This article was originally published in The Courier on 13th April 2019.
THIS WEEK’S TV
GHOSTS
Monday,
BBC One, 9:30pm
This
promising new sitcom from the talented team behind Horrible Histories follows a surrogate family of ghosts who decide
to embrace haunting for the first time in their afterlives. The object of their
ire is a young woman (Charlotte Ritchie) who inherits their dilapidated mansion
home and decides to turn it into a hotel. Prominent ghouls include a Neanderthal
man, a witch trial victim, a romantic poet, a Tory MP who died without his
trousers on and, inevitably, a 17th century gent who carries his
severed head around with him. While obviously not suitable for very young
children, apart from one rather dark twist it’s not self-consciously adult
either. On the contrary, it’s a typically broad, silly, likeable affair. Why it’s
being shown at this late hour, I have no idea.
TRUST ME
Tuesday,
BBC One, 9pm
Series
one of this medical thriller was an implausible load of old toot in which Jodie
Whittaker played a nurse masquerading as a doctor in a fictional Edinburgh
hospital. She’s since been cast as the
Doctor, so it’s back to the drawing board with a completely new cast and
premise. They needn’t have bothered as it still fails to convince on any level.
When a paralysed soldier with PTSD finds himself trapped in the James Stewart
Spinal Unit (a very kind donation from the late Hollywood legend), he begins to
suspect that a spate of patient deaths have been caused deliberately. Is he
paranoid? It doesn’t matter. Even John Hannah and Ashley Jensen can’t rescue
this laughable, clumsily written chore.
EARTH FROM SPACE
Wednesday,
BBC One, 9pm
Thousands
of satellites are currently orbiting the Earth. Some of them capture images of
the planet’s surface in such extraordinary detail, we can now chart the
activities of individual animals. Blessed with suitably Godlike narration from
actor Chiwetel Ejiofor, this lofty new series depicts “our home as we’ve never
seen it before.” The devastating effects of climate change are exposed by
following a herd of African elephants struggling through a vicious drought.
Meanwhile, satellites uncover previously unknown colonies of penguins and
reveal mysterious ice rings that could put seal pups in danger. The programme
also makes some surprising discoveries in Earth’s most remote areas. It’s a
beautifully made yet sombre study of a planet in severe trouble.
CHIMERICA
Wednesday,
Channel 4, 9pm
Based
on the Olivier Award-winning play by Lucy Kirkwood, this engrossing drama examines
the predominance of China and America in modern geopolitics. A fictional story
inspired by real events, it begins with a young American photojournalist
covering the violent government response to the Tiananmen Square protests in
1989. He becomes one of the photographers who captured the iconic Tank Man
image. 27 years later he’s sent back to Beijing to cover Presidential candidate
Donald Trump’s controversial ties with China. While there he gleans tantalising
new information about Tank Man, whose identity and subsequent whereabouts have
never been proven. After being accused of faking a photograph, he becomes
obsessed with finding the legendary unknown protester to restore his
credibility.
LAST WEEK’S TV
THE WIDOW
Monday
8th and Tuesday 9th, STV
A
solemnly ambitious thriller based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo? On
ITV? Hats off to the House of Cowell for trying something different. Unfortunately,
The Widow is a monumentally turgid
misfire in which Kate Beckinsale is helplessly cast adrift in a sea of
disjointed storytelling. It’s written by Harry and Jack Williams, whose work
outside of The Missing and Baptiste never fails to disappoint.
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