I AM VICTORIA + WRITE AROUND THE WORLD WITH RICHARD E. GRANT + RIGHT HERE: THE BLACK VEIL

This article was originally published in The Courier on 31st July 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

I Am Victoria – Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm

Series two of this female-led anthology from writer/director Dominic Savage begins with an emotionally raw drama about the importance of seeking help when you need it most. 

Savage, much like Mike Leigh, favours a creative process whereby he collaborates closely with his actors; these characters and narratives are borne of carefully controlled improvisation. The star and co-creator of episode one is the brilliant Suranne Jones. 

She plays Victoria, a successful businesswoman with a supportive husband (Ashley Walters) and two beautiful children. But underneath that seemingly – and as it transpires, desperately – perfect façade, Victoria is struggling with her mental health. I Am Victoria is intense, riveting, sad yet hopeful. And Jones is quite extraordinary.

How Healthy is Your Gut? – Tuesday, Channel 4, 8pm

Bloating, flatulence, heartburn, diarrhoea: it is reported that over half of the UK’s population suffers from digestive problems. If you can – and I really am so sorry about this – stomach it, this frank documentary actually provides some useful advice about what we should do to boost our gut health and general quality of life. 

Your friendly host is Sabrina Grant, who enlists the help of six volunteers tasked with trying out various popular diets and treatments – including colonic hydrotherapy - to see if they have any significant effect. Perhaps inevitably, gastrointestinal cameras are involved. 

But the programme, to its credit, avoids the cheap and childish ‘tee-hee’ route. Digestive problems can be very embarrassing and, in some cases, seriously debilitating.

Country Life for Half the Price with Kate Humble – Tuesday, Channel 5, 8pm

According to this series, more and more people are fleeing the pressures of urban life for a different set of pressures in the countryside. 

This week, Humble meets a couple who have prepared for their move to South West Wales by rearing ducks and micro-pigs in their back garden in suburban Reading. They want to live somewhere with fewer people and with more space for themselves and their two young boys. 

Humble follows them – from a safe distance – as they begin their rural adventure during a year of lockdown. All those plans for opening a petting zoo and a crafts workshop have to be put on hold. But they do at least learn how to forage for stuff.

Our Family Farm Rescue with Adam Henson – Tuesday, Channel 5, 9pm

What is it with Channel 5 and farms? They’re obsessed. But if it stops them from making more malicious programmes about travellers and ‘benefit scroungers’, then I for one support their slide into bucolic monomania. 

In the latest episode of this vehicle for Countryfile alumnus Adam Henson, he meets more fellow farmers who have had to change the way they operate in order to survive. 

On the edge of Snowdonia National Park (see Epic Wales for its second starring role in this week’s schedules), a couple who run a traditional sheep and cattle farm are in serious financial trouble. So they’ve hatched a plan to branch out into the luxury glamping game. Cue the construction of a large geo-dome.

Write Around the World with Richard E. Grant – Tuesday, BBC Four, 9pm

In which that most actorly of actors dons a metaphorical panama hat while travelling around sunny mainland Europe in the footsteps of several notable authors. He wants to examine the ways in which they were inspired by various ancient cities of note. 

The series was presumably filmed two years ago, hence why Grant wanders around the busy streets of Naples without a care in the world. The man is positively rammed to the gills with joie de vivre. 

He goes off the beaten tourist track and marvels at the local culture in time-honoured travelogue style, but the programme does concede a few serious points about poverty and corruption. Authors under review include Charles Dickens, Elena Farrante and Elizabeth Gilbert.

Right Here: The Black Veil – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 10:30pm

A new series of documentaries from emerging filmmakers, Right Here celebrates the diversity of life in modern Scotland. 

It begins with a sweet and tender profile of Bradley, a gender non-binary person preparing for their wedding to partner Emma. This will be the first time that some of their friends and family members will have seen Bradley presenting in female clothing. 

