565 saturday review Saturday December 18 2021 | the times
Around the World
in 80 Days
BBC1, 5.50pm/6.40pm
Here’s a rollicking yarn for all
the family, with David Tennant
stepping into the shoes of
Phileas Fogg for a new eight-
part adaptation of Jules Verne’s
1873 novel. However, parents of
children with short attention
spans be warned — it gets off to
a slow start, but soon Fogg is
laying down a wager with his
associates at the Reform Club
that he can circumnavigate the
globe in 80 days. He is joined
in his quest by his new French
valet, Passepartout (Ibrahim
Koma), and Abigail Fix (Leonie
Benesch), the journalist who
wrote the article that inspired
his quest. JC
Anything Goes:
The Musical
BBC2, 6.40pmThis Boxing Day treat, filmed at
the Barbican this year, is pure
theatrical champagne. Cole
Porter’s 1930s musical about
romantic shenanigans on an
ocean liner comes to life in
a sparkling revival directed by
Kathleen Marshall. I Get a Kick
Out of You and You’re the Top
are just two of the standards
that bring the house down,
while Robert Lindsay’s Robert
De Niro-like gangster gets
the pick of the comic lines.
Sutton Foster is a suitably
hard-boiled Reno Sweeney,
Felicity Kendal makes the most
of her cameo and the gowns
are gorgeous too. Clive DavisDeath in Paradise
BBC1, 7.30pmIt’s Christmas on Saint Marie
and DI “Nervy” Neville Parker
(Ralf Little) is preparing to
leave the sun-kissed island
for gloomy Manchester to
see his family. However, he
has to cancel his plans when
a billionaire shipping magnate
is found dead in mysterious
circumstances. At first it looks
as if he has taken his own life,
but things get stranger when
a minicab driver in London
(played by Mathew Baynton)
receives a Christmas card with
a message inside that turns
the case on its head. And with
Florence (Joséphine Jobert)
jetting off for the festive
season, a familiar face is called
on to help to crack the case. JCGone Christmas
Fishing
BBC2. 9pmComedy chums Bob Mortimer
and Paul Whitehouse get
together for a festive episode
of the lovely series that
combines their meandering
chit-chat with a spot of angling.
The pair start off on a steam
train travelling north in search
of English salmon on the Eden
and Tyne rivers in Cumbria.
The conversations are
Christmas-centric, with the
pair (who are joined by Bob’s
rescue dog Ted) discussing
how they celebrate. There are
triumphs on the riverbank,
the “office” Christmas party,
a visit from Gazza and plenty
of festive food and drink. JCAdele: The BBC
Sessions
BBC2, 10pmIn June 2007, aged 19, Adele
Adkins made her TV debut
on Later... with Jools Holland,
singing Daydreamer while
strumming an acoustic guitar.
That spellbinding performance
opens this compilation of
performances from the BBC
archives, charting her rise to
global megastardom. Other
highlights include Adele at the
BBC from 2015, when she gave
the first performance of Hello
(from her third studio album,
25 ) in a show hosted by
Graham Norton, and some
of her early performances
on Top of the Pops, including
a stunning version of
Hometown Glory in 2008. JCVariations
In a new three-part drama
the screenwriter Sarah Phelps
tackles the divorce of the
Duke and Duchess of Argyll
and the ensuing media frenzy.
We are thrust straight into the
eye of the storm with the
duchess, Margaret (Claire
Foy, right), arriving at court
in Edinburgh in 1963 to an
avalanche of vitriol, saliva
and popping flashbulbs. The
action then rewinds to the first
meeting between Margaret,
a notorious It girl of the time,
and Paul Bettany’s louche Ian
Campbell, the 11th Duke of
Argyll. They married in 1951,
but after a few years the
marriage was falling apart,
with Margaret accused of
infidelity, promiscuity, drug-
taking, forgery, theft and
violence, betrayed by her
friends and shamed by the
press. The story is expertly
told by Phelps and the cast,
aided by some exceptional
period styling. Joe Clay
Boxing Day | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice
A Very British
Scandal
BBC1, 9pm
Paddington (PG, 2014)
BBC1, 4.20pm
The little bear from Peru
transfers to cinema in a film
that is endearing and hilarious.
The CGI Paddington (voiced by
Ben Whishaw) still has melting
brown eyes, but is more robust
and realistic than the teddy-like
creature in the television series.
The adult cast is mostly from
the great British thespian
department, Hugh Bonneville,
Jim Broadbent and Julie
Walters among them. The only
import is Nicole Kidman as
Millicent, a Cruella de Vil-style
taxidermist with designs on a
certain little bear. The director
Paul King has a superb instinct
for slapstick and visual gags.
