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.

KILLING EVE + MONKMAN AND SEAGULL'S GENIUS GUIDE TO BRITAIN

This article was originally published in The Courier on 22nd September 2018.

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

KILLING EVE: Saturday, BBC One

MONKMAN AND SEAGULL’S GENIUS GUIDE TO BRITAIN: Monday, BBC Two

One of the best new TV shows of 2018, KILLING EVE is an addictive eight-part comedy-drama that subverts typical spy thriller tropes with offbeat panache. It debuted on BBC America earlier this year, and was instantly met with a barrage of glowing reviews and an eventual brace of award nominations. I’m not surprised.

It’s based on a series of novellas by Luke Jennings and adapted by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, author and star of the justly acclaimed BBC sitcom Fleabag. Similar to Waller-Bridge’s previous work in that it switches effortlessly on a dime between dry, caustic comedy and visceral drama, Killing Eve is witty, knowing and stylish, but never feels pleased with itself.

Eve Polastri (a tremendously likeable performance from Asian-Canadian actor Sandra Oh) is a bored, deskbound MI5 security officer who becomes obsessed with tracking down a female assassin at large in Europe. Unfortunately, that’s not part of her job. She’s basically a pen-pusher.

However, in episode one, her perceptive handling of a technically illegal investigation managed to impress a female senior officer. Eve, a woman in her late forties, is on the verge of fulfilling her dream of becoming a bona fide secret agent.

She isn’t a kick-ass action hero, she’s a normal, relatable human being. She’s happily married and gets on with her boss (the great David Haig on droll form). A quietly subversive creation, Eve is a refreshing antidote to all those tiresomely troubled male crime-busters who usually populate our screens.

The expert assassin, Villanelle, is also unusual. Perfectly played by Jodie Comer as a sort of casually spoiled student on a murderous gap year, she’s a darkly amusing parody of psychopathic villainy. Whenever this beautiful young Russian isn’t gleefully murdering Mafia bosses by stabbing them through the eye with a customised hairpin, she’s tipping ice cream over sweet little girls and refusing to help old ladies with their heavy bags. She may be a homicidal maniac, but Villanelle is a fun character to be around.

The plot is triggered when she assassinates a Russian diplomat in Vienna. Eve is tasked with looking after the sole witness, a drug-addled Polish woman whose incoherent babble may hold the key to the killer’s identity. Eve asks her genial Polish husband to translate these ramblings (a convenient coincidence, but I’ll let it pass). An obscure Polish slang word for “flat-chested” confirms Eve’s suspicions that the killer is a woman. And the game is on.

Despite featuring several recognisable staples of the spy genre – e.g. various glamorous European locations – Killing Eve feels fresh. Oh and Comer make for an arresting pair of antagonists; you somehow find yourself wanting both of them to prevail. A controlled explosion of pulp hokum, it’s a genuinely funny and surprising affair.

From the sublime to, well, two popular University Challenge contestants driving around the UK. In MONKMAN AND SEAGULL’S GENIUS GUIDE TO BRITAIN, best friends Eric Monkman and Bobby Seagull hit the road in search of various examples of British ingenuity.

Richly narrated by Simon Callow, it’s a harmlessly generic travelogue in which our big-brained hosts engage in amusingly esoteric conversation while visiting destinations such as Jodrell Bank, a ginormous broadcasting mast, and a lawnmower museum (where they were delighted to discover a mower that once belonged to Brian May). Naturally, they provide interesting nuggets of learned information along the way.

They’re a likeable pair, but Monkman in particular is a TV natural. A nerdy Canadian with a Cheshire Cat grin and a head seemingly crammed with all knowledge, he’s possibly on his way to becoming an eccentric national treasure.