the times | Monday July 27 2020 1GT 11
television & radio
Times Radio
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5. 00 am Calum Macdonald with Early
Breakfast 6 .00 Aasmah Mir and Stig Abell
with Times Radio Breakfast. All you need to
know for the day ahead 10. 00 Matt Chorley.
An insider’s take on politics 1 .00pm Mariella
Frostrup. Big guests and cultural discussions
4. 00 John Pienaar at Drive. Analysis of the
day’s news 7 .00 Phil Williams. News, sport
and entertainment news 10. 00 Carole
Walker. Today’s headlines and tomorrow’s
front pages 1. 00 am Stories of Our Times.
The Times’s daily podcast 1 .3 0 Red Box.
Matt Chorley’s politics podcast 2. 00
Highlights from Times RadioRadio 2
FM: 88- 9 0.2 MHz
5. 00 am Nicki Chapman 6 .30 The Zoe Ball
Breakfast Show 9 .30 Ken Bruce 1 2. 00
Jeremy Vine 2 .00pm Steve Wright 5. 00
Sara Cox 6 .30 Sara Cox’s Half Wower 7.
Jo Whiley. Jo treats listeners to her favourite
album tracks and musical gems rarely heard
on Radio 2. Plus, Mark Billingham joins her
for the latest edition of the Radio 2 Book
Club 9. 00 The Blues Show with Cerys
Matthews. A selection of music from the
blues scene, featuring the best of the new
releases as well as classic tracks from the
archives 10. 00 Trevor Nelson’s Rhythm
Nation. The DJ introduces a mix of R’n’B and
soulful tunes 1 2. 00 OJ Borg 3. 00 am Sounds
of the 70s with Johnnie Walker (r)Radio 3
FM: 9 0.2- 9 2.4 MHz
6 .30am Breakfast
Music, news and listener requests, presented
by Georgia Mann. Including 7 .0 0 ,8. 00 News.
7 .3 0 , 8 .3 0 News headlines
9 .00 Essential Classics
Suzy Klein presents a selection of features,
including the Essential Five, which this week
focuses on great pieces by Robert Schumann
1 2.00 Composer of the Week:
Beethoven — In His Own Words
(1770-1827)
Donald Macleod explores five different areas
of Beethoven’s extensive correspondence,
beginning with letters he wrote to three of
his closest friends. Beethoven: arr. Matiegka
(Serenade in D, Op 8; and IV: Allegretto alla
polacca); Beethoven (Overture to Leonore;
Violin Sonata No 3 in E flat, Op 12 No 3; I:
Allegro con spirito; String Quartet No 1 in F,
Op 18/1; and IV: Allegro)1 .00pm Proms Chamber Music 2020
Catherine Bott introduces a recital from
August 2011 in which flautist Emmanuel
Pahud performs Martinu, Dutilleux and
Prokofiev, accompanied by pianist Eric Le
Sage. Martinu (Flute Sonata); Dutilleux
(Sonatinee); and Prokofiev (Flute Sonata) (r)
2. 00 Afternoon Concert
Tom McKinney begins a week devoted to
recordings from European summer festivals
held in 2019, with music by Bach from
Ansbach and highlights of an opera gala in
Copenhagen. Bach (Brandenburg Concerto No
1 in F, BWV 1046; Brandenburg Concerto No 5
in D, BWV 1050; and Cantata — Der
zufriedengestellte Aeoluss, BWV 205);
Chopin (Piano Concerto No 1 in E minor, Op
11); Rossini (Overture to William Tell); and
Bellini (E’ serbata a questo acciaro — I
Capuleti ei Montecchiii)
4.30 Early Music Now
Tom McKinney presents highlights of the
2020 York Early Music Online Festival,
featuring viol player Richard Boothby,
lutenist Matthew Wadsworth, and
countertenor Iestyn Davies with lutenist
Elizabeth Kenny
5. 00 In Tune
A selection of music, arts news and guests.
