The_Times__6_March_2020

the times | Friday March 6 2020 2GM 23

News

Netflix may have Friends but Disney’s
new streaming service has family. The
Simpson family, to be precise.
All 600 episodes from the first 30
series of The Simpsons will be available
to binge on Disney+ when it launches in
the UK this month, the entertainment
giant has confirmed.
The classic cartoon, which spawned
catchphrases such as “D’oh” and “Eat
my shorts”, is one of the centrepiece
offerings of the British version of Dis-
ney+, the most significant challenger to
Netflix’s streaming dominance.
The Disney platform had 29 million
paying subscribers within three
months of its US launch last year. Its
introduction to the UK, brought for-
ward to March 24, is expected to accel-
erate the already rapid audience shift
from broadcast to on-demand viewing.
Subscribers will have access to more
than 500 films, including the entire Star
Wars franchise, Pixar favourites such as
Toy Story, and 30 Marvel titles, includ-

ing the blockbuster Guardians of the

Galaxy. Disney+ will also host 26 origi-

nal TV series, most notably The Manda-

lorian, a Star Wars spin-off that is

already a cult hit in the US thanks, at

least in part, to the adorable features of

CLIVE FRANCIS

A mother who bit and scratched an
airline pilot on the floor of a cockpit in
a row over her three-year-old’s buggy
has been spared jail.
Henrietta Mitaire, 23, and her
mother, Mary Roberts, 53, were on trial
accused of attacking Guido Keel, a
Swiss Air captain, after the aircraft
landed at Heathrow from Zurich on
May 2 last year.
Mitaire was found guilty of an assault
that left Mr Keel’s shirt covered in
blood. Her mother, Ms Roberts, who
was accused of kicking him while he
was on the floor of the plane, was

cleared of assault after a trial at
Uxbridge magistrates’ court.
Mitaire was given a four-month
suspended sentence. She said yesterday
that she would appeal because “the idea
that a mother is acquitted for defending
her child and the child that she was
trying to defend is not acquitted is
lunatic”.
When Ms Roberts, from Fulham,
southwest London, was asked to leave
the dock after her acquittal, she stood
up to say: “Adolf Hitler is still ruling
England and Mussolini is still ruling
England and the innocent.” She was

Mary Roberts and Henrietta Mitaire
gave thanks to God outside court

S

ir Humphrey

Appleby is being

called into action

one final time —

to rescue Jim

Hacker from woke

students (David

Sanderson writes).

Two of the most

cherished

characters in

political

comedy are

being

resurrected

by Jonathan

Lynn for an

“elegiac”

play that he

said would

explore

“what

happens to people who

have tremendous power

and influence... and then

have none and when they

are old they are

forgotten”. I’m Sorry

Prime Minister I Can’t

Quite Remember will star

Simon Callow as the

former prime minister,

who is now in his eighties

and master at Hacker

College, Oxford, where he

is facing a revolt from

students angered at his

political incorrectness.

Hacker calls upon Sir

Humphrey, his former

cabinet secretary, who

will be played by Clive

Francis, to save him.

Lynn, who co-wrote Ye s

Minister and Yes, Prime

Minister with Antony Jay,

who died in 2016, said

that he had been

persuaded to write a final

chapter because “people

kept asking me what

became of those

characters”.

“I started thinking

about Theresa May, who

was pushed out of power

abruptly, and David

Cameron, who went from

being the prime minister

to being out the moment

the referendum happened

and Tony Blair, who even

became hated,” he said.

“They don’t have many

friends and so by the time

they are very old, I think

in the case of Jim and

Humphrey they are

utterly baffled by the way

the world has changed

and gone apparently

crazy, as far as they are

concerned.” The play,

which opens

at

Cambridge

Arts Theatre

in June

before a UK

tour, would

“touch on a

lot of things

going on in

the world”,

said Lynn,

who will also

direct the

play.

Asked how

Sir Humphrey

would cope

with Dominic

Cummings’s disdain for

the civil service, he said:

“Sir Humphrey could

survive in any climate.”

