60 saturday review Saturday December 18 2021 | the times
TV chemistry is a hard thing
to achieve or define, but you
know it when you see it — and
Joe Lycett’s atoms fizz quite
brilliantly with Bill Bailey’s on
their four-day trip to Iceland.
Lycett, who was a guest on
this jolly travel show when
it was fronted by Richard
Ayoade, is now his permanent
replacement and, with his
easygoing air and eye for the
absurd, is a good choice. You
could sit with him watching
paint dry and he’d say
something diverting. Bailey’s
dry sardonicism complements
Lycett’s nicely, but because
Iceland is such a strange
country they don’t have to
look too hard to find enough
to delight them. They start in
a tomato-themed restaurant
and marvel at a giant alfresco
sculpture that seems to be of
a whale but which Lycett
suggests could be the “true
form of Coleen Nolan”. They
then spend the night in
transparent pods marvelling
at the northern lights, Bailey
seeming (rather charmingly)
to drift off on camera. Then
they fashion some wool
trolls together, visit a punk
museum, make flatbreads and
go husky sledding before
visiting some strange men in
an underground cave who
seem to be some form of
Icelandic Father Christmases.
It’s rewarding to watch
a travelogue that pokes fun
at the form and isn’t entirely
composed of fabulous
experiences that the
celebrities enjoy and which
we viewers can’t. The moment
when they cook boiled eggs
in a hot spring actually proves
to be fabulously grim: the
weather is so bleak their
breakfast blows away in a
gale and Bailey describes
the view as a combination
of “Leamington Spa... and
Mordor”.
Ben DowellSondheim Night
BBC4, from 7pmThis fabulous tribute to the
composer and lyricist who
recently died aged 91 starts
with his 80th birthday Prom
from 2010, featuring Bryn
Terfel and Judi Dench,
followed by a feast of 60 years
of archive delights in Sondheim
at the BBC (9.05pm). Next
comes a 1990 omnibus
charting his preparations for
showcasing Sunday in the
Park with George at the
National Theatre when he
was visiting professor of
drama at Oxford University
(10.05pm). The evening ends
in reflective mode, with his
1995 interview with the brilliant
Jeremy Isaacs on Face to Face
(10.55pm). BDMasterChef:
The Professionals
Rematch 2021
BBC1, 8pmThe one where former finalists
return to prove their skills, this
features chefs Jamie Park, Philli
Armitage-Mattin, Santosh Shah
and Bart van der Lee. And they
are all as keen as mustard, with
Armitage-Mattin giving her
judges a chart to help them to
choose which of the many
sauces to eat with her octopus.
Shah, meanwhile, is hoping
that chicken in a burnt feather
marinade is the way to their
hearts. After that they have
to make a seasonal feast for
Marcus Wareing, Monica Galetti
and Gregg Wallace. BDA Very British
Scandal
BBC1, 9pmIt’s the second part of Sarah
Phelps’s drama about the
Duke and Duchess of Argyll’s
marital saga, and Margaret
(Claire Foy) is desperately
missing the whirlwind (and
sexual opportunity) of London
society. Her husband (Paul
Bettany) is very much at home
in the Highlands, so tensions
are inevitable, especially when
cash runs dry. This episode
recreates the famous scene of
the “headless man” that was to
prove her downfall, but the
principal thrust of this drama is
its depiction of the sexism of
the era and the loneliness of an
unusual, shackled woman. BD● S4C 6.00am Cyw: Peppa (r) 6.05
Jamborî (r) 6.15 Guto Gwningen (r) 6.30
Tili a’i Ffrindiau (r) 6.40 Dathlu ’Da Dona
(r) 6.55 Ynys Broc Môr Lili (r) 7.05 Nico
Nôg (r) 7.15 Patrôl Pawennau (r) 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 Jamborî (r) 10.15 Guto Gwningen
(r) 10.30 Tili a’i Ffrindiau (r) 10.40 Dathlu
’Da Dona (r) 10.55 Ynys Broc Môr Lili (r)
11.05 Nico Nôg (r) 11.15 Patrôl Pawennau
(r) 11.30 Fferm Fach (r) 11.45 Sion y Chef
(r) 12.00 Cymry ar Gynfas (r) 12.30pm
Pampro Cwn Cymru (r) 1.30 Priodas Pum
Mil ’Dolig (r) 2.30 Cwmni Theatr Maldwyn
yn 40 (r) 4.00 Awr Fawr: Olobobs (r) 4.05
Jamborî (r) 4.15 Nico Nôg (r) 4.25 Fferm
Fach (r) 4.40 Sigldigwt (r) 5.00 Stwnsh:
Cath-Od (r) 5.10 Siwrne Ni (r) 5.15 Arthur
a Chriw y Ford Gron (r) 5.30 Sgorio 5.55
Larfa (r) 6.00 Bwyd Byd Epic Chris (r)
7.00 News y Flwyddyn 2021 7.45 News
8.00 Am Dro Selebs! 9.00 Sgwrs Dan y
Lloer: Matthew Rhys. Elin Fflur chats to
the Cardiff-born Hollywood star 10.00
