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Daily Mail, Tuesday, July 30, 2019After a night of cads and absent
dads, a father to restore our faith
EPIC RECIPE OF THE NIGHT:
Looking, as she said herself, like
‘a big fluorescent Teletubbie’,
Nadiya Hussein donned
waterproofs to visit Wester Ross
salmon farm on Time To Eat
(BBC2). ‘Westeros’... isn’t that
the setting for Game Of Thrones?
Dinner is coming!B
ritain’s feckless
fathers came off badly
in a pair of primetime
documentaries. it
wasn’t an evening
calculated to make anyone
proud of being a bloke.
When 18-year-old Marion told her
boyfriend she was pregnant, he
retorted: ‘i’m married’ — and she
never saw him again. this was the
early sixties and, as she told
Davina McCall on Long Lost
Families: What Happened Next
(itV), her parents would not let
her keep the baby.
it was 55 years before mother and
daughter Julie were reunited, seen
on an earlier episode of Long Lost
Families. Clearly, there wasn’t
much point for Julie in tracking
down her biological dad. He had
never wanted to know.
Marion continued to have bad
luck with men, Davina learned
when she visited for this catch-up.
in the late sixties, trapped in an
abusive relationship, she gave birth
to twins Karen and andrew — both
sent to foster homes as toddlers.
But Long Lost Families leaves us
with a warm glow every time
because, when parents and
siblings are reunited, there are no
recriminations. Decades of guilt
and anxiety at rejection are wiped
out with a hug.
the show is shot through with
forgiveness... just not for the menwho caused so much heartache in
the first place.
that same pattern ran deep in
Who Do You Think You Are? (BBC1)
as Bond actress naomie Harris
flew to the Caribbean in search of
her ancestors.
she started by talking to her
father, a frosty conversation across
a desk that couldn’t have been
more remote if they’d held it by
long-distance phone.
naomie made it plain he’d been
completely absent during her
childhood. ‘We’ve been in contact a
handful of times,’ she added, and
couldn’t hide her hurt and surprise
when she realised that his large
family, including his parents, had
lived only a short distance from her
when she was growing up.
arriving in Port of spain, trinidad,
to trace his ancestors, naomie
wasn’t expecting to like what she
found — and she didn’t.
Her father’s great-grandad was
an overseer on a cocoa plantation,
a white man who came from a line
of slave drivers.
she wore a tight smile that said:
‘i might have guessed,’ as she
shrugged off the findings: some-Long Lost Family: What Happened Next HHHHI
Who Do You Think You Are? HHHII
CHRISTOPHER
STEVENS
LAST NIGHT’S TV
how, she remarked, these people
seemed very detached from her.
that’s understandable, but it’s
also less moving.
this genealogy series is
constantly at risk of becoming
dry and didactic: we need the
celebrity guests to feel great
surges of emotion with everydiscovery. and naomie did, when
she flew to Jamaica in search of
her mother’s folks.
the grinding poverty that her
grandfather’s family faced in the
slums of Cross roads, in the
capital Kingston, left her speech-
less and sobbing.
But that didn’t last long. shecertainly didn’t convey the
impression that she’s one to
wallow in melancholy. instead,
she trotted off to visit a planta-
tion where her mother’s
forebears were once slaves.
it was all slightly awkward.
Fortunately, back on Long Lost
Family, one soft-spoken man was
on hand to restore our faith.
He and his wife lived in
Bogota, Colombia, and they
were overjoyed to meet the
daughter they had been forced
to give up as a baby.
the good-hearted father was
so moved, he made her a gift of
his only valuable possession —
his watch.
thank goodness there will
always be some decent men.TELEVISION
FILM CHOICES
Stalked By My Ex, 2.15pm, Ch5
STANDARD made-for-TV stuff, with
Tamara Braun as mum Chloe, who has to
flee to her home town with her teenage
daughter when she learns that her abusive
ex is to be released on probation. Once
there, she must face up to the problems
that made her leave in the first place.Fast & Furious 7,
9pm, ITV2
CRITICALLY and
commercially,
this episode of
the franchise
was a massive hit.
