IT'S A SIN + AN ENDLESS PROCESSION OF CELEBRITIES WANDERING AROUND BRITAIN

This article was originally published in The Courier on 13th February 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

It’s a Sin – Friday, Channel 4, 9pm

Over the last five weeks, I’ve taken the unprecedented and quite frankly maverick step of choosing the same show as my highlight of the week. That’s because nothing has come close to It’s a Sin, the Russell T. Davies-penned drama about a group of friends dealing with the AIDS crisis. 

And now it comes to an end. 

Ritchie (Olly Alexander) is seriously ill at home on the Isle of Wight. His formidable mother (a strikingly nuanced turn from Keeley Hawes) struggles to cope with her pain, anger and confusion. A near-continuous shot through the corridors and wards of a hospital where patients are dying of AIDS is breath-taking. It’s a Sin will linger for a very long time.

Jay and Dom’s Home Fix – Monday, BBC One, 3:45pm

During the pandemic, I’ve become mildly obsessed with the increasingly obvious ways in which TV has been forced to operate. This new series is a case in point. 

It stars the genial Jay Blades and Dom Chinea from The Repair Shop, as they beaver away in their socially distanced workshop. Their M.O: provide some practical money-saving DIY advice, which is apparently easy to follow for viewers who aren’t, like me, incompetent Frank Spencer types. 

But their segments are padded out with a compendium of emergency archive clips from gently hands-on lifestyle shows such as Flog It!, Gardener’s World and Monty Don’s Big Dreams, Small Spaces. Yet despite its blatantly cobbled-together nature, it’s a perfectly pleasant distraction.

Joanna Lumley’s Home Sweet Home: Travels in My Own Land – Tuesday, STV, 8pm

This week’s travel-heavy schedules feel like a sadistic joke orchestrated by a phalanx of ostensibly inoffensive celebrities hell-bent on reminding us of the wonderful world outside our hermetic lockdown bubbles. 

During the final leg of her entirely random sojourn around Britain, Lumley and her spectacular array of scarves, snoods and sou’westers visit a Victorian slate-mining settlement in the misty mountains of Snowdonia. She also meets the GoCompare opera singer. 

While travelling through Devon and Cornwall (more of which below), she observes some Dartmoor druids performing an incantation, before ending where she began with another member of the Windrush Generation. A 95-year-old former musician, he’s glad to have lived to see numerous positive changes in this country.

Grand Tours of Scotland’s Lochs – Wednesday, BBC One, 7:30pm

In which the permanently be-hatted, neckerchief-swaddled, backpack-laden and always engaging Paul Murton returns for another informative Loch-side ramble. 

He begins his latest series on the beauteous Isle of Skye, with ancient myths and legends coursing through his mind. He sows a neatly sprawling tapestry of plundering Vikings, ancient Highland bagpipe traditions, gruesome feuds and battles, and a beatific visitation from Donovan, who once owned three of the surrounding islands during his high Arcadian ‘60s heyday. 

Murton also touches upon the horrific story of the Hebridean slaves, that most extreme example of 18^th century Scots being forced to leave their homes while under the governance of despicable land barons. I’m looking at you, Norman MacLeod.

Cornwall and Devon Walks with Julia Bradbury – Wednesday, STV, 8pm

And those feet just keep on walking. This week, Bradbury’s never-ending hike takes her to a vineyard in Totness and a massive house in Dartmouth that once belonged to Agatha Christie. 

Yomping travelogues such as this have been parodied so often over the years - by Alan Partridge in particular – you would think they’d be dead in the water. But no, they march on undaunted, impervious to satire. 

What with this, Lumley’s programme and John Nettles’ preposterously narrated Channel 4 series, there can’t be a single square inch of Devon and Cornwall that hasn’t been explored on television by now. Enough already. 

The logical next step: Gregg Wallace floating alone in the infinite depths of space.

Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig – Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

I wish I was making this up for hilariously satirical effect, but here’s yet another cosy jaunt around the British Isles. 

If you happened to read last week’s column, then you may dimly recall the drill: each week, Toksvig and a famous female pal visit remote British locations and stay in unusual lodgings. Toksvig provides a few pertinent historical titbits. Sometimes they drink cocktails. There is literally nothing more to it than that. 

