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.

TV Column: THE YORKSHIRE RIPPER FILES

This column was originally published in The Courier on 23rd March 2019.

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

NEXT WEEK’S TV

THE YORKSHIRE RIPPER FILES: A VERY BRITISH CRIME STORY

Tuesday to Thursday, BBC Four, 9pm

When serial killer Peter Sutcliffe was finally caught in 1981, he had murdered 13 women and attacked at least eight more. His arrest was the result of Britain’s biggest ever manhunt. During that six-year investigation Sutcliffe was interviewed by the police on nine occasions, but was allowed to walk away each time. In this grimly absorbing three-part documentary, filmmaker Liza Williams meets survivors of Sutcliffe’s attacks, as well as relatives of other victims. She also interviews police officers, pathologists and journalists who covered this horrific case in an attempt to answer a disturbing question: did bigoted societal attitudes towards women, particularly within the male-dominated police force, allow Sutcliffe to continue killing long after he could have been caught?

MARS UNCOVERED: ANCIENT GOD OF WAR

Monday, BBC Four, 9pm

Historian Bettany Hughes examines the relationship between warfare and worship in this thought-provoking documentary. The notion of Holy War has endured throughout the centuries, basically all because of the titular warmongering deity. Hughes follows Mars in his many incarnations across a bloody battlefield of crusades, massacres and world wars. “Is Mars immortal because war is always going to be an essential part of our lives?” she asks. She also explains that, for the Romans, “he was a vital force in their drive to win and exploit an Empire.” However, they stole him from the Greeks, whose own God of war, Aries, was “distrusted and reviled.” That saga would be Python-esque if it didn’t have such catastrophic far-reaching consequences.

THE ROAD TO BREXIT

Tuesday, BBC Two, 10pm

Matt Berry reunites with his Toast of London co-writer Arthur Mathews for this almost mystifyingly unfunny spoof documentary. Mathews also co-created Father Ted, so he should know his way around a good whimsical joke. It appears his powers have deserted him. Berry plays political scholar Michael Squeamish – the same rich and fruity character he always plays, but with a different name. He takes us on a journey through the history of Britain’s relationship with Europe via the familiar comic device of placing archive footage out of context while adding fake captions and dubbed audio. That approach can sometimes work wonders – e.g. the work of comedian Rhys Thomas – but Berry and Mathews’ efforts are fatally hackneyed and thin.

THE BEATLES: MADE ON MERSEYSIDE

Friday, BBC Four, 9pm

Do we really need another documentary about the most scrupulously analysed pop group of all time? Certainly not on the evidence of this harmless yet inessential trawl through their well-worn origin story. It does contain a smattering of unfamiliar nuggets – if the Beatles hadn’t taken off, Paul would’ve become a window dresser – but for the most part it plays out like an instructional video for people who’ve inexplicably never heard any of this stuff before. Nevertheless, it occasionally benefits from the inclusion of an array of greying talking heads who actually knew the group before they were famous (the luckless Pete Best among them). It also features contributions from esteemed music journalist Jon Savage and an inevitable Paul Gambaccini.

LAST WEEK’S TV

MOTHERFATHERSON

Wednesday 20^th, BBC Two

Hollywood legend Richard Gere earned every penny of his paycheque in the latest episode of this enjoyably overwrought melodrama. He spent half of it wandering around sunny Mexico City while the main storyline unfolded elsewhere. Sweet gig. The most interesting aspect of MotherFatherSon by far is the relationship between Kathryn and her severely brain-damaged son. Helen McCrory and Billy Howle pour themselves into their respective roles. It’s such a muddled, overreaching drama, Howards’ Way chairing a Leveson Inquiry comprised of The Godfather, All the President’s Men and The Wolf of Wall Street, but I can’t quite tear myself away.