VICKY PATTISON: ALCOHOL, DAD AND ME + TWO DOORS DOWN + THE NEWSREADER

This article was originally published in The Courier on 30th July 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Vicky Pattison: Alcohol, Dad and Me – Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm

Vicky Pattison first rose to fame via Geordie Shore, where she gained a reputation as someone who likes a drink, sometimes to excess. 

Pattison doesn’t think she’s an alcoholic, but she concedes that her relationship with alcohol is problematic. “I have abused it in the past, and there’s the potential that I could end up being like my dad.” 

Pattison’s father, John, is a full blown alcoholic. He appears alongside his daughter in this frank documentary. Vicky’s goal: find ways of helping John to stop drinking for good. 

There are no easy solutions, alcoholism is a complex illness, but the programme still succeeds as a sensitive study of anxiety, shame and addiction. Vicky and John’s candour is commendable.

Inside the Factory: XL – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

The perpetually astounded Gregg Wallace launches this supersized ITF spin-off with a visit to a vast factory where engineers build five-carriage electric trains which weigh in at 187 tonnes. Each train takes up to 1,000 hours to complete. 

As usual, Wallace is in hard-hatted, hi-vis heaven, like a beatific child given access to the world’s biggest trainset. 

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey travels to the foothills of Ben Nevis, where the hydro-powered Lochaber Smelter – the UK’s last remaining factory of its kind - produces molten tonnes of aluminium on an epic scale. 

Finally, historian Ruth Goodman pays an illuminating visit to the world’s oldest surviving electric railway line, which operates along the Brighton seafront.

Two Doors Down – Monday, BBC Two, 10pm

Cathy and Colin have just got back from a luxurious holiday in Italy. Naturally, they can’t wait to boast about it all to their neighbours. Enter a classy couple they befriended by the pool (the wife is played by special guest star Julie Graham). 

Snooty Cathy regards them as the sort of high status people they should by rights be fraternising with, but she’s absolutely mortified when they get on famously with Christine and co. That wasn’t part of the plan. 

The joy of Two Doors Down is the way in which it combines excruciatingly well-observed social satire with obvious affection for (most of) its characters and a high turnover of actual jokes. An exceptional sitcom.

Worst House on the Street – Tuesday, Channel 4, 8pm

Always buy the worst house on the best street. That, according to this new lifestyle series, “is an adage known to savvy buyers everywhere.” Watch your profits soar! 

Our hosts are property development siblings Scarlette and Stuart Douglas, who’ve been in the business for almost fifteen years. Each week they help families to transform run-down houses into dream homes on an affordable budget. You know, the usual standard-issue format. 

First up are a newly married couple who have never owned a property before, let alone managed a renovation. Scarlette and Stuart are a likeable duo. They’re easy-going pros with expertise to spare. Imagine Location, Location, Location fronted by people who aren’t utterly objectionable.

Night Coppers – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

The stars of our latest bleak encounter with Brighton’s busy night patrol include tattooed PC Robbie, an aspiring cage fighter. We follow Robbie throughout his shift, the ‘highlight’ of which is his remonstration with an aggressive bloke outside a pub. All in a night’s work. 

In another part of town we touch base with PC Emily, a rookie cop who once worked as a British Airways flight attendant. Emily has to carry out a strip-search on a less than helpful suspect. As the night wears on, PCs Zoe and Vic launch an urgent search for a vulnerable woman. 

As with all shows of its ilk, Night Coppers makes for an uncomfortable voyeuristic experience. What purpose do they ultimately serve?

The Supervet: Noel Fitzpatrick – Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm

This week, Professor Noel and his specialist veterinary team come to the rescue of Milo, a Dalmatian who has been diagnosed with a developmental condition affecting his spinal cord. 

Poor Milo is in constant pain. Noel, with his usual comforting bedside manner, presents to Milo’s owners the option of a delicate surgical procedure that should relieve the pressure on his spine. 

Noel also operates on Moon, a puppy suffering from a severe elbow ailment, and Ollie, a Shih Tzu in dire physical straits. If you’ve never seen this show before, I appreciate that my synopses must make it sound harrowing. Rest assured, it’s not in the business of bringing us down. There are almost always happy endings.

