The Times - UK (2022-01-01)

32 saturday review Saturday January 1 2022 | the times

Digging for Britain

BBC2, 8pm

When a farming family’s

ramble through fields in

Rutland during lockdown

last year led to the discovery

of a Roman villa complex

containing a rare mosaic

depicting Homer’s Iliad, it

wasn’t going to be long before

the TV cameras joined them.

The find is the centrepiece

of this revamped show,

which moves from BBC4 to

primetime BBC2, with the

presenter Professor Alice

Roberts on site to gasp in

wonderment as its full glory

comes to light. In Kent, some

very different Anglo-Saxon

lives are revealed by a grave

filled with jewels and weapons.

BD

The Hunt for

Bible John

BBC2, 9pm

Over 18 months from 1968,

three women who had been to

the same dancehall were found

murdered in a similar brutal

and sadistic fashion. A witness

described a man who picked

up women while quoting from

the Old Testament and railing

against adultery, hence the

nickname. With insight from

criminologists and forensic

psychologists, the series

reflects on attitudes to female

sexuality from the era and how

they shaped public perception

of the murder victims Patricia

Docker, Jemima McDonald and

Helen Puttock. The identity of

the killer is unknown. BD

New Lives in

the Wild

Channel 5, 9pm

In one of the odder visits to

people who have chosen the

isolated life, we meet Alex, who

gave up a job in sales to live

on 35 acres of a Portuguese

mountainside and renovate

disused farm buildings. The

presenter Ben Fogle is always

an astute observer of his

subjects, and in Alex he

delicately uncovers a gentle

and troubled soul dealing with

a traumatic childhood and

clearly grieving for his late

mum. We also meet a healer

(and former dominatrix) who

wants to build a retreat on

Alex’s mountainside and has

a troubling past of her own. BD

7.05 Cymylaubychain (r) 7.15 Sbarc (r)

7.30 Blero yn Mynd i Ocido (r) 7.45 Awyr

Iach 8.00 Peppa (r) 8.05 Halibalw (r) 8.15

Abadas (r) 8.30 Ben a Mali a’u Byd Bach O

Hud (r) 8.45 Ben Dant (r) 9.00 Ynys Broc

Môr Lili (r) 9.10 Digbi Draig (r) 9.20

Llan-ar-goll-en (r)

9.35 Sion y Chef (r) 9.45 Gwdihw (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 04 Wal Gwestai’r Byd (r) 12.30

Heno Aur (r) 1.00 Ffilmiau Ddoe (r) 1.30

Teulu Shadog: Blwyddyn ar y Fferm (r)

2.00 News 2.05 Prynhawn Da 3.00 News

3.05 Canu gyda Fy Arwr (r) 4.00 Awr

Fawr: Bing (r) 4.10 Caru Canu (r) 4.15 Jen a

Jim Pob Dim (r) 4.30 Pablo (r) 4.45 Amser

Maith Maith yn Ôl (r) 5.00 Stwnsh: Oi!

Osgar (r) 5.10 Gwboi a Twm Twm (r) 5.25

Bwystfil (r) 5.35 Crwbanod Ninja (r) 5.55

Ffeil 6.00 Pysgod i Bawb (r) 6.30 Sain

Ffagan (r) 6.57 News 7.00 Heno 7.30

News 8.00 Pobol y Cwm 8.25 Rownd a

Rownd 8.55 News 9.00 Cefn Gwlad:

Antur Fawr Teleri a Ned 10.00 Rocco

Schiavone 11.00-11.35 Y Ditectif (r)

(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing

● BBC1 Wales As BBC1 except: 8.30pm

Weatherman Walking: The Welsh Coast.

Derek Brockway explores the north

Gower saltmarshes (r) 9.00-10.00

Slammed. Documentary series charting

the rise of the Wales rugby team

● BBC2 Wales As BBC2 except:

9.00-10.00pm Four Lives. Another man’s

body is found in the same place in

London 11.15 The Hunt for Bible John. An

exploration of one of Scotland’s most

notorious unsolved cases 12.15-1.05am

NFL This Week. Action from the

penultimate round of fixtures

● BBC1 Scotland As BBC1 except: 7.00pm

River City (r) 8.00 EastEnders. Phil

realises his plan might not work

8.20-9.00 Holby City. A man is brought

into AAU with a motorbike injury

● STV As ITV except: 10.35-10.45pm STV

News 4.05-5.05am Unwind with STV

● BBC Scotland 7.00pm The Seven

7.30 Eat the Town (r) 8.00 Scotland from

the Sky (r) 9.00 Scotland ’78: A Love

Story. The story of the Scotland football

team in 1978 (r) 10.00 Guilt. Thriller

starring Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives (r)

11.00pm-Midnight Guilt. Max tries to

derail private detective Kenny (r)

● S4C 6.00am Cyw 6.35 Sblij a Sbloj (r)

