28 saturday review Saturday December 18 2021 | the times
Daniel Barenboim:
In His Own Words
BBC4, 9pmPieced together from archive
footage and interviews with
the electrifying conductor and
pianist Daniel Barenboim, this
film tells the story of his life
in music. It starts with his
experiences as a child piano
prodigy in Buenos Aires before
following his rise and studies
with musical giants such as
Nadia Boulanger and Arthur
Rubinstein. We hear about his
move to Israel as a teenager
and his relationship with
Jacqueline du Pré. Of particular
interest are his thoughts on his
West Eastern Divan Orchestra,
which brought together young
Arab and Israeli musicians. JC3.55-4.25 Scotland’s Best Dog (r)
5.45-6.45 Scotland’s People 2021
● STV As ITV except: 5.05-5.15pm STV
News 4.05-5.05am Unwind with STV
● BBC Scotland 7.00pm The Seven 7.15
Fern Britton Meets Barbara Dickson (r)
8.15 Rewind 2000s (r) 8.30 My Kind of
Town: Arbroath (r) 9.00 Inside Central
Station Christmas Special (r) 10.00 The
Big Scottish Book Club 11.00-Midnight
Seven Days: Review of the Year
● S4C 6.00am Cyw 6.20 Meic y Marchog
(r) 6.35 Sbridiri (r) 6.55 Sali Mali (r) 7.00
Jen a Jim Pob Dim (r) 7.15 Guto Gwningen
(r) 7.30 Gwdihw (r) 7.45 Cei Bach (r) 8.00
Blero yn Mynd i Ocido (r) 8.10 Amser
Maith Maith yn Ôl (r) 8.25 Pablo (r) 8.35
Ahoi! (r) 8.50 Penblwyddi Cyw 9.00
Cymru Wyllt (r) 10.00 Gwesty Aduniad (r)
11.00 Byd o Liw: Cestyll (r) 11.30 Dechrau
Canu Dechrau Canmol (r) 12.00 Iaith ar
Daith (r) 1.00pm Mwy o’r Busnes Cerdd
Dant ’Ma (r) 2.00 Caru Siopa (r) 2.30
Cynefin (r) 3.35 Codi Hwyl (r) 4.05 Ty
Gwerin O Bell (r) 5.10 Ffermio (r) 5.40
Pobol y Cwm Omnibws (r) 6.45 News
7.00 Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol
8.00 Canu gyda Fy Arwr 9.00 Cwmni
Theatr Maldwyn yn 40 10.30 Cefn Gwlad
(r) 11.30-12.05am Sain Ffagan (r)
(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC1 Wales As BBC1 except:
10.00-10.30am Politics Wales 1.50pm
The Asian Welsh (r) 2.20 FILM How to
Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World
(2019) 3.55-4.25 A Welsh-Italian
Christmas with Michela Chiappa (r)
● BBC2 Wales As BBC2 except: 5.00pm
Flog It! (r) 5.30 Tudur’s TV Flashback (r)
6.00-7.00 Nigella’s Cook, Eat, Repeat
Christmas Special. A festive feast with a
Nordic theme for a group of friends (r)
● BBC1 N Ireland As BBC1 except:
10.00-10.30am Sunday Politics Northern
Ireland 5.45-6.45pm Northern Ireland
Onscreen. Film and TV soundtracks
performed by the Ulster Orchestra
● BBC2 N Ireland As BBC2 except:
6.00pm-7.00 Antiques Roadshow at
Christmas 9.00 Sing! An Irish Christmas
10.00 Rian na gCos (r) 11.00 The Blame
Game (r) 11.30 Ranganation Christmas
Special 12.15am Sunday Politics Northern
Ireland (r) 12.45 Barra on the Bann (r)
1.00-1.30 Sign Zone: Buy Now, Pay Later
— The New Debt Crisis?: Panorama (r)
● BBC1 Scotland As BBC1 except:
10.00am-10.30 The Sunday Show 11.30
Reflections at the Quay 12.00-1.00
Heaven Made (r) 1.50pm Bargain Hunt (r)
2.20 FILM How to Train Your Dragon:
The Hidden World (2019) AnimationSpider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (PG, 2018)
Film4, 6.45pm
This revolutionary take on Spider-Man — a mind-bending feature-
length animation — is innovative, unapologetic and audacious. It
posits a universe, centred on New York, where a large quantum
“Super-Collider” has been built by the crime boss Wilson Fisk
(voiced by Liev Schreiber) to rip a damaging hole in the space-time
continuum. Thanks to an early tussle with Spider-Man (Chris Pine),
however, the collider sends through the multiverse a pulse that
draws back into Brooklyn, from alternate dimensions, five other
wildly different Spider-Men and Spider-Women. These include
ageing and overweight Spider-Man (Jake Johnson), femme warrior
Spider-Woman (Hailee Steinfeld) and a film noir Spider-Man. It is,
quite simply, the best Spider-Man yet. (117min) Kevin MaherFilms of the day
The Invisible Woman (12, 2013)
BBC2, 11.45pm
Ralph Fiennes stars in and directs this glimpse into the life of
Charles Dickens, and his exuberantly self-important turn as the
writer is one of the film’s main assets. Dickens’s great love and
most shameful secret is the young actress Nelly Ternan (Felicity
Jones), and it’s Nelly who is the heart of the film. Dickens is railing
against middle age and the responsibilities of family life. In Nelly
he sees a kindred spirit and a way to reconnect with his youth. For
