THE WINDERMERE CHILDREN + FARAGE: THE MAN WHO MADE BREXIT

This article was originally published in The Courier on 25th January 2020.

NEXT WEEK’S TV

THE WINDERMERE CHILDREN

Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

A series of programmes commemorating 75 years since the end of the Holocaust begins with this haunting factual drama. When peace was declared in 1945, the British government agreed to give refuge to 1000 child survivors of the Nazi concentration camps. 300 of them were brought to a wartime housing estate near Lake Windermere. Utterly traumatised, they struggled to acclimatise to the very ideas of liberty and kindness. The counsellors responsible for rehabilitating them soon became aware of how incredibly difficult that task would be. You can never fully recover from such a harrowing ordeal, but hopefully you can live again. A powerful piece, The Windermere Children features a cast of fine young actors plus seasoned pros such as Romola Garai and Iain Glen.

BELSEN: OUR STORY

Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm

British citizens who survived Belsen return to the site in this starkly descriptive documentary. Although Belsen wasn’t equipped with gas chambers, it was Hell on Earth. Inmates fending for their lives were surrounded by rotting corpses. The stench of sickness and death was everywhere. It’s also a horrifying symbol of how The Final Solution unravelled towards the end of the war. A landmark report by journalist Richard Dimbleby, who was there when the British army liberated Belsen, informed the world at large about the full extent of Nazi atrocities. The army were so horrified by what they found, they burned the camp to the ground. Documents such as this ensure that it will always exist. It will never – must never – be forgotten.

AUSCHWITZ UNTOLD: IN COLOUR

Wednesday, Channel 4, 10:30pm

Against a backdrop of subtly colourised archive footage, this immersive film focuses on some of the last remaining Auschwitz survivors. The colourisation aspect isn’t a cheap gimmick. It is, like Peter Jackson’s WWI documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old, a sensitive and effective way of bringing ghosts back to life. The survivors provide devastating accounts of life in the Nazi’s most notorious extermination camp; It was a nightmare reality, a perpetual onslaught of fear and degradation. One woman sums up the appalling uncertainty they endured when she recalls being led to their weekly shower: they never knew if cold water or gas was going to emerge from the showerheads. If it was water, they knew they’d live for at least another week.

FARAGE: THE MAN WHO MADE BREXIT

Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

When Nigel Farage agreed to let documentary filmmaker Christian Trumble follow him throughout last year’s disastrous Brexit Party campaign, he presumably considered it a canny PR move. Instead he comes across as a sad, thin-skinned, petulant, gravy-stained opportunist. It’s hilarious, a staggering own goal. Trumble confirms that this amphibious bigot is a career politician who claims he’s anything but; a self-proclaimed man of the people who has repeatedly failed to be elected by them; a privileged member of the elite who presents himself as anti-establishment (the film’s central theme is his desperate need to be accepted by Johnson’s government). Farage has served his ruinous purpose, now he’s surplus to requirements. America, you can have him.

LAST WEEK’S TV

DOCTOR WHO

Sunday 19th January, BBC One

This episode was always going to be an improvement on the howling debacle that preceded it. It couldn’t possibly be any worse. Even so, the Doctor’s encounter with pioneering yet somewhat unsung electrical engineer and inventor Nikola Tesla was a solid episode in its own right. A pleasingly straightforward pseudo historical, it was informative, educational and entertaining. Yes, even that raddled old fascist Lord Reith would’ve grudgingly approved.

TRAVELS IN EUROLAND WITH ED BALLS

Thursday 23rd January, BBC Two

How did this happen? Ed Balls, a risible politician who no one liked, is now an affable media personality. The Portillo Effect. These careerists never truly fail or disappear, they just adapt and reinvent themselves. This series does at least attempt to address the scarifying rise of populist far-right parties in Europe, but it’s really just a jolly travelogue with ideas above its station.

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.

