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Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 27, 2019(^) TELEVISION
FILM CHOICES
The Neighbourhood Nightmare,
2.15pm, Ch5
THE handsome new neighbour is a
thing to be feared in your typical daytime
movie. And so it proves here for divorced
single mother Lindsay (Julie McNiven),
who falls for a local hunk — only to
suspect that her new love could be
behind a gruesome killing spree.
The Shawshank Redemption,
9pm, ITV4
DESPITE
a modest
performance on
its release, this
classy adaptation
of a Stephen
King novella has
gone on to be
considered a
modern classic.
Tim Robbins (pictured) is the wrongly
convicted prisoner looking for a way out;
Morgan Freeman is the veteran inmate
guiding him through life inside.
Redemption,
ured) is the wrongly
Forget whodunnit — and prepare
for a pun about how they done it
NUPTIALS OF THE NIGHT: Gina
and Michael (Anya Taylor-Joy
and Finn Cole) were married by
the captain aboard an ocean
liner in Peaky Blinders (BBC1).
Today’s equivalent would be
getting hitched on a Ryanair
flight. Not so romantic, really.
A
sweet-maker is
drowned in gallons
of liquid cocoa before
having his head
encased in a solid
shell of confectionery, and
what is the verdict on
Midsomer Murders (ItV)?
‘Death By Chocolate!’ I’m
beginning to suspect the writers of
this tongue-in-cheek mystery
perennial are dreaming up the
crimes just so pathologist Fleur
Perkins (annette Badland) can
deliver another atrocious joke.
sure enough, when the millionaire
owner of a troubled rugby club was
found frozen solid in the high-tech
ice bath used by his players, Fleur
donned a fur hat to announce: ‘He
got turned into a human ice lolly.’
really, the producers should start
a competition and get readers to
send in their own fatal puns. Here’s
my entry: a factory owner sacks 999
staff, and one of them slits the
boss’s throat in revenge. Fleur
says: ‘Death by a thousand cuts!’
too mundane? How about this: a
noted arachnologist expires after
falling into his own tank of
scorpions. ‘Oh death,’ cries Fleur,
‘where is thy sting?’
Honestly, I would not be surprised
if either or both those lines have
already been used, because one
pleasure of midsomer is that each
episode is so instantly forgettable.
You know you have seen the one
with Una stubbs, or simon Callow,
or June whitfield, but can you
remember who the murderer was?
Of course you cannot.
this makes the show perfect for
repeats but also adds to the sense
of relaxation when a new mystery
airs. there are so many suspects
with interchangeable names that
you will never keep track of all the
clues, which means you do not
have to bother concentrating.
tamzin Outhwaite and marcia
warren were the star names this
time and, despite an unwritten
convention that it’s the celeb wot
dunnit, neither proved the killer.
at least, I don’t think they did. I
am already starting to forget how
it ended.
Nobody can ever forget the
immortal stars of the original
walmington-on-sea Home Guard,
a collection of character actors and
repertory veterans thrown together
in a low-budget sitcom that no one
ever imagined could be a ratings
winner half a century later.
so it was a stormingly brave
decision to remake three lost
episodes of Dad’s Army (Gold) with
a new cast. the intention was never
to out-do the originals, just to give
Midsomer Murders HHHII Dad’s Army HHHHH
CHRISTOPHER
STEVENS
LAST NIGHT’S TV
us an impression of how they
might have looked. the three
half-hour shows are airing on
consecutive evenings, with the
last one being shown tonight.
remaining faithful to the
scripts, the results are better
than anyone could have dared
hope. kevin mcNally is Captain
mainwaring, giving us the
irritable, crusty, pompous John
Bull of a man just as arthur
Lowe portrayed him — without
stooping to an imitation.
robert Bathurst plays sergeant
wilson, capturing the urbane,
world-weary charm though
inevitably lacking John Le
mesurier’s touch of gravelly
loucheness... earned during
many nights lounging against
the piano in ronnie scott’s soho
jazz club. the second episode
was a showcase for kevin eldon
and David Hayman as Lance
corporal Jones and Private
Frazer, reviving characters
so marvellously we could almost
have been watching Clive Dunn
and John Laurie — but in high-
definition, not fuzzy black
and white.
mathew Horne and tom
rosenthal ably complete the
ensemble as walker and Pike, but
the special joy is timothy west as
Godfrey. arnold ridley played
him as an amiable old duffer with
a dicky bladder. west finds some-
thing more: he is genuinely
distraught at his own weakness.
Not better than the original,
then — but every bit as good.