Her minibreak companion this time around is Jessica Hynes. An affable duo, they luxuriate in a lovingly restored 19^th century windmill, an 18^th century farmhouse located in the middle of a nature reserve, and a stylish glass-fronted beach house. So that’s nice, isn’t it?

LAST WEEK’S TV

Forensics: The Real CSI – Tuesday 9th February, BBC Two

“Hello. I’ve just murdered my wife.” 

So began the latest series of this sombre study of crime scene investigators. It followed forensic specialists from Birmingham as they carefully pieced together an accurate report on a brutal domestic murder. The husband may have confessed during his initial call to emergency services, but they couldn’t guarantee that he would stick to his story. There were no witnesses. Inevitably, they got him in the end. 

I’m always in two minds about shows of this nature. They’re technically well-made and relatively sensitive. They provide compelling insight into how the police and forensic investigators operate. But they also feed off terrible tragedies, and I feel guilty for getting drawn in.

Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby – Thursday February 11, BBC Two

We really don’t need another series of this jet-setting trash in which MasterChef judge Monica Galetti and the vile journalist Giles Coren – a man in his fifties who still hasn’t learned how to eat with his trap shut – visit various five-star hotels. 

There’s no wry commentary a la Alan Whicker or Louis Theroux, no suggestion that this luxury is repugnant and deranged: it’s an uncritical celebration of how the 1% live. 

Oh, it pays lip service to issues such as the environment and the local economy, and the hosts briefly muck in behind-the-scenes, but their efforts are perfunctory and patronising: these factotums work jolly hard, don’t they? Now, let’s have a glass of morning champagne! 

Horrible, horrible television.

 

 

IT'S A SIN + A PERFECT PLANET + 54 DAYS: AMERICA AND THE PANDEMIC

This article was originally published in The Courier on 6th February 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

It’s a Sin – Friday, Channel 4, 9pm

Once again, Russell T. Davies flits with ease between comedy and tragedy in this impeccable drama about the AIDS crisis. It’s 1988, and Ritchie decides that it’s time to come out to his parents. His visit to their home on the Isle of Wight is heartbreaking: I guarantee that you will struggle to hold back tears. 

Meanwhile, Ash and Jill join a peaceful protest against Clause 28, and Roscoe hopes that his secret affair with a Tory MP (Stephen Fry) will whisk him into the high life. Fans of a certain sci-fi show (it’s RTD, so you can probably guess) will be delighted by one particular scene, but in typical Davies style it ends with a gut-punch.

Undercover Police: Hunting Paedophiles – Monday, Channel 4, 9pm

The National Crime Agency estimates that there are now 300,000 people in the UK who pose a sexual threat to children. This new series gains exclusive access to a covert unit of police officers tasked with bringing child sex offenders to justice. Preview copies weren’t available, but I think it’s fair to assume that this will be a tough, disturbing watch. 

In episode one we follow an undercover officer as he poses online as someone looking for other men to commit more heinous crimes with him. The series promises to explore the difficult questions surrounding the causes of paedophilia, as well as the psychological repercussions experienced by professionals who submerge themselves in this horrifying world on the public’s behalf. 

South Africa with Gregg Wallace – Tuesday, STV, 7:30pm

As the egg man’s journey comes to an end, he takes a helicopter ride to the remote and verdant heart of South Africa’s Zulu Kingdom. With assistance from a storyteller dressed in traditional Zulu garb, he delivers a mini history lesson about the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, when a small group of British soldiers (who had no business being there in the first place) fought around 4,000 Zulu warriors. 

Wallace is an amateur history buff and a big fan of the - as he acknowledges - divisive film Zulu, so he’s in his element. After that, it’s time for a spot of hearty home-cooked lunch in a traditional Zulu village. 

Wallace is known for being alarmingly ebullient, but he’s fairly restrained here. Respectful and engaged, he does a decent job.

First Dates: Valentine’s Day Special – Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm

A special? It’s no different than any other episode of this cheerfully contrived dating show, but I have no beef with that. This week we meet Alexandra, the self-described “Bridget Jones of Northampton”, who works as a wedding planner. Her blind date is Tom, who’s in the high-end marquee hire business. What are the chances of that? 