TV Column: COLD FEET + GOOD OMENS + THE MASKED SINGER

This article was originally published in The Courier on 11th January 2020.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/tv-film/

NEXT WEEK’S TV

COLD FEET

Monday, STV, 9pm

As the latest series of this likeable comedy-drama begins, Adam, the cheeky chappie’s cheeky chappie, is suspended from work for inappropriate behaviour. He’s utterly baffled until his partner, Karen, wisely points out that offence can be caused even when your jokey intentions were innocent. Context and potential impact are paramount. Series creator Mike Bullen handles the episode’s Me Too theme with typical sensitivity. Meanwhile, Jenny struggles to readjust to life following her cancer treatment. She and husband Pete also have to deal with their difficult teenage daughter, plus the awkward problem of dividing their loyalties between Adam and Kate and Kate’s disgruntled ex, David. “I’m sick of this,” sighs Jenny, “it’s like a messy divorce and we’re the kids.”

CATCHING A KILLER: A DIARY FROM THE GRAVE

Monday, Channel 4, 9pm

Caveat: previews weren’t available at the time of writing, so I haven’t actually seen this true-crime documentary. Please don’t send angry emails to me, The Courier or my cat if it turns out to be awful. It does, however, sound interesting. An elderly man dies at home. Nothing odd about that. But eighteen months later, his neighbour also dies in similar circumstances. That’s when the police start looking into what might be a sinister case. A young would-be vicar knew them both. It sounds like the sort of programme designed to make you sigh in despair before going to bed feeling worse than you did when you woke up. Again, please don’t harass my cat.

GOOD OMENS

Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm

Eight months after debuting on Amazon Prime, this irreverent all-star fantasia – based on a cult novel by Neil Gaiman and the late Terry Pratchett - finally lands on terrestrial firma. Perfectly content with their lives on Earth, a demon and an angel (David Tennant and Michael Sheen) form an alliance to stop the coming of the Antichrist and eventual Armageddon. Although it’s well-acted, well-directed and generally quite funny in a sub Python/Douglas Adams way, episode one is slightly too hectic for its own good. It feels like Gaiman couldn’t bear to leave out any detail from his and Pratchett’s novel; the arch narration from Frances McDormand – she plays God – is particularly convoluted. One helluva cast, though.

STEWART COPELAND’S ADVENTURES IN MUSIC

Friday, BBC Four, 9:30pm

Ace drummer Steward Copeland is best known for being a member of The Police, but they’re just one of the 25 bands he’s been in since he first picked up sticks as a teenager. Now aged 67, his life has been utterly devoted to the music of the spheres (and songs written by Sting). In this probing new series - textbook Friday night pop fare on BBC Four, but with an anthropological, neuroscientific twist – the garrulously charismatic tub-thumper embarks upon a noble mission to define why music, that most transcendental of arts, moves, shakes and obsesses us so. It begins with an enjoyable, wide-ranging essay on music’s ability to bring human beings together. I’m with Stew: it’s been fundamental to our evolution as a species.

LAST WEEK’S TV

THE GREATEST DANCER

Saturday 4th January, BBC One

This Cowell-created mash-up of Strictly, X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent serves as a sobering reminder that ol' Mardi Gras head is a yawning multimillionaire who fattens his bank balance by scribbling formulaic formats on the back of Ivy napkins. Why doesn't he retire? He's done enough damage, earned enough money and no one cares anymore.

FIRST & LAST

Saturday 4th January, BBC One

In which Jason Manford - an affable, competent comedian – secured his ideal role: hosting a game show where contestants are rewarded for being neither particularly good nor bad, just somewhere in the middle. Manford makes it just about work by mocking the format and joshing with the contestants a la Generation Game Brucie and Danny Baker’s Pets Win Prizes. It doesn’t approach those heights, of course. It's just a laughing policeman in search of a missing vehicle.  

THE MASKED SINGER

Saturday 4th January, STV

This is more like it. Sort of. Almost. A deliberately absurd music game show devised in South Korea, TMS has spread its costumed wings around the globe. Now it’s our turn to guess who the famous folk are beneath those ostentatious outfits. It’s the right kind of trash, a bonkers parody of the Cowell formula, but it’s stretched out to painfully interest-sapping lengths. With a little bit of finessing, they've got themselves a decent family-friendly show.