Bradley is also a member of The Order of Perpetual Indulgence, an LGBTQ+ protest group dedicated to “banishing stigma and spreading universal joy”. The film’s title refers to the highest ranking within the order, into which Bradley is about to be initiated. 

A thoughtful and articulate person, all Bradley wants is to be accepted for who they are.

Epic Wales: Valleys, Mountains & Coasts – Friday, Channel 4, 8pm

I’ve barely set foot outside my flat during the last eighteen months, and yet thanks to my dogged pursuit of writing about television, I feel like I’ve seen more of scenic Britain via travelogues than I ever did when life was relatively free and easy. That’s not right. 

This one features suitably awestruck narration from Cerys Matthews, who introduces us to “farmers and fishermen, artists and adventurers, nature savers and stargazers” based in Wales’ three National Parks. 

It’s a standard TV format, you know exactly what to expect, but it works. Programmes such as this depict Britain as a beauteous wonderland populated by nice, interesting people keeping simple traditions alive. They’re a much-needed source of fantasy respite.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Take Off with Bradley & Holly – Saturday 24th July, BBC One

This series was filmed just before the global lockdown. That’s why it happily sends contestants off on luxury foreign holidays. The winning destinations last week were Hollywood and Las Vegas, thus necessitating the presence of a studio-bound Elvis impersonator who looked more like Quentin Tarantino mimicking Neil Diamond. 

Hosts Bradley Walsh and Holly Willoughby are safe pairs of hands, each comfortable in their respective roles. He’s the cheeky chappie who ‘mucks about’, she’s the nice, friendly, daffy one. They’re an inoffensive double-act. 

The show itself is a hodgepodge of familiar Saturday night light entertainment formats – quizzes, pranks, feel-good human interest stories – indebted to the pioneering visions of Cilla Black and Noel Edmonds. I’ve seen worse.

Michael McIntyre’s The Wheel – Saturday 24th July, BBC One

The Saturday fun on BBC One continued with the return of this quiz in which the relentlessly buoyant McIntyre presides over a cabal of celebrities with specialist areas of expertise. 

They’re seated on the perimeter of a large roulette wheel. Members of the public are perched in the centre. The contestants field questions while hoping that the spinning wheel of fortune settles on a celeb who knows their onions. And that’s more or less it. 

The format is far too thin to sustain its 60-minute running time; thirty minutes would more than suffice. Put it this way, it’s no Danny Dyer’s The Wall. Coming soon: John Bishop’s The Rhomboid; Claudia Winkleman’s The Tankard; Ashley Banjo’s The Bath. You get the idea.

 

CHRIS PACKHAM: THE WALK THAT MADE ME + HARRY BIRRELL PRESENTS FILMS of SCOTLAND + BAPTISTE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 24th July 2021.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Chris Packham: The Walk That Made Me – Wednesday, BBC Two, 8pm

The affable naturalist deserves plaudits for making this immersive programme about mental health. It’s a beautiful piece of television. 

Filmed by Packham using a hand-held 360 degree camera, it follows him as he revisits his favourite childhood walk through the gorgeous Hampshire countryside. There is no music telling us how to feel: the soothing soundtrack is almost entirely composed of Packham’s voice, a babbling river and birdsong. 

Occasionally he bumps into people along the way, but for the most part this is an introspective journey during which Packham talks eloquently about his Asperger’s and struggles with depression. He knows how difficult it is to summon up the energy to commune with nature when you feel bereft of hope, but his advice is tender and wise.

The Bhangra Boss – The Story of DJ Vips – Monday, BBC Scotland, 10:30pm

The Edinburgh-based bhangra DJ Vipen Kumar passed away in 2019. A cult hero with an impressive legacy, he’s given his due in this enlightening documentary. 

Kumar emigrated from India with his family when he was a child. He later went on to open an Asian music shop in Edinburgh, before becoming an in-demand wedding DJ who instinctively knew how to work a crowd. A dedicated entrepreneur with a fervent passion for music, he also promoted live events and started his own successful record label, via which he nurtured emerging bhangra talent throughout the UK. 

