TV Column: THE LOOMING TOWER + BACK TO LIFE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 20th April 2019.

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

NEXT WEEK’S TV

THE LOOMING TOWER

Friday, BBC Two, 9:30pm

Inspired by actual events, this taut US drama is set in the years just prior to the September 11^th attacks. The CIA and the FBI were supposed to be working together to combat the rising threat of Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda. The Looming Tower contends that an absurd rivalry between their counterterrorism divisions resulted in vital information being withheld, information which could’ve prevented the largest ever terrorist attack on American soil. It begins with them struggling to cooperate while predicting Bin Laden’s next move. In the background, the American media remains preoccupied with the Clinton/Lewinsky scandal. A sense of impending doom pervades. The solid ensemble cast is led by Jeff Daniels as the FBI’s irascible counterterrorism chief.

MARK KERMODE’S SECRETS OF CINEMA

Monday, BBC Four, 9pm

It comes as no surprise to learn that the young Kermode watched The Towering Inferno three times in the same week in 1975. He’s been preparing for this typically persuasive essay, in which he examines the disaster movie genre, for most of his life. Although they reached their heyday in the 1970s, disaster movies have been around in various forms since the 1920s. Always at the cutting edge of effects technology, these spectaculars usually involve all-star casts facing off against fires, floods and earthquakes. Why do we love them? Kermode: “Disaster movies, like horror films, often work as modern morality tales, reminding us of the natural order of things by terrifying us with visions of chaos and apocalypse.”

YOUR HOME MADE PERFECT

Tuesday, BBC Two, 8pm

Kevin McCloud from Grand Designs would doubtless raise a wry eyebrow (a wrybrow) at this rather brash and flashy home improvement series in which moneyed young couples are given the luxury of choosing from computer-generated virtual interior designs. Call me old-fashioned, but I much prefer McCloud’s drily mocking, seen it all before approach over the smart-aleck hipster bravado of the YHMP team. The whole enterprise is far too pleased with itself. In this episode, James and Vicky enter the architect’s studio with a major problem on their hands: they can’t agree on how their spacious detached property should look. James fancies a modern open kitchen, but Vicky prefers a more traditional approach. My heart, it bleeds for them.

THE BLETCHLEY CIRCLE: SAN FRANCISCO

Friday, STV, 9pm

As this pulpy period espionage drama continues, a bloodied and battered young man collapses on the doorstep of Jean (Julie Graham) and Millie (Rachael Stirling). He’s looking for one of their English government associates, but why? And off goes the plot, its arteries thickening with every fizzy twist and turn. It involves heroin smuggled inside one of those new-fangled reefer cigarettes, Nietzsche-quoting beatniks, violently oppressed homosexuals and ancient Greek cipher techniques. The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco will never be mistaken for a prestigious drama – its dialogue and plotting are so amusingly ham-fisted, it makes Murder She Wrote look like Edge of Darkness – but it’s quite good fun if you’re willing to disengage your taste buds. Glossy drivel.

LAST WEEK’S TV

NINJA WARRIOR UK

Saturday 13^th, STV

I can’t watch arena-based rumbles of Saturday night folderol such as this without thinking of Peter Cook as Sir Arthur Streeb-Greebling. The only television show the crumbling patrician ever watched was Gladiators as it gave him an idea “of what was going on out there.” Its only selling point is co-host Chris Kamara, a man both bewildered and thrilled by the mere idea of existing.

BACK TO LIFE

Monday 15^th, BBC One

Over the last ten years, the excellent Daisy Haggard has become a familiar supporting fixture in several British TV comedies, but this droll black comedy, which she also created, is her first starring vehicle. She plays a middle-class woman struggling to rebuild her life after spending 18 years in prison on a murder charge. She seems normal, so what happened? It’s an intriguing show, low-key and quite unusual.

THE COMEDY YEARS

Friday 19^th, ITV3

We’ve witnessed countless versions of this superficial yet harmless series before, but any clip show featuring segments on Cannon and Ball, Yootha Joyce, Only When I Laugh and the obscure Rowan Atkinson showcase Canned Laughter is always going to sit well with me. It began in 1979, the year Thatcher seized power, and served as a reminder that alternative comedy didn’t demolish the old guard overnight.

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.

TV Review: MORTIMER AND WHITEHOUSE: GONE FISHING + EMMELINE PANKHURST: THE MAKING OF A MILITANT

This article was originally published in The Courier on 23rd June 2018.

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

MORTIMER AND WHITEHOUSE: GONE FISHING: Wednesday, BBC Two

EMMELINE PANKHURST: THE MAKING OF A MILITANT: Monday, BBC Four

Comedians Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse have been friends and occasional colleagues for nearly 30 years. During that time they’ve made an enormous impact on British comedy. Their legend is secured.

They also both suffer from heart problems. Paul has had three stents fitted. In 2015, Bob underwent triple bypass surgery. This frightening experience affected him deeply.

Devised by Paul as a form of relaxation therapy for his on-the-mend chum, the six-part series MORTIMER AND WHITEHOUSE: GONE FISHING also works as a soothing tonic for the rest of us.

The premise couldn’t be simpler. Paul, an experienced angler, and Bob, a total novice, go fishing in some magnificent English lakes. They chat about this and that, make each other laugh, and occasionally catch some fish (don’t worry, they throw them back in).

This could easily come across as dull and self-indulgent if it weren’t for the fact that Bob and Paul are exceedingly genial and amusing. Spending time in their company is delightful.