TV Column: DRACULA + DOCTOR WHO

This article was originally published in The Courier on 28th December 2019.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/tv-film/

NEXT WEEK’S TV

DRACULA

New Year’s Day to Friday, BBC One, 9pm

If, like me, you eventually grew tired of Steven Moffat and Mark Gattis’ unbearably self-indulgent Sherlock, you might be pleasantly surprised by their muscular take on Dracula. A 19^th century period piece, it borrows heavily from Bram Stoker’s novel while going its own freewheeling way (e.g. traumatised solicitor Jonathan Harker recounts his terrible tale to a drolly straight-talking, Godless nun). Despite containing flashes of slyly affectionate meta-commentary on established vampire lore, this Dracula isn’t a send-up. It’s witty, yes, but it’s also grimly atmospheric and unabashedly horrific. It may be one of the goriest dramas ever made by the BBC. Main selling point: a commanding performance from saturnine Danish actor Claes Bang as an utterly ruthless, cocksure Count.

DAME EDNA RULES THE WAVES

Hogmanay, BBC One, 9:05pm

The great Dame emerges from semi-retirement to host this one-off special from her enormous luxury yacht (it’s three times the size of Wales). Her celebrity shipmates include Sharon Osbourne, Judge Rinder, Emily Atack and Anita Rani, all of them eager to be insulted in inimitable passive-aggressive Edna fashion. Now aged 85, Edna’s material isn’t quite what it was. Her opening monologue falls flat, sadly, although it does contain this touching tribute to her late sidekick Madge Allsop: “She went peacefully… she died in my sleep.” All is not lost, however: once the guests come out, traces of her sharp improvisatory wit can still be detected. She can’t help being naturally funny, that gift never disappears completely.

DOCTOR WHO

New Year’s Day, BBC One, 6:55pm

The Doctor returns with a skittish two-part Bond pastiche called Spyfall (like Skyfall; such wit), featuring guest-stars Stephen Fry as a Q-style MI6 official and Lenny Henry (more of whom below) as a villainous billionaire businessman. I’m no fan of tin-eared showrunner Chris Chibnall; he is, at best, a competent hack. Spyfall is Chibnall at his best. It’s a fairly enjoyable run-around in which a mysterious race of aliens launch an attack on international intelligence agents. Chibnall pulls off a couple of decent set-pieces, Ryan and Yaz actually get to do something for once, and Jodie Whittaker makes her mark whenever the script allows her to. Things can only get better?

IMAGINE… LENNY HENRY: YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK

Thursday, BBC One, 12am

This thoughtful profile of Sir Lenworth has, for some mystifying reason, been buried at midnight. So what if you can watch it whenever on iPlayer? He deserves better. It’s a poignant companion piece to his recently published autobiography, in which he focuses, not on his years of fame and fortune, but on his early struggle to make a name for himself on the ‘70s working men’s club and television circuit: a seemingly insurmountable task for a black teenager in a predominantly white - and covertly racist - environment. He reflects upon the importance of delivering race-based jokes before the audience got there first. It was a defence mechanism, he had no choice. Today he’s a figurehead for the diversity movement.

LAST WEEK’S TV

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

22^nd December to Christmas Eve, BBC One

The zillionth adaptation of Dickens’ festive classic starred Guy Pearce as Scrooge and Stephen Graham as Marley. It was written by Steven ‘Peaky Blinders’ Knight, hence the knowingly mannered, sooty charcoal aesthetic and salty language. Knight was obviously more interested in exploring Scrooge’s eloquent nihilism than his eventual redemption, but it was the resolutely dark Christmas Carol we deserved this year. An enjoyably nasty addition to the canon.

MARTIN’S CLOSE

Christmas Eve, BBC Four

Mark Gatiss – that man again – wrote and directed this boring adaptation of an M.R. James ghost story about a 17^th century nobleman accused of murdering a young woman with learning difficulties. I admire Gatiss’ commitment to reviving the BBC’s Christmas tradition of supernatural yarns, but his efforts tend to be little more than fanboy homages. They lack the haunting impact of the adaptations he adores. RIP Jonathan Miller.

GAVIN & STACEY CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Christmas Day, BBC One

There are few things worse than a reunion with people you didn’t much care for in the first place. This unnecessary comeback confirmed the wisdom of that stone-clad sitcom edict: don’t bother. Have Corden and Jones learned nothing from Only Fools and Horses and David Brent: Life On The Road? It’s a nice enough show, fairly well-observed, but leave it where it belongs: somewhat fondly remembered in the third tier.

