TV Column: THE REAL MARIGOLD ON TOUR + DAVID BOWIE: FINDING FAME

This article was originally published in The Courier on 16th February 2019.

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

NEXT WEEK’S TV

THE REAL MARIGOLD ON TOUR

Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm

The ageing dream team of twinkly Paul Nicholas, rambunctious Sheila Ferguson, cheeky Wayne Sleep and that nice Jan Leeming (mercifully, there’s no sign of tiresome professional eccentric Miriam Margolyes) pitch up in wintry yet passion-fuelled Argentina this week, where they take late-night Tango lessons, explore local art and music, visit a university offering a range of stimulating classes for senior citizens, and – perhaps inevitably - sing Don’t Cry for Me Argentina beneath the balcony where Eva Peron delivered her famous speech. Five-times-married Jan has been single for fifteen years, so it’s rather charming when a man she meets at her life drawing class invites her out on a date. Alas, it ends up being quite awkward.

JAMES MARTIN’S GREAT BRITISH ADVENTURE

Monday, STV, 2pm

This afternoon retreat starring the top TV chef and Richard Herring lookalike trundles along merrily throughout the week. The latest gentle barrage begins with a Lancashire trek in the company of Michelin-starred chef and Great British Menu titan, Lisa Allen. She’s the cheerfully subdued yin to his borderline manic yang. Whenever he enthuses about “great tucker”, he looks like he’s about to burst through the screen and shove some fennel in your face. As a Mini lurks conspicuously in the background – these shows always have to include a classic car of some description – they cook up some savoury fish, bake Eccles cakes, chow down on freshly farm-milked buffalo cheese and, inevitably, provide a recipe for the ultimate Lancashire hotpot.

MARTIN CLUNES: ISLANDS OF AMERICA

Tuesday, STV, 9pm

If we must have celebrity-fronted travelogues on TV, then they may as well be fronted by the affable Clunes. At least this one goes slightly off the beaten track to explore parts of America that haven’t been overexposed. The latest leg of his empathetic journey takes him to America’s only Spanish-speaking island, Puerto Rico, as well as the Sea Islands along the coasts of Georgia and the Carolinas. There he meets members of the Gullah Geechee people, descendants of the African slaves who once toiled on local plantations. A prominent spokeswoman explains how they proudly celebrate their cultural identity – which includes its own language - while educating others about their history and sadly dwindling way of life.

MONTY DON’S JAPANESE GARDENS

Friday, BBC Two, 9pm

The nation’s favourite curly-haired horticulturalist is on a mission to unearth the culture that lies behind some of the world’s most beautiful gardens. His final scenic pit-stop takes place in a crisply red-leaved autumn, where he finds out how one of Japan’s greatest public gardens is looked after in preparation for the harshness of winter. He also continues to trace the colourful history of these idyllic beauty spots. It’s a consummately comforting hour of artisan relax-o-vision. It would, of course, be remiss of me to end any Don-based critique without reminding you that the Montydon is my favourite herbivore dinosaur by far. You can have that one for free, I’m here all week etc.

LAST WEEK’S TV

DAVID BOWIE: FINDING FAME

Saturday 9^th, BBC Two

The final part of director Francis Whately’s highly acclaimed trilogy of feature-length documentaries about the Dame traced the fascinating saga of how struggling musician David Jones eventually metamorphosed into a pansexual alien rock superstar. Like Whatley’s previous films, it was an impressively researched, artfully compiled essay that benefitted from a sharp focus on a specific period of Bowie’s life and career. Courtesy of incisive contributions from various collaborators, friends, relatives and lovers, a portrait emerged of a bright, sensitive, talented and tenacious artist gradually finding his voice and refusing to be ground down by a string of failed bands and flop records. He somehow knew he was destined for greatness.