Bob in particular is one of planet Earth’s most naturally funny and loveable humans. A world without him doesn’t bear thinking about. My favourite moment in episode one was when he performed a jaunty little stroll towards his yurt (Bob takes care of the accommodation). I can’t think of any other living comedian who could turn such a throwaway bit of business into a thing of joy and beauty. He’s such a benign vessel of pure silliness.

However, we get to see another, more contemplative side of him in Gone Fishing. Though primarily light-hearted, there are moments when the rambling conversation takes a tentative detour into more serious territory. Bob discussing his life-threatening illness was particularly poignant.

You don’t have to be interested in fishing to enjoy this serene series. It’s not really about that.

As episode one unfolded, a subtext gradually emerged. There’s more to Gone Fishing than two balding comedians talking nonsense against a backdrop of glorious scenery. It’s about friendship and ageing and the way men interact. Whenever their more reflective ruminations are interrupted by a potential catch, their focus shifts immediately. They’ve suddenly got more important things to think about than mortality. Men – not all men – are like that.

Watching these two old friends, these gifted comics who’ve given us such joy over the years, in sedentary action is a bittersweet, quietly life-affirming treat.

One of many programmes shown to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of British women winning the right to vote, EMMELINE PANKHURST: THE MAKING OF A MILITANT was a brisk yet respectable overview of how a working mother from Manchester changed the course of history.

Presented by former Coronation Street actor and fellow proud Mancunian Sally Lindsay, it put the legendary Suffragette leader’s achievements in perspective by examining her private life. What made her the woman she was?

Born into a liberal activist family, she was aware from an early age that women were treated as second-class citizens. Her intelligence, compassion, righteous anger, social conscience and tireless political tenacity were a potent combination.

An inspirational leader who understood the positive power of negative publicity, her sometimes violent protests ensured that the issue of female emancipation became a headline-grabbing, national talking point. The rest, as they say…

This wasn’t the most in-depth study of one of our greatest national heroes – a hero who’s only just been commemorated with a statue in Manchester - but it nevertheless succeeded as a useful introduction to her extraordinary story.

TV Review: THE JAZZ AMBASSADORS + CUNK ON BRITAIN

This article was originally published in The Courier on 5th May 2018.

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

THE JAZZ AMBASSADORS: Friday, BBC Four

CUNK ON BRITAIN: Tuesday, BBC Two

In 1956, during the Cold War stalemate, Eisenhower’s government figured that their best chance of beating the Soviets would be to establish a positive consensus about America around the globe.

Via the newly established United States Information Agency, they set about selling the benefits of a prosperous capitalist society, while playing down inconvenient truths such as racial segregation in the south.

This was an era when even a widely beloved African-American star such as Louis Armstrong couldn’t perform in his home town of New Orleans, as racially integrated concerts were verboten; Armstrong’s band included two white musicians.

Nevertheless, the government decided to enlist the nation’s greatest jazz musicians as cultural envoys tasked with putting an upbeat spin on the black experience by playing diplomatic concerts in the newly liberated nations of Asia and Africa.

It was thought that a friendly dose of hot jazz would encourage them to embrace American values and abandon any pesky notions of turning Communist.

This was propaganda versus propaganda: during the Cold War, the Soviets repeatedly highlighted the injustice of racial segregation as a prime example of America’s hypocrisy and moral repugnancy. Without acknowledging their guilt outright, the American government knew their enemy had a point.

The story of how Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Dave Brubeck tried to rescue the world from the brink of Armageddon was told in the enlightening feature-length documentary THE JAZZ AMBASSADORS.

This remarkable collision of entertainment and foreign policy was instigated by African-American congressman Adam Clayton Powell, an unsung hero who convinced Eisenhower that America’s global standing would be radically improved if they tackled racism head on.

Naturally, the musicians he enlisted, while happy to spread positive American vibes, weren’t prepared to ignore the noxious shadow of Jim Crow. “I wasn’t going over there to apologise for America’s racist policies,” declared the politically active Dizzy Gillespie.

Armstrong renounced his role as an Uncle Sam ambassador following the Little Rock crisis, when nine black students were prevented from entering a racially segregated school. “The government can go to Hell!” he roared in the press. Duke Ellington later wrote an article proclaiming that racism in America was losing the Cold War.

This wasn’t the sort of PR that Eisenhower expected when he greenlit the program.

However, Armstrong did manage to stop the Congolese civil war for 24 hours when he arrived to play a concert. You couldn’t ask for a more potent symbol of the miraculous power of music than that.

When Benny Goodman and his mixed-race band eventually toured Russia in 1961, they conducted illicit private jams with local musicians under the noses of an oblivious KGB. Jazz – 1; The Man – 0.

This fascinating saga of weaponised music expressing the complex spirit of America was told through a sharp prism of informed talking heads and terrific archive footage. It was a powerful statement on behalf of the unifying textures of extraordinary, freedom-fuelled art.

Funny in small doses as part of Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe, gormless roving reporter Philomena Cunk wears out her one-dimensional welcome over the space of half an hour.

The spoof historical travelogue series CUNK ON BRITAIN occasionally came up with some good gags (and some absolute clunkers), but they were overshadowed by the repetitive strain of a limited comic palette. Malapropisms and faux-dim misunderstandings only work within a more varied context.

Diane Morgan, who plays Cunk, is an inherently funny performer; her delivery and facial expressions are wonderful. She deserves better.