On another table, retired Labour MP Roger admits that he’d “struggle if I went on a date with a Tory.” Fortunately, Jean, a retired French teacher, doesn’t disappoint. And then there’s the discomfiting pathos of Adam, a heavily tattooed extrovert who doesn’t understand why women can’t take him seriously. 

From a certain angle, this heart-warming show doubles up as a sensitive study of loneliness.

Imagine… We’ll Be Back? – Tuesday, BBC One, 10:45pm

The UK’s performing arts industry has been severely waylaid by the pandemic. In this well-meaning programme, Alan Yentob meets some of the people who are struggling to keep it alive while we wait to return to some semblance of normality. 

The contributors are sympathetic, of course they are, but Yentob is such a risible figure he fatally undermines the entire endeavour. His elitist pomposity and lack of self-awareness is a constant source of dismal mirth. Despite what he clearly thinks, he’s the last person who should be presenting a programme like this. Art is for the masses, but Yentob is a snob. 

It’s such a shame, as we really do need to support our local theatres and arts venues.

Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig – Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

If you’ve ever fancied going on a luxury mini-break with Sandi Toksvig, then now’s your vicarious chance. In this new series, she visits some of Britain’s most tranquil spots while staying in various striking properties. Her first destination is the Deben Peninsula on the coast of Suffolk. 

Each week she’s accompanied by a famous female pal: her guest in episode one is the great Alison Steadman. Toksvig informally interviews Steadman about her life and likes (she’s a big fan of fungi and clouds), as they luxuriate in a converted 19^th century defence tower, a 17^th century thatched cottage, and the gatehouse of an 11^th century priory. 

It’s just two nice women shooting the sea breeze: passive comfort viewing.

Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed – Friday, BBC Two, 9pm

The provenance and purpose of Stonehenge is one of history’s great mysteries. As Spinal Tap once mused of the prehistoric Britons who built it: “No one knew who they were, or what they were doing.” In recent years, however, a team of experts have plugged a 400-year gap in our knowledge of where the monument’s original stones came from. 

In this engrossing documentary, Professor Alice Roberts gains exclusive access to a series of extraordinary archaeological digs in Pembrokeshire. She explains how this dedicated squad of archaeologists, geologists and student volunteers have managed to unearth the remains of another vast stone circle, which was dismantled just before Stonehenge was created. Their painstaking detective work has rewritten history.

LAST WEEK’S TV

A Perfect Planet – Sunday 31st January, BBC One

In the final episode of Attenborough’s latest natural history lesson, the great narrator delivered a gloomy prognosis alongside three prominent scientists. Humans are destabilising the planet’s life support systems at a rapid and calamitous rate. We now release 100 times more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than all of Earth’s volcanos combined. 

To illustrate the dire effects of this human-made crisis, Attenborough presented upsetting scenes of hypothermic turtles and orphaned baby elephants suffering from dehydration. The programme’s key point was this: only by looking at the global cataclysms of the past can we prevent another one happening in future. 

Attenborough and co did provide some glimmers of hope, but it’s hard to avoid feeling helpless sometimes. Nice job, humans.

54 Days: America and the Pandemic – Tuesday 2nd February, BBC Two

This sobering documentary focused on some of the high-ranking American medical experts who did everything within their power during the early stages of the pandemic. It began on 31st January 2020, when there were only seven confirmed cases in the USA, and ended on 24th March, when there were 54,453 confirmed cases and 780 fatalities. 

The experts shared their intense frustrations and almost darkly comic sense of disbelief at pig-headed Trump’s politically motivated refusal to accept reality. Thousands of people have died as a direct result of his blatant misinformation. A rampant, dangerous egomaniac.

New York’s former Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot broke down in tears as she described her overwhelming sense of responsibility. These people are not to blame, their hands were tied by a despotic regime.

 

IT'S A SIN + JOANNA LUMLEY'S HOME SWEET HOME: TRAVELS IN MY OWN LAND

This article was originally published in The Courier on 30th January 2021.

NEXT WEEK'S TV

It’s a Sin – Friday, Channel 4, 9pm

We’ve known from the start that at least one of the characters in Russell T. Davies’ outstanding drama would eventually die from AIDS. But no matter how much you may have steeled yourself for that tragic development, this episode is utterly devastating. 