THE MAKING OF ME

Monday 11^th, Channel 4

Filmed over three years, this welcome new series follows nine transgender people as they go through the process of transitioning. It also featured contributions from partners and family members. In the happy case of Cairo, a transgender man, they were fully supportive. However, he expressed his frustration about being mis-gendered in public. Vicky, a transgender woman, has joint custody of her children, who took the situation in their stride. The only vaguely wobbly story in this otherwise positive portrayal involved 56-year-old Jackie, a transgender woman, and her wife Julie. The latter, while broadly supportive, admitted that she sometimes missed her husband. Thankfully, they made it work and renewed their wedding vows.

SHETLAND

Tuesday 12^th, BBC One

Series five of this hit crime drama began with the discovery of dismembered body parts washed up on the shore. Yes, it was grisly business as usual for clue-sniffing copper DI Jimmy Perez (Douglas Henshall), as he set about unpicking a tangled web of organised crime. The victim? A young Nigerian man. I find it all but impossible to concentrate on whatever appears to be going on in this pot-boiling murder mulch, as I’m constantly distracted by the quotidian dialogue and wooden acting from practically every member of the cast, Henshall included. It’s like watching a bunch of fence posts slowly eroding in the bitter northeast rain.

FLAT PACK POP: SWEDEN’S MUSIC MIRACLE

Friday 15^th, BBC Four

Did you know that the slick sound of modern pop was largely crafted by anonymous Swedish songwriters and producers? Yes, you probably did, as it’s a well-known fact, so the supposedly lid-lifting premise of this documentary fell flat. It also neglected to mention that, in the 1960s, Phil Spector and the team behind the Monkees operated along the same model as these obsessive backroom boffins: they didn’t invent the concept of formulaic yet irresistible perfect pop. Nevertheless, music journalist James Ballardie still managed to present a fairly interesting ‘secret history’ of how some modest Scandinavians created a distinctive melodic/robotic R&B sound in the 1990s that still resonates today.

TV Column: STORYVILLE: UNDER THE WIRE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 9th February 2019.

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

THIS WEEK’S TV

STORYVILLE: UNDER THE WIRE

Monday, BBC Four, 10pm

Marie Colvin was one of the greatest war correspondents of her generation. While covering dangerous conflicts in the likes of Afghanistan and Iraq, she focused on the lives of ordinary civilians caught in the crossfire. In this gripping documentary, her photographer Paul Conroy, with whom she formed a close friendship and hugely productive professional relationship, pays tribute to “a complete and utter one-off”. Colvin and Conroy were the only British newspaper journalists on the ground in the besieged district of Baba Amr during the Syrian Uprising of 2012, when Assad’s merciless regime massacred their own people. It’s a powerful and at times harrowing paean to real journalism, a vital public service personified by Colvin’s dedication, bravery, passion and integrity.

THE SECRET LIFE OF SLIM PEOPLE

Monday, Channel 4, 8:30pm

The only people who benefit from Britain’s obesity crisis are fast food manufacturers and the C4 producers who churn out programmes based on the subject. But wait, this one has a twist: how come so many people struggle with their weight while others remain slim while eating rubbish and doing what they like? Rinia and Hayley don’t eat healthily and never exercise, but they’re both technically underweight. Cameras are installed in their homes for a week to monitor their diets, while medical experts attempt to come up with an explanation for their fat-free resilience. Warning: if you’re concerned about your weight, then watching petite humans devouring cheese, chocolate, crisps and double cream won’t make you feel any better.

A VERY BRITISH HISTORY

Monday, BBC Four, 9pm

This enlightening new series examines key 20^th century moments for minority communities in Britain. Hosted by figures from those communities, it begins with writer Damian Le Bas harking back to the 1960s to show how societal pressures, prejudices and government legislations gradually forced Romany people to abandon their nomadic way of life. Aided by fascinating archive footage and contributions from older members of Le Bas’ extended family, it depicts 21^st century Romany people proudly celebrating their heritage and tacitly functions as a refreshing antidote to the mocking tone of the mercifully defunct Big Fat Gypsy franchise. It also unearths the little-known story of how romantic novelist Dame Barbara Cartland found a permanent home for ostracised travellers in Hertfordshire.