TV Column: WORZEL GUMMIDGE + DOLLY PARTON: HERE I AM

This article was originally published in The Courier on 21st December 2019.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/tv-film/

NEXT WEEK’S TV

WORZEL GUMMIDGE

Boxing Day and Friday, BBC One, 6:20pm and 7pm

A labour of love for writer/director/star Mackenzie Crook, this adaptation of the evergreen children’s books is every bit as charming and funny as you’d expect from the man behind Detectorists. Early press photographs of Crook as the root vegetable-headed scarecrow made him look infinitely more unsettling than Jon Pertwee’s iteration, which is quite an achievement, but thankfully he’s turnip-sweet when you see him in action. Crook makes several wise decisions, such as not doing a Pertwee impersonation, making minimal concessions to the modern world, and basking, a la Detectorists, in gorgeous bucolic scenery scored to haunting English folk music. He’s also assembled a cast including Michael Palin, Steve Pemberton and Zoe Wannamaker. It all works.

HUGH GRANT: A LIFE ON SCREEN

Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

The global success of Four Weddings and a Funeral transformed Hugh Grant, at that point just a young jobbing actor with a background in Edinburgh Fringe comedy, into an overnight sensation. It also typecast him as a bumbling English charmer, which, as he readily admits in this enjoyable profile, was partly his own fault. In more recent years, however, he’s successfully severed ties with that image via critically-acclaimed roles such as Jeremy Thorpe in A Very English Scandal. He is, in fact, a fine character actor. Grant has a reputation for being quite irascible, but he’s on good form here as he rakes over the highs and lows of his career with, quelle surprise, lashings of wry self-deprecation.

DOLLY PARTON: HERE I AM

Christmas Day, BBC Two, 8:30pm

When Dolly Parton settled upon her image as a pulchritudinous backwoods Barbie, she created a sly form of self-parody that’s always been controlled on her own terms. This sturdy 90-minute documentary ventures beyond that façade to highlight her considerable gifts as a singer-songwriter. Parton is a funny woman who takes her craft seriously. With characteristic wit and wisdom, she looks back over her storeyed career, which began in the 1960s when, as a determined young woman in a male-dominated industry, she smuggled feminism into the conservative Country charts. Superstardom beckoned. This saga of uncompromising self-realisation features insight from musicologists, collaborators and famous friends such as Jane Fonda. It also boasts a stunning array of wigs.

PADDINGTON: THE MAN BEHIND THE BEAR

Boxing Day, BBC Two, 9pm

Michael Bond was an unassuming genius whose stories about a hapless little Peruvian bear have brought pleasure to millions. Hosted by Hugh Bonneville, this cockle-warming documentary reveals how Paddington came to be. While serving during WWII, Bond was haunted by the sight of starving Jewish refugees packed into a boat. Meanwhile, back in England, his parents welcomed Jewish children into their home. Bond later resided in Notting Hill, where he witnessed first-hand the racism endured by the Windrush generation. It’s not much of a stretch to view Paddington as an embodiment of Bond’s compassion for displaced immigrants. Contributors include Bernard Cribbins, Stephen Fry and that beacon of tolerance Jeremy Clarkson, whose parents manufactured a successful range of Paddington toys in the 1970s.

LAST WEEK’S TV

ROD STEWART: REEL STORIES

Saturday 14th, BBC Two

During this informal interview with Rod, Dermot O’Leary cued up various archive clips of the once-great artist in action. As he raked over his past, Rod’s natural ebullience was tinged with a pang of wistfulness he doesn’t usually reveal in public. He was clearly quite moved at times. Rod would never admit this himself, but I do think he knows that he squandered his talent.

A MERRY TUDOR CHRISTMAS WITH LUCY WORSLEY

Friday 20th, BBC Two

In which the chummy historian cleaved to her tried and tested formula of whisking us back in time while dressing up in period garb. Her mission on this occasion was to recapture the broiling stew of sights, tastes and smells of a traditional Christmas during the Tudor era. The tone was even more light-hearted than usual, but given the time of year that’s to be forgiven.

