TV Column: GAMEFACE + A NIGHT IN WITH BROS

This article was originally published in The Courier on 13th July 2019.

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

NEXT WEEK’S TV

STARGAZING: MOON LANDING SPECIAL

Monday, BBC Two, 9pm

The 50th anniversary celebrations of the Apollo 11 moon landing – face facts, conspiracy theorists, it happened – continue with this 90-minute excavation hosted by those friendly faces of popular TV science, Professor Brian Cox and Dara O’Briain. They travel to Cape Canaveral to mark that, to say the least, historic achievement while shedding light on the future of human space travel. However, it’s largely devoted to examining the fascinating step-by-step details of launching Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins into space. It’s packed with tremendous nuggets of trivia: did you know that astronauts, for luck, urinate on the back wheel of the bus that ferries them to the Launchpad? Crude, maybe, but humbling in a way. One giant wee etc.

NADIYA’S TIME TO EAT

Monday, BBC Two, 8pm

In which top TV cook Nadiya Hussain breathlessly proclaims “These days, we all seem to be rushed off our feet!” While I will never be in any danger of being mistaken for a stunningly perceptive social historian, nor indeed a normal person with an actual life, I daresay comfortably middle-class people aren’t more harried now than they’ve ever been. Keeping up with all these aspirational lifestyle guides can’t be easy, though. That is their exhausting curse. Anyway, this harmless new series finds the likeable Bake Off winner showing us how to rustle up “cheeky” stress-free meals for the working mum on the move. She begins with some of her favourite time-saving recipes, including pancakes, noodles and omelettes.

GAMEFACE

Wednesday, Channel 4, 10pm

The excellent Roisin Conaty will be familiar to viewers who made it through Ricky Gervais’ deeply boring, inane and inept After Life. Thankfully, this self-penned starring vehicle shows off her talents to better advantage. It’s a sitcom in which she plays a jobbing actor going through therapy. Don’t let that synopsis put you off, it’s not self-indulgent at all. Conaty is funny, smart and likeable. In the first episode of this second series, she goes for a driving test and purposefully fails so she can see her slightly weird yet handsome instructor again. If you like good things, you'll probably like this unpretentiously insightful series.

A NIGHT IN WITH BROS

Friday, BBC Four, 10pm

When Matt and Luke Goss, formerly best known for their 18 months of pop idol fame in the late ‘80s, agreed to participate in a ‘comeback’ documentary last year, they couldn’t have anticipated the overwhelming response. That’s because Matt and Luke are a pair of endearing bozos whose Spinal Tap-esque pronouncements are hilarious in ways they will never truly understand. Good luck to them, I say, they mean no harm. They’ve had the last laugh? During this no doubt immaculately curated evening they’ll be capitalising on their unlikely second wind with a roster of newly filmed backstage clips and archive snippets from the artists who inspired them, plus, inevitably, a repeat of that extraordinary documentary. You’d have to possess a heart of sludge to begrudge them this ‘ironic’ resurgence.

LAST WEEK’S TV

IMAGINE… EDNA O’BRIEN: FEARFUL AND FEARLESS

Sunday 7^th, BBC One

One of the greatest and most influential writers of her generation, O’Brien caused cassock-clutching scandal in her native Ireland when, in the ‘60s, she dared to publish books declaring that women had sexual thoughts and impulses. Now aged 89, this brave, bold, brilliant woman led a mercifully unobtrusive Alan Yentob through a fascinating saga during which she survived shameful prejudice. A hero for the ages.

CLASSIC ALBUMS… THE CRICKETS: THE ‘CHIRPING’ CRICKETS

Friday 12^th, BBC Two

Here’s a concept for Richard Curtis to chew on: imagine a world in which Buddy Holly’s first album didn’t exist. There would be no Beatles, no Rolling Stones, no, heaven forbid, Ed Sheeran. This pleasant documentary traced the origins and growth of a band who basically defined the classic guitar/bass/drums template. Contributors included original Cricket Jerry Allison and awestruck acolyte Cliff Richard.

