36 saturday review Saturday December 18 2021 | the times
Celebrity
MasterChef
Christmas
Cook-Off
BBC1, 8pm
Starting four celebrity versions
of the BBC culinary favourite,
tonight’s opener features an
eclectic quintet. Battling it out
for the, er, golden whisk trophy
by knocking up a Christmas
dinner are Strictly’s Oti Mabuse,
comedian Judi Love, reality star
Joey Essex, former footballer
Neil “Razor” Ruddock and
Hi-de-Hi! actress Su Pollard. On
Thursday it’s Gemma Collins,
Joe Swash, Les Dennis, Mica
Paris and the Rev Richard Coles
out to impress judges Gregg
Wallace and John Torode. BDWordsworth &
Coleridge:
Road Trip
Sky Arts/Now, 8pmFrank Skinner and Denise
Mina’s lovely journey comes to
a close with the great poets’
sad separation in the final parts
of their lives. Wordsworth’s
marriage to his childhood
sweetheart Mary Hutchinson,
and Coleridge’s laudanum
addiction and infatuation with
Mary’s sister, Sara, were the
big factors, all sensitively
chronicled by our likeable
presenters. As well as being the
master of the one-liner, Skinner
has, like Mina, also shown
himself to be a sensitive and
passionate poetry critic. BDAgatha Raisin:
Kissing Christmas
Goodbye
Sky Max/Now, 8pm“This is going to be the best
Christmas ever” tend to be
words that spell doom in any
festive TV special, be they soap
or, in this case, a mystery
drama so daft it makes
Midsomer Murders looks like
Strindberg. As Ashley Jensen’s
PR turned detective heroine
sups mulled wine with her
pals and Mathew Horne’s
potty-mouthed Roy, there is
murder afoot, dastardliness
that requires all Agatha’s skill
and tenacity. Plus the help of
a turkey that proves to be
a useful weapon. BD10.00 Glasgow 1967: The Lisbon Lions (r)
11.00-Midnight Big Scottish Book Club (r)
● S4C 6.00am Cyw 7.15 Loti Borloti (r)
7.30 Y Brodyr Coala (r) 7.40 Amser Maith
Maith yn Ôl (r) 8.00 Sali Mali (r) 8.05
Straeon Ty Pen (r) 8.20 Ben a Mali a’u Byd
Bach O Hud (r) 8.35 Shwshaswyn (r) 8.45
Cei Bach (r) 9.00 Cymylaubychain (r) 9.10
Digbi Draig 9.20 Rapsgaliwn 9.35 Pablo
(r) 9.45 Byd Tad-Cu (r) 10.00 Bing (r) 10.10
Halibalw (r) 10.20 Meic y Marchog (r)
10.35 Jen a Jim Pob Dim (r) 10.50
Anifeiliaid Bach y Byd (r) 11.00 Caru Canu
(r) 11.05 Oli Wyn (r) 11.15 Loti Borloti (r)
11.30 Y Brodyr Coala (r) 11.40 Amser
Maith Maith yn Ôl (r) 12.00 News
12.05pm Her yr Hinsawdd (r) 12.30 Heno
(r) 1.00 Adre (r) 1.30 Ffermio (r) 2.00
News 2.05 Prynhawn Da 3.00 News 3.05
Canu gyda Fy Arwr (r) 4.00 Awr Fawr:
Caru Canu (r) 4.05 Meic y Marchog (r)
4.20 Anifeiliaid Bach y Byd (r) 4.30 Pablo
(r) 4.45 Amser Maith Maith yn Ôl (r) 5.00
Stwnsh: Oi! Osgar (r) 5.10 Mwy o Stwnsh
Sadwrn 5.35 Y Dyfnfor (r) 5.55 Larfa (r)
6.00 Pysgod i Bawb (r) 6.30 Rownd a
Rownd (r) 6.57 News S4C 7.00 Heno 7.30
News 8.00 Pobol y Cwm 8.25 Rownd a
Rownd 8.55 News 9.00 Cefn Gwlad 10.00
Rocco Schiavone 11.05-11.40 Nyrsys (r)
(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC1 Wales As BBC1 except:
7.00-7.30pm The Asian Welsh 11.35
Age of Outrage (r) 11.55 Have I Got a Bit
More News for You (r) 12.40-1.30am
The Graham Norton Show (r)
● BBC2 Wales As BBC2 except: 6.00pm
Tudur’s TV Flashback (r) 6.30 Dad’s Army
(r) 7.00 The Goes Wrong Show: The Spirit
of Christmas (r) 7.30-8.30 Mortimer &
Whitehouse: Gone Christmas Fishing (r)
● BBC1 N Ireland As BBC1 except:
10.35pm The Paddy Raff Show: Christmas
Special 11.05 The Royle Family Christmas
Special (r) 12.05am Have I Got a Bit More
News for You (r) 12.55 The Graham
Norton Show (r) 1.40-6.00am BBC News
● BBC1 Scotland As BBC1 except:
4.45-5.15pm Scotland’s Best Dog (r)
● ITV Wales As ITV except: 7.30pm-8.00
Coast & Country 10.45 Gino’s Italian
Family Adventure 11.10-11.40 Gino’s
Italian Family Adventure
● STV As ITV except: 10.30-10.45pm STV
News 4.05-5.05am Unwind with STV
● UTV As ITV except: 7.30pm-8.00 UTV
Life 10.45 Gino’s Italian Family Adventure
11.15-11.40 Rare Breed: A Farming Year (r)
● BBC Scotland 2.15pm-3.00 BBC
Scotland News Special: Coronavirus
Update 7.00 Inside the Zoo (r) 8.00
Scotland’s People 2021 (r) 9.00 The NineDoctor Zhivago (PG, 1965)
BBC2, 1.50pm
Epic seems too small a description for the ambition and romance
of David Lean’s version of Boris Pasternak’s novel. It begins before
the Russian revolution in Moscow, where the young Lara (Julie
Christie) is being courted by the Bolshevik rebel Pasha (Tom
Courtenay) but falls into the lascivious hands of Komarovsky (Rod