TV Column: RESPONSIBLE CHILD + THE DIRTY WAR ON THE NHS

This article was originally published in The Courier on 14th December 2019.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/tv-film/

NEXT WEEK’S TV

RESPONSIBLE CHILD

Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

Based on a true story, this riveting standalone drama follows a twelve-year-old boy, Ray, as he stands accused of the brutal murder of his stepfather. Ray (a haunting performance from newcomer Billy Barratt) is a bright, shy, sensitive child from an abusive family background. The details of his alleged crime are gradually revealed via fraught flashbacks. Meanwhile, his dedicated defence team mount their case. Criminal law in England and Wales decrees that children as young as ten are fit to stand trial in an adult court. Responsible Child probes deeply into the stark ramifications of that law. Etched in nauseating shades of anguished verisimilitude, it’s a compassionate piece in the Ken Loach vein. It will linger.

STICKS AND STONES

Monday to Wednesday, STV, 9pm

When a successful businessman botches a crucial sales pitch through no fault of his own, his colleagues start to bully him. Bullying in the workplace is a serious issue, but the well-intentioned message behind this three-part drama from Doctor Foster creator Mike Bartlett is fatally undermined by sledgehammer writing. It’s utterly ridiculous. The victim’s tormentors are one-dimensional pantomime villains, their cruel behaviour is absurdly blatant. In real life they’d be more insidious, that’s how bullying among adults tends to work. Bartlett presumably knows this, but subtlety has never been his strong point. Sticks and Stones is a missed opportunity, a drama with its heart in the right place but with a big fat foot in its mouth.

THE GALAXY BRITAIN BUILT: THE BRITISH FORCE BEHIND STAR WARS

Monday, BBC Four, 9:30pm

Now this is rather lovely. Star Wars, as we know, was a game-changing Hollywood blockbuster, but it would never have existed or thrived without the efforts of talented British artisans. To illustrate that point, affable broadcaster David Whiteley, a lifelong Star Wars fan, meets some of those now elderly producers and design pioneers. It’s a thorough excavation of a project that was regarded as an utter oddity, an expensive folly, at the time, but which turned out to be something quite special. One is left with the abiding impression that George Lucas was/is a bit of a weirdo who hit upon some good ideas, none of which would’ve been realised without major professional assistance. Either way, it worked.

THE DIRTY WAR ON THE NHS

Tuesday, STV, 11:05pm

The great investigative journalist John Pilger must’ve spat a fountain of feathers when informed that his report on Boris Johnson’s plans for the NHS was to be buried in a graveyard slot after the election. This, we're told, is officially due to broadcasting rules of impartiality during a G.E. campaign. Yeah, right. Full disclosure: I haven’t actually seen the programme, as it wasn't available for preview at the time of writing, but this is how Pilger describes it: “The NHS today is under threat of being sold off and converted to a free market model inspired by America's disastrous health insurance system, which results in the death every year of an estimated 45,000 people. Now President Trump says the NHS is ‘on the table’ in any future trade deal with America.”

LAST WEEK’S TV

ELIZABETH IS MISSING

Sunday 8th December, BBC One

The last time we saw the seemingly retired Thesp and former Labour MP Glenda Jackson on TV was either via Morecambe and Wise repeats or on Newsnight. So it was a rare pleasure to be reminded of what a great actor she is in Elizabeth is Missing, a beautifully-written, gut-punching drama in which she played an octogenarian with Alzheimer’s. This was the sort of role for which grandstanding, BAFTA-hungry actors were born to inhabit with the utmost faux-humility, but Jackson is better than that. Her vanity-free performance as Maude was utterly convincing, tender and true. Actually magnificent. Maude’s life is all our lives. We love, we laugh, we cry, we frail away and die. Alzheimer’s is a devastating disease, we must never, ever ignore or misunderstand it. These people aren’t invisible. Take care of each other, will you?