Davies doesn’t flinch, as that would fatally undermine his modus operandi. He wants us to confront the terrifying cruelty of this disease and the appalling stigma that surrounded it in the 1980s. He’s made us care about these characters, we’re fully invested in them. Now it’s time to cry and get angry. 

And yet, as always, Davies balances the horror with humour. He’s a remarkable writer: this profoundly compassionate political statement could be the best thing he’s ever done.

Craftivism: Making a Difference – Monday, BBC Four, 10pm

Comedian Jenny Éclair has been on her fair share of protest marches over the years. In this revealing programme, she examines the direct crossover between grass-roots activism and creativity, specifically with regards to knitting, cross-stitching, banners and Fuzzy Felt graffiti. 

That may sound rather twee and whimsical, but Éclair makes a strong case for the effectiveness of craftivism. It grabs people’s attention, it makes them stop and think: humour, art and politics combined. It can also be a source of mental wellbeing. 

Éclair meets various nimble-figured campaigners, all of them devoted to raising awareness of various important causes via non-aggressive means. They’re doing what they can in a benign yet sometimes provocative way.

Interior Design Masters with Alan Carr – Tuesday, BBC Two, 8pm

Deep in the bowels of Broadcasting House, there stands a large semi-sentient computer tasked with churning out formulaic competitive lifestyle formats. Its latest computation is this, a slickly upholstered vehicle featuring ten creative contestants hoping to break into the professional world of interior design. The grand prize is a contract with a luxury hotel in The Lake District. 

Each week they’re instructed to transform a bland commercial space using the spellbinding power of their imaginations. Host Alan Carr does what’s required of him (very little), while design guru Michelle Ogundehin scrutinises their efforts. 

It is staggeringly dull, the very definition of barely moving wallpaper. No drama, no tension, no fun. We don’t need this right now. Or ever.

Joanna Lumley’s Home Sweet Home: Travels in My Own Land – Tuesday, STV, 8pm

La Lumley rises above that unwieldy title to present this undemanding series in which she travels around Britain. You know the drill: nice scenery and a smattering of history, all wrapped up in Lumley’s soothing caramel tones. There’s no theme, no focus, just a random patchwork of vignettes. 

On the banks of Lake Windermere she visits the picturesque home of Beatrix Potter. In Whitby, the coastal town that inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, she hangs out with some goths. Meanwhile, in Manchester, she visits Coronation Street HQ to wax nostalgically with William Roache (she once played Ken Barlow’s girlfriend for four weeks in 1973). 

Lumley is undeniably good at this sort of thing, she’s naturally charming, friendly and inquisitive.

Your Garden Made Perfect – Thursday, BBC Two, 8pm

Here we go again, yet another ‘aspirational’ series designed to make us feel like failures. You don’t have a massive garden and a mound of disposable income? Well that’s your fault. 

In episode one we meet two couples with a combined budget of £40,000. They want to transform their back gardens into magical wonderlands, so they enlist a team of design experts. Detailed computer-generated simulations afford them the luxury of choosing the results. This conceit is presented as a mind-blowing hook. 

The only affluent lifestyle show I can stomach is Grand Designs, because that tacitly mocks the participants. Pure schadenfreude. This is a smug celebration of oblivious middle-class orthodoxy. I’m a million laughs in real life, honestly.

The Chasers Road Trip: Trains, Brains and Automobiles – Thursday, STV, 9pm

In the final episode of this knowledge-hungry travelogue, Anne, Mark and Shaun from TV’s The Chase arrive in Japan, which has one of the highest robot to human ratios in the world. 

Their journey into the world of Artificial Intelligence is ostensibly light-hearted, but the programme carries a sinister undertow. Advanced facial recognition technology could pose a serious threat to our civil liberties, and do we really want to live in a world populated by realistic androids? We’ve all seen Humans and The Terminator. 

Shaun is particularly worried about this dystopian sci-fi nightmare, whereas pragmatic Anne believes that the human brainbox will always be the dominant force on Earth. Bradley Walsh was unavailable for comment.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Incredible Journeys with Simon Reeve –  24th January, BBC Two

Last year, seasoned BBC travellers Michael Palin and Louis Theroux hosted emergency lockdown compilations of highlights from their previous adventures. Now it’s Simon Reeve’s turn. 