A modest visionary, Kumar comes across as a friendly soul who was liked and respected by everyone he met. A good man.  

Harry Birrell Presents Films of Scotland – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 10pm

Paisley schoolboy Harry Birrell was gifted with a cine-camera in 1929. For the rest of his life, it rarely left his side. This fascinating series delves into the man’s vast archive of life in Scotland during the 20^th century. 

Birrell’s footage is so evocative, it’s like travelling back in time. His films are populated by ordinary people enjoying themselves; they aren’t transluscent ghosts from the past, they’re tangible human beings. 

And Birrell was no mere amateur. As the programme makes abundantly clear, he was an unschooled artisan with an innate understanding of how to compose visual narratives. Highlights in episode one include the construction of the Forth Rail Bridge and a visit to the inaugural Edinburgh Festival.

India’s Rape Scandal – Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm

In India, a woman reports a rape every fifteen minutes. But it is estimated that over 90% of attacks are never reported at all. This disturbing report from C4’s Dispatches team highlights the growing national outcry surrounding a vile network of politicians and their powerful allies who are silencing women they have raped. 

These high-profile men regard themselves as above the law, and employ a regime of intimidation, violence and murder to enforce cover-ups. 

This is a family newspaper, so it would be inappropriate of me to quote some of the horrific details contained within the programme. All I can do is respectfully guide you towards an important and deeply angering expose of institutionalised corruption and abuse.

Yorkshire Firefighters – Thursday, BBC Two, 8pm

This solid frontline series follows the firefighters responsible for protecting over 2 million people in West Yorkshire. 

Filmed under Covid conditions, these men and women continue to do their difficult job during a particularly anxious time for everyone. As one of them says: “I think in terms of your mental health… getting out there and actually being able to fulfil your role as you’ve always done, it’s been massive for us really.” 

It begins on the 5^th of November, which is always one of their busiest nights of the year. The absence of organised firework displays triggers more opportunities for antisocial public behaviour. The team must also deal with a raging fire in a former go-kart track.

A Year in the Beacons – Thursday, STV, 8:30pm

The Brecon Beacons National Park in Wales is a hive of activity. This undemanding series spotlights some of its residents as they adapt to seasonal changes. 

Against an epic backdrop of mountainous vistas, we meet characters such as Harry Legge-Bourke, a textbook toff and full time custodian of the Glanusk Estate. An ex-military officer and former pageboy to the Queen, Harry is a keen traditionalist on a constant stressful mission to keep the estate afloat. 

His galumphing lifestyle is contrasted with that of the Phillips family, who have been farming in this area for five generations. They’re nice people. We also spend time with the local mountain rescue team, who are often called out to assist unwary (some might say foolhardy) tourists. 

No Body Recovered – Thursday, STV, 9pm

Early last year, Michael O’Leary from West Wales went missing. A middle-aged family man, his disappearance made no sense. 

The last text he apparently sent to his loved ones read: “I’m so sorry.” His car was found abandoned not far from where he lived. The police initially suspected suicide, but they eventually discovered that O’Leary had been involved in an affair with the wife of one of his friends. Her husband then became the prime suspect. 

We all enjoy a good mystery, but I’m always torn when it comes to these true-crime documentaries. The death of Michael O’Leary was a terrible tragedy, but should we really be watching a programme about it? What purpose does it serve?

LAST WEEK’S TV

Baptiste – Sunday 18th July, BBC One

The second series of this spin-off from The Missing got off to a leisurely start, presumably because writers Jack and Harry Williams - a prolific pair of superior hacks - are secure in the knowledge that viewers trust them to deliver the addictive twist-strewn goods in due course.

Sure enough, the various threads of intrigue rapidly entwined in the last ten minutes. 

