3 April 2022 43THE BEST TV FROM BRITBOX AND BEYOND... WEDNESDAY 6 APRIL
If you would always choose a
rail movie over a road movie,
you might like the new
release Compartment No 6
(on Curzon Home Cinema
from Friday), a well-reviewed
love story set on a train to
Murmansk. While you wait
for it to pull in, The Fugitive
(today, Sky Cinema Crime/
Thriller, 9.55am/5.50pm)
and Lawrence Of Arabia
(Thursday, Sky Cinema
Greats, 3.25pm) offer terrific
rail-based action scenes,
and Film4 has two westerns
involving train robberies:
Night Passage (Thursday,
4.30pm) and Man Of The
West (Friday, 11am).
Streaming options include
the 1936 documentary Night
Mail (BFI Player), the thriller
The Girl On The Train
(Netflix) and Unstoppable
(Amazon Prime Video), a
runaway-loco action movie.
Edward PorterStan & Ollie (BBC2, 9pm)
Its prologue depicts Laurel and
Hardy in Hollywood during
their glory years, but the bulk
of Jon S Baird’s film shows
them towards the end of their
partnership: we see them
touring British and Irish
theatres in 1953. Plagued by
difficulties, this journey
threatens to be another fine
mess, but its heartening
moments allow the film to
become something tender
and bittersweet: a tale of
dwindling fame and lasting
friendship. Its stars, Steve
Coogan and John C Reilly,
imitate the duo’s act well
enough, and excel in
portraying them offstage. (2018)Three Amigos!
(Film4, 4.30pm)
Starring Steve Martin, Chevy
Chase and Martin Short as
silent-film actors who end
up in the Wild West, this
cowboy-movie spoof is erratic
but sweetly silly. It has music
by Elmer Bernstein, who also
scored The Magnificent Seven.
Dir: John Landis (1986)
Edward PorterOlden days out (More 4, 9pm) Seen better days (BBC2, 9pm)FILM CHOICE
ON DEMAND
More Than Robots (Disney+)
The first full documentary by
American actor Gillian Jacobs
(Love, Community) follows
four teams of teenagers from
around the world as they
prepare for an international
robot-building competition.
Jacobs is just as interested in
the kids as the robots, and
Watching (Britbox)
The effect this channel is
having on our cultural memory
should not be underestimated.
Take this late-1980s Merseyside
sitcom, forgotten to all but
the faithful, now resurrected.
Centred on suburban couples’
love of people-watching and
birdwatching, it now feels like
a Scouse Detectorists, a slow,
gentle comedy that embraced
the minutiae of the everyday.
Andrew MaleDeath On Daytime (All 4)
Watching this brilliant levelling
of The Jeremy Kyle Show and its
seemingly remorseless host, is
an uncomfortable experience.
Structured around the death
of Steve Dymond, who killed
himself days after being
declared a liar and a cheat
on the show, the two-part
film delves deep into the
psychological games the series
played on guests and staff.
You feel complicit in watching.Orion — The Man Who
Would Be KIng (BFI Player)
Jeanie Finlay’s documentary
tells the story of Jimmy Ellis,
an Elvis-soundalike singer
who — after the King’s death
— performed as the masked
Orion and persuaded a few
folk that he was Presley in
disguise. It is one of the films
in a BFI Player collection
entitled The Camera Is Ours,
which celebrates British female
documentarians. (2015) EPhow these nascent engineers,
many of them uncomfortable
in team situations and social
gatherings, use the contest
to bond, build friendships
and learn how to collaborate.
Filmed in 2020, the film has
the inevitable Covid coda, but
Jacobs handles it incredibly
well and the lockdown scenes
might well be the trigger that
releases the parental tears
you’ve been struggling to hold
back throughout the film.Mother knows best: Amanda Collin is an android parent making home (Sky Atlantic, 9pm)Raised By Wolves
(Sky Atlantic, 9pm)
It’s not just Ridley Scott’s
presence as executive
producer that gives this sci-fi
series a strong Bladerunner
mood; its central premise
about android parents raising
human children on a planet
riven by religious conflict
— Atheists versus Mithraics
— is wild enough to have burst
from the mind of Philip K
Dick, creator of Bladerunner’s
source material. The second
season doesn’t dial down the
lush, dizzying strangeness
as Mother (Amanda Collin),
Father (Abubakar Salim) and
brood set up camp in their
planet’s “Tropical Zone”.
All-you-can-eat fruit can’t
compensate for the dangers
and oppressions that await,
each one exploding in an
imaginative landscape.
Alien in the best way.
Victoria SegalThe Great Home
Transformation (C4, 8pm)
Presented by Emma Willis and
Nick Grimshaw and sponsored
by Ikea, this makeover show
sees a coincidentally blue
and yellow-liveried truck pull
up outside cluttered family
homes, containing inspiration
to show householders how
they could live if they have
a bit of tidying, imagination
and free stuff. The series
opens with a family of six in
Eastbourne, but despite using
“heat-sensing” technology
to map room use (it is hardly
a revelation that the lounge
room is popular), it’s not a
modern format. Willis and
Grimshaw, though, have both
been around long enough to
know how to upcycle a sow’s
ear into something silky.
Helen Stewart
Benjamin Franklin — A Film
By Ken Burns (PBS, 7.45pm)
The latest history film from
the great Ken Burns profiles
the most versatile of the USA’s
founding fathers; but while
paying tribute to the Franklin
who was a pioneer in several
fields — from science to
diplomacy — it also points
to his bad record on slavery
and Native Americans.Matt Baker — Travels With
Mum & Dad (More 4, 9pm)
Decades ago, Janice and Mike
Baker would often take young
Matthew to the Beamish
Museum, and now the trio
return to this celebration of
northern life, but with the
former One Show host leading
the way. It even looks as if he
is sporting the same anorak
he used to wear back then.The Truffle Hunters
(BBC4, 10pm)
A magical Storyville doc about
ageing men equipped with
secret skills passed down
between generations. Together
with their beloved dogs they
roam the forests of northern
Italy, unearthing the white
truffles that chefs and gourmets
will pay a lot of euros for.
John DugdaleCRITICS’ CHOICE
The trains now
standing ...