The sequel, which is even
better, is showing tomorrow at
5.55pm. (95min) Wendy IdeFilms of the day
The Accountant
(15, 2016)
BBC1, 12.15am
A superhero origins story
disguised as a gritty thriller,
this includes an appealing
performance from Ben Affleck
as Christian Wolff, the titular
number-cruncher who
moonlights as a hitman. Wolff
was trained as a boy by a harsh
military father to deal with it via
gunplay, self-flagellation and
martial arts. When we meet him
in Kansas City he’s an assassin
worthy of Jason Bourne. Alas,
another team of assassins are
closing in, as is a figure from his
past. It’s all rather convoluted
and requires JK Simmons, as
a treasury boss, to deliver a slab
of exposition to clear the way
for a 1980s-style action finale.
(128min) Kevin MaherThe Suicide Squad
(15, 2021)
Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm
Suicide Squad, released in
2016, was an absolute mess of
a superhero film, but just five
years on, we have this slicker
and funnier sequel/remake. The
set-up is essentially the same:
a team of supervillains are
plucked from prison to take
on a foolhardy mission. It’s
basically The Dirty Dozen in
tights, and it’s still very violent.
Retained from the first film is
Viola Davis as Amanda Waller,
the agent in charge of the
operation, and Margot Robbie
as Harley Quinn, below, the
psychopath who was jilted by
the Joker, while the new leader
of the group is Idris Elba’s
Bloodsport. (132min) Ed Potton(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC2 Wales As BBC2 except: 2.20pm
The Good Life (r) 2.50 Live Scrum V 5.00
The Two Ronnies (r) 5.50 The Perfect
Morecambe & Wise Christmas Special (r)
6.25-6.40 Weatherman Walking (r)
● BBC2 N Ireland As BBC2 except:
5.00pm Live United Rugby 7.40-10.00
Anything Goes: The Musical
● BBC1 Scotland As BBC1 except: 1.50pm
Wallace & Gromit (r) 2.15 FILM Beauty
and the Beast (2017) 4.15-5.50 FILM
Dolittle (2020) 12.15am Sportscene
1.30 Weather 1.35-6.00 BBC News
● STV As ITV except: 1.00pm-3.30 Live
STV Racing 4.05am-5.05 Unwind
● BBC Scotland 4.30pm-5.15 Sportscene
Results 7.00 The Seven 7.15 Sportscene
8.30 My Kind of Town: Stornoway (r)
9.00 FILM The Decoy Bride (2011) 10.25
Comedy Resolutions (r) 11.05-Midnight
Seven Days: Review of the Year
● S4C 6.00am Cyw 9.50 Dona Direidi (r)
10.50 Deian a Loli (r) 11.25 Un Cwestiwn
(r) 11.50 Ysbyty Hospital (r) 12.45pm Live
Sgorio 3.00 Pobol (r) 5.00 Clwb Rygbi- 2 5 News 7.30 Dechrau Canu Dechrau
Canmol 8.00 Canu gyda Fy Arwr 9.00
Priodas Pum Mil ’Dolig (r) 10.00 Y
Cythraul Celf 10.20 Cefn Gwlad: Dathlu
Dai (r) 11.20-12.10am Cymry Feiral (r)
La Bohème
BBC4, 9pmSuzy Klein introduces this
filmed performance of Royal
Opera’s 2020 revival of Richard
Jones’s effective if not vintage
production of Puccini’s weepie.
The run featured multiple
casts, but in this version Sonya
Yoncheva plays the doomed
seamstress Mimì, with Charles
Castronovo as Rodolfo, who
falls in love with her at first
sight. Simona Mihai and
Andrzej Filonczyk perform
the roles of the on-off lovers,
Musetta and Marcello. Jones’s
period production brings to life
the garret flats and glittering
exteriors of 19th-century
Paris, while the conductor
is the stylish Frenchman
Emmanuel Villaume. JCBilly Connolly: My
Absolute Pleasure
ITV, 9.30pm
In January ITV screened
It’s Been a Pleasure.. ., a
documentary that said a tender
farewell to Billy Connolly, who
had retired from stand-up to
a life of fishing and drawing
in Florida. One year on, the
cameras are invited back to
the Connolly homestead in the
Florida Keys to find out what
he has been up to. He has been
busy writing his autobiography,
Windswept and Interesting. So
while this film might seem like
a shameless plug for his book,
we are rewarded by the Big Yin
sharing a selection of his best
stand-up routines, some of
which have never been seen
on television. JC Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Christmas Fishing (9pm)