CHANNEL 5
6.00 Milkshake! Peppa Pig (R) 6.05 Peppa
Pig (R) 6.10 Peppa Pig (R) 6.15 Ben and Holly’s
Little Kingdom (R) 6.30 Olly the Little White
Van (R,HD) 6.35 Noddy: Toyland Detective
(R,HD) 6.45 Fireman Sam (R,HD) 6.55 Thomas
& Friends: Big World! Big Adventures! (R,HD)
7.10 Shane the Chef (R,HD) 7.20 Peppa Pig
(R,HD) 7.30 Peppa Pig (R,HD) 7.40 Top Wing
(R,HD) 7. 5 5 Paw Patrol (R,HD) 8.05 Digby
Dragon (R,HD) 8.25 Little Princess (R) 8.40
Shimmer and Shine (R,HD) 8.55 Floogals
(R,HD) 9.10 Sunny Bunnies (R,HD)
9.15 Jeremy Vine (HD)
11.15 GPs: Behind Closed Doors
(AD,R,HD)
12.10 5 News Lunchtime (HD)
12.15 Celebs on the Farm (R,HD)
1.10 Access (HD)
1.15 Home and Away (AD,HD)
1.45 Neighbours (AD,HD)
2.15 The Neighbourhood Nightmare
(2018) (12) ● (HD) Thriller, starring
Julie McNiven. See Critics’ Choice.
4.00 Friends (R,HD)
4.30 Friends (R,HD)
5.00 5 News (HD)
5.30 Neighbours (AD,R,HD) Chloe breaks
up her romance with Elly before
matters get too complicated.
6.00 Home and Away (AD,R,HD) Ziggy
urges Dean to do whatever it
takes to get Rick off his back.
6.30 5 News Tonight (HD)
7.00 How They Built Concorde (R,HD)
Part one of two. The story of how
the Anglo-French Concorde saw
off competition from the
Americans and Soviets.
(Followed by 5 News Update)
8.00 The Yorkshire Vet (AD,HD)
New series. Julian must treat a
pregnant heifer with a pelvis that
may be too small to give birth.
(Followed by 5 News Update)
9.00 Inside the Tower of London
(HD) The chief yeoman warder
oversees the tower’s celebration
of the end of the First World War,
and special preparations are
made for the tower director’s
retirement party.
10.00 The Great Fire of London:
Hour by Hour (R,HD) Dan Jones,
Suzannah Lipscomb and Rob Bell
take viewers back to one of the
most momentous events in
English history — the devastating
fire of September 1666 that
obliterated almost every building
inside the city walls of medieval
London. They follow the blaze
as it rampaged, to reveal what
actually happened, hour by hour,
and street by street.
12.55 Deadly Dangerous Drivers:
Caught on Camera (R,HD) 1.10
The 21.co.uk Live Casino Show (HD)
3.10 Gotham: Rise of the Villains
(AD,R,HD) 4.00 NCIS (R,HD)
4.45 House Doctor (BSL,R)
5.10 House Doctor (BSL,R)
5.35 Wildlife SOS (BSL,R)
(^) ▲ Particularly liable to offend
WELSH TV VARIATIONS
BBC1: 1.30pm BBC Wales Today; Weather. 6.30 BBC
Wales Today; Weather. 10.25 BBC Wales Today;
Weather.
BBC2: 10.00pm Tudur’s TV Flashback. Comedian
Tudur Owen references clips from half a century
and more of Welsh television as he sets out to
discover the truth about love.
S4C: 6.00am Cyw. 12noon Newyddion S4C a’r
Tywydd. 12.05 Wil ac Aeron: Taith yr Alban. 12.30
Heno. 1.30 Gwesty Parc y Stradey. 2.00 Newyddion
S4C a’r Tywydd. 2.05 Prynhawn Da. 3.00 Newyddion
S4C a’r Tywydd. 3.05 Trysor Coll y Royal Charter.
3.30 Cefn Gwlad. 4.00 Awr Fawr: Peppa. 4.05 Awr
Fawr: Digbi Draig. 4.20 Awr Fawr: Jen a Jim a’r
Cywiadur. 4.35 Awr Fawr: Sion y Chef. 4.45 Awr
Fawr: Yn yr Ardd. 5.00 Stwnsh. 6.00 Newyddion S4C
a’r Tywydd. 6.05 Ceffylau Cymru. 6.30 Antur
Waunfawr. 7.00 Heno. 7.30 Pobol y Cwm. 8.00
Lorient 2019. 9.00 Newyddion 9 a’r Tywydd. 9.30
Priodas Pum Mil. 10.30 Mwy o’r Babell Len 2019.
11.30 Y Ditectif.
FILM
CHOICE