The Sunday Times - UK (2022-04-10)

10 April 2022 43

THE BEST TV FROM BRITBOX AND BEYOND... WEDNESDAY 13 APRIL

Radio 4 broadcasts

three comedy pilots this

week — will any of them

match the longevity of

I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue,

which celebrated its 50th

anniversary on Monday?

Parish Is Burning (BBC

Sounds) is a sketch comedy

from Northern Ireland

featuring new Irish talent.

Barney Fishwick and Will

Hislop star in BBC Radio

Fjörd (BBC Sounds),

playing Fjörd, a Norwegian

Eurodance pop duo who

have become Radio 4’s Heads

of Electronic Music. A House

In History (Today, Radio 4,

11.30pm) sees the fictional

Colchester family living a

1940s lifestyle for six weeks

to win £100,000 on a reality

TV show. However, the show

is hugely over budget, so

they must be stopped from

winning the money.

Clair Woodward

American Honey

(Film4, 11.05pm)

Even without that title,

Andrea Arnold’s film would

leave you in little doubt as to

where it was made. A road

movie about a gang of poor,

free-living youths (including a

new recruit played by Sasha

Lane), it wanders through

Midwestern scenery beneath

big skies. If you don’t mind

those grungy kids as travelling

companions, you should

go along for the ride. This

ebullient, bracing film is a

strong piece of work — and

a notable feat for a British

director whose previous films

(such as 2009’s Fish Tank)

were homegrown. (2016)

Meet Joe Black

(BBC1, 10.40pm)

Starring Brad Pitt as a

personification of death who

meets an old tycoon (Anthony

Hopkins), Martin Brest’s film

is elegant schmaltz. We know

Pitt has aged well, but to see

him as a young man in a tale

of mortality has still become

slightly poignant. (1998)

Edward Porter

Carlos and Maite (C4, 9pm) Honey trap: Lane (Film4, 11.05pm)

FILM CHOICE

ON DEMAND

Johnny Hallyday —
Beyond Rock (Netflix)
Outside of France, the late
singer, actor and media star is
regarded as a cultural joke, a
kind of cross between Tom
Jones and Peter Stringfellow.
The French, though, see him
more as royalty, a working-class
rebel who gave them their own

Then Barbara Met Alan

(BBC iPlayer)

Jack Thorne and Genevieve

Barr’s drama about about the

1990s’ campaign for disabled

rights by comedian Barbara

Lisicki and protest singer Alan

Holdsworth is an inventive

mix of social drama and love

story. Neither run smooth, but

this is a tale of the challenges,

compromises and failures that

go with political change.

Andrew Male

Dusty (BBC iPlayer)

Recorded between 1966 and

1967, when Ms Springfield

was the world’s biggest female

vocal star, these eight surviving

episodes from her BBC variety

show are a frustrating glimpse

into 1960s light entertainment.

Dusty is amazing, her musical

guests (Scott Walker especially)

a treat, but you can tell she’d

much rather be host to the

Supremes or Marvin Gaye than

ventriloquist Señor Wences.

The 355

(Buy as stream/download)

Jessica Chastain’s Oscar win

last month — for The Eyes of

Tammy Faye — might tempt

folk to have a look at her

newest movie, a Mission:

Impossible-type yarn with

female stars. She joins Diane

Kruger, Penélope Cruz, Fan

Bingbing and Lupita Nyong’o

in a strong cast who add life

to the film’s mediocre story.

Dir: Simon Kinberg (2022) EP

unique brand of rock’n’roll.

The truth, as this brilliant

documentary series reveals, is

far more complex, tragic and

ridiculous. With the help of

stunning archive footage, we are

privy to Monsieur Hallyday’s

greatest triumphs and failures,

from his live Eiffel Tower

concert in 2000 in front of

half-a-million people, to Hamlet

Hallyday, his failed prog-rock

opera double LP based on

the Shakespeare play.

Where did it all go wrong, Paul? Gascoigne doing what he did best (BBC2, 9pm)

Gazza (BBC2, 9pm)

“He’s got everything,

everything,” says the former

Newcastle player Jackie

Milburn as he watches

Paul Gascoigne, United’s

schoolboy genius, training.

As this bleak two-part

documentary portrait shows,

however, “everything” wasn’t

enough to insulate Gascoigne

from the overwhelming

pressures of top-flight sport,

intrusive tabloid fame and

his own highly effective team

of personal demons. Stitched

together from archive film

— infamous images of the

1990 World Cup alongside

moments that are less well

known — and the testimony

of those who witnessed his

rise and fall, Gazza traces

the star’s unhappy trajectory,

a study of a man who was

never quite in full control

of his everything.

Victoria Segal

Chasing Trane — The
Story Of John Coltrane
(Sky Arts, 9pm)
Denzel Washington gives
voice to the great saxophonist
in John Scheinfeld’s 2016
documentary, reading
letters and recollections of a
fascinating life over archive
photography, impressionistic
animation and film footage.
The former US president and
sometime sax man Bill Clinton
is one of the more prominent
talking heads, but more
insight into the man himself
is provided by the Coltrane
family and musicians Wayne
Shorter, Sonny Rollins,
Reggie Workman and Wynton
Marsalis. As is so often the
case with films of this type,
though, the music itself is not
given enough time to breathe.
Helen Stewart

Secrets Of The Museum

(BBC2, 8pm)

This features prints made

from Constable paintings, a

white Oscars outfit covered in

stars’ autographs and a royal

cigarette case from the V&A’s

Fabergé exhibition. Plus, at

V&A Dundee, blown-up Beano

strips and an interview with

the pioneering woman who

draws Minnie the Minx.

Grand Designs —

The Streets (C4, 9pm)

If Kevin McCloud’s formula is

getting stale, there is no sign

of it here, as Grand Designs’

returning spinoff series

follows the building of an

innovative, light-flooded

house. It is the debut design

of Spanish-born Maite, who is

a delightful blend of mildness

and tough perfectionism.

A&E After Dark (5 Star, 10pm)

Channel 5 heads off to its

beloved Yorkshire again to

film the night shift at Hull

Royal Infirmary. Despite a

preamble about the perils of

the wee hours, it doesn’t seem

that different from daytime

A&E: car-crash casualties, a

woman with a racing heart and

another who has injured a leg.

John Dugdale

CRITICS’ CHOICE

Comedy pilots

of the airwaves