The Sunday Times - UK (2021-11-28)

28 November 2021 63

THE BEST TV FROM SKY BEYOND... THURSDAY 2 DECEMBER

We may not see countless

westerns these days, but

impressive new takes on the

genre still come riding our

way. Jane Campion’s The

Power Of The Dog, with

Benedict Cumberbatch as a

fierce rancher, is on Netflix

from Wednesday this week.

News Of The World, a drama

starring Tom Hanks, and the

action movie The Harder

They Fall also debuted on

the site this year, and the

Coens’ comedy The Ballad

Of Buster Scruggs (2018)

is still there. Amazon Prime

members have Tarantino’s

Django Unchained (2012)

and The Hateful Eight

(2015); and Amazon’s IMDb

TV offers John Maclean’s

Slow West. Like The Power

of the Dog, this 2015 film

features Kodi Smit-McPhee

and uses New Zealand

locations for its America.

Edward Porter

Vivarium (Film4, 11.15pm)

Viewing domesticity as an

awful, soul-crushing trap may

be a facile way of thinking,

but this sci-fi thriller does

something fresh with it by

heading into nightmarish

fantasy. Jesse Eisenberg and

Imogen Poots play a couple

lured into a weird suburban

home and forced to live with

a monstrous child who scares

and exhausts them. They are

stuck somewhere between

The Truman Show and The

Twilight Zone — a prison for

them, but a tantalising puzzle

for the film’s viewers. You

might enjoy being held captive

by Lorcan Finnegan’s

inventive movie. (2019)

The United States

vs Billie Holiday (Sky

Cinema Hits, 10.20am)

In its account of Holiday’s

burdens, this biopic risks

imposing new indignities on

her with its conjectural story.

Andra Day’s performance,

however, honours the singer’s

defiance and redeems the

film. Dir: Lee Daniels (2021)

Edward Porter

Bacon and Carr (C4, 10pm) Lady Andra Day (SCH, 10.20am)

FILM CHOICE

ON DEMAND

The Hunt For Bible John

(BBC iPlayer)

Matt Pinder’s two-part film

about the serial killer who

haunted Glasgow in the late

1960s is a chillingly brilliant

piece of film-making. Rather

than wallow in the details of

the crimes (hello, Netflix!),

Pinder focuses on the people

Lioness — The Nicola Adams

Story (Amazon Prime Video)

No mere hagiography, Helena

Coan’s documentary about

Britain’s double Olympic boxing

champion is a surprisingly

honest, emotional and complex

film. It goes deep into the dark

heart of the boxer’s violent

upbringing and the prejudice

she faced in and out of the ring

but it does so in a sympathetic,

non-exploitative manner.

Andrew Male

Grange Hill (Britbox)

Time hasn’t been altogether

kind to Phil Redmond’s school

soap, but the urban working-

class details still startle. New

seasons have been added, so it

is time for you fortysomethings

to reacquaint yourselves with

the escapades of Stewpot,

Calley and Roland, follow

Gonch’s mythic quest for his

Walkman and marvel at the

still-controversial mods-and-

rockers musical.

Doctor Sleep

(Amazon Prime Video)

The spooky Overlook Hotel,

the setting of the 1980

spinechiller The Shining, is on

show again in this sequel (and

Amazon Prime members now

have free access). The story

this time is a fantastical

thriller (starring Ewan

McGregor) rather than a pure

horror tale, but it has its own

lively entertainment value.

Dir: Mike Flanagan (2019) EP

and culture of the city. As a

result, it becomes a far more

fascinating and engrossing

watch, showing how religion,

popular culture and Glasgow’s

unique style of journalism

shaped the reality and the myth

surrounding this terrifying

folk devil. Beautifully

assembled, with a variety of

rich subplots, this is a crime

documentary par excellence

and undoubtedly one of On

Demand’s shows of the year.

Laughing all the way to the Banksy: but just who is the secretive street artist? (Britbox)

Banksy — Most Wanted

(Britbox)

Made by two French film-

makers, this profile of the

street artist starts strikingly

with his auction stunt of a

self-shredding painting.

Then there are the nicely

contrasted stories of Banksy

images that were removed in

Folkestone and Port Talbot,

a graffiti-spotting walking

tour of Bristol, sparky

(if occasionally pseudy)

interviews with journalists

and art-world types, foreign

forays to hallowed Banksy

sites and three theories as to

his real identity: Robert Del

Naja, Jamie Hewlett and the

rather less famous Robin

Gunningham. Overall, this

is vivid, watchable and

well-organised, but it is

too content to piggy-back

on others’ ideas rather than

offer a take of its own.

John Dugdale

Carol Klein’s Great British

Gardens (C5, 7pm)

Another gardening series

comes to a close, with the

horticulturalist Carol Klein

visiting tonight’s location for

the first time. Fans of the

programme will know this to

be unusual, the ebullient Klein

seems to have green fingers in

plant pots the world over but,

she tells us, Llanover Garden

in Monmouthshire rarely

opens to the public. Klein is

delighted to meet a family

that has planted there for

seven generations, and thrills

to the reason that one of the

eight elegant plane trees is

unusually tall. In truth, it is

fed on slurry that flows to

its roots from nearby farm

buildings. “Instant fertiliser!”

she cries enthusiastically.

Helen Stewart

Mary Berry — Love To Cook

(BBC2, 8pm)

The Queen Mum of TV cookery

tonight shares dishes that

show “those around me that

I care”. Special treats include

roast beef with horseradish,

chocolate cake and (still a

treat, apparently) a beetroot

open tart. There are also trips

to Carmarthen and Cumbria

for impressive wild feasts.

Nadiya’s Fast Flavours

(BBC2, 8.30pm)

Healthy eating is Nadiya

Hussain’s theme for tonight,

with recipes for butternut

squash soup with grapefruit

and ginger, an apple cake,

a lighter alternative to a roast

dinner and the first salad

to ever capture her heart.

As always, though, the star

ingredient is Hussain herself.

Cancelled (C4, 10pm)

Richard Bacon — who knows a

bit about public shaming after

his ignominious 1998 removal

from Blue Peter — presents this

timely documentary about the

realities of cancel culture. He

meets people who have been

no-platformed and sacked,

moving on to the implications

for freedom of speech.

Victoria Segal

CRITICS’ CHOICE

New takes on

the Old West