Baptiste is one of my favourite TV 'tecs. A careworn Frenchman who exhibits an almost pathological obsession with solving missing person cases, he’s driven by a sort of self-serving altruism: helping people makes him feel like his life is worthwhile. And that quietly commanding performance from French-Turkish actor Tchecky Karyo is key to the programme’s appeal.

Professor T. – Sunday 18th July, STV

This adaptation of a Belgian TV series is woefully misjudged. It nominally presents itself as a classy, whimsical Sunday night detective yarn starring comedian Ben Miller as a ‘quirky’ Cambridge criminologist who assists the police in their enquiries. The antagonist in episode one? A masked serial rapist. 

You simply cannot broach that harrowing territory for the purposes of shallow entertainment. Professor T demands of its audience a willingness to tolerate whiplash shifts in tone. Dunno about you, but I’m not prepared to do that. 

Not only is Professor T distasteful, it’s also entirely rote and derivative: a pedestrian crime caper with a dubious tone-deaf streak. Baptiste isn’t perfect, but at least it has some sort of moral compass. 

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.

 

BLACK POWER: A BRITISH STORY OF RESISTANCE + FOOTBALL'S DARKEST SECRET

This article was originally published in The Courier on 20th March 2021. 

NEXT WEEK'S TV

Black Power: A British Story of Resistance – Thursday, BBC Two, 9pm

This stirring 90-minute documentary traces the dramatic rise and fall of the British Black Power movement in the 1960s and 1970s. 

Inspired by the civil rights struggle in America, and in particular the uncompromising rhetoric of Malcolm X and Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael, these young black and Asian radicals fought back against the brutal institutional racism they endured on a daily basis. 

The film features compelling testaments from some of the still-defiant members of this hugely important yet often overlooked movement. 

A vital piece of social history, it also reaches out to the Black Lives Matter movement and considers the lessons that can be learned from their pioneering forebears in the self-empowering revolt against racial discrimination.

Football’s Darkest Secret – Monday to Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm

This landmark series examines the shockingly vast amount of cases of historic child abuse which took place in British youth football from the mid-1970s until the mid-1990s. In doing so, it exposes the culture of silence that surrounded these heinous crimes. 

Preview copies weren’t available at the time of writing, but this is quite clearly an essential report.

For decades, coaches and scouts connected to top football clubs abused their positions of power to prey on vulnerable young boys. Many of the victims were shamed into silence until, in 2016, former player Andy Woodward chose to speak out publicly. This encouraged more than 800 other victims to follow suit. 300 suspects have since been identified.

24 Hours in Police Custody: Bedfordshire’s Most Wanted – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

The umpteenth series of this bleakly compelling observational crime-doc begins with 23-year-old Barry, who is being held on suspicion of multiple burglaries and numerous driving offences. Barry reckons he’s been in custody more than a thousand times. Due to a lack of fresh evidence against him, the police have no choice but to release this smirking recidivist. He clearly thinks he’s untouchable. 

But within a few weeks, the police receive calls from two terrified teenage girls who accuse Barry of sexual assault. And then the tense, queasy interviews, for which this series is renowned, begin. Barry, his bravado visibly disintegrating, insists the sex was consensual. Barry is a liar. It’s a timely episode, for obvious reasons.

The Detectives: Fighting Organised Crime – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

Filmed over two years, this disturbing five-part series follows Greater Manchester Police officers as they struggle to cope with the ever-growing problem of organised crime groups.

 “It’s the biggest threat to the UK in terms of security,” says one of the detectives tasked with infiltrating this violent criminal underworld. Drug-trafficking, people-trafficking, extortion, fraud, kidnap and murder, these groups will do anything to make enormous sums of money and consolidate their power. Despite the detectives’ best efforts, the entire situation feels hopeless. 

Warning: like 24 Hours in Police Custody, this is strong stuff. It’s not gratuitous, but we do encounter a victim with severe injuries, and the descriptions of violent acts may prove upsetting for some viewers.