First Dates – Thursday, Channel 4, 10pm

Essex lad Luca is tired of being regarded as an unreliable ‘player’. All he wants to do is meet a nice girl, someone his dad might approve of. Luca’s date is TV presenter Hayley, whose professional onscreen confidence belies the anxiety most of us feel when meeting potential romantic partners for the first time. 

We’re also introduced to Sandie, a retired prison officer who’s lived a very full life indeed. Her many achievements include modelling the first police-issue trousers for women. Sandie’s date is veteran tennis coach Chris. 

And then there’s nonconformist boarding school matron Sarah, who’s quite taken with Charlie: a maths teacher who describes himself as a cross between Richard Ayoade and Bill Nighy.

LAST WEEK’S TV

Joe Lycett: Summer Exhibitionist – Saturday 23rd July, BBC Two

The world’s largest open submission art contest, the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition celebrates its 253^rd anniversary this year. An egalitarian endeavour, it’s a vibrant celebration of diverse creativity at which all are welcome. But that doesn’t mean your submitted artworks will be automatically accepted by the judging panel, as comedian Joe Lycett explained during this breezy documentary. 

He encountered various shortlisted artists from all walks of life, my favourite being the funny, self-aware woman whose latest entry was based on 20 years of rejection by the Royal Academy. That’s the spirit. 

Lycett is very good at this sort of thing, he’s totally at ease with members of the public. A generous host, he never mocks or sneers.

The Newsreader – Sunday 24th July, BBC Two

This promising Australian series was ABC’s most watched drama of 2021. Its appeal is obvious. 

The year: 1986. The setting: behind the scenes of a flagship daily TV news programme. The protagonist is an idealistic and highly capable anchor who’s tired of living in the shadow of her egotistical male co-host (a stentorian national institution). She finally gets a chance to shine after forming a bond with an ambitious young producer. Backstage skulduggery ensues. 

Witty and engaging, The Newsreader is the likeable antithesis of Aaron Sorkin’s similarly themed yet typically pompous The Newsroom. It doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a fairly sophisticated soap with a wry sense of humour and a sincere moral compass.

DARREN McGARVEY'S ADDICTIONS + FERGAL KEANE: LIVING WITH PTSD + INSIDE NO. 9

This article was originally published in The Courier on 7th May 2022.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

Darren McGarvey’s Addictions – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 10pm

Scotland has the highest drug fatality rate in Europe and the highest alcohol-related death rate in the UK. We’re Britain’s gambling capital and we have a serious obesity problem. Why are so many Scottish people struggling desperately with addiction? 

In this sensitive new series, author, journalist and musician Darren McGarvey examines the issue while investigating measures that could and should be in place to help addicts. 

McGarvey is a recovering alcoholic. Like all intelligent, empathetic people, he recognises that alcoholism is a complicated illness. In episode one he meets with medical experts and other recovering addicts. 

The programme approaches alcohol misuse from various considered angles. There are, of course, no straightforward answers, but this is a valuable report.

Britain’s Top Takeaways – Monday to Thursday, BBC Two, 8pm

Warning: don’t watch this series while feeling peckish, as you may end up blowing a fortune on takeaways. It’s a harmlessly formulaic contest in which top takeaway outlets from around the country go head to head in a pop-up HQ. 

The judges aren’t celebs for once. They’re ‘ordinary’ British couples and families tasked with sampling the wares of our contestants. It’s MasterChef meets Gogglebox, basically. An inevitable union we’ve all been waiting for. 

It begins with a battle betwixt five popular chippies, one of which is based in Coatbridge. They each add their own magic ingredients to the classic fish supper, a cornerstone of the great British diet. Your affable hosts are Sara Cox and comedian Darren Harriott.

Fergal Keane: Living with PTSD – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

The esteemed BBC News foreign correspondent Fergal Keane has reported on brutal conflicts for over 30 years. He’s witnessed so many harrowing atrocities, the absolute worst of humanity. Fourteen years ago he was diagnosed with PTSD. 

Recently, while filming in Kyiv on the eve of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he made a decision: it was time to go home and put war reports behind him. 