An affable explorer with a dedicated social conscience, Reeve is a people person. He’s not one to merely bask in the foreign climes he encounters, he’s more interested in making a meaningful street-level connection with different cultures. 

This wasn’t the best way to appreciate his work: Best Of’s never are. But it was a touching reminder of how, in his unassuming way, he exposes injustice. War, poverty, inequality, prejudice, these are the abiding themes of his programmes. His anger bubbles just below the surface. His compassion is palpable. A decent human being.

Hip Hop: Songs That Shook America – 29th January, BBC Four

Each episode in this new series focuses on a game-changing hip hop track. It began with Kanye West’s Jesus Walks from 2004. A powerful redemption song, this innovative fusion of social commentary, self-aggrandisement and gospel put Kanye on the map. 

Which is all well and good, but the story behind the making of Jesus Walks isn’t particularly interesting. Yes, the programme placed the song in its socio-political context while tracing the evolution of Kanye’s life and career up until that point, but it all felt rather perfunctory. 

To make up for Kanye’s absence, series producers Questlove and Black Thought from The Roots spoke to some of his collaborators. The rest of the series will hopefully be more substantial.

 

KATIE PRICE: HARVEY & ME + IT'S A SIN + FINDING ALICE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 23rd January 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Katie Price: Harvey and Me – Monday, BBC One, 8:30pm

Harvey Price was born with a rare genetic disorder. He is also autistic and has been diagnosed with several other behavioural and medical conditions. Last year, he turned 18. 

This intimate documentary follows Harvey and his mother, Katie, as they attempt to deal with a milestone in their lives. Katie has many important decisions to make with regards to Harvey’s future. Like all parents of children with disabilities, she wants him to achieve as much independence as possible. We accompany her during visits to various colleges, as she ascertains whether they can cater to his extensive needs. 

A poignant programme about a loving mother and child relationship, it also raises awareness of the (sometimes expensive) opportunities available to young disabled adults and their families.

Lightning – Monday to Friday, BBC Two, 6:30pm

Here’s fun. A new early evening quiz show in which members of the public compete for a £3,000 jackpot. The set design and format are blatantly indebted to The Weakest Link, but it’s faster, friendlier. Host Zoe Lyons is an unobtrusive presence who keeps it all ticking along nicely. 

Six contestants wearing conspicuously massive nametags answer general knowledge questions in a bid to stay in the game. It couldn’t be more straightforward. Yes, there’s a curious interlude involving a hand-eye coordination game, but that’s a minor diversion. 

Like all the best quizzes, Lightning encourages us to shout answers back at the screen. It’s something to enjoy while having your tea or staving off an endlessly nocturnal existential crisis.

Devon and Cornwall – Monday, Channel 4, 8pm

Time once again to bask in the Sunday-roasted narration of John Nettles, who stands astride this picturesque series like old King Neptune swigging ostentatiously from a flagon of Bishop’s Peculiar. Ah, Britain. 

It’s impossible to take Devon and Cornwall seriously. What should be a fairly inoffensive little programme about people living and working in a particularly beautiful corner of this country we call home is rendered utterly ridiculous by Nettles. Even Matt Berry would ask him to tone it down a notch. 

This week we meet a nice man devoted to cleaning up the shores from plastic pollution and, well, I must admit that Bergerac’s bombast made me laugh too much to focus on the rest. Comedy gold.

Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema – Monday, BBC Four, 9pm

In the final episode of his current series, Kermode runs pell-mell into his wheelhouse: cult films. A broad church, admittedly, and it does feel like he’s mopping up films he hasn’t had a chance to talk about yet; but to his credit he weaves them into a persuasive critical narrative. 

“Films don’t become cult movies on purpose,” he says, “and filmmakers don’t decide which films fall into that category. We do.” 

This is a forum where the works of Kurosawa and Ed Wood are equally deserving of discussion. His fine series also proves that viewers are perfectly capable of enjoying no-frills televised lectures. Plus he celebrates one of my favourites, the surrealist 1960s Czechoslovak satire, Daises. Good man.

Back – Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm

As the second series of this very funny sitcom continues, Stephen (David Mitchell) encounters someone else who may well be his genetic father. He’s known as Charismatic Mike (Anthony Head), a self-styled free spirit who dresses like David Essex in roguish canal-dwelling mode. 