Strangers Making Babies – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9:15pm

Co-parenting is the term used to describe people who decide to have children outside of a conventional romantic relationship. In this sensitive new series, we meet single people who, for various reasons, feel that time is running out. So now they’re ready to enter into mutually beneficial platonic arrangements. 

As cold as that may sound, Strangers Making Babies is a touching dating show. It’s overseen by trustworthy experts; I have no reason to doubt their extensive vetting and matching process. There is nothing in this show to suggest that anyone is being exploited or coerced. 

Emotional complications inevitably ensue, but not to a traumatic extent. The overall tone is encouraging and sympathetic. Good luck to ‘em all.

This Is MY House – Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm

A sort of reverse polarity version of Through the Keyhole, this daft new series asks celebrities to correctly identify a luxury house-owner from a group of suspects. Three of them are actors, and the only one who knows the truth is the owner themselves. 

The fundamental flaw in this format – which was co-devised by media powerhouse Richard Bacon – is that the actors are visibly acting throughout. You can instantly tell who the ordinary member of the public is, but the celebs have to pretend to ignore that for the sake of the game. 

Okay, I’m willing to be proved wrong, as my preview copy cut off before their identity was revealed - presumably to prevent this nail-biting spoiler from leaking into the public domain prior to transmission - but I suspect I’ve got it bang to rights.

First Dates Hotel – Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

Time now to return to that glamorous five-star hotel in sun-kissed rural Italy, where Fred and co play host to another nervous gaggle of amour-chasers. 

First up is Thalia, a young woman whose confidence has been shattered by her ex. Thalia’s date is Jack, a cancer survivor. We also meet Tony, a dapper septuagenarian widower from Essex. Tony has, shall we say, robust political opinions. His date, Lesley, does not. So you can imagine how that goes. 

As always, it’s all rather lovely. The First Dates franchise is basically a benign endeavour, it doesn’t mock or judge its participants. We’re nosy by nature, but I do believe we want the best for people. Naïve of me, perhaps.

LAST WEEK'S TV

Billie: In Search of Billie Holiday – Saturday 13th March, BBC Two

In the early 1970s, American journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl set out to write the definitive biography of the late jazz great Billie Holliday. Her stated aim: “to go beyond the romantic myth of tortured artist and hopeless junkie.” 

Her research involved numerous lengthy interviews with Holiday’s friends, lovers and colleagues. But the book was never completed, as Kuehl died in 1978 at the age of 38. The police deemed it suicide, but her family believe she may have been murdered. 

This documentary, while undeniably interesting when it focused on Kuehl’s interviews with Holiday’s confidantes, failed in its attempts to tie the lives of these women together. What was the director trying to say exactly? A confused endeavour.

Roman Kemp: Our Silent Emergency – Tuesday 16th March, BBC One

Last year, Roman Kemp’s best friend, Joe Lyons, took his own life. Kemp had no idea that Lyons was struggling with mental health issues. There were no signs as far as he could see. 

In this commendably honest, delicate and responsible programme, the TV presenter and radio DJ went in search of answers: why do so many young men feel unable to talk about their problems? 

Teenage suicide rates in Britain are on the rise. The pandemic has exacerbated feelings of isolation, depression and anxiety. People feel hopeless. But Kemp’s message was clear: it is so important to open up about your feelings. Talking provides a cathartic release. You will not be judged, you are loved. Help is out there.

 

 

 

HORIZON: WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH TONY SLATTERY? + PETER SELLERS: A STATE OF COMIC ECSTASY

This article was originally published in The Courier on 16th May 2020.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

HORIZON: WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH TONY SLATTERY?