Sgorio (r) 10.30-11.35 Gwesty Aduniad (r)
(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC2 Wales As BBC2 except: 12.55pm
FILM Calamity Jane (1953) 2.35 West
Side Stories: The Making of a Classic (r)
3.35 FILM West Side Story (1961)
Romantic musical 6.00 Flog It! (r)
6.30-7.00 Tudur’s TV Flashback (r)
● BBC1 N Ireland As BBC1 except:
10.35pm Give My Head Peace 11.05 The
Vicar of Dibley. Geraldine prepares for her
wedding (r) 12.00 FILM When Harry Met
Sally (1989) 1.35-6.00am BBC News
● BBC2 N Ireland As BBC2 except:
7.00pm-8.00 Mortimer & Whitehouse:
Gone Christmas Fishing
● BBC1 Scotland As BBC1 except: 12.15am
The Edit Christmas Special 12.45 FILM
When Harry Met Sally (1989) 2.15
Weather 2.20-6.00 BBC News
● ITV Wales As ITV except: 5.05pm-5.15
ITV News Wales at Six
● STV As ITV except: 11.45pm The
Two Ronnies: Ronnie Corbett’s Lost
Tapes (r) 12.40-3.00am Teleshopping
4.05-5.05 Unwind with STV
● BBC Scotland 2.00pm-3.00 Sign Zone:
Reindeer Family & Me (r) 7.00 The Seven
7.15 The Great Food Guys (r) 7.45 Rewind
1980s (r) 8.00 Inside the Zoo 9.00 Away
with the Tartan Army: Scotland’s Best
Moments (r) 10.00 Still Game (r)
10.30-Midnight Killing Escobar (r)A Star Is Born (U, 1954)
BBC2, 10.05am
Judy Garland and James Mason head the cast of George Cukor’s
classic musical about the perils of fame. The film marked a
comeback for Garland after the collapse of her MGM career and
marriage to Vincente Minnelli. Garland plays an aspiring actress
and singer whose rising star slowly eclipses her boozy actor
husband (Mason). Portraying a has-been screen icon was seen as
a poisoned chalice in 1950s Hollywood, with Mason’s role declined
by Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Gary Cooper, Marlon Brando
and Montgomery Clift. This was a remake of a 1937 film and there
have been two others — the 1976 version starring Barbra Streisand
and Kris Kristofferson, and Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s
2018 take, which is on BBC1 on Wednesday. (154min) Joe ClayFilms of the day
Blade Runner 2049 (15, 2017)
BBC2, 9pm
A more devastatingly beautiful sci-fi blockbuster has yet to be
made. But this sequel is not without problems. Plot-wise it is
30 years since the rain-soaked, noir-themed action of the original,
and still the replicants are posing a problem for the LAPD and the
blade runners who hunt them down. Enter the chief blade (Ryan
Gosling), who hits on a secret that might have profound implications
for the blade runner universe. After a slow start it picks up when
Harrison Ford, above with Gosling, pops up in the final act in a
sand-blasted Las Vegas. The director Denis Villeneuve was under
no illusions about the pressure he was under to not mess it up. “I
know that every single fan will walk into the theatre with a baseball
bat. And I respect that... because it’s art.” (163min) Kevin MaherJon & Lucy’s
Christmas
Sleepover
Channel 4, 9pmFor a way of looking back over
the year, inviting your famous
comedy chums to your house
is as good as any. The married
comedians Jon Richardson
and Lucy Beaumont have
shown in their Dave show
Meet the Richardsons what
good comedy their spousal
bugbears, squabbles, itches
and aches make, so we have
a good idea of what to expect.
There were no previews
available, but the presence
of Roisin Conaty, Romesh
Ranganathan and Rob Beckett
promises much. BDRegional programmes
Catch
up
The Chair
Netflix
This very watchable six-part
comedy starring the great
Sandra Oh (Killing Eve)
finds humour in the
crisis facing a prestigious
American college’s
English department.
Student enrolment is
down, largely because
the professors are relics
whose courses on
American letters and
the like hold little
interest for
21st-century
students.
In scenesthat are being played out in
British universities too, the
show depicts American
academics under siege from
students eager to take offence.
It’s down to the college’s new
chair (Oh, below) to try to save
the day, or rather save the
loveable old dinosaurs. She’s
not helped by her most
popular lecturer
(Transparent’s Jay
Duplass) being a
drunken mess of
a failed novelist.
Plenty of dry
humour
arises as
old values
clash with
young ones.
James
JacksonMonday 27 | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice
Travel Man: 96 Hours in Iceland
Channel 4, 8pm