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

28 November 2021 67

THE BEST TV FROM MUBI AND BEYOND... FRIDAY 3 DECEMBER

tptvencore.co.uk

Thanks to its nostalgia-

inducing line-up of old films

and television shows, Talking

Pictures TV has lately become

one of Britain’s most popular

independent channels — good

going for a company based in

a family home in a village near

Watford. And now its fans

can turn back the clock in a

different sense. TPTV Encore

(launched on Wednesday

this week) is a free catch-up

website full of previously

broadcast content. This

includes not only the vintage

stuff, but also the channel’s

own shows, such as The Cellar

Club, a run of introductions

to cult movies. Christmas

programming (including the

1951 classic Scrooge, with

Alastair Sim) will be abundant

in December — and many

viewers will regard the site

itself as a welcome gift.

Edward Porter

Godzilla vs Kong

(Sky Cinema Premiere,

10.15am/8pm)

Following a precedent set

by King Kong vs Godzilla in

1962, Adam Wingard’s film

pits those two giant creatures

against each other. This

showdown — which serves as

the climax to a recent series

of films that featured the ape

and the reptile separately —

may not be a popcorn-movie

classic, but it provides likable

hokum in a monster-sized

dose. As well as letting the

two antagonists smash most

of Hong Kong, the film adds

a more fanciful backdrop by

taking the story to the centre

of the Earth. (2021)

Elizabeth — The Golden

Age (Sky Cinema Greats,

7.50am/4.10am)

Shekhar Kapur’s sequel to

his 1998 film Elizabeth brings

back Cate Blanchett to play

the Virgin Queen and gives

us a traditional account of

her heyday: a lavish pageant

that reaches its climax with

the Spanish Armada. (2007)

Edward Porter

Marli Su, Otto Farrant (IMDb TV) Blanchett (SCG, 7.50am/4.10am)

FILM CHOICE

ON DEMAND

Freakscene —

The Story Of Dinosaur Jr

(Buy as stream/download)

“I’m bad at remembering what

I felt like in the past,” says

J Mascis, the inscrutable

frontman for alternative rock

godheads Dinosaur Jr since

1985. It’s true, and director

Philipp Reichenheim struggles

Angel Of Death

(Walter Presents on All 4)

Poland likes its crime dramas

bleak and gritty, with lashings

of existential dread. So even if

this is a story about a duo of

mismatched cops (Aleksandra

Poplawska and Bartosz Gelner

working nicely) tracking down

a middle-class serial killer

(an expertly unpleasant Maciej

Stuhr), the dank noir lends it

an extra narrative richness.

Andrew Male

General Election Results

(BBC iPlayer)

Just type election for six historic

films documenting BBC general

election results coverage from

1955 to 1997. Each viewer will

have their own reasons to

watch Conservative or Labour

victories but the aesthetic

triumph is surely 1970, shot

in colour, presented by the

peerless Cliff Mitchelmore and

with computer technology just

beginning to play a role.

Wildland

(Buy as stream/download)

After her mother dies, this

Danish drama’s heroine

(Sandra Guldberg Kampp)

goes to live with her aunt

and learns she is a crime

boss. Sidse Babett Knudsen

is terrific as the matriarchal

mobster and the film steadily

draws you in as you wait to

see how the teenager adapts

to her new home. Dir: Jeanette

Nordahl (2020) EP

to winnow anything revealing

from the monosyllabic indie

guitar magus for this soup-

to-nuts biography. Luckily, his

long-suffering bandmates Lou

Barlow and Murph are more

than happy to delve deep

into the passive-aggressive

“karma pain” and destructive

personal relationships that

surrounded the band, and

their moments of honest

self-analysis are surprisingly

heartfelt and moving.

Curator Jon and Squadron Leader Geoffrey Stephenson’s Spitfire Mk1 (C5, 7pm)

Secrets Of The Imperial

War Museum (C5, 7pm)

The Imperial War Museum

has more than 33 million

items in its collections, from

one of Winston Churchill’s

signature “siren suits” to

a battlefield ambulance that

was bombed in Basra in 2007.

While viewers of this series

will be granted exciting close-

up access to these objects —

one volunteer is dusting a

Vietnam War-era helicopter

— it is also a chance for the

museum to showcase some

of the less tangible work

it does in preserving the

history of conflict before it

slips from living memory.

Here, for example, curators

record the testimony of

90-year-old Kitty Baxter,

her memories of the

sound of the Blitz soon

to be transformed into the

stuff of a new exhibition.

Victoria Segal

Alex Rider

(IMDb TV on Amazon)

Based on Anthony Horowitz’s

novel Eagle Strike, series

two pits his schoolboy spy

against tech billionaire

Damian Cray (Toby Stephens),

whose latest video game

is part of a grandiose plot.

But first, in a familiar thriller

device, our hero is forced to

resume spying after retiring:

Alex (played by Otto Farrant,

who, ahem, is now 25) visits

a shrink and goes on a surfing

holiday, but in both London

and Cornwall he is sure

that someone is shadowing

him — in other words, he

can’t escape the espionage

world. Vicky McClure and

Stephen Dillane, as his MI6

handlers, are only glimpsed

in the final scene.

John Dugdale

Biffy Clyro — A Celebration

Of Endings (BBC4, 7.05pm)

As an act of generosity to their

fans, as well as creatives made

unemployed by lockdown,

the Glaswegian rockers took

over the famous Barrowland

Ballroom in August last year

for a streamed performance

of their recent album. Clever

staging and lighting filled the

1,900-capacity venue.

The Thames At Night

(C5, 8pm)

Tony Robinson’s jaunt on the

river starts after dark with a

visit to the Royal Observatory

at Greenwich (shown round

by day workers, which is quite

the cheat) before he heads

back to the manly bosom of

the wholesalers of Borough

Market and window washers

of St Thomas’s Hospital.

In My Skin (BBC1, 11.25pm;

Scotland, 12.55am)

Anyone who has watched

episode one of this stunning

drama will already have

binged all five, so this is

more a reminder to those

yet to catch up. This is a

must-watch, doing for 1990s

teenagers what It’s a Sin did to

illuminate gay life in the 1980s.

Helen Stewart

CRITICS’ CHOICE

Coming to a small

screen near you