SKINT BRITAIN: FRIENDS WITHOUT BENEFITS

Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

It’s been five years since C4 unleashed the controversial Benefits Street. This sympathetic documentary series almost feels like a belated apology (it's produced by the same person). Angry and angering, it follows unemployed residents of Hartlepool as they barely cope to survive with the introduction of Universal Credit, an inhuman piece of legislation that makes it harder for people to live on benefits than ever before. Utter chaos ensues. A young man is reduced to hunting for rabbits and squirrels to cook, a desperate cancer patient gets lost within a bureaucratic maelstrom actively opposed to helping those most in need, and a partially blind man practically begs for help. It’s a frank and sickening expose of the worst extremes of sociopathic Tory ideology. Do not miss.

LAST WEEK’S TV

MAYANS M.C.

Saturday 2^nd, BBC Two

This spin-off from the hit American crime drama Sons of Anarchy revolves around a drug-running Mexican biker gang based in a fictional California border town. The protagonist is an intelligent and secretly sensitive young beefcake who’s struggling to cope with a violent lifestyle he never intended to adopt. It’s hip, stylish and boasts a great soundtrack, but those cosmetic details only serve to highlight a nagging lack of depth and pace. The characters and storyline aren’t exactly compelling, it feels like we’ve been here a billion times before. Sons of Anarchy fans might welcome this expansion of its universe, but it’s a slog for the uninitiated.

AFRICA WITH ADE ADEPITAN

Sunday 3^rd, BBC Two

The ebullient wheelchair basketball player began his informative journey around Africa – “the most exciting continent on the planet” – with visits to Cape Verde, Senegal, Ivory Coast and Nigeria (where Adepitan was born). Celebrity-fronted travelogues are often bland affairs, but this one digs beneath the sunny scenery to expose a bleak trail of tragic, brutal history and worrying present-day problems. Adepitan met fishing-reliant communities almost entirely descended from slaves and their European masters. These impoverished, hardworking people are still having their resources stolen by foreign interlopers. As one despairing fisherman put it, “There’s another kind of slavery now.” Adepitan also met Nigerians scarred by civil war. A commendably thoughtful series.

THE DEFIANT ONES

Friday 8^th, BBC Four

When legendary producers/moguls Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine sold Beats Electronic to Apple for $3 billion in 2014, it was one of the biggest deals in music history. Fast-paced, witty and irreverent, this documentary miniseries traces the unusual story of two men from working-class backgrounds, one African-American, the other Italian-American, rising up the ranks and eventually coming together to form a powerful alliance. The dynamic duo have some of the biggest names in the business on speed-dial, hence the presence of talking heads such as Snoop Dogg, Bruce Springsteen, Bono and Eminem. Interesting stuff, but I’m not sure it deserves to be stretched over six episodes.

TV Column: TEACHERS TRAINING TO KILL

This article was originally published in The Courier on 2nd February 2019.

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

NEXT WEEK’S TV

TEACHERS TRAINING TO KILL

Monday, Channel 4, 9pm

At a remote summer camp in Ohio, schoolteachers are being trained to use firearms. Blatantly endorsed by Trump, it’s a radical response to the never-ending spate of tragic school shootings. Prepare to despair at this powerful documentary in which an arrogant county sheriff mounts a controversial campaign to fight fire with fire. Naturally, it never occurs to this agenda-pushing fanatic that an unequivocal reformation of the outdated Second Amendment is a simpler solution. Disturbing attack simulations involving students dressed with fake wounds are juxtaposed with intelligent contributions from a teenager who survived a school shooting. As he observes, what if an armed teacher becomes violently, mentally ill? It’s almost as if the pro-gun lobby doesn’t actually care.

