10 April 2022 39THE BEST TV FROM IPLAYER AND BEYOND... TUESDAY 12 APRIL
Derry Girls (C4, 9.15pm)
Lisa McGee’s sparky comedy
begins its third and final
series in the wake of the
overextension of Peaky
Blinders and Killing Eve, rightly
delighted by its success and
filled with guest stars. McGee
has confirmed that the four
Catholic schoolgirls (and
the “wee English fella”) are
“still eejits”, though as their
antics get noisier and sillier
(tonight they come to the
attention of the Royal Ulster
Constabulary), it’s a relief to
return to the adult players,
gravely occupied with
dealing with Seamus the new
cat’s many kills. And all the
while on the television news
there is Mo Mowlam making
fragile gains in the peace
process. “God, she’s a ballsy
wee thing, isn’t she?” says
an admiring Aunt Sarah.
See feature on page 12.
Helen StewartTotal Recall (Sky Cinema
Greats, 10.15pm)
You might not think a gripping
movie could be made about
the workings of Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s brain,
but this 1990 tale achieves
something vaguely along
those lines. Arnie’s character
is a construction worker who
begins to suspect his happy
life is an illusion planted in his
mind. His urge to clear his head
drives him through a loud,
violent and glorious film. The
2012 remake with Colin Farrell
has mainly disappeared from
the collective memory, but
the original — directed by Paul
Verhoeven, interviewed on
page 17 — is hard to forget.On The Basis Of Sex
(BBC2, 11.15pm)
A dramatisation of the
early career of the feminist
American judge Ruth Bader
Ginsburg (played by Felicity
Jones), Mimi Leder’s upbeat
film can’t help the fact that
it has RBG’s saintly husband
played by the now-disgraced
Armie Hammer. (2018)
Edward PorterBest and Chancellor (C5, 9pm) Supreme: Jones (BBC2, 11.15pm)FILM CHOICE
ON DEMAND
Peacemaker (Sky/Now)
Staggering from Matt Reeves’s
po-faced three-hour superhero
epic The Batman, it is easy to
forget comic-book adventures
are meant to be fun. Give
praise and thanks, then, to
James Gunn’s loud, crass,
stupid and utterly adorable
spinoff from his 2021 film
Disclosure Scotland
(BBC iPlayer)
No one purposefully seeks out
current-affairs documentaries
on a Tuesday night, but this
BBC Scotland series is so much
more than it first appears. Its
focus on disability rights and
trans rights feels vital right now,
but so does Mark Daly’s short
film about the truth behind the
“cool” public image of Scottish
beer company Brewdog.
Andrew MaleValley Uprising (redbull.com)
This 2014 documentary begins
as a seemingly standard film
about free climbing in the
Yosemite National Park but
evolves into a gripping tale of
the counter-cultural hippy
pioneers who started this
death-defying trend more
than 50 years ago. It even
includes the incredible true
story that was developed into
the 1993 Sylvester Stallone
blockbuster Cliffhanger.Good Time (Netflix)
On his way from the Twilight
series of movies to The Batman,
Robert Pattinson took several
well-chosen detours off the
beaten track. One was his
performance in this feverish
crime drama by Benny and
Josh Safdie (whose 2019 film
Uncut Gems is also on Netflix).
Playing a beleaguered petty
crook, he excels in a wide
range of scenes as the film
crashes around New York. EPThe Suicide Squad. Wrestler
turned actor John Cena brings
250lb of lunk-headed charm
to his role as our titular
flag-waving soldier-for-hire
(a kind of anti-matter Captain
America) but this is a show
where every cast member is
utterly endearing (even the
psychopaths), and beneath
the violence, gore and foul
language lurks a goofily
sweet-natured message about
friendship and camaraderie.Within these walls: Catherine Tate is several old lags doing time (Netflix)Hard Cell (Netflix)
Laura (Catherine Tate),
the governor of a women’s
prison in this mockumentary
comedy, welcomes the
cameras in as she puts on
a production of West Side
Story; but early episodes see
her turning HMP Woldsley
into smelly chaos by
spending money on “libretti”
instead of urgent plumbing
repairs. Also credited as
creator, lead writer and
co-director, Tate plays
further roles as three
prisoners and a (male) prison
officer; but these sketch-
show-like scenes tend to
be reiterations of the same
joke or character trait and
all the best moments involve
the inmates en masse.
Interestingly, the sitcom’s
voices of sanity are men: a
maintenance manager and
Laura’s grumpy deputy.
John DugdaleCompulsion (C5, 9pm)
Leanne Best uses her own
Scouse accent for this four-
part drama, her sing-songy
Liverpool voice adding light
and shade to a demanding
part as Jenny, a paramedic
suffering the after-effects of
being caught up in a rail crash.
Mid-panic attack, she meets
Anna Chancellor’s Sasha, the
sort of middle-class duckface
who instantly believes she
has insight into everyone’s
motivation, and the two
become fast friends over a
shared bottle of pinot grigio.
As the revelations start to
come thick and fast in Sarah
Deane’s lively script, the
casting of Hayley Mills as a
twinset-wearing loan shark
is a particular triumph.
Continues tomorrow.
Helen Stewart
Freeze The Fear (BBC1, 9pm)
“Please do not attempt what
you’re about to see,” reads the
disclaimer at the start of this
deranged reality series, which
sends celebrities — Alfie Boe,
Professor Green and Gabby
Logan among them — to the
Italian mountains where Wim
Hof, a cosmic ice hippy, entices
them into mind-strengthening
subzero challenges. Brrr.Hullraisers (C4, 9.45pm)
Toni (Leah Brotherhead),
an unsuccessful Hull-based
actress, is going through a
difficult phase: “Where’s my
fun, Grace?” she asks her
small daughter. Adapted
from an Israeli show by
Lucy Beaumont (Meet the
Richardsons), this amiably
chaotic sitcom quickly locates
it — for the audience at least.A Believer’s Guide: Growing
Older (BBC1, 10.40pm)
At 83, Ivor is planning a
second bar mitzvah, to
coincide with his grandson’s.
This quietly affecting film
about religion’s role in ageing
well follows their story with
insights into faith, continuity
and community — not to
mention bowls and bridge.
Victoria SegalCRITICS’ CHOICE
Bowing out while
still at its peak