The Sunday Times Culture - UK (2021-11-14)

MONDAY 15 NOVEMBER THE BEST TV FROM PRIME VIDEO AND BEYOND...

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Rory Peck Awards

(Mon-Thu, 7.55pm)

This week, Channel 4

celebrates the work of

freelance journalists with

four exceptional films. On

Monday, Evan Williams films

undercover in an Eritrean

prison. Tuesday’s film sees

Joshua Baker discover how

an American family joined

Isis in Syria. On Wednesday,

the journalist Njeri Mwangi

reports on Kenya’s trade in

stolen babies. Ending the

season on Thursday, Sreya

Bannerjee profiles widows

of Sherpas who are breaking

social taboos by learning to

climb after their husbands

died on Mount Everest. The

awards are named in honour

of the cameraman who was

killed while on assignment

in Moscow in 1993, and the

Rory Peck Trust supports all

freelance news gatherers.

Clair Woodward

Those Who Wish Me Dead

(Sky Cinema Premiere,

2.45pm/8pm)

Starring Angelina Jolie as a

woodland firefighter, Taylor

Sheridan’s thriller uses clichés

and nonsense as its story’s

kindling. Our heroine comes

to the aid of a boy (Finn Little)

pursued through her territory

by a couple of hitmen (Aidan

Gillen and Nicholas Hoult,

enjoying their villainy). With

the help of careful stoking,

a far-fetched yarn is soon

blazing away — and one of

its features, of course, is

an actual fire. All in all, an

entertaining spectacle, even

though it begins to fizzle out

in its closing stages. (2021)

Almost Famous (Sky

Cinema Greats, 10.20pm)

Cameron Crowe’s drama

about the world of 1970s rock

music — with Patrick Fugit as

a teenage reporter and Kate

Hudson as a groupie — is a

nostalgic recreation of the

director’s youth. Its warm vibe

makes it a comforting retreat

for its fans too. (2000)

Edward Porter

Ingrid Bolso Berdal (C4, 12.10am) Fugit and Hudson (SCG, 10.20pm)

FILM CHOICE

ON DEMAND

Scotland From The Sky
(BBC iPlayer)

Despite television’s obsession

with series in which celebs go

walking, the heart longs for
a simpler time, when Coast

presented concept-free shows

about Britain’s natural and

social history. Here is the
good news: now into its third

Tuskegee Airmen (Sky/Now)

The story of the African-

American pilots who fought

for the USA during the Second

World War has been told

many times, but rarely with

such power. This History

Channel film may be less than

60 minutes long but it is a

focused hour, contextualising

their bravery within the

military’s apartheid and a

white supremacist America.

Andrew Male

Hapless (Netflix)

Tim Downie describes this as

“part Curb Your Enthusiasm,

part Alan Partridge”. There’s

also a dash of Some Mothers

Do ’Ave ’Em in this calamity-

stuffed sitcom. Downie plays

the ill-starred Paul Green,

reporter for The Jewish

Enquirer (“the UK’s fourth

biggest Jewish publication”).

No new boundaries are

pushed, but some old sacred

cows are poked in the rear.

Shang-Chi And The Legend

Of The Ten Rings (Disney+)

Marvel doing martial arts has

proved to be a hit formula for

Destin Daniel Cretton’s film,

which comes to Disney+ after

a successful run in cinemas.

Simu Liu gives a breezy

performance as the young,

untested hero; Awkwafina

makes a funny sidekick;

and the film’s best fight

scenes would do credit to any

kung-fu movie. (2021) EP

season, James Crawford’s

aviatory exploration of Alba’s

ancient cities, stunning coasts

and wild countryside is a

stirring and therapeutic joy.

It helps immensely that

Crawford is extremely easy on

the eye and speaks with a soft

Shetland brogue that could

charm an eagle from its eyrie,

but that would count for

naught if the show wasn’t

so sociologically empathetic

and visually breathtaking.

Under the influence: Diana proves she’s more than a woman to John Travolta (C4, 10pm)

Diana — Queen Of Style

(C4, 10pm)

Ever since millennials

discovered Diana, Princess

of Wales, via The Crown and

Instagram — and nods to her

chic but cheeky style turned

up on catwalks — it has

become trite to say that she

was “the first influencer” and

“told stories through her

clothes”. Fashion journalists

and micro-bloggers duly recite

and apply these ideas as this

fascinating tribute advances

through her royal fiancée,

princess and post-split

phases; but all its best

moments involve veteran

designers and other image-

makers recalling the creation

of specific looks in the 1980s

and 1990s — the wedding

dress, the sheep sweater, the

black and white Vogue cover,

the revenge dress — the later

outfits signalling freedom.

John Dugdale

Witch Hunt (C4, 12.10am;

then Walter Presents on All4)

The opening episode of this

Norwegian white-collar drama
is almost entirely built around

a suspicious invoice — not an

instantly gripping thriller

premise you might think. Yet,
despite the Scandi-beige set-up,

Witch Hunt (Heksejakt) is

absorbing, with dubious book-

keeping just part of the paper
trail around billionaire Peer

Eggen (Mads Ousdal). Ingrid

Bolso Berdal plays straight-

arrow lawyer Ida Waage;
her nemesis is colleague Jan

Gunnar Askeland (Preben

Hodneland), Eggen’s sharp

chief lawyer, who is keen to
force the invoice through.

A wider conspiracy follows in a

classy corporate drama that’ is

not just for accounts fetishists.
Victoria Segal

Villages By The Sea

(BBC2, 7pm)

Ben Robinson is in the North

Yorkshire village of Staithes,

pootling around in a boat in

its sheltered little harbour

and learning that it was once

a leading importer of urine

brought by sea from London,

Newcastle and Hull to an alum

industry that set the cliffs

alight for years on end.

Kate Humble — Good Life,

Green Life (C5, 8pm)

With only the slightest

re-nosing of her many

previous Channel 5 series,

Kate Humble looks for tips

to help viewers adopt more

sustainable practices. Fear

not, she is still drinking

gin and hanging out in her

garden, but in a manner that

might help save the planet.

Inside The Care Crisis

(BBC2, 9pm)

The second of Ed Balls’s films

sees him undergo a brisk

training in caring for elderly

and disabled people. Much to

his surprise, it involves proper

nursing; and, to his equal

disgust, he finds that staff are

not paid for the time it takes

to travel between houses.

Helen Stewart

CRITICS’ CHOICE

Reports from

the front line