New chapter

for Hacker

and Sir

Humphrey

Clive Francis’s cartoon of

Jim Hacker and Sir

Humphrey Appleby, whom

Francis will play. Below,

Yes, Prime Minister

C

A

in

b

to

“

lo

g

th

s

w

d

p

S

Cli Francis’scartoonof w

Mother who bit

pilot in wrangle

over buggy is

spared prison

Fariha Karim then dragged out of the court by a
police officer.
Mitaire had claimed that she was de-
nied permission to take the buggy on
board because she was a black woman
and “Swiss people are racist”.
The court heard that the row began
in Zurich when airport staff told
Mitaire that the buggy must be put in
the hold. Mitaire eventually agreed and
she and her mother went to their seats.
When the plane landed at Heathrow,
Mitaire approached the flight manager,
Ali Chkerdaa, asking for the names of
two women at the departure gate that
she had argued with so she could make
a formal complaint to the airline.
He offered his business card instead
because they worked for a different
company. Mr Keel left the cockpit to of-
fer his own business card when Mitaire
refused to accept Mr Chkerdaa’s but she
refused that too, so he put his hand on
her arm to gesture her off the aircraft.
Mitaire pulled out her phone to start
filming, asking: “Why did you lay your
hands on me? Where is the power?”
“I have the power,” he replied, but fell
back into the cockpit as he and Mitaire
tussled on the floor.
She scratched his neck and bit his
arm. Ms Roberts tried to get into the
cockpit but was held back. The pair
were led away by police officers.
Delivering her verdicts, Judge Debo-
rah Wright said that Mitaire was “very
upset” about not being allowed to take
the buggy on board.
She continued that the captain’s
decision to touch her arm may have
been “unwise” but “Ms Mitaire’s
reaction was wholly disproportionate.
“The video footage is a testament to
her anger and determination to
continue to escalate a situation.”
Mitaire, from South Kensington,
west London, denied assault, claiming
she was acting in self-defence but this
was rejected by the judge.

its “Baby Yoda” character.

Netflix has attracted 12 million

subscribers in the UK but is facing

unprecedented competition from

new rivals such as Disney+, Apple

TV+ and Britbox. Amazon Prime

The Simpsons has broadcast

600 episodes since 1989

Eat my shorts: Disney+ rivals Netflix by signing the Simpsons

Video is already closing the gap, in-

creasing its UK subscriber base by

35 per cent over the past year to seven

million, after securing the rights to

some Premier League football matches.

Disney+ executives hope that their

family-centric offering will prove par-

ticularly popular with young parents.

As well as classic Disney children’s films

such as The Little Mermaid, the

streaming service has the rights to

dozens of live-action Hollywood

movies secured in Disney’s $71

billion purchase of 21st

Century Fox, such as the

Home Alone trilogy, Avatar

and Mrs Doubtfire.

The service is offering an

introductory annual deal of

£49.99, equivalent to

£4.17 per month,

significantly cheap-

er than Netflix’s basic

£5.99-a-month package.

There had been uncertainty about

whether The Simpsons, another Fox

production, would be made available to

UK subscribers, since the animated sit-

com is already on Sky One and Chan-

nel 4.

New episodes of the long-running

cartoon, which began in 1989 and is

now on series 31, will continue to be

shown on Sky as part of a “co-exclusive”

deal. Series 31 will be added to Disney+

in November.

Research by the media analysts Oliv-

er & Ohlbaum Associates found that a

quarter of Britons would be interested

in taking up a Disney+ subscription, a

significantly higher proportion than

are tempted by Britbox, the ITV-BBC

joint venture, which announced this

week the return of the satirical puppet

show Spitting Image.

Disney+ subscribers in the US watch

the service for an average of six to seven

hours a week, early figures indicate.

This is well below the two hours a day

per-subscriber viewing reported by

Netflix, Enders Analysis noted.

Matthew Moore Media Correspondent Battle of the streaming giants

Disney+ (£5.99 a month,

or introductory annual

subscription for £49.99)

Highlights include The

Simpsons, Star Wars,

Disney, Marvel, Pixar

and National

Geographic productions

plus original series such

as The Mandalorian.

Netflix (£5.99 basic

package, £8.99 for HD

and two devices)

The Crown, Stranger

Things, Sex Education,

Friends, The Witcher

plus exclusive films

such as The Irishman.

Amazon Prime Video

(£7.99, including one-

day Amazon deliveries)

The Grand Tour, 20

Premier League games

a season, ATP Tour

tennis and dramas

including Good Omens

and Hunters.

Britbox (£5.99)

A Spitting Image revival

launches this autumn.

Classic box sets

including Downton

Abbey, Broadchurch

and Doctor Who.

Apple TV+ (£4.99, free

for a year with new

Apple products)

The Morning

Show, See,

Oprah’s Book Club,

Dickinson. New

Steven Spielberg

series Amazing Stories

released today.