48 saturday review 1GR Saturday November 14 2020 | the times
Griff ’s Great
Australian
Adventure
ITV, 8pm
Unlike Miriam Margolyes’s
recent TV travelogue through
Australian inequality, this series
is an upbeat view of the
Australian dream. Returning
for three episodes, Griff Rhys
Jones is on the Gold Coast for
about five minutes, looking
down on the casinos and beach
from a high vantage point,
before he heads into the bush.
Here he visits a farm to witness
a graphic display of cattle-
semen collection, which you
didn’t get with Margolyes.
Jones is a good-humoured
guide throughout. JJ
House of
Games Night
BBC One, 8.30pmHouse of Games was a Richard
Osman teatime quiz on BBC
Two... until now. Promoted to
primetime BBC One, Osman
muses: “Maybe they thought
I was Richard Hammond.”
Or perhaps the scheduling
cupboard is getting a bit bare.
Either way, this is a cheerful
half-hour of trivia-based games
with, tonight, Roisin Conaty,
Jennifer Saunders and
Jermaine Jenas. It may not
have the uproarious wit of
Would I Lie to You?, but it has
a likeable warmth and you do
find out such vital facts as the
world record for the most
cartwheels done in one hour. JJRoyal History’s
Biggest Fibs with
Lucy Worsley
BBC Two, 9pmWas Lenin really the leader of
the Russian Revolution? He
wasn’t even in the country at
the time. Did Rasputin’s affair
with the Russian queen bring
down the monarchy? Well,
there was probably no such
affair. These correctives are
suggested by Lucy Worsley as
she ends her tour of “historical
fabrications, manipulations and
fantastic fibs” by going full
Romanov. We also hear how
Stalin lied his way to the top,
forging photos to back his
claim as Lenin’s successor. Fake
news has a long history. JJJazz 625: The
British Jazz
Explosion
BBC Four, 9pmJazz 625 was a black-and-white
classic of music TV that ran
from 1964 to 1966 and
featured Thelonious Monk,
Art Blakey, Duke Ellington and
their like showing what they
could do. Tonight it’s revived
(after a one-off last year) and
we can see how today’s British
jazz stars stack up — Poppy
Ajudha, Matthew Halsall,
Kokoroko and drummer Moses
Boyd, who also hosts. Expect
a few archive clips too. Sounds
niche perhaps, but what a fine
opportunity to expand your
musical horizons. JJCatch
up
Long Hot Summers:
The Story of the Style Council
Sky On Demand/Now
Paul Weller was just 24 in 1982
when he called time on the
Jam at the height of the mod
revival band’s success. Just
as surprising was his next
venture: he formed the Style
Council with the keyboardist
Mick Talbot, left with Weller,
and launched a self-
consciously poppy, soul-
infused melodic sound
(all the more so when
the vocalist Dee C
Lee joined). Lee
Cogswell’s tender
film reflects on theband’s six happy years
together during which they
collected many devotees. One
of these was the Sherlock star
Martin Freeman, who pops up
in tinted sunglasses to enthuse
about the time when this cool-
looking pop band were also
espousing left-wing politics.
“When I think of the Style
Council I think of all the fun we
had,” Weller concludes. And
who can argue with that?
Ben DowellFriday 20 | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice
The Real Right Stuff
Disney+
Tom Wolfe’s 1979 novel
The Right Stuff has been
a film and, recently, a decent
TV series on the Disney+
platform. Now here’s the
feature-length documentary
telling the story of the
Mercury Seven, the pilots
selected to fly America’s early
spacecraft. Even more
palpable than in the dramas is
the sense of just how brave
these astronauts were. When
on May 5, 1961 Nasa sent its
first man up in a rocket, no
one really knew if he would
live. “One man backed up by
a team of 10,000... but still,
one man alone in a tiny shell
on top of a rocket,” as a news
broadcaster put it. Alan
Shepard certainly did have the
“right stuff”. A big strength of
this film is its jettisoning of
any conventional narrator or
talking heads — it relies purely
on long-forgotten news
reports, rare images and
audio footage (including the
thoughts of Wolfe) to tell the
story. Early on we see the first
1959 press conference for the
pilots chosen to become the
Mercury Seven, right. They
are cheerful and jokey about
the possibility of going into
space, even though two years
earlier America’s attempt
to launch a satellite atop
a Vanguard rocket ended in
an instant conflagration. The
mission to be the first man in
space must have seemed
borderline suicidal. The
footage also shows us Gus
Grissom’s erratic splashdown
in the Atlantic in 1961 and
John Glenn’s first orbit in- And there is the
Mercury astronauts’ rigorous
training to prepare them for
the dangers of space flight,
taking in the centrifuge
machine. It’s wonderful that
this footage exists, evoking
a time of space pioneers
and a feeling of wonder.