Including 5. 00 , 6 .00 News
7. 00 In Tune Mixtape
An eclectic non-stop mix of music, featuring
old favourites together with lesser-known
gems, and a few surprises thrown
in for good measure
7 .3 0 BBC Proms 2 020
Hannah French presents a concert from
August 1989 in which Roger Norrington
conducts his period-instrument London
Classical Players in symphonies by
Beethoven and Schubert. Beethoven
(Symphony No 2 in D); and Schubert
(Symphony No 9 in C — Great) (r)
1 0.00 Claiming Schubert
John Tusa explores the many and varied
ways in which the Viennese composer has
been used and reinvented after his death, in
politics, art and literature (r)
1 0.45 The Essay: Dark Blossoms
Christopher Harding begins his exploration
of some of the darker sides of Japan’s
recent history by reflecting on popular
doubts and misgivings about mainstream
modern life through the story of a
building — Deer Cry Hall (r)
1 1.00 Night Tracks
An adventurous, immersive soundtrack for
late-night listening, from classical to
contemporary and everything in between
1 2.30am Through the Night(r)Radio 4
FM: 92.4-94.6 MHz LW: 198kHz MW: 720 kHz
5.30am News Briefing
5.43 Prayer for the Day
5.45 Farming Today
5.58 Tweet of the Day (r)
6.00 Today
With Nick Robinson and Justin Webb
9.00 How to Play
The Elias and Emmeline quartets’ rehearsals
fo Mendelssohn’s Octet (4/4)
9.30 Legacy of War
The story behind a Japanese ceremonial
sword (8/10)
9.45 (LW) Daily Service
9.45 Girl Taken
A trap is set (6/10) (r)
10.00 Woman’s Hour
Magazine show offering a female perspective
on the world. Including at 10 .45 Drama:
Part one of Electric Decade: Babelsberg
Babylonn by Nick Perry
1 0.45-7.00pm (LW) Test Match Special
England v West Indies
1 1. 00 My Name Is
A doctor investigates fake news circulating
about Covid-19 (1/6)
1 1.30 Loose Ends
With Mary Coughlan and Chris Frantz (r)
1 2.00 (LW) Shipping Forecast
1 2. 0 4 Actress
By Anne Enright (1/10)
1 2.18 You and Yours
1. 00 The World at One
1 .45 How They Made Us Doubt
Everything
A look at the tactics used by companies to
change the narrative on big stories.
See Radio Choicee (1/10)
2. 00 Just the Three of Us
By Becky Prestwich
2 .45 Museum of Lost Objects
A famous Syrian minaret that now lies in
ruins (4/10) (r)
3.00 The 3rd Degree
Three Ulster University students take on
their lecturers (5/6)
3.30 The Food Programme (r)- 00 Simon Schama:
The Great Gallery Tours
The historian takes a tour of the Prado in
Madrid (3/4)
4.30 The Infinite Monkey Cage
Former astronauts give advice on surviving
isolation in space (4/9)
5 .00 PM
5.54 (LW) Shipping Forecast
6 .00 Six O’Clock News
6.30 I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue (r)
7 .00 The Archers
Fallon finds herself under pressure
7 .1 5 Front Row
7 .45 Electric Decade: Babelsberg
Babylon (1/5) (r)
8 .00 Guilty Men
Phil Tinline explores the benefits and pitfalls
of naming and blaming (r)
8 .3 0 Crossing Continents
A photojournalist who chronicled the war in
Syria under a pseudonym (1/9) (r)
9 .00 The Political School
How crises can force governments to
experiment and innovate (2/3) (r)
9 .30 How to Play
The Elias and Emmeline quartets’ rehearsals
fo Mendelssohn’s Octet (4/4) (r)
1 0.00 The World Tonight
1 0.45 Book at Bedtime: Actress (r)
1 1. 00 Word of Mouth (r)
1 1.30 50 More Things That Made the
Modern Economy (r)
1 1.45 Today in Parliament
1 2. 00 News and Weather
1 2.3 0 am Girl Taken (r)
1 2.48 Shipping Forecast
1. 00 As BBC World ServiceRadio 4 Extra
Digital only
8. 00 am The Navy Lark 8.3 0 It Sticks Out
Half a Mile 9. 00 Guess What? 9 .3 0 Spangles
’n’ Tights 10. 00 Inspector Chen: A Loyal
Character Dancer 1 1. 00 TED Radio Hour
1 1.5 0 Inheritance Tracks12. 00 The Navy
Lark 1 2.3 0 pm It Sticks Out Half a Mile 1. 00
The Joke About Hilary Spite 1 .3 0 Miss
Marple: A Caribbean Mystery 2. 00 Guess
What? 2 .3 0 Spangles ’n’ Tights 3. 00
Inspector Chen: A Loyal Character Dancer
4. 00 TED Radio Hour 4. 50 Inheritance Tracks
5. 00 Plum House 5 .3 0 The Unbelievable
Truth 6 .00 Mort 6 .30 Big Drums on Little
Carriacou 7. 00 The Navy Lark 7 .3 0 It Sticks
Out Half a Mile 8. 00 The Joke About Hilary
Spite 8.3 0 Miss Marple: A Caribbean
Mystery 9. 00 TED Radio Hour 9 .5 0
Inheritance Tracks 10. 00 Comedy Club: The
Unbelievable Truth 10 .3 0 Lemn Sissay’s
Homecoming 1 1. 00 Summer Comedy
Festival 1 1.3 0 Ian D Montfort Is:
Unbelievable. With guest Joe SwashRadio 5 Live
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5. 00 am Wake Up to Money 6 .00 5 Live
Breakfast 9. 00 Your Call 10. 00 The Emma
Barnett Show 1 .00pm Nihal Arthanayake
4. 00 5 Live Drive 7 .00 5 Live Sport: TheMonday Night Club 9. 00 5 Live Sport:
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10. 00 Fantasy 6 -0- 6 10 .3 0 Colin Murray
1. 00 am Dotun AdebayotalkSPORT
MW: 1053, 1089 kHz- 00 am Early Breakfast 6 .00 talkSPORT
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6 Music
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Hawkins 8.3 0 Lauren Laverne 12. 00 Gold