The pub locals love him, of course, much to the chagrin of gas-lighting Andrew (Robert Webb), whose carefully stage-managed status as empathetic village cool guy is immediately threatened. Stephen laments that if Mike isn’t his dad, “It could be a bloke called Cheeky Pete who stabbed livestock.” 

This episode was written by Will Smith (not that one), who, like series creator Simon Blackwell, cut his situation comedy teeth on The Thick of It.

It’s a Sin – Friday, Channel 4, 9pm

It’s 1984, and distant rumours of the AIDS crisis are encroaching upon our character’s lives. Ritchie (a charismatic turn from Years & Years frontman Olly Alexander) still refuses to believe it. After all, media reports at the time were aggressively ill-informed and hysterical. How can gay people trust a society that despises them? But Jill (the delightful Lydia West) discovers the truth first-hand when she cares for a terrified friend with HIV. 

The second episode of Russell T. Davies’ striking drama reminds us of the fear, prejudice and paranoia which coursed through that not-so-long-ago age. His palpable anger strolls deftly hand in hand with characteristic wit and compassion. A gut-punching piece of work.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Celebrity Catchpoint – Saturday 16th January, BBC One

The latest series of this perfunctory gameshow is once again hosted by Paddy McGuinness. I’m no fan of this hack comedy chancer, this blandly avuncular serving droid, but I must admit that within the context of a show such as this, he’s a safe pair of hands. He’ll never be forgiven for Max & Paddy, Take Me Out or his appalling attempts at stand-up, but here he’s just an inoffensive man doing a thing. 

The latest batch of celebrities competing for charity were Dr Ranj Singh, Olympian Greg Rutherford and two faceless Radio 1 DJ’s. They answered general knowledge questions while catching large inflatable balls. Even McGuinness has grown tired of making nudge-nudge jokes about the latter.

Finding Alice – Sunday 17th January, STV

This black comedy-drama stars Keeley Hawes as a vaguely sympathetic version of Kirsty Allsopp. If you can imagine such a thing. It began with her moving into a dream home, ludicrously grand designed by her Kevin McCloud-esque husband: who then fell down his blatantly unsafe staircase and died. Did she push him? 

Writer Simon Nye (Men Behaving Badly) turned this into a running gag. A conventional thriller would revolve around that mystery, but Finding Alice is more concerned with poking fun at upper middle-class pretentions and greed. Or it seems to be, at least so far. I found episode one quite amusing in its total lack of sentiment. Everything was played for mordant laughs. Let’s see how it goes.

IT'S A SIN + SILENCED: THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF DISABLED BRITAIN + BACK

A version of this article was first published in The Courier on 16th January 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

It’s a Sin – Friday, Channel 4, 9pm

The great Russell T. Davies returns with this '80s-set drama about a group of friends dealing with the AIDS epidemic. It begins optimistically, with four young gay men and one straight woman embracing their newfound lives. Freedom at last. But we know what’s just around the corner. 

In typical Davies style, It's a Sin explodes with energy, wit and a sharp eye for detail. His dialogue sings, his characters are textured. No ciphers here. He handles human tragedy with compassion, but never sinks into cheap sentiment. And he absolutely does not judge with the benefit of hindsight. It’s frank, stark: it pulls no punches. It’s also funny. He can’t help being funny. 

Ever since Queer as Folk over 20 years ago, he’s been telling vital stories about the LGBT community. This is an essential addition to his life’s work.

Mark Kermode’s Secrets of Cinema – Monday, BBC Four, 9pm

Everybody’s talkin’ ‘bout pop movies! Well, Kermode is anyway, as his enlightening series of essays continues. This genre combines his twin passions, so no wonder it’s one of his favourites. 

He begins with Bessie Smith in 1929 and ends with Beyoncé in 2020, taking in along the way various notable biopics, pop star vehicles, jukebox musicals and rockumentaries. 

Kermode fans won’t be surprised by some of his choices – famously, he once described the surprisingly gritty Slade in Flame as “the Citizen Kane of British pop movies” – but that doesn’t matter. It’s a pleasure listening to him wax lyrical about cult classics such as Jimmy Cliff’s trailblazing reggae drama, The Harder They Come, and The Monkees’ psychedelic masterpiece, Head.