Thursday, BBC Two, 9pm

The comedian Tony Slattery was once one of the biggest stars on British television. A handsome sprite with a rare gift for inspired improvisation, he was ubiquitous. And then, suddenly, he disappeared. Last year, an interview with The Guardian in which he talked openly about his mental health and substance abuse issues, returned him to the spotlight. In this raw, candid, moving documentary, Slattery and his wonderful partner Mark go in search of an official diagnosis as well as the harrowing root cause of some of his issues. A terribly sweet, vulnerable man, Slattery is in a bad way. But he hopes that, by choosing to expose the ravages of his illness, he might encourage others to seek help too.

THE CHANGIN’ TIMES OF IKE WHITE

Monday, BBC Four, 10pm

Ike White is a gifted soul musician whose only album, Changin’ Times, was recorded in 1976 under highly unusual circumstances: White was serving a life sentence for murder at the time. This absorbing Arena documentary follows a classic mystery formula: introduce the viewer to a forgotten cult artist, then gradually reveal what happened to them. White has always maintained that, while guilty of robbing a grocery store, he shot and killed the owner by accident. The Changin’ Times project was a chance to turn his life around, yet despite the patronage of Stevie Wonder and a release from prison in 1978, he more or less chose to fade into obscurity. Following a diligent search, Arena tracked him down to find out why.

OUR LIVES: SOUL BOY

Wednesday, BBC One, 7:30pm

Meet Anthony Flavin, a Nottingham teenager who has been in care since he was six. This uplifting half hour documentary follows him as he prepares to branch out on his own for the first time. Anthony has discovered a passionate sense of purpose within the local Northern Soul community. It has boosted his confidence and changed his life completely. The programme is a sweet celebration of the transcendent succour of music and companionship. The Northern Soul scene is quite rightly presented as an utterly positive working class subculture, an egalitarian escape route from the pressures of everyday life. We could all do with a little hope at the moment; you’ll find some here. Come on feet, start movin’.

CLIMBING BLIND

Wednesday, BBC Four, 9pm

This remarkable documentary follows lifelong climber Jesse Dufton, who is almost completely blind, as he attempts to conquer the Old Man of Hoy. No one has ever made a ‘non-sight’ lead of the famous Scottish sea stack before, but Dufton is confident that he can do it. Accompanied by his sight guide and fiancée, Molly, and rock-climbing filmmaker Alastair Lee, he first of all explains his technique: “I’m not really using my eyes, to be honest. They don’t really give me any useful information. All the information will be what I feel through my hands and through my feet as well.” The Old Man of Hoy is a sheer rock face, 449-foot high. In a word: yikes.

LAST WEEK’S TV

PETER SELLERS: A STATE OF COMIC ECSTASY

Saturday 9th May, BBC Two

This occasionally interesting yet rather peculiar and frustrating profile of the late comic genius was, more by accident than design, perfectly in keeping with the man’s inconsistent personality. It struck me as a programme with honest intentions, albeit one that lost its thread in the editing room. 

It borrowed heavily from The Peter Sellers Story, a stellar Arena documentary from 1995. That’s forgivable to an extent, as some of the key contributors have passed away since then, but it still felt like a piecemeal compromise. 

Sellers was, to say the least, a tremendously difficult man with undiagnosed mental health issues. He treated his many wives and children appallingly (Britt Ekland spoke about their relationship for the first time on camera, and came across with dignity). He wasn’t very good at being human. But this programme implied that, as an artist, he peaked with Dr Strangelove and never recovered his mojo until Being There, fifteen years later. Utterly misleading nonsense. 

It was an honest profile insomuch as it didn’t shy away from how utterly awful he could be, but it didn’t have much to say about the state of comic ecstasy he was best known for. The Arena documentary is much better; you can watch it all on YouTube.   

TV Column: LOSING IT: OUR MENTAL HEALTH EMERGENCY + DOCTOR WHO

This article was originally published in The Courier on 18th January 2020.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

DIAMOND DEALERS AND COCKNEY GEEZERS

Monday, Channel 4, 10pm

This knockabout documentary follows three East End likely lads who run an independent jewellers called – I kid you not – Trotters. Judd, Alex and Kallum, who’ve been best friends since school, sell top flight bling to a bustling parade of mostly working-class customers, and can proudly boast of having more Instagram followers than any other UK jeweller. But that’s not enough: they’re off to NYC to procure items that will truly put them on the map. The banterrific lads are quite likeable – yes, even the one who looks like Jim Davidson - and the programme doesn’t peer down its nose at them or their clientele. Nice. Although billed as a one-off, it feels like a pilot for a series.