TV Column: CATCH-22 + STILL GAME + KILLING EVE

This article was originally published in The Courier on 15th June 2019.

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

NEXT WEEK’S TV

CATCH-22

Thursday, Channel 4, 9pm

Joseph Heller’s classic satire of military bureaucracy, injustice and the madness of war was adapted for the screen with mixed results in 1970. This six-episode miniseries is clearly intended as a more faithful and possibly definitive adaptation. Set during World War Two, it follows a sharp young US Army Air Force bombardier as he struggles to rebel against a system that’s stacked against him. When he tries to get out of flying his remaining missions – suicide missions, essentially - he discovers a horrifying logical loophole: Catch-22. Boasting a large ensemble cast including Hugh Laurie and George Clooney (who also co-produces and directs), it succeeds in capturing the acerbic, absurdist, darkly comic tone of Heller’s antiauthoritarian masterpiece. Impressive.

THE FAMILY BRAIN GAMES

Monday to Thursday, BBC Two, 8pm

Dara O’Briain plays host to “eight of Britain’s cleverest families” as they cross their wits in “the ultimate test of cross-generational brain power.” In a laboratory overseen by academic experts, they take part in various problem-solving games designed to test different facets of their intelligence. The basic idea is that, by performing as a team, these competitive high achievers will provide an interesting study of family dynamics. And to an extent, they do. What’s more, you can play along at home. While I wholeheartedly welcome unabashed celebrations of intelligence, there’s no getting around the fact that The Family Brain Games is the most middle class TV gameshow since the Robert Robertson-fronted iteration of Ask the Family.

THE RESTAURANT THAT MAKES MISTAKES

Wednesday, Channel 4, 9pm

This commendable series revolves around an experimental restaurant staffed by volunteers living with some form of early onset dementia. Like the recent BBC series Our Dementia Choir with Vicky McClure, it aims to raise awareness of this condition while illustrating that it doesn’t preclude people from achieving new goals. In episode two, they welcome an influx of food critics who politely yet firmly refuse to give the restaurant special treatment. That would be patronising and counterproductive. For the participants, the project seems to renew their self-confidence. Waiter Peter, a former business owner, sums up the frank yet poignant tone: “Dementia takes away many things… our memories and ability to do things. But what it doesn’t take away is feeling.”

STILL GAME

Friday, BBC One, 9pm

If you missed the final series when it premiered earlier this year on the BBC Scotland channel, now’s your chance to say farewell to Jack and Victor. Even the most devout Still Game fan would admit that it’s long since passed its prime, but this valedictory run marks a slight return to form. It’s certainly nowhere near as bad as the other post-return outings: it actually contains some decent jokes and glimmers of the warmth which made us love it in the first place. Make no mistake, Still Game in its heyday was a modern sitcom classic. Admittedly, this opening episode is average at best, but at least it isn’t embarrassing. The series improves as it goes on. RIP.

LAST WEEK’S TV

KILLING EVE

Saturday 8^th, BBC One

Series two of this multi-award-winning black comedy thriller picked up directly from the violent climax of series one. Sympathetic MI5 agent Eve (Sandra Oh) was suffering from PTSD after stabbing – fatally, she assumed – psychopathic assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer). The oddly likeable villain was alive and fairly well, of course: she’s an unstoppable force of dark nature. Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) has stepped down as head writer to focus on other projects, but new boss Emerald Fennell (hitherto best known for playing Nurse Patsy in Call the Midwife) slipped into her shoes with ease. Killing Eve is still a fast, funny parody of spy thriller tropes which also functions as an actual captivating spy thriller. It has its cake and eats it on the fly. Also, Comer is utterly outstanding

YEAR OF THE RABBIT

Monday 10^th, Channel 4

The ubiquitous Matt Berry stars in this dreary sitcom about a tough, maverick Victorian cop patrolling the mean streets of London’s East End. It’s a charmless affair in which unfunny swearing and strained silliness offer no substitute for wit. The one-note Berry, who can’t even affect a passable cockney accent, is acted off the screen by a supporting cast which includes Paul Kaye and Alun Armstrong.