James Jackson
The Shallows (15, 2016)
Film4, 10.50pm
If you’re looking for a short, sharp hit of sun-soaked adrenaline,
you won’t do any better than this endurance thriller that pits
woman against shark. Like Speed on a rock or Gravity in the
water, it strands the resourceful Texan nurse-cum-surfer Nancy
(Blake Lively, below) on a jagged outcrop a mere 200 yards
from the shore, while the tide rises, threatening to wash her
into the sea and, crucially, into the jaws of a circling great
white shark. Jaume Collet-Serra, the director, does well in teasing
us with the prospect of imminent terror: shots of crabs, in
their hundreds, scuttling out of the sea; seagulls flocking
ominously away. It’s a quietly unsettling successor to Jaws.
(84min) Kevin MaherFilms of the day
Disturbia (15, 2007)
Channel 4, 12.05am
Troubled high schooler Kale (Shia LaBeouf) is placed under
house arrest in this teenage take on Rear Window. Kale’s ankle
bracelet unleashes a plague of law enforcement agents the
moment he steps beyond a 100ft radius of his radio transmitter,
which is problematic because Kale suspects that his neighbour,
Mr Turner (David Morse), is a mass murderer. What’s more, he
suspects that the neighbour knows that he knows. This thriller
has an effective jittery nervous tension, most of which comes
from the hyperactive LaBeouf, but it very quickly runs out of
original ideas. To accentuate the fear factor, Morse refused to
speak to LaBeouf or any of the other young actors during filming.
(105min) Wendy Ide8 .05 Y Diwrnod Mawr (r) 8 .20 Guto
Gwningen (r) 8. 35 Llan-ar-goll-en (r) 8 .5 0
Y Brodyr Coala (r) 9 .00Twm Tisian (r)
9 .10 Sblij a Sbloj (r)9.20Stiw (r) 9 .30 Ben
Dant (r)9.45Patrôl Pawennau (r) 1 0.00
Bing (r) 10 .1 0 Halibalw (r) 10. 20 Octonots
(r) 10. 35 Rapsgaliwn (r) 10 .5 0 Sam Tân (r)
1 1. 00 Blociau Rhif (r) 1 1. 05 Dona Direidi (r)
1 1. 20 Blero yn Mynd i Ocido (r)11. 35 Caru
Canu a Stori (r) 11. 45 Timpo (r) 1 1.5 0
Gwdihw (r) 1 2.05pmNews 1 2.1 5
Datganiad Covid-19 1 .00 Goreuon Gwesty
Aduniad (r) 1 .30Trysorau Cymru: Tir, Tai a
Chyfrinachau (r) 2. 00 News 2. 05
Prynhawn Da3.00News 3 .05 Cynefin (r)
4 .00Awr Fawr: Blociau Rhif (r) 4 .05Caru
Canu a Stori (r) 4 .1 5Sblij a Sbloj (r) 4 .25
Guto Gwningen (r) 4 .4 0 Ben Dant (r) 5 .00
Stwnsh: SpynjBob Pantsgwâr (r)5.10
Bwystfil (r)5.20Larfa (r)5.25Y Gemau
Gwyllt (r)5.50Ffeil 6 .00 Cerys Matthews
a’r Goeden Faled (r) 6. 30 Adre (r)
6 .57News S 4 C7. 00 Heno 7. 30 News 8. 00
Y Ty Rygbi 8. 25 Dim Byd i’w Wisgo 8 .55
News 9. 00 Rybish. The end of month
reports are an extra burden for Clive,
while the carelessness of a customer
gives Nigel an idea 9. 30 Hwyl y Noson
Lawen (r) 10. 00 Galw Nain Nain Nain (r)
10 .4 0 -11.45 Un Bore Mercher (r)
(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC One Wales As BBC One except:
9.30pm-10.00 Rhod Gilbert’s Work
Experience (r) 1 1. 30 Hayley Goes. (r)
1 2.00 God Shave the Queens
1 2.25am-12.50 God Shave the Queens
● BBC One N Ireland As BBC One except:
1 0.45pmThe Blame Game 1 1.15The
Graham Norton Show 12. 00 God Shave
the Queens 12. 20 amGod Shave the
Queens 12 .45- 6. 00 BBC News
● BBC One Scotland As BBC One except:
7 .35pm-8.05 Landward (r) 1 1.30A
Question of Sport 1 2.00A View from the
Terrace (r) 1. 00 am God Shave the Queens
1. 20 God Shave the Queens 1. 45 Weather
for the Week Ahead 1 .5 0 - 6. 00 BBC News
● STV As ITV except: 11.05pm-11.20STV
News 12.15am-3.00ITV Nightscreen
3 .50-6.00 ITV Nightscreen
● BBC Scotland 7. 00 pmThe Seven
7. 30 Live Sportscene: Friday Night
Football — Dunfermline Athletic v Hearts
(Kick-off 7. 45 ) 10. 00 Still Game (r)
10. 30 A View from the Terrace
1 1. 30 -1 2. 00 Limmy’s Show (r)
● S 4 C 6. 00 am Cyw: Bing (r) 6 .1 0 Halibalw
(r) 6 .2 0 Octonots (r) 6. 35 Rapsgaliwn (r)
6 .5 0 Sam Tân (r) 7. 00 Blociau Rhif7. 05
Dona Direidi (r) 7. 20 Blero yn Mynd i
Ocido (r) 7. 35 Caru Canu a Stori 7. 45
Gwdihw (r) 8. 00 Meripwsan (r)Regional programmes