CRAZY DELICIOUS

Tuesday, Channel 4, 8pm

When is a televised culinary contest not a televised culinary contest? Never, they’re basically all the same. This new one has a bash at being a bit different by basing itself in a studio-based grotto – a whimsical Garden of Eden – packed with foraged food and drink (e.g. a tree that dispenses prosecco). But apart from that, it’s a generic confection in which three skilled amateur cooks must impress an expert panel of ‘Gods’ – Heston Blumenthal among them. This week they’re tasked with creating an inventive strawberry-based dish and a game-changing take on the hot dog. If you enjoy watching people cook, bake, whisk and knead, then this entirely inoffensive show will doubtless provide a modicum of nourishment. 

LOSING IT: OUR MENTAL HEALTH EMERGENCY

Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm

Powerful and timely, this programme visits the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust to examine Britain’s growing need to care for people struggling with severe clinical depression and anxiety. We meet an eleven-year-old girl with suicidal ideation and a mentally ill woman who recently attempted to kill herself and her family. Meanwhile, exhausted loved ones and concerned staff open up about the complexities of looking after patients who wish to take their own lives. It’s heart-breaking, but it needs to be in order to highlight the absolutely vital importance of knowing that you’re not alone, of knowing that you can talk about your feelings without fear of judgement. Trained professionals are permanently on hand to help.

INSIDE THE CROWN: SECRETS OF THE ROYALS

Thursday, STV, 9pm

Not all their secrets, surely? An expose on that scale would bring the monarchy to its knees. Instead, this new series – which arrives with impeccable timing – assembles a gang of expertly toadying lickspittles to rake over the officially acceptable dramas behind the merry house of Windsor. It begins with a sweeping essay on the history of 20^th century Royals who struggled to balance their sovereign duties with matters of the heart. The familiar sagas of Liz and Phil, and Diana Queen of Hearts, duly ensue. Gossipy Royal history is colourful and interesting, of course it is, but we’ve heard it all before. Future generations will look back upon this epoch and wonder what the hell was wrong with us all.

LAST WEEK’S TV

DOCTOR WHO

Sunday 12th January, BBC One

The terminally bland Chris Chibnall’s second series as showrunner began quite well with his Spyfall romp, but episode three – written by Ed Hime - was an embarrassing mess. It wasted Laura Fraser in a thankless supporting role, the actors playing the elderly couple were appalling (“Mah Benni!” has haunted my brain ever since), the alien wigs and humanoid cat make-up looked weirdly cheap, the direction was substandard, the overstuffed script was incompetent. There was no tension, no momentum, no one or nothing to care about. Stuff happened, then it ended. The clumsily tacked-on environmental message – while entirely sound in and of itself – came across as a laughable attempt to add weight to the preceding 48 minutes of utterly incoherent storytelling. As usual, Jodie Whittaker did her best under the circumstances. I love Doctor Who, we’re joined at the hip, but this was a nadir.

LOUIS THEROUX: SELLING SEX

Sunday 12th January, BBC Two

Theroux’s morally conflicted face went into mild overdrive during this report on British women who legally sell sex for a living. He juggled nuggets of inadvertent self-parody – “With a moment to myself, I reflected on the strangeness of what was taking place” – with his usual eloquent compassion. The admirably candid participants were vulnerable victims of abuse who’d chosen this path for reasons far beyond financial pragmatism. Theroux didn’t judge or crassly psychoanalyse them, that’s not his style. Instead he presented yet another sensitive, stigma-challenging character study.