Long Lost Family – Monday, STV, 9pm

If you’ve seen this show before, you’ll know how sensitive it is. The latest series begins with an Irish couple desperate to find out what happened to their first-born child. Phyllis and Kevin fell in love as teenagers. 

When she became pregnant, they knew it would cause a scandal within their strict Catholic community. They tried to run away, but were eventually forced to give their baby up for adoption. Ever since they’ve wanted him to know that he was loved.

Meanwhile, we meet a Scottish man who was, for complicated reasons, given away by his mother at an early age. He was taken in informally by a family, leaving no paper trail. Prepare to shed a tear or two.

Silenced: The Hidden Story of Disabled Britain – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

In 2009, CBeebies presenter Cerrie Bernell attracted criticism from ‘concerned’ parents who claimed that her right arm, which ends just below the elbow, was frightening their children. 

Most people were appalled by such a blatant display of prejudice in our supposedly enlightened age, but as Bernell illustrates in this thoughtful documentary, these attitudes have been ingrained within society for an aeon and beyond. 

Her history lesson exposes a litany of blinkered assumptions, many of them made by well-meaning progressives who intensified the notion that people with disabilities can’t function within able-bodied society. They must be pitied, othered. For their own good. 

An often shocking saga, but Bernell provides some hope. We can challenge fear and bigotry by talking, listening and learning.

First Dates – Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm

Lovers of the world unite, French Fred is back. I was suspicious of this amorous warhorse when it first appeared in 2013. A contrived, voyeuristic blind dating show? That’s bound to be quite nasty and embarrassing. But it’s not. 

Granted, the first episode of this latest series features a pair of young Tories who are objectively awful, but for the most part it’s a generous show that doesn’t beg us to sneer at people (sneering at Tories doesn’t count, they deserve it; fight the power, First Dates). 

Bittersweet service resumes with a charismatic former roadie, a charming Lithuanian woman and two men who have already slept with each other. Not all at the same time, of course! Sigh. Anyway, enjoy.

Back – Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm

Series one of this Mitchell and Webb sitcom was broadcast way back in the halcyon Before Times of 2017. Like their previous sitcom, the (journalese warning) cult smash Peep Show, it was enjoyed by the relatively small number of dedicated viewers who bothered to tune in. I was a member of that happy band, so I welcome its belated return. 

A farcical black comedy, it stars Mitchell as Stephen, a – what else? – stuffy neurotic whose life in rural Gloucestershire is sent into freefall when Andrew (Webb), a suspiciously benign stranger, turns up claiming to be his long-lost foster brother. The family welcome Andrew with open arms, but Stephen regards him as a scheming sociopath intent on stealing his soul. 

Created by Simon Blackwell (Peep Show; The Thick of It), it's notable for containing lots of actual jokes. Glory be.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Paul Sinha’s TV Showdown – Saturday 9th January, STV

This new TV quiz is quite good fun. The questions are incredibly easy, but it’s an amiable Saturday night time-passer. 

Dry-witted Chaser Paul Sinha is an obsessive pop culture trivia hound, a man after my own heart, so he’s the perfect choice of host. Team captains Rob Beckett (a professional comedian) and Faye Ripley (a Cold Feet actor) are merely there to make up the numbers.

Episode one’s undoubted highlight was Sinha deliberately mispronouncing John Fashanu’s surname a la Chris Morris in The Day Today, a niche comedy reference that pleased me to bits. The show inevitably leans towards TV that happened five minutes ago – no one was asked to identify Talfryn Thomas – but Sinha just about makes it work.

Happy Birthday Mr Bean – Sunday 10th January, STV

On New Year’s Day 1990, Rowan Atkinson unleashed his latest comic persona: the semi-silent Mr Bean, a selfish, spiteful yet weirdly endearing agent of chaos. Bean went on to become a global phenomenon, delighting millions with the universal language of slapstick. 

This was a cut above most comedy retrospectives in that it focused on the people who were actually responsible for creating the work in question. There were no celebrity talking heads gushing pointlessly over their favourite scenes. Instead, writers Richard Curtis, Robin Driscoll and the rubber-faced funnyman ™ himself delivered some insight into their creative process. 

Atkinson is renowned for his perfectionism, but wishes he wasn’t. “It’s more of a disease,” he lamented. “It’s very draining.”