Steiger). Meanwhile, the idealistic doctor and poet Yuri Zhivago
(Omar Sharif, below with Christie) marries his childhood friend —
but not before he catches a glimpse of Lara’s wild passion. History
seizes them all in an icy, bloody vice while the story goes out into
the snowbound steppes and war zones as the First World War
passes and the tsar’s regime falls. Sharif and Christie’s illicit passion
rises higher with Maurice Jarre’s Lara’s Theme. (188min) Kate MuirFilms of the day
Cape Fear (15, 1962)
Sky Arts/Now, 11pm
A street fighter’s countenance and overtly sexual menace made
sure that Robert Mitchum played more than a few psychopaths.
But it’s as the vengeful ex-convict Max Cady in Cape Fear that
Mitchum’s insouciant sneer and malevolent sex appeal are best
used. J Lee Thompson’s classy noir-ish psychological thriller stars
Gregory Peck as Sam Bowden, the lawyer who put Cady away for
eight years for a violent rape. On his release, Cady tracks Bowden
down and threatens his family. Bowden flees to a houseboat off
Cape Fear in North Carolina, leading to a final riverside showdown
between the men. The 1991 remake with Robert de Niro as Cady
was able to show more violence on screen, but Mitchum’s
performance is the definitive one. (106min) Wendy IdeLandscapers
Sky Atlantic/Now, 9pmThe third and penultimate part
of this drama about the real-life
conviction of Susan and Chris
Edwards (Olivia Colman and
David Thewlis) for the murder
of Susan’s parents continues
on its strange way. The police
remain the blunt, not always
competent foils for our central
couple. They may be bringing
them to justice, but it’s the
couple’s cocooned, inner world
— Susan’s fantasies about Gary
Cooper, the pretence that
Gérard Depardieu was their
friend — that chiefly engages
our interest. Given that real
people died, the taste is
questionable, but Colman and
Thewlis’s evocation of their odd
love story is mesmerising. BDRegional programmes
Catch
up
Squid Game
Netflix
Named after a traditional
Korean children’s game, the
ultra-violent nine-part
thriller follows 456
desperate Seoulites,
including nominal
hero Seong Gi-hun
(Lee Jung-jae, right),
who are lured to a
mysterious island
to don identical
tracksuits and
compete for a
life-changing cash
prize. A business
card delivered by a
shadowy syndicate istheir golden ticket to play a
series of playground games.
Lose and you die, with the
amount of blood and gore on
show making the 15 certificate
awarded to the series
insufficient.
Gambling on the
outcome are a
group of obnoxious
rich westerners,
chaperoned by a
Darth Vader-type
grandmaster
known as the
Frontman. It was a
worldwide smash
for the streaming
giant, but recent
data suggests
that Strictly
Come Dancing is
still more popular
in the UK.
Joe ClayTuesday 21 | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice
Philip: Prince, Husband, Father
ITV, 9pm
With relations between
Buckingham Palace and the
BBC frosty of late, ITV seems
keen to step into the breach
as the House of Windsor’s
broadcaster of choice. And
courtiers will find little to
displease them with this
glowing tribute to the Duke
of Edinburgh, who died in
April. We hear the words
“handsome” and “charming”
a lot, although some of the
testimony is in the present
tense, leading one to suspect
that some slivers may have
been borrowed from a 100th
birthday profile that sadly
never was. But the talking
heads provide nuggets of
revelation that are almost as
“golden” as the royal hair they
keep mentioning. The duke’s
friend and biographer Gyles
Brandreth seems almost
dewy-eyed most of the time,
but he knows how to tell a
good but gently flattering
story. Martin Palmer, the
theologian who founded the
Alliance of Religions and
Conservation with Prince
Philip, says that his own
humble background made
not the slightest difference
to their friendship. Philip’s
famous “gaffes” are set
firmly in the context of press
intrusion, and his hatred
of having cameras and
microphones shoved in his
face. But this programme
also makes clear that Philip
brought the TV cameras into
royal life: he was the first
member of the royal family
to give a TV interview and
present a TV programme. This
tribute concludes with Philip’s
final months, where lockdown
at least allowed him to enjoy
probably the most time he
and the Queen spent alone
together. Perhaps his greatest
gift to the nation was the
solace he brought our head of
state — and making her laugh.
Ben Dowell