In this ruminative essay, Keane digs deep into his psyche while examining the effects of this debilitating condition. He’s very honest and self-aware. He states that his career was largely driven by idealism, but also by an addiction to the adrenaline of war reportage. It made him feel worthwhile. It also consumed him with survivor’s guilt.

Between the Covers – Wednesday, BBC Two, 7:30pm

A busy week for Sara Cox continues with the return of her engaging little book club. It’s impossible to dislike Cox, that’s just a fact, so this brief burst of ubiquity is entirely acceptable. 

Her guests this week are radio presenter Vick Hope, actor David Morrissey, television man Richard Osman and comedian/podcaster Deborah Frances White. 

This latest series is brought to you in conjunction with the BBC’s Big Jubilee Read, which celebrates the work of writers from across the Commonwealth. One of the novels under review in episode one is the Booker Prize-winning The English Patient by Sri Lankan author Michael Ondaatje. 

As always, the panel also wax lyrical about some of their favourite tomes.

DNA Family Secrets – Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm

Stacey Dooley returns for another series of carefully handled and potentially life-changing DNA investigations. Three people take a test this week. 

Richard has always wanted to know the identity of his father; he never received a satisfactory answer from his mother, who passed away quite recently. Glen, who is mixed race, also doesn’t know who his father was. He’s always wondered about his exact ethnic heritage. Finding out will hopefully complete his sense of self. Meanwhile, Janet has reason to believe that she has a secret half-sister in Austria. 

Dooley’s expert team of geneticists, genealogists and doctors have to start from scratch in all three cases, but they get results. Uplifting revelations ensue.

Inside No. 9 – Wednesday, BBC Two, 10pm

It recently occurred to me that Inside No. 9 is a bona fide modern classic. Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith have, across seven series and over 40 episodes, maintained a remarkably high quality threshold. 

This anthology is an ingenious endeavour made with evident love and care, one which rewards the viewer on an almost entirely consistent basis. Exemplary television. 

The latest episode is a meta-textual critique of generic crime fiction tropes. Sophie Okonedo, brilliant as always, stars as a dysfunctional cop who’s been suspended from duty. But she’s still obsessed with solving the case of a missing child. The story unfolds in a discombobulating yet ultimately satisfying manner. 

Obviously I can’t say any more than that, but it’s a good ‘un.

Growing Up Scottish – Thursday, BBC Scotland, 10pm

This bittersweet nostalgia-fest about coming of age in Scotland during the last three decades of the 20^th Century also doubles up as a talking head showcase for emerging comedians such as Rachel Jackson, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd and TJ Singh. 

Series two commences with an episode based around the intertwined themes of friendship and home. The comics ruminate on some of the pastimes we’d invent to amuse ourselves as children in those pre-internet days. Anything would do just as long as it staved off the ultimate malaise: boredom. 

They also discuss the complex rules of sleepovers, while reflecting upon the vicissitudes of living in tenement flats, semi-detached houses, rented accommodation and even but ‘n’ bens. An amusing diversion.

LAST WEEK’S TV

The 1% Club – Saturday 30th April, STV

A big Saturday night quiz show hosted by Lee Mack? That sounds like fun. It’s not fun, it’s merely serviceable. 

The problem is self-evident: Mack, whose stock in trade is quick-fire improvised banter, is constrained by the format of a show in which 100 studio contestants are tasked with answering questions based on “logic and common sense”. His irreverent comic persona is entirely at odds with that premise. 

I’m not suggesting that Mack is some sort of maverick comedy genius, but he’s a naturally funny man who should be hosting a quiz in which he’s given carte blanche to mock proceedings a la Les Dawson on Blankety Blank. He’s not suited to a conventional show like this.

Love Life – Friday 6th May, BBC One

Season two of HBO’s romantic comedy anthology revolves around a new set of thirtysomething characters. 

Marcus and Mia are African Americans, which allows the writers to explore complex themes surrounding racial identity and cultural expectations. Marcus has never been in a long-term relationship with a black woman. His wife is white. But when he falls for Mia, who’s also in a relationship, he’s forced to confront an issue he’s always tiptoed around. 

That Love Life manages to navigate this territory in a witty, intelligent, nuanced way is a credit to the writers and cast. William Jackson Harper and Jessica Williams are charming and believable in their respective leading roles. This love story could be worth investing in.

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.