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

TUESDAY 16 NOVEMBER THE BEST TV FROM IPLAYER AND BEYOND...

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Dexter — New Blood

(Sky; new episodes on Sky

Atlantic every Tuesday)

Eight years after he vanished

from our screens, following

one of the most despised

series finales in history,

Michael C Hall’s antihero

— a police blood-spatter

analyst and serial killer — is

back. He is living under an

assumed name in upstate

New York, dating the chief

of police ( Julia Jones) and

watched over by the ghost

of his sister, Deb ( Jennifer

Carpenter). Surprisingly, it

is pretty good. The problem

is that watching it is a

little like rekindling an old

relationship: you remember

why you loved them, but

also why you split in the first

place. Better to revisit those

first five groundbreaking

seasons, which crackle with

sinister invention and wit.

Andrew Male

Harry And Tonto

(TPTV, 9pm)

Evicted from their apartment,

an elderly New Yorker (Art

Carney) and his cat go on a

cross-country journey in Paul

Mazursky’s comic drama.

For present-day viewers, this

expedition is a trip back in

time: it gives us a rich taste

of 1970s America; yet the

story’s poignancy — born of

the widowed hero’s calm and

generous outlook — is still the

main attraction. Carney was

known for his television and

stage work before this project

gave him his first big movie

role. He proceeded to win

an Oscar for his fresh, subtle

performance. (1974)

Embattled (Sky Cinema

Premiere, 5.50pm/4.30am)

Although its low profile makes

it an underdog among fight

movies, this melodrama puts

on a vigorous show. Its hero is

an 18-year-old (Darren Mann)

who ends up in a bout with

his dad (Stephen Dorff ), a

mixed-martial-arts champ.

Dir: Nick Sarkisov (2020)

Edward Porter

Gilbert and Pudsey (BBC1, 9pm) Mann and Dorff (SCP 5.50pm)

FILM CHOICE

ON DEMAND

The Hermit Of Treig
(BBC iPlayer)

Ken Smith has lived the life

of a hermit in the Highlands

of Scotland for the better
part of 40 years. Now 75, and

with both his memory and

co-ordination failing, he is

faced with a decision: move
into care or continue to live

Colin In Black & White

(Netflix)

Colin Kaepernick, the

American footballer turned

activist, is a complex figure,

and this docudrama about his

early years is appropriately

contrary, a mix of sketches,

scripted drama and history

lesson that questions its own

methods. Think of Everybody

Hates Chris rewritten by

Brecht and you get the idea.

Andrew Male

Barbara Rubin And The

Exploding NY Underground

(Sky/Now)

Beyond her groundbreaking

works, this visionary 1960s

New York film-maker was

also a galvanising force,

introducing Andy Warhol to

Bob Dylan and the Velvet

Underground. Lou Reed

called her “the coordinator,”

and if you enjoyed Todd

Haynes’s Velvets documentary

this is where to go next.

Passing (Netflix)

The actress Rebecca Hall has

made a splash with her first

film as a director, this take

on Nella Larsen’s 1929 novel

about a black woman who

discovers that an old school

friend is now passing as

white. Tessa Thompson and

Ruth Negga give detailed

performances and the film’s

monochrome photography

enhances the script’s subtle

shades. (2021) B/W EP

out his final years in isolation.

This is the central narrative

of Lizzie MacKenzie’s

beguiling documentary, but

there is so much more here.

With a focus and intimacy

reminiscent of the acclaimed

documentary film-maker

Molly Dineen, MacKenzie

draws out the shy and reticent

Smith, befriending him and

allowing him to tell his story

while still going about his life.

Profoundly moving stuff.

Taking the high road: Cumming and Margolyes tour Scotland (C4, 9.15pm)

Miriam And Alan — Lost In

Scotland (C4, 9.15pm)

No hols with other oldies this

year for Miriam Margolyes,

now 80; instead, she shared

a campervan with Alan

Cumming, 56. Compared

with last year’s Scottish jaunt

by Denise Mina and Frank

Skinner, theirs is less of a

travelogue, more a pair of

personal journeys where

each place has meaning for

one of them. In part one,

Margolyes revisits a village

where she filmed a 1980s

drama and locates her

grandfather’s home in

Glasgow. Cumming has a

Who Do You Think You Are?

moment, too, when he

investigates his ancestry; he

also drops in on a tartan mill

he supports and movingly

shows Margolyes a shed on

a Tayside estate where his

“tyrant” father bullied him.

John Dugdale

DIY SOS — Children In Need

Special (BBC1, 9pm)

Tissues at the ready. Minus

Nick Knowles — in temporary
disgrace after the BBC took

exception to him advertising

Shreddies — the DIY SOS gang

are given a mission to build
a youth-group adventure

campsite, tear at the heart

strings, and loosen the purses

of the viewing public. As ever,
it is irresistible stuff. Welsh

hardman comedian Rhod

Gilbert can’t keep his

emotions in check at the sight
of more than 60 volunteers

working night and day

through “biblical” rain, toiling

to exorcise demons garnered
over the past 12 months, in a

programme punctuated by

appeals for other equally

worthy causes.
Helen Stewart

Secret Life Of The Forest

(C5, 7pm)

Hugh Bonneville narrates this

journey around England’s

largest forest, Kielder —

“Canada in the UK,” says one

forester. Stunning scenery is

inevitable. So too are wildlife

superstars, including red

squirrels and pine martens.

Liverwort and tadpoles stand

up for less glam lifeforms.

The People vs Climate

Change (BBC2, 8pm)

This documentary follows the

citizens’ Climate Assembly

UK: 108 people chosen to

discuss strategies for ensuring

Britain reaches net zero

emissions by 2050. David

Attenborough has a cameo,

but otherwise it’s “ordinary

Brits” who have the floor on

food, travel and transport.

Stath Lets Flats

(C4, 10.15pm)

There’s so much to love in this

sweet, silly sitcom as an inept

sales pitch involving “very

present ceilings” and a poorly

placed toilet goes viral. The

staff of Michael and Eagle

have to fight back on social

media. Like so much else, it’s

not one of their skills.

Victoria Segal

CRITICS’ CHOICE

You can’t keep a

bad man down