all his passion for Nelly, the public’s regard is Dickens’s lifeblood,
and while he thinks nothing of wrecking his family, he will not risk
his celebrity. It’s a big, bumptious, expansive performance from
Fiennes — his Dickens’s magnetic charisma is underscored by a
slightly off-putting arrogance and self-interest. (111min) Wendy IdeWoodstock 99:
Peace, Love
and Rage
Sky Documentaries/Now, 9pmWoodstock 1999 was the music
festival planned to emulate the
countercultural idealism of the
original 1969 concert. Instead,
as Kid Rock, Metallica and Limp
Bizkit performed to a 200,000-
strong crowd of mostly young,
white men, it devolved into
riots, looting and sexual
assaults. Garret Price’s dark
film captures the mayhem at
the decommissioned military
base in Rome, New York, with
some of the participating
musicians, including Moby,
Korn’s Jonathan Davis and
Jewel, recalling the horror. JCRegional programmes
Catch
up
The White Lotus
Sky/Now
Mike White’s
five-star satire
of wealth,
privilege and
the pursuit of
surface happiness
transports us to a
deluxe hotel in
Hawaii — a place of
infinity pools, azure
waters and
successful but
seriously dysfunctional
guests. What begins
almost as a hotel spoof
with the odd Fawlty-
esque crisis thrown in —the resort manager Armond
(the wonderful Murray Bartlett,
below) panicking when his
trainee gives birth in his office
— starts to evolve into
a sharper satire
altogether about the
anxieties of entitled
white Americans. The
guests include a pair
of Instagram-
perfect newlyweds,
a dazed woman
clutching her
mother’s ashes,
and a pair of
cruelly cynical
teenage girls.
And from an
opening
flashforward
we know that
someone will
end up dead.
James JacksonBBC Sports
Personality
of the Year
BBC1, 6.45pm
MediaCity in Salford is the
venue as Gary Lineker, Clare
Balding, Gabby Logan and Alex
Scott present the 68th edition
of the awards ceremony. The
show will celebrate the past 12
months of sporting action,
including the Olympics and the
Paralympics, Emma Raducanu’s
US Open tennis triumph and
the England men’s football
team’s run to the final of Euro
- Raducanu is the favourite
to win the trophy, challenged
by the diver Tom Daley and the
swimming and Strictly Come
Dancing star Adam Peaty. JC
Beauty and the
Beast: A Pantomime
for Comic Relief
BBC2, 9pmAfter last year’s Zoom-based
production of Cinderella, the
Comic Relief panto will again
take place online, and this time
it’s a performance of Beauty
and the Beast. The format
allows Comic Relief to gather
a huge, star-studded cast who
otherwise wouldn’t be able to
get together (last year Daniel
Craig made an appearance as
a wheezy horse). Lily James
heads this year’s line-up, joined
by lots of other famous names
from film, comedy and music,
including Guz Khan, Sian
Gibson and Miranda Hart. JCSunday 19 | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice
The Girl Before
BBC1, 9pm
This intriguing psychological
thriller, which is showing
over the next four nights, is
a joint production between
the BBC and HBO Max and is
based on the bestselling 2016
novel by JP Delaney. David
Oyelowo stars as Edward
Monkford, a world-famous
architect and the designer of
a futuristic, minimalist London
flat that would have Kevin
McCloud in raptures. In the
opening scene we observe
two women (Jessica
Plummer’s Emma and Gugu
Mbatha-Raw’s Jane, right with
Oyelowo) being shown around
the property. The rent is
ridiculously low, but there’s
a catch — the charismatic
Monkford is a control freak
and has imposed about 200
conditions and restrictions
on anyone living there. “The
owner sets an affordable
rent for anyone who lives
here the way he intended,”
say the estate agents who
show the women around
(they are from different
timelines — Emma is with her
partner, but Jane is alone). So
that means no pictures, no
ornaments, no carpets or
rugs, no books, no magazines,
no knick-knacks, no
children... and the list goes
on. There’s only one cupboard
in the whole place and you
can’t leave anything on the
floor. Oh, and you have to fill
in a lengthy questionnaire
(sample question: “Would you
sacrifice yourself to save ten
innocent strangers?”) and be
grilled by Monkton, who has
the final say over who can live
in the home he designed. Of
course, there is an unsettling
reason for his exacting
behaviour, which becomes
clear as the series unfolds.
Emma is “the girl before”,
with her time in the flat a
foreshadowing of what’s in
store for Jane.
Joe Clay