The Sunday Times - UK (2021-12-19)

Barry Keenan

decides to kidnap

19-year-old Frank Sinatra Jr.

“This is the story of an

imperfect man who tried to

pull off the perfect crime,

exactly as God told him to,”

the narrator John Stamos

explains. Keenan, now 81, is

a gift that keeps on giving.

The Lazarus Heist

Is there a state-sponsored

gang of North Korean

cybercriminals? Alleged

crimes include a $1 billion

bank heist and a mortifying

Sony Pictures email leak (in

revenge for Seth Rogen’s

film The Interview, which

satirised Kim Jong-un).

From the BBC’s World

Service, this is a smart,

fast-paced, stylishly

produced tale of globetrotting

brass-neck techies.

DOCUMENTARY

Things Fell Apart

Jon Ronson is

your guide on

a gripping
battlefield tour

of the culture

wars. His

interest is in
origin stories;

how ideological

skirmishes

from the 1970s
and 1980s

influence today’s

polarised debate.

He uncovers
fascinating people

and connections,

such as the

Christian mother
Alice Moore’s 1974

campaign to ban

sex education in

West Virginia schools
— a cautionary tale in

which Roger McGough’s

poem At Lunchtime has a

bizarre drive-through role.
Whether talking to rabble-

rousers or those caught in the

crossfire, soft-voiced Ronson

is heroically even-handed.
On BBC Sounds

Harsh Reality

The remarkable story of the
cruel and manipulative 2004

reality TV show There’s

Something About Miriam, in

which six men competed for
the affection of a Mexican

model who
was revealed in the last

episode to be a trans woman.

Sweet Bobby
The year’s most jaw-dropping

hit, this queasily addictive

series about a decade-long

catfish scam is a bewildering
tale of deception and betrayal.

It all started on Facebook.

When Bobby, a cardiologist,

reached out to Kirat Assi, she

felt sure she

knew who he

was. What began

as a friendship

became a

relationship. But

the Bobby whom

Kirat loved was an

invention. As the

investigative journalist

Alexi Mostrous’s

headspinning series

shows, Kirat was cleverly,

cruelly and continually

scammed for ten years.

But by whom? Why? And

how? Extraordinary.

I’m Not a Monster

What possessed Sam Sally, a

mother from Indiana brought

up a Jehovah’s Witness, to

take her young children to

Raqqa in the Isis caliphate?

Josh Baker’s gripping,

multi-award-winning quest

to find out begins with a

bombing in Mosul and takes

in an Idaho elk hunt, people

smugglers, FBI sources and

headspinning revelations.

Nolan Investigates:

Stonewall

The bolshie Northern Irish

journalist Stephen Nolan

probes the closeness of

the BBC and other

institutions to the

LGBTQ+ lobbying

charity — and wades

into the trans rights

row. An informative and

surprisingly entertaining

primer to legislation and

contentious issues such as

self-ID. Also effective — the

BBC has since withdrawn

from a Stonewall scheme.

The Grand Scheme:

Snatching Sinatra

A hoot! In early 1960s

California, down-on-his-luck

PODCASTS

BEST

Frank Skinner’s poetry

lessons, Dolly Alderton

on Sex and the City and

Jamie Oliver’s dream

meal —

Patricia Nicol

presents her picks of 2021

AUDIO

Out and about

Adam

Buxton with his dog Rosie

Harsh reality

TV star

Miriam from There’s
Something About Miriam
18 19 December 2021