic final years, the film also examined the widespread panic and ‘gay plague’ hysteria surrounding HIV. Like Sky’s recent series Positive, it served as a blunt reminder of the vile homophobia that was once served up every day during public discourse on this issue. 

A case in point: some appalling archive footage of MP David Blunkett describing Freddie’s lifestyle as “bizarre… and quite unacceptable.” This, remember, was only 30 years ago. No wonder Roger Taylor couldn’t hide his anger. 

Doctor Who – Sunday 28th November, BBC One

Fair play to divisive showrunner Chris Chibnall, this truncated serial is clearly the best thing he’s written for Doctor Who. Many flaws and all, it’s been quite enjoyable in a superficial way. 

So even if Sunday’s finale collapses in on itself (a very real possibility), the journey was diverting for the most part. The penultimate episode even featured a comic scene with jokes which actually landed.

And Jodie Whittaker, who’s been sadly ill-served during her tenure, has to her credit usually managed to rise above the material she’s been lumbered with. 

She’s been particularly good and ‘properly’ Doctorish during this almost valedictory run. It’s as if Chibnall has finally worked out how to write for her. Better late than never I suppose.

 

 

 

GRETA THUNBERG: A YEAR TO CHANGE THE WORLD + TOO CLOSE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 10th April 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Greta Thunberg: A Year to Change the World – Monday, BBC One, 9pm

The world-renowned environmental activist has galvanised millions in the fight against climate change. Towards the end of 2019, she took a year off school to examine the effects of global warming first-hand. A co-production between the BBC and PBS, this vital series follows Thunberg as she travels around the world – by boat – to meet leading climate experts. 

In Canada, she encounters melting glaciers and evidence of our biodiversity crisis. She also witnesses the devastating after-effects of California’s worst ever wildfire. 

Meanwhile, Thunberg and her supportive father discuss the pressures they’re under, although she’d clearly rather not talk about herself at all: “I don’t want you to listen to me, I want you to listen to the science.”

Too Close – Monday to Wednesday, STV, 9pm

Emily Watson stars in this morbid psychological thriller as Emma, a forensic psychiatrist tasked with assessing a woman branded in the tabloid press as a ‘yummy mummy monster’. Connie (played with considerable intensity by Denise Gough) tried to kill herself, her daughter and a neighbour’s child by driving into a river. She claims to have no memory of the incident.

Connie is arrogant, angry, cynical and manipulative. The scenes between her and Emma inhabit familiar territory: the intelligent patient/prisoner turning the tables on their interrogator. 

I only had access to episode one, but Too Close is quite intriguing and almost admirably bleak. I’m always suspicious of dramas about mental illness, they’re often quite tawdry and insensitive, but we’ll see.

All That Glitters: Britain’s Next Jewellery Star – Tuesday, BBC Two, 8pm

Comedian Katherine Ryan hosts this new “TV competition slash talent search format.” How deliciously ironic. I actually prefer it when derivative TV shows just plough ahead with the job at hand, instead of drawing attention to themselves with a knowing wink. It’s a cheap get-out clause. 

Anyway. This one finds a bunch of up-and-coming jewellers working on bespoke pieces that could last for centuries. You know the drill: they’re set a series of challenges while being judged by soundbite-spouting experts. 

Even if you have no interest whatsoever in jewellery, this is a fairly pleasant way to while away an hour of your life. But it is, like most programmes of its ilk, clearly better suited to a daytime slot.

Stacey Dooley: Back on the Psych Ward – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

Last year, Dooley made a programme about life on an NHS mental health ward. This is her follow-up report. 

With characteristic sensitivity, she spends time with staff and patients to find out how they’ve been coping during the pandemic. Since COVID, the demand for beds has shot up. For so many people with pre-existing mental health issues, the isolation has been impossible to deal with. Young people have been affected more than any other age group. 

I don’t want to go into the specific details of what the various patients that Dooley meets are struggling with, as those details may prove triggering to some readers, but suffice to say it’s a programme made with the utmost care and integrity.

Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs – Wednesday, STV, 8pm

During this week’s visit to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, O’Grady meets some pooches in desperate need of TLC. Staffie-cross Roxi has far too much nervous energy to burn, so the staff try to calm her down with a gentle regime of stroking and exercise. 

The other star of the show is Dottie, a bulldog with the saddest face. Dottie has been overbred by her former owners; she’s exhausted and scared of pretty much everything. But then she’s paired with another lonely dog in need. 

I tend to get moist-eyed at the most ridiculous things, but For the Love of Dogs really is such a lovely, uplifting show. It makes the world feel like a slightly kinder place.

The Great British Sewing Bee – Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm

It’s back! From their new home on the banks of the Thames underneath London’s last surviving lighthouse, Esme Young from Central Saint Martin’s School of Fashion, Savile Row tailor Patrick Grant and cuddly host Joe Lycett welcome twelve new sewers competing for this year’s prize. 

A likeable bunch, they include a Bowie fan and former dinner lady, and a Frenchman who plays lead trumpet for London’s Gay Symphony Orchestra. 

It’s jolly old business as usual, during which they must design a loose-fitting buffet dress, a collarless 1960s-style blouse and transform a standard t-shirt into an imaginative item of clothing for any age or gender – one of the bold designs sends Grant into a giggling fit.

Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty – Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm

With trust in the Metropolitan Police currently at an all-time low, this timely documentary travels back to an era when the public regarded the fuzz as an unassailable paragon of virtue. But as we now know, bent coppers exploited that myth for their own benefit. 

In early 1970s London, a secret network of corrupt CID detectives inhabited a murky world of extortion, fit-ups and racist violence. They preyed on defenceless working-class people and ethnic minorities, as well as tofu-munching political activists such as Caroline Coon. 

Propelled by a funky cop soundtrack and evocative archive footage, the episode also features covert recordings of bent coppers colluding with criminals: “We’ve got more villains in our game than you’ve got in yours.”

LAST WEEK’S TV

Freddie Mercury: A Life in Ten Pictures – Saturday 3rd April, BBC Two

This touching account of Sir Fred’s life featured contributions from some of the non-famous people who knew and loved him. They pored over private and professional photographs of Mercury as a way of providing insight into what he was really like. 

It began with the earliest known image of him, as an infant in Zanzibar, and ended with a photograph taken just a few months before he died. 

Although the story of Mercury’s life is familiar, the programme managed to untangle the private man from the self-made myth. A sensitive soul, he was an introverted extrovert who craved companionship. He was also a gay immigrant who overcame the odds stacked against him. Intimate and honest, the programme did him justice.

Line of Duty – Sunday 4th April, BBC One

Now we’re sucking diesel. This series began with an uninspiring, poorly-paced episode, but it has ramped up considerably since. 

Episode three contained one of those great LoD set-pieces: corrupt copper Ryan, who we first encountered as a terrifying child in series one, attempted to bump off Terry, the framed young suspect with learning difficulties, by staging a car crash in a reservoir. Terry survived, but Ryan drowned the other officer who was in the car. Brutal. 

LoD is essentially a daft yet compelling melodrama made up on the hoof, but I do admire the way it confronts contentious real-life issues such as the murder of Jill Dando and Jimmy Savile’s connections within the highest echelons of power. Why, it’s almost subversive.