The Guardian - 27.08.2019

Section:GDN 12 PaGe:14 Edition Date:190827 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 26/8/2019 15:53 cYanmaGentaYellowbl

• The Guardian
  14 Tuesday 27 August 2019

That perfect slice of sweet, sticky

comfort TV is back with the glory that is

cake week. It is never an easy ride for the

contestants, and this year there are 13 of

them – which means two bakers must

go home tonight. Triumphantly silly

pair Noel Fielding and Sandi Toksvig are

on hand to present while the hopefuls

tackle a fruit cake and a complicated old-

school classic. The fi rst showstopper of

the season is an inspired choice, as the

bakers whip up the birthday cake they

wish they’d had when they were kids.

Hannah Verdier

Keeping Faith

9pm, BBC One

The second series of the

Welsh psychological

thriller unspools in a fi nale

so crowded with shock

revelations, face-off s and

races against time that you

will be exhausted by the

time it comes to a close. As

well as all the fi reworks, it

still fi nds time to remind

us that life in Abercorran

is all about family. And,

as always, Eve Myles

is on top form in the

eponymous role.

Mike Bradley

Sink or Swim

9pm, Channel 4

Celebrities swimming the

Channel! OK, so there are

11 of them, and it will be a

relay, but, still, by charity-

reality standards, this is

a tough gig. Expect raw

emotions as self-doubt

and physical limitations

are confronted head-on

by, among others, The Last

Leg star Alex Brooker.

Jack Seale

The Aff air

9pm, Sky Atlantic

Dominic West has built

a career on playing

narcissistic shaggers. The

Wire’s Jimmy McNulty

was quite something, but

the disgraced novelist

Noah Solloway may be his

fi nest. As this deluxe soap

returns for a fi fth season,

his self-pitying, endlessly

horny chancer is still on

the comeback trail – with a

movie deal! – while his ex,

Helen (the terrifi c Maura

Tierney), is in pain.

Graeme Virtue

Kathy Burke’s

All Woman

10.30pm, Channel 4

In the fi nal episode, Kathy

Burke admits most of her

relationships have been

brief, partly because she is

unwilling to compromise

and “partly because of

the farting”. Now she

wants to fi nd out what

modern relationships

really mean for women.

Cue: encounters with

bisexuals, gigolos and TV’s

Caroline Flack. MB

Franco Building With

Jonathan Meades

10pm, BBC Four

He may dress like a fraying

Reservoir Dog, but when it

comes to cultural history

Jonthan Meades reigns

supreme. In this absorbing

analysis of the Spanish

dictator’s “terrible gift to

posterity”, he explains

why the link between the

martial and the sacred

became the key aesthetic

of Franco’s architectural

legacy. MB

One last bit

of Poldark

smouldering ...

Aidan Turner

The Great British Bake Off

8pm, Channel 4

And

another

thing

For me, that

back-to-school

feeling always

signifi ed

autumn was

here. Now it is

the beginning

of Strictly

Come Dancing

- it starts in less
than two weeks.

Review Poldark,

BBC One

turns up at Nampara, news of which fi nds its way back

to George and the slave traders at Trenwith. They are

delighted that Ross appears to be betraying his country.

But Ross – of course – has a plan. Dwight has to hide

under a fl oorboard, and Zacky and the Carne boys have

to do something with gunpowder. With Poldarkian

speed, it all gets going – Ross and the general discuss

plans, while Dwight, hidden under the fl oor, takes notes.

But the document – bound for Wickham in London – is

intercepted. Huzzah! Proof that Ross is a traitor. But

what’s this? He is actually acting as an undercover agent?

“Damn him. So he’ll be crowned as a hero,” sulks George.

Unless they inform the general that he’s been had, they

decide, treacherously.

There follows a sequence as hammy and cheesy as a

croque monsieur. “Forgive me if your carpet is stained,

madam,” says Toussaint to Demelza, “but I must perform

a small execution before we resume our conversation.”

Demelza, always the quickest-witted Poldark, pretends to

side with the Frenchman. “Can you truly think to rid me of

this fi end?” she says, standing between her husband and

Toussaint, stalling for time. For some reason , Toussaint

decides not to shoot Ross and have a duel instead.

Their moonlit swordfi ght seems to go on for so long that

by the time Hanson decides to take matters into his own

hands and shoot Ross himself, you’re almost cheering him

on. And then George appears in his Tarantino moment,

guns blazing. “I’d rather you kill the other one but we

mustn’t be greedy,” says Ross, before they discuss whether

to fi nish Hanson off and dispose of the bodies. If you have

stuck with Poldark this far, you have a fairly high tolerance

for such nonsense. There is a kind of rapprochement

between George and Ross, arch-enemies all this time.

There is just time to wrap it all up, and fairly satisfying

it is too. Morwenna and Drake have a baby girl. Dwight

and Caroline have a most touching scene, confronting

the grief of losing their daughter but with hope for their

future. Sam and the sweet-faced Rosina get married.

Geoff rey Charles has his place back at military school.

Even Valentine (Ross’s secret son) gets his own mine

• but not the knowledge of his true father. George, his
  supposed dad, asks the Poldarks not to see him any
  more. “He is, after all, no relation,” he says, all pride and
  gritted teeth. Most importantly, Horace, Caroline’s pug,
  seems to have recovered from the poisoning incident.
  Which just leaves Ross and Demelza. With everything
  they’ve been through , they end the show as equals. Ross
  says she saved his life. “As you saved mine, long ago. When
  you took me from a dog fi ght, made me your scullery
  maid, and then your wife,” she replies. Quite why she puts
  up with him – he’s going off to be a spy in France while
  she’s pregnant – is one of the enduring mysteries of her
  character. Still, it allows the prospect that this isn’t the
  end. She expects him back for the harvest (a chance for
  him to get that scythe out again). One last bit of Poldark
  smouldering: “I swear to you, my love, I will return.” It’s
  silly , eye-roll-inducing and the perfect farewell.

★★★★☆

TV and radio

G

eorge Warleggan appears, pistol in each

hand, before taking out a French general

and wounding the man who is about

to kill Ross, and it may go down as the

moment the show really lost it. I laughed

out loud – for all Poldark’s intentional

light relief, it is the earnest parts that make me want to

giggle, although until now it has somehow managed to

stay on the right side of ridiculous.

It was the last ever episode – supposedly – of the

gloriously entertaining show that has run for fi ve series.

It has pushed me to my limits with its jumpy approach to

time and ludicrous storylines, and the fi nale nearly sent

me over the edge. And yet, like that moment when Dwight

Enys grabbed George as he was about to go over the

Cornish cliff top in episode three, they pulled it back. Just.

Five months have passed since the penultimate

episode. Morwenna is heavily pregnant, Caroline is still –

implausibly – on at Dwight about being in love with Kitty

Despard and Ross is acting strangely (as he warned Dwight

he would). Demelza knows he is up to something, but

suspects that something is troublemaker Tess Tregidden

• devastatingly confi rmed to her when she follows him.
  Heartbroken, she packs for Killewarren, Caroline’s house.
  “When did I lose you, Ross? I look in your face and see a
  stranger.” He can’t tell her the truth, which is that he has
  infi ltrated a French gang – ahead of a French invasion –
  and stringing Tess along is supposedly all part of it.
  But the invasion is on – and before the peace
  agreement is to be signed! French general Jules Toussaint

The last episode

of this glorious

show nearly sent

me over the edge

Emine Saner

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