NEXT WEEK’S TV
JADE: THE REALITY STAR
WHO CHANGED BRITAIN
Wednesday,
Channel 4, 9pm
Channel
4 is responsible for fomenting the late Jade Goody’s pyrrhic fame, so this
series charting her cautionary rise and fall carries a whiff of hypocrisy. Or
is it a mea culpa? Either way, it’s a grimly compelling account of the birth of
celebrity culture and vicious public shaming. Prepare to despair: it peers
under the ant-infested stone of media chicanery with horrifying candour.
Insight is provided by her mother and former Big Brother execs, one of whom claims that, when he told Goody
she’d been selected for the show, he thought, “This is either going to be the
best thing that’s ever happened to you, or it’s going to be a complete
disaster.” Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
BORN FAMOUS
Monday,
Channel 4, 10pm
An
unofficial companion piece to the Goody epic, this new series focuses on various
celebrities who came from humble beginnings. Their children have never known
anything other than a life of luxury. Do they realise how lucky they are?
There’s only one way to find out: send them back to where their parents were
brought up (for a week). The first specimens are Gordon Ramsay and his teenage
son Jack. Chef Ramsay is a working class Scot who was raised on numerous
council estates. When Jack materialises in one of dad’s old haunts, he learns a
valuable lesson. He’s a nice lad who doesn’t flaunt his privilege, so this
study of social mobility and inequality transcends its gimmicky premise.
THE SECRET TEACHER
Thursday,
Channel 4, 9pm
This
is one helluva week for uplifting social experiments on Channel 4. What’s going
on? Cynical answer: they scored a hit with The
Secret Millionaire, so here’s its sequel. More positive answer: it’s nice
watching self-made entrepreneurs, some of whom were told that they’d never
amount to a hill of beans, visit schools in the guise of support workers. Their
mission is to encourage kids with untapped potential. For six weeks, undercover
agents assist several harassed pupils and teachers. A certain amount of tidily
tied-up TV happiness ensues, but this is ultimately a covert political statement.
The government, not television, should be taking care of this problem. Still,
we’ll all have a nice cry at the end.
THIS WAY UP
Thursday,
Channel 4, 10pm
Now
this is good. Very good indeed. A sitcom written by and starring the comedian
Aisling Bea, about a woman readjusting to life in the wake of a nervous
breakdown. It’s the vehicle Bea has been waiting for – so much so, she
constructed it herself. She’s a very funny, smart, likeable, insightful person.
All the adjectives. Her show understands, as anyone who’s been through
something similar understands, that humour can be mined from the direst of
circumstances. The performances, the dialogue, are natural and warm. It’s a
sitcom mired in pain, but it doesn’t dwell on lazy Gervais-esque awkwardness
for laughs. This Way Up is better
than that. Also, Sharon Horgan plays Bea’s sister. Are you sold? I hope so.
LAST WEEK’S TV
ANIMALS AT PLAY
Sunday
July 28, BBC Two
If Stanley Kubrick taught us anything, it’s that all work and no play makes Jack an
axe-wielding homicidal maniac. Fortunately, our animal friends aren’t so easily
distracted. This fascinating series began by spending social playtime in the
presence of dolphins, chimps, bears and canines. Their sophisticated games are
among the most advanced in the natural world. It’s only a matter of time before
they conquer Scrabble.
HOLD THE SUNSET
Friday
August 2, BBC One
Series
two of this – there’s no other way to describe it – gentle sitcom began with
retirees Edith (Alison Steadman) and Phil (John Cleese) continuing their quest
to get away from it all. I wish I could muster a more interesting opinion
about Hold The Sunset than this: it’s
nice seeing Cleese, Steadman, Jason Watkins, Joanna Scanlan and Rosie Cavaliero
in the same programme, isn't it? But I can’t.