6.45 Y Diwrnod Mawr (r) 7.00 Caru Canu

No Sudden Move (15, 2021)

Sky Cinema Thriller, 7.30pm

Directed by Steven Soderbergh with devilish panache, No Sudden

Move follows a trio of petty criminals in Detroit in 1954 who are

hired by the Mob for a lucrative extortion job. The quirky

triumvirate consists of the slippery Ronald Russo (Benicio Del

Toro), the jaded Curt Goynes (Don Cheadle) and the fabulously

dyspeptic Charley, played by Kieran Culkin (Succession). The job

is an easy one. Russo and Goynes, with pistols and masks, are to

“babysit” the terrified suburban family of the wannabe white-collar

criminal Matt Wertz (David Harbour, also excellent) while Charley

obtains a top-secret document from Wertz’s downtown office safe.

And that is where the fun begins. In a rapid-fire blur of film-noir

allusions the caper goes haywire. (90min) Kevin Maher

Films of the day

Rocketman (15, 2019)

Film4, 9pm

The Elton John biopic is a rousing dazzle of soul and senses that

transforms the singer’s career, difficult childhood and exquisite

back catalogue into a perfectly formed megamix of ache and

isolation. The arrangement of Your Song, for instance, is softly

done, a tearjerker, and delivered like a whisper between a slowly

emerging singer (played by Taron Egerton, above, a barnstorming

turn) and his friend and fellow songwriter Bernie Taupin (Jamie

Bell). The movie, written by Lee Hall (Billy Elliot), charts the singer’s

rise to fame, his drug and alcohol addictions, and his destructive

relationship with his boyfriend and former manager John Reid

(Richard Madden). It isn’t squeamish either. There’s gay sex, an

orgy scene, bulimia and lashings of cocaine. (121min) KM

The Language

of Love

Channel 4, 10pm

A group of British and Spanish

people are thrown together at

a finca in Andalusia to see if

they can find romance despite

not speaking each other’s

language. The host Davina

McCall is joined by a Spanish

TV host, the actor and singer

Ricky Merino, to interpret

how the couples’ relationships

are developing as the hopefuls

take part in challenges to help

them to test their connection.

At the end of the series the

international lovers have to

decide if they will finish

things, stay together long

distance... or even move in

together. BD

Regional programmes

Catch

up

The Girl Before

BBC iPlayer

This intriguing four-part

psychological thriller is based

on the bestselling 2016

novel by JP Delaney.

David Oyelowo stars

as Edward Monkford,

a world-famous

architect and the

designer of

a futuristic,

minimalist

London flat that

would have

Kevin “Grand

Designs”

McCloud in

raptures. In the

opening scene we observe two

women (Jessica Plummer’s

Emma and Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s

Jane, below) being shown

around the property. The rent

is ridiculously low, but there’s

a catch — the charismatic

Monkford is a control

freak and has

imposed about

200 conditions

and restrictions

on anyone living

there. Of course,

there is an unsettling

reason for his

exacting behaviour,

which becomes

clear as the series

unfolds. Emma is

“the girl before”, with

her time in the flat

a foreshadowing of

what’s in store for

Jane. Joe Clay

Tuesday 4 | Viewing guide

Critic’s choice

Toast of Tinseltown

BBC2, 10pm

The black suit, slip of grey
atop a luxuriant bouffant
and absurdly mannered
pronunciation of ordinary
words: after six years away
the great actor Steven Toast
has been absent from our
screens for too long. But he
has now been brought from
Channel 4 to the BBC for the
show his co-creator (and star)
Matt Berry has longed to
make, charting his US
adventures. Tonight’s opener
is set in London to reintroduce
us to the familiar characters.
They include his agent Jane
Plough (pronounced Pluff),
the awful voiceover guys
Clem Fandango and Danny
Bear, his languid dressing
gown-wearing flatmate Ed
and, of course, his nemesis
Ray “Bloody” Purchase,
beautifully played by Harry
Peacock and still looking
resplendent in his white suit.
In a sign of the show’s huge
cult appeal across the Pond,

there’s a brilliant cameo from

a US comedy great (whose

identity I won’t spoil) playing

Sola Mirronek, the author of

a JFK conspiracy book. The

action begins with Toast and

Purchase vying for a top

Hollywood part, with Toast

needing to combat his anger

by attending a retreat run by

a man called Des Wigwam

(Kayvan Novak, right with

Berry). Other brilliant Toast

names are back too, including

a medic called Dr Harold

Shitman. It’s all deliciously

silly, sending up actors with

pinpoint accuracy and

dollops of warmth. Berry and

his co-writer Arthur Mathews

know this world inside out,

and Toast’s US adventures

(starting in episode two)

will be a hoot as he rubs up

against America’s unique

brand of power-crazed,

self-important luvviedom.

And possibly even that

Mirronek fellow. Ben Dowell