The Times - UK (2021-12-18)

525 saturday review Saturday December 18 2021 | the times

Superworm

BBC1, 2.30pm

Julia Donaldson and Axel

Scheffler stories have become

the BBC’s Christmas present

to pre-schoolers. Today’s

story, which many parents will

know by heart, features the

voices of Matt Smith and

Olivia Colman and concerns

a worm that can contort into

extraordinary shapes. When

he is captured by a dastardly

lizard, those creature pals he

has helped in the past must

come to his aid. Slightly older

children will be able to enjoy

Terry Pratchett’s The

Abominable Snow Baby on

Channel 4 at 7.30pm, when

David Harewood and Julie

Walters are on voiceover

duties. BD

Quentin Blake: The

Drawing of My Life

BBC2, 4.10pm

The great illustrator whose

simple but vivid drawings

brought the world of Roald

Dahl — and latterly David

Walliams — to life here sits in

front of a 30ft canvas telling

(and sketching) his own story

complemented by insights

from fellow illustrators and

Dahl’s widow, Felicity, among

others. It’s a programme

packed with fascinating

insights into his life and work,

including the struggle to get

Dahl’s BFG just right. Blake’s

kindness, compassion and love

for his work shine through this.

And at 89, he’s drawing more

now than ever. BD

Strictly Come

Dancing:

Christmas Special

BBC1, 5.10pm

The emphasis is on giving it a

go in this seasonal one-off, with

fleet-footedness and dancing

knowhow not necessarily the

name of the game. Our three

men are the presenter/

Guardian columnist Adrian

Chiles, Jay Blades (of Repair

Shop fame) and the food

presenter Fred Sirieix, who

will fly the flag for dad dancers

everywhere. The women’s line-

up looks more promising, with

the newsreader Moira Stewart,

the singer Anne-Marie and

the comedian Mel Giedroyc

strutting their stuff. BD

The Larkins

at Christmas

ITV, 9pm

Simon Nye’s version of the
HE Bates stories is not exactly
unburdened by lashings of
goodwill and rosy faces in
normal times. At Christmas it’s
so off the scale, there even
seem to be leaves on the trees
(it was clearly filmed in
summer). The flecks of grit in
the oyster concern tensions
around the village pantomime,
a spate of burglaries and the
visit of Charley’s supposedly
disapproving family (who have
Nigerian heritage) for
Christmas lunch. Will it all turn
out OK and will one of the
characters actually pay tribute
to “culturally different families
joining as one”? BD

Gurgling babies, a Nativity
play, multicultural Britain
rubbing along, lashings of
snow on the street and Miriam
Margolyes’s Mother Mildred
looking decidedly at home in
a wimple. Yes, the BBC’s
traditional Christmas present
to a nation slumped on the
sofa ticks every box tonight,
from the opening seconds
when Vanessa Redgrave’s
voiceover talks of how “every
Christmas finds us swathed
and bound, drawn back to the
place we came from”. But
while the goodwill (and heavy
incidental music) is always
turned up to 11 at this time of
year, the writer Heidi Thomas
is careful to give her festive
wreaths a few sharp sprigs
of holly. Tonight they come in
the form of a mother-to-be
with a troubling secret, and
hitches befalling Lucille and
Cyril’s wedding preparations
when the bride has a little
bit too much punch on
her hen night. Ben Dowell

Christmas Day | Viewing guide

Mary Poppins Returns

(U, 2018)

BBC1, 3.10pm

The Disney machine is back at

Cherry Tree Lane with better

effects and a bigger budget.

This time Team Poppins are in

the London of the Great

Depression. Among the victims

are the adult Banks children,

Michael (Ben Whishaw), a

winsome widower, and Jane

(Emily Mortimer), a startled

Stepford Marxist who fancies a

bicycle trip with the mockney

lamp-lighter Jack (Lin-Manuel

Miranda). Michael is hugely in

debt and the family home is

about to be repossessed. If

only Mary Poppins (Emily

Blunt) could float down to

earth to save him!

(130min) Kevin Maher

Critic’s choice

Call the Midwife

Films of the day

Slumdog Millionaire

(15, 2008)

Channel 4, 12.20am

Danny Boyle’s film captures the

contradictions of India — the

exuberant pleasures and the

polluting ugliness. In fact, the

story of Jamal Malik (Dev Patel,

above), an orphan from the

Mumbai slums who wins on the

Indian version of Who Wants to

Be a Millionaire?, could serve as

a metaphor for India’s evolution

from developing country to

international powerhouse.

