24 saturday review Saturday April 9 2022 | the times
The BBC may have less money
and more competition from
the streamers these days, but
it does at least have a
fabulous archive, which it has
been making a lot of lately
with various music
retrospectives. This one is a
double nostalgia hit: a revival
of BBC2’s popular Rock Family
Trees strand, which here tells
Britpop’s origin story via the
bands Suede, right, Blur and
Elastica. As any student of this
era will tell you, one person
connecting this triumvirate is
Justine Frischmann, the
erstwhile girlfriend of Suede’s
charismatic frontman Brett
Anderson and Damon Albarn
of Blur. She was also in
Elastica, with its refreshing
line-up of three female
guitarists (and one male
drummer). Frischmann is a
wise, intelligent and likeable
observer of her life who
speaks of her early days with
fondness, honesty and only
the odd tinge of regret.
Anderson is another likeable
presence, reflecting on how
this “weird little provincial
twig” (as he calls himself)
finally made it. What’s so
rewarding about this format
(narrated by Sara Cox; John
Peel did the original) is how it
reminds us that now-iconic
music figures were once naive
and uncertain youngsters.
Opportunities were often
missed or seized in a
hedonistic fug of
inexperience, boozing,
cigarettes and, sometimes,
other stuff. Yet Britpop, a term
we are told was coined by the
journalist Stuart Maconie
(who also appears), can stand
tall. Emerging from the
grunge and rave cultures
popular at the start of the
decade, it became an arena
where a diverse crop of young
Brits could truly express
themselves. Don’t look back
in anger, kids. Ben DowellTOTP: The Story
of 1994
BBC2, 7.15pmBefore watching the origins of
Britpop you can whet your
appetite with this fond, nicely
irreverent look back on a year
in which the new Elstree home
of Top of the Pops played host
to the best bands of 1994. Blur,
Oasis, Pulp, the Cranberries and
Elastica feature as well as Dawn
Penn, whose You Don’t Love
Me (No, No, No) represents the
rediscovery of reggae that year.
Other earworms come in the
form of Saturday Night by
Whigfield and Wet Wet Wet’s
long occupation of No 1 with
that song from that film.
Something about feeling it in
your fingers and your toes. BDThe 1% Club
ITV, 8.30pmITV’s latest bid to come up with
a winning quiz format is about
common sense rather than
general knowledge. An
audience of 100 is whittled
down until the final moment
when three finalists can win up
to £100,000 by answering a
tricky logic question that the
programme’s researchers have
shown that only 1 per cent of
the British public can get right.
It’s a friendly and democratic
premise, made all the more so
by the choice of the everyman
comedian Lee Mack as host.
The rules are easy to grasp, the
tension is ramped up nicely
and it could be a winner, but
we’ve heard that said many
times before. BDUntil the Wheels
Come Off
Sky Documentaries/Now, 9pmIf you’ve ever seen footage of
the extraordinary American
skateboarder Tony Hawk you
will have marvelled at the
dazzling acrobatic skill of an
athlete whose board seems like
an extension of his body. This
HBO film tells his life story,
from his early days when he
was booed at performances to
navigating the perilous waters
of fame (“the worst drug”, as
he calls it). What stands out is
his extraordinary, obsessive
commitment to excellence,
although this tends to be the
way with all great people,
whatever the field (or ramp)
of brilliance. BD8.30 The Mart (r) 9.00 The Good, the Bad
and the Unexpected. Comedy panel
show, hosted by Mark Nelson (r) 9.30
Best of Chewin’ the Fat. Highlights of the
comedy sketch show (r) 10.00 BBC
Introducing Scottish Act of the Year.