HOW THE OTHER KIDS LIVE

Tuesday, Channel 4, 8pm

Imagine a benign version of Wife Swap starring innocent ankle-biters instead of bickering adults, and you’ve basically got the measure of this new social experiment starring children who live just streets apart but who come from different worlds. When they visit each other for playdates that would never otherwise happen, they learn about different cultures and backgrounds. The series begins with Catholic Brendan, Muslim Yasmin and privately educated twins Tom, who has Down’s syndrome, and Billy. The kids are bright and sweet, their parents are lovely, and the whole thing amounts to a touching celebration of open-mindedness. Brendan sums it up: “Houses don’t really matter what they look like, it’s just a house. It’s not [for] you to judge it.”

THE SECRET LIFE OF THE ZOO

Thursday, Channel 4, 8pm

Whether you approve of zoos or not, there’s no denying that the staff at Chester Zoo – the setting for the latest series of this fly-on-the-wall perennial – are dedicated to looking after various endangered species. The focus this week is on the relationships that form between animals during conservation projects. We witness the bittersweet tale of a pair of giant otter pals who, because they’ve never mated, have to be separated to make way for another male, and a domestic dispute between two Andean bears: the clingy teenage daughter doesn’t understand why her antsy mother wants more space to herself. The programme also features some drunk South American butterflies, which isn’t a phrase I ever thought I’d find myself writing.

JEREMY WADE’S MIGHTY RIVERS

Friday, STV, 8pm

In the final episode of his grave ecological travelogue, the snow-haired biologist and extreme angler reveals that even the mighty Zambezi is in trouble. Massive construction projects and overfishing are threatening its health. Wade discovers that parts of the Zambezi delta have dried up due to a lack of flooding caused by a massive Zimbabwean hydro-dam. His canoe-based investigation involves some hairy encounters with a man-eating crocodile and some angry hippos, and a chat with a local fisherman who predicts that soon all the fish will be gone. Fairly interesting stuff, but it’s docked a point for carelessly neglecting to use Marlena Shaw’s recording of the gospel-soul classic Wade in the Water as its theme tune.

LAST WEEK’S TV

IMAGINE… JO BRAND: NO HOLDS BARRED

Monday 28^th, BBC One

When Jo Brand first arrived on the ‘80s alternative comedy scene, her uncompromisingly deadpan stage persona was refreshing and deliberately provocative: a revolutionary pioneer in the then barren field of female stand-up. These days, of course, she’s renowned as one of the nicest people in showbiz, but that doesn’t mean she’s lost her edge. Far from it. This candid profile paid tribute to her prodigious talent. Understandably, she bristled at the ‘national treasure’ tag. Have you seen her autobiographical sitcoms Damned and the shamefully underrated Getting On? They’re angry, compassionate, intelligent products of a subversively politicised, anti-establishment philosophy. History will judge her with the kindness and respect she deserves.

THE STAND UP SKETCH SHOW

Monday 28^th, ITV2

TV producers sometimes cough up concepts so catastrophically ill-conceived, you almost have to marvel at their cluelessness. This series is aimed at an imaginary audience who can’t engage with stand-up comedy routines unless they’re accompanied by sketches spelling out the contents in overliteral detail. Sketches can certainly be used to elaborate upon ideas explored in stand-up routines – e.g. Dave Allen and Stewart Lee – but listening to a comic talk while a sketch unfolds just kills the jokes stone dead. Not that the bland, hacky observational comics employed by the show – Seann ‘love rat’ Walsh included – are funny anyway, but they stand even less of a chance in this context.

PURE

Wednesday 30^th, Channel 4

Marnie is young Scottish woman who, since the age of 14, has been plagued by relentlessly graphic thoughts about sex: “It’s like The Sixth Sense, but I don’t see dead people. I see naked ones.” In episode one of this instantly arresting comedy drama, Marnie fled to London on a desperate voyage of self-discovery after a disastrous speech at her parents’ wedding anniversary, during which she imagined everyone in the room indulging in all sorts of publicly prohibited activities. Based on a true story, Pure is a funny, frank and liberating study of mental illness, and newcomer Charly Clive is hugely likeable as the captivatingly chaotic Marnie. A guaranteed cult hit.