An action-packed
white-knuckle
ride, it also acts
as a fitting swan
song for star Paul
Walker, who died
in an unrelated
car accident during filming. Vin Diesel’s
Dominic Toretto (pictured) is singled
out as the target for a revenge attack.ng filming VinDiesel’sCHANNEL 5
6.00 Milkshake! Peppa Pig (R,HD) 6.15 Ben
and Holly’s Little Kingdom (R) 6.30 Olly the
Little White Van (R,HD) 6.35 Noddy (R,HD)
6.45 Fireman Sam (R,HD) 6.55 Thomas &
Friends (R,HD) 7.05 Shane the Chef (R,HD)
7.20 Peppa Pig (R) 7.30 Peppa Pig (HD) 7.40
Top Wing (R,HD) 7. 5 5 Paw Patrol (R,HD) 8.05
Digby Dragon (R,HD) 8.20 Little Princess
(R,HD) 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 Bargain-Loving Brits by the Sea
(R,HD) Blondie tribute artist
Fiona dreams of making it big.
12.10 5 News Lunchtime (HD)
12.15 Can’t Pay? We’ll Take It Away!
(R,HD) Agents try to seize a taxi.
1.10 Access (HD)
1.15 Home and Away (AD,HD)
1.45 Neighbours (AD,HD)
2.15 Stalked By My Ex (2017) (PG) ●
(HD) Thriller, with Tamara Braun,
Yves Bright and Brytnee Ratledge.
See Critics’ Choice.
4.00 Friends (R,HD)
4.30 Friends (R,HD)
5.00 5 News (HD)
5.30 Neighbours (AD,R,HD) Yashvi
and Ned decide to take their
relationship to the next level.
6.00 Home and Away (AD,R,HD) Raffy
begins taking medicinal cannabis.
6.30 5 News Tonight (HD)7.00 Secrets of the Bermuda
Triangle (R,HD) Ortis Deley visits
Florida to try to find out what
happened to five naval aircraft
lost without trace in 1945.
(Followed by 5 News Update)8.00 The Great Gardening Challenge
(HD) Nicki Chapman and Diarmuid
Gavin host the semi-finals, with
the winning teams returning
to create two gardens at the
Glenfield Hospital in Leicester.
(Followed by 5 News Update)9.15 Secrets of the National Trust
with Alan Titchmarsh (HD)
The presenter explores the
family home of Winston Churchill.
See Critics’ Choice.10.15 Released to Kill Again (HD)
Documentary following three
families seeking answers as
to how and why convicted
killers have been released
from prison only to commit
more crime, even murder.11.15 The Body in the Bathroom: The
Murder of Naomi Hersi (R,HD)
The murder of North London
transgender woman Naomi Hersi
in March 2018 by Hounslow man
Jesse McDonald, whom she
found on a dating website.12.15 Stalked: Murder in Slow Motion
(R,HD) 1.10 The 21.co.uk Live Casino
Show (HD) 3.10 GPs: Behind Closed
Doors (AD,R,HD) 4.00 Britain’s
Greatest Bridges (AD,BSL,R,HD) 4.45
House Doctor (BSL,R) 5.10 Wildlife
SOS (BSL,R) 5.35 Wildlife SOS (BSL,R)(^) ▲ Particularly liable to offend
WELSH TV VARIATIONS
BBC1: 11.45am Weatherman Walking: The Welsh
Coast. Presented by Derek Brockway. 1.30pm
BBC Wales Today; Weather. 6.30 BBC Wales Today;
Weather. 10.25 BBC Wales Today; Weather.
ITV: 1.20pm News Cymru Wales; Weather. 10.45
Fishlock’s Choice. 11.15 Ainsley’s Caribbean Kitchen.
11.40 Ross Kemp: Living with Homelessness.
12.05am Lethal Weapon.
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 Ras yr Wyddfa 2019. 4.00 Awr
Fawr: Peppa. 4.05 Awr Fawr: Ben Dant. 4.20 Awr
Fawr: Y Brodyr Coala. 4.30 Awr Fawr: Sion y Chef.
4.45 Awr Fawr: Gwdihw. 5.00 Stwnsh. 6.00
Newyddion S4C a’r Tywydd. 6.05 Blwyddyn y Bugail:
Ioan Doyle. 6.30 Bois y Pizza. 7.00 Heno. 7.30 Pobol
y Cwm. 8.00 Y Fets. A spaniel is haemorrhaging
badly. Last in series. 9.00 Newyddion 9 a’r Tywydd.
9.30 Priodas Pum Mil. 10.30 Pethe. 11.00 Y Ditectif.
PICK
FILM
CHOICE
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