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.