TV Column: THE CASE OF SALLY CHALLEN + LUCY WORSLEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL ODYSSEY

This article was originally published in The Courier on 7th December 2019.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/category/lifestyle/entertainment/tv-film/

NEXT WEEK’S TV

THE CASE OF SALLY CHALLEN

Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

In 2011, Sally Challen was convicted of murdering her husband, Richard. Earlier this year, following a landmark legal campaign, her conviction was quashed. This engrossing and fiercely important documentary allows Sally, plus her supportive friends and family, to tell their story. To the outside world, she appeared to be a happy wife and mother. So why did she bludgeon her husband of 31 years to death? Behind closed doors, Richard was a cruel, vicious bully who subjected his vulnerable wife to decades of extreme psychological abuse. This wasn’t widely known at the time of her conviction, as she was still suffering from the undiagnosed disorientating effects of his coercive control. That horrific form of control is now legally recognised as domestic violence.

LUCY WORSLEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL ODYSSEY

Monday, BBC Four, 9pm

Here’s something to take your anguished mind off the General Election results: a typically engaging essay from that always welcome font of knowledge, Lucy Worsley, in which she traces the eventful history of our most cherished Christmas carols. Wassailing fertility rituals rooted in Paganism, jolly carols regarded with contempt by those party-loving Puritans, and the fascinating story of Silent Night, which began life as an egalitarian folk song, are all grist to Worsley’s mill. Only the most curmudgeonly bah humbug bore would deny the magic of these cockle-warming songs. They’re embedded within our collective consciousness for good reason: they exist purely to make us feel happy, if only for a few precious weeks each year. Five! Gold! Rings!

GEORGE CLARKE’S AMAZING SPACES

Tuesday, Channel 4, 9pm

In this wintry edition of his ongoing nose around magical residences you’ll never live in, the desperately enthusiastic Clarke - a blandly pleasant Sunderland man who increasingly resembles Alan Titchmarsh forced to present at gunpoint - parks his Parka-clad frame in Finland. His mission: to see the Northern Lights. He and his genial ‘scripted legend banter’ companion eventually see them, of course, but not before they visit various aesthetically-pleasing, renewably-energised, precision-made cabins, house-pods and sweltering wood-panelled saunas (followed by dips into icy lakes): all testaments to the genius of ethical Scandinavian design, architecture and their culture in general. Those cats are way ahead over there. Let’s all move to Finland, folks.

VIC & BOB’S BIG NIGHT OUT

Wednesday, BBC Four, 10pm

No matter what happens this week in the (sigh) real world, we’ll always have Vic and Bob mucking about as a source of defiantly silly comfort. They’re an eternal force for good, something to be proud of. Episode three, their latest gift to the nation, involves Vic revealing the secrets of beatboxing, Bob introducing a handsome new train driver wig, another powerful anti-capitalist free-running protest, and more trad gags than you can honk a horn at. Eavesdropping on these daft old friends is such a lovely luxury. Whenever they giggle at each other, the effect is contagious. This isn’t an exercise in nostalgia, it’s two undiminished comic greats buoyed by layers of warmth developed over decades.

LAST WEEK’S TV

THE HIT LIST

Saturday 30th November, BBC One

This shiny floor pop quiz couldn’t be simpler: members of the GBP answer questions in the hope of winning £10,000. That’s it. That’s all it needs to be. Viewers can play along at home and, in time honoured style, shout at the contestants. Last week’s show featured two utter fools who claimed the Beatles are overrated, which is – FACT - the single most boring contrary opinion anyone can ever have about popular music.

MICHAEL McINTYRE’S BIG SHOW

Saturday 30th November, BBC One

Michael McIntyre was placed on Earth for one reason only: to host harmlessly brash Saturday night light entertainment extravaganzas on BBC One. In case you’ve ever wondered, it’s what he’s for. His Big Show is worth it if only for the pleasing image it conjures of a furious Noel Edmonds watching at home and claiming it wouldn’t exist without him.

SEAMUS HEANEY AND THE MUSIC OF WHAT HAPPENS

Saturday 30th November, BBC Two

The BBC has recently received an avalanche of criticism for its appallingly blatant pro-Tory news coverage, but the fact that it broadcast this lyrical Arena profile of the great Irish poet on the same night as its usual populist flotsam briefly reinstated my fundamental – if sorely tested – support for that maddening institution. It symbolised everything the BBC should be: a premium broadcaster catering to all tastes.