Phoebe I-H and Shereen Cutkelvin host
the grand finale of the competition 11.00
Music Vault. Performances by Beverley
Knight, John Martyn and the Flaming Lips
(r) 11.45-Midnight One More Tune
● S4C 6.00am Cyw: Sali Mali (r) 6.05
Jamborî (r) 6.15 Twt (r) 6.30 Sigldigwt (r)
6.45 Y Brodyr Coala (r) 6.55 Timpo (r)
7.05 Octonots (r) 7.15 Sbarc (r) 7.30 Guto
Gwningen (r) 7.45 Deian a Loli (r) 8.00
Seligo (r) 8.30 Pat a Stan (r) 9.10 Siwrne
Ni (r) 9.25 Boom! (r) 9.35 Rhyfeddodau
Chwilengoch a Cath Ddu (r) 10.00 Gwesty
Aduniad (r) 11.00 Ty am Ddim (r) 12.00
Ffermio (r) 12.30pm Caru Siopa (r) 1.00
Codi Hwyl America (r) 1.30 Cynefin (r)
2.30 Cymru Wyllt Gudd (r) 3.30 Agor y
Clo (r) 4.30 Wil ac Aeron: Taith yr Alban
(r) 5.00 Cegin Bryn (r) 5.30 Cegin Bryn (r)
6.00 Julian Lewis Jones yn Awstralia (r)
7.00 News 7.15 Codi Hwyl (r) 7.45 Live
Rygbi Ewrop: Dragons v Gloucester
(Kick-off 8.00) 10.00 Priodas Pum
Mil (r) 11.00-12.05am Curadur (r)
(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC1 Wales As BBC1 except: 2.00pm
Clean It, Fix It (r) 2.30 Question of Sport
3.00 Live Scrum V: Cardiff v Scarlets
(Kick-off 3.10). All the action from the
United Rugby Championship encounter
at Cardiff Arms Park 5.15-5.25
Nigel Slater’s Simple Cooking (r)
● BBC2 Wales As BBC2 except:
2.00-4.30pm Live Challenge Cup Rugby
League: Catalans Dragons v St Helens
(Kick-off 2.30). All the action from the
quarter-final at Stade Gilbert Brutus 7.15
Gardeners’ World 8.15-9.15 Pilgrimage
● BBC2 N Ireland As BBC2 except:
6.45-7.15pm Beautiful Interiors Northern
Ireland. A stylish revamp of a hallway
with a bespoke chandelier (r)
● BBC1 Scotland As BBC1 except:
4.30pm-5.25 Sportscene Results 11.40
Sportscene Saturday 12.40am MOTD Top
10: Set-Piece Takers 1.10 Weather for the
Week Ahead 1.15-6.00 BBC News
● STV As ITV except: 2.00pm Live STV
Racing: Grand National Festival. Coverage
of the support races from Aintree
4.30-6.15 Live STV Racing: Grand
National. Coverage of the 5.15 Randox
Grand National Handicap Steeple Chase
3.50-5.05am Unwind with STV
● BBC Scotland 7.00pm The Seven
7.15 The Edit 7.30 Sportscene SaturdayWomen in Love (15, 1969)
GREAT! Movies Classic, 9pm
Ken Russell’s adaptation of DH Lawrence’s book is more about
sexual passion than the radical philosophy of love, death and
identity espoused by the author, and the acting is just glorious.
Glenda Jackson and Jennie Linden play Gudrun and Ursula
Brangwen, schoolteacher sisters eager to leap the barriers of class
and conventionality, while Alan Bates plays the patrician Rupert
Birkin and Oliver Reed the rich Gerald Crich. The story is, of course,
mostly about men in love: Birkin wants “the finality of love” while
Gerald is not sure that a woman is enough. Bates and Reed’s nude
wrestling scene is given its full due of agony and ecstasy in a script
by the gay activist Larry Kramer. I also realised after viewing this
again just how funny Russell’s version is. (131min) Kate MuirFilms of the day
The Favourite (15, 2018)
Channel 4, 9.15pm
Olivia Colman delivers an Oscar-winning performance in this
bawdy period romp, which reimagines All About Eve in the early
18th-century court of Queen Anne. The premise pits the more
seasoned, so-called court favourite Sarah Churchill, Duchess of
Marlborough (Rachel Weisz, above with Colman, fabulously
flinty) against the new, seemingly naive servant Abigail Masham
(Emma Stone), a cousin who has fallen on hard times. The prize
for which both women are competing? The obsessive attentions
and sapphic affections of Colman’s mercurial queen. And that’s
really it. Yes, there’s political context, with the War of the Spanish
Succession raging in the background, but essentially this is more
Carry On Dick than David Starkey. (119min) Kevin MaherKilling Eve
BBC1, 9.15pmThe last we saw of Villanelle
she was falling to the floor, an
arrow lodged in her back,
which, given its combined
associations with erotic ardour
and extreme violence, felt like a
particularly suitable method of
dispatch for this show. Is she
dead? No spoilers, but since
we’re on episode six and this
isn’t the last instalment in this
final series you might want to
work that one out for yourself.
Plus Jodie Comer’s psychopath
is still the main reason to
watch. In other news, Carolyn
(Fiona Shaw) continues her
adventures around Europe in
pursuit of the person (or
persons) who ordered the hit
on her son Kenny. BDRegional programmes
Saturday 9 | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice Rock Family Trees:
The Birth of Cool Britannia
BBC2, 10.15pm
Catch
up
TPTV Encore
tptvencore.co.uk
Most of you will be aware of
Talking Pictures TV (Virgin
445, Freesat 306,
Freeview 82 or Sky 328),
the free-to-air channel
that is the
one-stop shop for all your
vintage film and nostalgia
television needs. What
you might not know is
that it also offers an
on-demand service at
tptvencore.co.uk. There
isn’t an app for it yet,
but it is available via
your browser on
internet-connected devices — all you
need to do is sign up. There
are adverts, but that’s a small
price to pay for a free service
that enables you to watch the
pick of films and TV served up
by the channel at a time of
your choosing.
Recommendations
include The Saint TV
series starring Roger
Moore, Max
Fleischer’s 1940s
animated take
on Superman
and Diana
Dors, left,
starring in
the 1958
British film-
noir Tread
Softly
Stranger.
Joe
Clay