32 saturday review Saturday December 4 2021 | the times
This six-part thriller opens
with some poor person tied
to a chair and on fire (in the
bad sense of the phrase), with
the grin of the person who
put them there — a proper
horror smile of the kind you
only see in your worst
nightmares — flickering from
behind. Only, what’s this?
Suddenly we find that the
killer has been arrested then
acquitted thanks to a police
blunder. DS Rose (Henry
Lloyd-Hughes) then savagely
attacks said killer in court and
is sent for treatment. All in the
first few minutes. Next thing
we know, Rose is back on the
beat after a long bout of
therapy, working under his
friend DI Baxter (Thalissa
Teixeira) and alongside an
opinionated American, DC
Edmunds (Lucy Hale). A serial
killer strikes and the action
begins again. This thriller,
based on the novel by Daniel
Cole and scripted by a writing
team led by Freddy Syborn
(Bad Education), is actually
quite good. The wisecracks
over mutilated corpses may
seem implausibly tasteless,
but they are nattily scripted.
I loved the moment before
one especially grisly reveal
when a plod remarks: “They
could make a podcast over
this one.” The look and feel
of it has shades of Se7en,
David Fincher’s noirish
masterpiece, with a
propulsive plot that keeps
us guessing. With the key
to the mystery perhaps
lurking in Rose’s former
mental health institution
and a Faustian pact made
by his best friend, a paranoid
schizophrenic, this is about
as uncosy a crime drama as
you can get. Yet the story’s
sheer outlandishness could
well suck you in for a few
nights to come. Part two
is on Tuesday.
Ben DowellThe Atom and Us
PBS America, 7.35pmThis fascinating film tells
the story of nuclear power
in the 20th century. In the
wake of the horrific spectacle
of what it could do to
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
during the Second World War,
in the 1950s the US started
Atoms for Peace, an initiative
that aimed to change the
way people spoke about
nuclear energy. Could nuclear
power be harnessed to solve
the world’s energy problems
and spread what the US saw
as the benefits of atomic
power? Obviously, it has not
been that simple with safety
concerns and spiralling costs
somewhat tempering the
dream. BDForensics:
The Real CSI
BBC2, 9pmIt’s a dark September evening
in 2020 and two men are lying
dead in a Range Rover parked
in a grotty industrial estate in
Dudley. It marks the start of
another excellent episode of
this compelling series, which
watches a serious crime being
investigated in real time. As
much as anything it shows the
true nature of this sort of work,
which is grim, painstaking and
often bleak. Here the killer(s)
clearly meant business, but the
investigators have to be very
careful with every square inch
of the crime scene as they
slowly build up a picture of
what happened and why. BDSuccession
Sky Atlantic/Now, 9pmTwo weeks ago Logan (Brian
Cox) chose the man he wanted
to be the next president. We
also learnt that Logan’s ex-wife,
Lady Caroline Collingwood,
was getting married in Italy to
a businessman called Peter
Munion — or “dickhead
crooked-tooth turnip man” if
you’re Roman. The groom
(who Logan says has been
after her for 40 years) is played
by Pip Torrens, a Poldark
baddie and Tommy Lascelles
from The Crown. So this
episode, called Chiantishire,
comes with all sorts of
promises, not least a better
understanding of Roman’s
Oedipal cravings and whether
Kendall can sink any lower. BD7.30 Landward (r) 8.00 Inside the Zoo
9.00 The Nine 10.00 River City 11.00
Gary: Tank Commander (r) 11.30-
Midnight The Karen Dunbar Show (r)
● S4C 6.00am Cyw 7.30 Fferm Fach 7.45
Sion y Chef (r) 8.00 Olobobs (r) 8.05
Sigldigwt (r) 8.20 Tomos a’i Ffrindiau (r)
8.30 Twt (r) 8.45 Asra (r) 9.00 Timpo (r)
9.10 Octonots (r) 9.20 Bach a Mawr (r)
9.30 Blero yn Mynd i Ocido (r) 9.45
Cacamwnci (r) 10.00 Peppa (r) 10.05
Hafod Haul (r) 10.20 Digbi Draig (r) 10.35
Nos Da Cyw (r) 10.40 Ben Dant (r) 11.00
Shwshaswyn (r) 11.10-11.29 Sion y Chef (r)
11.30 Pablo (r) 11.45 Cacamwnci (r) 12.00
News 12.05pm Bwyd Epic Chris (r) 12.30
Heno (r) 1.00 Cegin Bryn (r) 1.30 Cymru,
Dad a Fi (r) 2.00 News 2.05 Prynhawn Da
3.00 News 3.05 Laura McAllister: Gêm
Gyfartal (r) 4.00 Awr Fawr: Nos Da Cyw (r)
4.05 Digbi Draig (r) 4.20 Oli Wyn (r) 4.30
Pablo (r) 4.45 Cacamwnci (r) 5.00 Stwnsh:
Dennis a Dannedd 5.10 Siwrne Ni (r) 5.15
Arthur a Chriw y Ford Gron (r) 5.30 Sgorio
5.55 Ffeil 6.00 Byd o Liw: Cestyll (r) 6.30
Sain Ffagan (r) 6.57 News S4C 7.00 Heno
7.30 News 8.00 Adre 8.25 Richard Holt:
Yr Academi Felys 8.55 News 9.00 Ffermio
9.35 Nadolig y Paith (r) 10.35 Sgorio (r)
11.05-12.10am Y Stiwdio Grefftau (r)
(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC1 Wales As BBC1 except:
7.30pm-8.00 The Asian Welsh 8.20 Nigel
Slater’s Simple Cooking (r) 8.30-9.00
Crisis in Care: Follow the Money:
Panorama 10.35 In My Skin 11.20
The Richard Dimbleby Lecture
12.20-1.30am The Apprentice Australia
● BBC1 N Ireland As BBC1 except:
10.35pm Crime NI 11.15 The Richard
Dimbleby Lecture 12.15am The
Apprentice Australia 1.20-6.00 BBC News
● BBC2 N Ireland As BBC2 except:
10.00pm-10.30 I Lár an Aonaigh 11.15
NIFL Premiership Highlights 11.45-
12.15am Two Doors Down
● ITV Wales As ITV except: 6.00pm-6.30
ITV News Wales at Six 8.00-8.30 Wales
This Week 11.20 Sharp End 11.45-12.15am
Gino’s Italian Family Adventure
● STV As ITV except: 11.00pm STV
News 11.10 Scotland Tonight 11.40 The
Murder of Alex Rodda: Social Media
Murders (r) 12.35-3.00am Teleshopping
4.05-5.05 Unwind with STV
● UTV As ITV except: 8.00-8.30pm
Mahon’s Way. A return visit to Fintona
● BBC Scotland 2.00pm Sign Zone: Grand
Tours of Scotland’s Rivers (r) 2.30 Sign
Zone: My Kind of Town: Stornoway (r)
3.00-4.00 Sign Zone: Inside Central
Station (r) 7.00 Scotland’s Best Dog (r)Topsy-Turvy (12, 1999)
Film4, 11.25pm
Mike Leigh moved away from his usual social realism for this
mesmerising portrait of the fraught relationship between the
dramatist WS Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan. Their
14 comic operas are still performed frequently throughout the
English-speaking world, and Leigh obviously adores them. This
is a love letter to the duo, with Jim Broadbent in fine form as
the priggish workaholic Gilbert and Allan Corduner a droll
counterpoint as the easygoing and hedonistic Sullivan. It is also
an inventive production, with a self-mocking commentary on
the director’s own backstage rehearsal methods. Leigh would go
on to direct a production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of
Penzance for English National Opera in 2015. (154 min) Joe ClayFilms of the day
Farming (18, 2018)
Channel 4, 1.55am
Imagine watching This Is England but with all the humour and
tenderness sucked out and replaced with more brutality. That’s
where we are with Farming, the harrowing directorial debut from
the actor Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. The film is based on his
experiences while growing up in Tilbury, Essex, with a racist white
family — he was “farmed” out by his Nigerian parents, who were
keen for him to assimilate into the local culture. The real-life twist is
that Akinnuoye-Agbaje (called Enitan in the film and played by
Damson Idris) is so abused (including by his harridan foster
mother, impressively played by Kate Beckinsale) that his self-
hatred is all-consuming and he joins a gang of black-beating
skinheads. It’s grim, unrelenting material. (103 min) Kevin MaherTwo Doors Down
BBC2, 10pmThis comedy about Scottish
neighbours has a distinctly
old-fashioned appeal, its laughs
hinging on minor domestic
turns. Yet it has a decent
following thanks to its sharply
drawn characters and subtle,
crafty plotting. Tonight Beth
(Arabella Weir) is making a
vegetarian curry to celebrate
the anniversary of her son Ian
(Jamie Quinn) and Gordon
(Kieran Hodgson). And yes,
you guessed it, it all goes
awry. Cathy and Colin invite
themselves over, and Christine
turns up with an upset
stomach, demanding to know
if Beth’s kitchen is clean,
hijacking everything until a
surprisingly dramatic twist. BDRegional programmes
Catch
up
B Catling: Where Does It All
Come From?
BBC iPlayer
Brian Catling is a painter,
sculptor, poet, performance
artist and fantasy novelist,
and this edition of Arena is
fittingly off-the-wall for
a man of such
“untrammelled
imagination”. “He
is really not of
this world,” the
artist Shawanda
Corbett says. Catling,
right, was a foundling
adopted and raised in
tenements on the Old
Kent Road in postwar southLondon. The film stitches
together a shifting narrative
from Catling, using newly
restored archive material,
exclusive interviews and
specially shot footage.
Important locations in Catling’s
life and work — from London to
Gozo, Leipzig to Copenhagen —
are interwoven with imaginary
landscapes and revisited,
explored or recreated. Among
the many highlights is Ray
Winstone recalling
a terrifying
encounter in
Whitechapel.
Joe ClayMonday 6 | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice
Ragdoll
Alibi, 9pm
Henry Lloyd-Hughes,
Thalissa Texeira and
Lucy Hale in Ragdoll