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Coe 1 2. 00 6 Music Recommends with Lauren
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2 .3 0 Hitsville USA: The Story of Motown
3.3 0 Joe Strummer’s London Calling - 00 6 Music Live Hour (r)
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with Sky 10. 00 Eddy Temple-Morris 1 .00pm
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Denyer 10. 00 Amy Voce 1. 00 am Virgin
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FM: 1 00 -1 0 2 MHz
6 .00am More Music Breakfast 9. 00
Alexander Armstrong 1 2. 00 Anne-Marie
Minhall 4. 00 pm John Brunning 7. 00
Smooth Classics 8. 00 The Classic FM Concert
with John Suchet. Beginning a week-long
celebration of the Royal Liverpool
Philharmonic Orchestra. Khachaturian
(Adagio of Spartacus & Phrygiaa);
Saint-Saëns (Piano Concerto No 2 in G minor
Op 22); Delius (The Walk to the Paradise
Gardenn); Mozart (Symphony No 40 in G
minor K.550); Coates (London Suite);
and Lord (Evening Songg) 10. 00 Smooth
Classics 1 .00am Sam PittisRadio Choice
Debra Craine
How They Made Us
Doubt Everything
Radio 4, 1.45pm
Between shouty social
media influencers and
sophisticated spin doctors
promoting their own
skewed agendas, it’s hard to
know what to believe any
more. Peter Pomerantsev,
above, presents a ten-part
series that shows us how
doubt has been carefully
manufactured in every
part of our lives. The first
episode takes us back to the
1980s and looks at how the
oil industry was desperate
to devise a strategy to
undermine the public’s fears
over the greenhouse effect.
It goes behind boardroom
doors and, with the help
of once-secret internal
memos, explores how such
strategies were drawn up.
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A Suitable Boy
BBC One
{{{{(
W
e could tell that it was
Lata’s sister’s wedding
in A Suitable Boy
because practically
its opening line was:“Come inside at once... you have to
get dressed for your sister’s wedding!”
Barely 80 seconds in and Andrew
Davies was firing on all expositional
cylinders. There was more to come.
“Home to Calcutta!” Arun said at the
railway station, in a way that no one
ever does.
However, Vikram Seth’s sprawling,
glorious, stonker of a novel does
open with said wedding, and Davies,
charged with distilling it into six hours,
had his work cut out establishing
myriad characters and the plot quickly.
Which he did very well. Sometimes he
used the novel’s dialogue, although he
waited until he was three minutes in to
deliver its first line, from Lata’s mother,
Rupa (Mahira Kakkar): “You too will
marry a boy I choose.”
Once those first nuts and bolts were
in place and it allowed itself to relax,
I found it a luscious, zesty pie of a
drama, directed by Mira Nair to be
beautiful and cinematic at every
opportunity. Although sometimes it
was cheesy too. For the UK viewer,
the dreamy 1950s Indian scenery and
all-Indian cast almost makes up for
this year’s grey, soggy staycations. But
not quite. Tanya Maniktala is well cast
as the sweet-natured, free-spirited,
educated Lata, a Hindu girl who
falls for a handsome Muslim boy,
Kabir Durrani (Danesh Ravzi), in
a forbidden romance. The chemistry
between them grew on me, although
initially I thought they had fewer
sparks than a wet Catherine wheel.
Davies drew out the comedy with
the gossiping women and Arun Mehra
(Vivek Gomber) silently mouthing the
words of his melodramatic, clucking
mother exactly as she was saying
them. Later, Arun lengthily groped
and kneaded his wife’s breasts (well it
is Andrew “sex it up” Davies), while
boring her about being overcharged at
work in his strange, clipped accent.Then at a 1950s dance we learnt
that his wife, Meenakshi (Shahana
Goswami), is having an affair. She
sashayed off to a jeweller to melt his
dead father’s precious medals down
for earrings. Right now I am more
interested in her — what my gran
would have called a “flighty piece” —
than in the two leading lights.
There is always a risk in bringing
a famous novel to the screen, and
viewers who have read it will notice
some characters and threads gone
for want of time. However, I thought
the social intertwining of the various
families — Maan Kapoor (Ishaan
Khattar) smitten and sex-struck by
the local courtesan Saeeda Bai (the
Bollywood star Tabu) — was
seamlessly woven amid the politics.
Tensions between Hindus and
Muslims in newly partitioned India
had been heightened by the building
of a new temple near a mosque, which
resulted in the death of 20 protesting
Muslims fired on by the police. “We
are a Hindu nation. Muslims have
their own country now!” the home
minister said in another clunky
signpost moment.
Yet it was an episode full of colour,
energy and life, which improved as
it went on. Despite the odd corny
moment, I enjoyed it and, FYI, episode
two is not a disappointment. Our new
Sunday night drama also has the added
Tanya Maniktala is well cast as the free-spirited Hindu girl Lata merit of not being The Luminaries.A zesty new drama with a slight whiff of cheese
TAHA AHMAD/LOOKOUT POINT/BBCCarol
Midgley
TV review