The structure cuts between the

TV show, a brutal interrogation

by police officers who suspect

him of cheating, and flashbacks

to Jamal’s early life. It is part

romantic fairytale, part

nightmare of corruption

and exploitation. (120min)

Wendy Ide

BBC1, 8pm

The Morecambe &

Wise Show 1970

BBC2, 7.45pm

This “lost” episode of

Morecambe and Wise’s BBC1

show from October 1970 —

discovered after a rummage in

Eric Morecambe’s attic and

already the subject of an ITV

documentary — can now be

seen in full. And while it may

not be vintage Eric’n’Ern,

it brings a fair dollop of

sunshine, offering glimpses of

early skits involving beds,

curtains and paper bags that

the pair (and the writer Eddie

Braben) went on to perfect.

It fittingly ends with a burst

of that Arthur Kent and Sylvia

Dee song with which they

are now synonymous. BD

Great Christmas

Bake Off 2021

Channel 4, 8pm

This is a jolly Christmas special

and a corporate marketing

opportunity as Channel 4

assembles four stars from

Russell T Davies’s hit Aids

drama It’s a Sin to experience

the pressures of the tent. And

with Paul Hollywood squeezed

into a Christmas jumper, and

fake snow scattered outside,

the mood is upbeat as our

quartet of actors, Olly

Alexander, Nathaniel Curtis,

Lydia West and Shaun Dooley,

produce some decent bakes

for Prue Leith and Hollywood

(or “the Dame and the Gorilla”

as the presenter Matt Lucas

calls them). BD

Pavarotti

BBC2, 9.35pm

Ron Howard’s 2019

documentary profile of the

great Italian tenor who died

in 2007 is unrelentingly

positive. Not everyone will

immediately take to the slightly

saccharine tone, where tribute

after tribute is laid at the big

man’s feet, with Bono topping

the bill with his sugary

reflections (“he was crushed

by injustice”). But there’s no

denying that beneath the

syrup and incessant talk of

Pavarotti’s charity work lurks

a fascinating life story of

humble beginnings (his father

was a baker, his mother a

housewife), personal charisma,

international stardom,

romantic strife, a divorce

and, of course, football. BD

Variations

Their Finest (12, 2016)

BBC4, 9.35pm

Gemma Arterton stars as a

scriptwriter for morale-boosting

films during the Second World

War. Women’s conversations in

these films were known as “the

slop” — filler between manly

action scenes — but Arterton’s

character, Catrin Cole, turns out

to be so talented that an entire

film is commissioned, with

female heroines rescuing

soldiers from France. Arterton

is perfect, simultaneously

luscious and reserved, and her

battles with fellow scriptwriter

Tom Buckley (Sam Claflin) have

a whiff of screwball romance.

However, the biggest hoot is

Bill Nighy as a foppish matinee

idol in the twilight of his career.

(117min) Kate Muir

See him squirm! Hip, hip, hooray for Superworm! (2.30pm) (r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing

● BBC2 Wales As BBC2 except:

2.40pm-3.10 Tudur’s TV Flashback (r)

● BBC1 Scotland As BBC1 except: 9.05am-

9.35 Stick Man (r) 11.00-12.00pm

Christmas Reflections at the Quay

● STV As ITV except: 5.15am-6.00

Unwind with STV

● BBC Scotland 7.00pm Christmas

Reflections at the Quay (r) 8.00 The Edit

8.30 Reindeer Family & Me (r) 9.30 FILM

Lost at Christmas (2020) 11.05 Short

Stuff (r) 11.30-Midnight The Quay

Sessions: Greatest Hits (r)

● S4C 6.00am Cyw 8.00 Stwnsh Sadwrn

11.05 Mynd ar Helfa Arth (r) 11.30 Oedfa

Dolig Newydd 12.00 Dechrau Canu

Dechrau Canmol (r) 1.00pm Atgofion

Carol yr Wyl (r) 2.00 Pampro Cwn Cymru

(r) 3.00 Pluen Eira (r) 4.30 Bwyd Byd Epic

Chris (r) 5.30 Aled Jones a Sêr y Nadolig

(r) 6.25 Calon Rew 6.30 Mabinogi-ogi:

Gwenhwyfar 7. 2 5 News 7.30 C’mon

Midffild (r) 8.00 Pobol y Cwm 9.00 Noson

Lawen. Festive-themed entertainment,

presented by Leisa Gwenllian and Iwan

Fôn 10.00 Jam. New comedy about a

couple of men who are ready to become

dads, but are determined to maintain

their careers 11.00 Teulu’r Mans: Bedlam

(r) 11.30-12.05am ’Run Sbit ’Dolig (r)

Laura Main, Helen

George and Leonie

Elliott star