24 April 2022 39THE BEST TV FROM NETFLIX AND BEYOND... SUNDAY 24 APRIL
Falklands — Island Of
Secrets (ITV, 10.15pm)
Marcel Theroux’s report
lasts nearly two hours,
and it needs all that time
because it combines a pair
of investigations — both
pointing to cover-ups and a
culture of silence. Initially,
Theroux (Louis’s elder
brother) is in the Falkland
Islands to find out what
happened to Alan Addis, a
Marine who disappeared one
night in 1980, and draws on
interviews taped by Addis’s
mother; but then Theroux
“stumbles on” a scandal of
historical child sex abuse,
as exposed by specialist
detectives from Britain in
an inquiry called Operation
Cinnamon. Four victims tell
their stories, and there is a
twist that any crime writer
would rule out because it is
so improbable.
John DugdaleGravity
(Sky Cinema Hits, 8pm)
Alfonso Cuaron’s story of two
astronauts (Sandra Bullock
and George Clooney) stuck in
a damaged shuttle was made
to be watched in 3D on a big
screen. The more it can make
you feel you’re floating in the
vastness of space, the better
it can thrill you. Even when
seen in humbler formats,
though, its kinetic scenes are
marvellous. As the characters
and other objects spin and
ricochet, the film’s viewpoint
in turn swoops around them
in well-choreographed moves:
a superb example of the use
of CGI to create a cinematic
fairground ride. (2013)Passengers (C4, 11pm)
Heading much further into
outer space than Gravity,
this sci-fi tale puts Jennifer
Lawrence and Chris Pratt on
an interstellar cruise ship.
Thanks to its plot’s awkward
sense of direction, Morten
Tyldum’s film is a bumpy ride,
yet it has lots of snazzy and
beguiling sights. (2016)
Edward PorterPenn and Roberts (Starzplay) Floating voter: Bullock (SCH, 8pm)FILM CHOICE
ON DEMAND
The Truffle Hunters
(BBC iPlayer)
Michael Dweck and Gregory
Kershaw’s 2021 documentary
is a visual and sensory joy. It
documents the lives of a group
of ageing Italian men (and
their dogs) who hunt the hills
of Piedmont for that rare
fungus prized in culinary
37 Days (Britbox)
This 2014 British drama is ripe
for rediscovery. A forensic
examination of the causes of
the Great War, it is structured
as a thriller but narrated by
two lowly clerks observing the
deliberations in London and
Berlin. The cast is exceptional
(Ian McDiarmid, Tim Piggot-
Smith, Sinéad Cusack) but it is
the show’s ability to tell an old
tale afresh that impresses.
Andrew MaleKorea — A Reporter Returns
(YouTube)
In 1971, René Cutforth,
the BBC’s Korean War
correspondent, returned to
the site of his reporting and
reassessed the country he
left behind some 20 years
earlier. You will not see a
better engagement with
ideas about war, borders
and ideology, which makes
for an enlightening and chilly
viewing experience today.Belfast
(Buy as stream/download)
Kenneth Branagh’s film about
the experiences of a nine-
year-old Northern Irish boy
( Jude Hill) in 1969 has struck
some viewers as too sugared.
Being partly autobiographical,
though, it grants its writer-
director a certain licence
to treat its story fondly.
The warmth he gives the film
is evocative of childhood
memories. (2021) B/W EPcircles. Shot like a Vermeer
interior, with an emphasis
on silence and ritual, it is a
document of a threatened
lifestyle, a fact made real
when we encounter the
monied truffle salesmen who
exploit the old men. At times
you wish there was more
information about this darker
aspect of the industry but
mostly you are content to
luxuriate in the sublime world
of the hunters and their dogs.Magnificent six ... but reporting on a not so magnificent global ecosystem (BBC1, 7pm)Our Changing Planet
(BBC1, 7pm)
Whether viewers like it or
not, the BBC will force us
to look directly at the effects
of climate change with this
seven-year undertaking that
sends some of its best-loved
wildlife presenters to serve
as witnesses to the planet’s
crisis. Tonight, the first
three films find Chris
Packham in Iceland, Ella
Al-Shamahi in Cambodia
and Steve Backshall in the
Maldives. Packham’s film
is profoundly disturbing:
familiar stories of stressed
humpbacks and retreating
glaciers give way to the
prediction that with less-
icy conditions there exists
the very real prospect of a
new gateway opening up to
shipping, a “Polar Silk Road”
that would change the region
beyond all recognition.
Helen StewartGaslit (Starzplay)
Based on Slate Plus’s Slow
Burn, could this Watergate
drama be the first significant
series derived from a podcast?
It examines the story of
Martha Mitchell, the garrulous
wife of John Mitchell, Richard
Nixon’s attorney-general and
campaign manager, whose
love of sharing political gossip
with the press gave her a big
public profile at the time.
Her downfall came when she
tried to tell a journalist about
Watergate, leading to a smear
campaign against her, partly
enacted by her husband. Julia
Roberts and Sean Penn (in
extraordinary prosthetics)
play the Mitchells in a hugely
enjoyable new take on the
oft-told story that reveals the
humanity behind the politics.
Clair Woodward
Gentleman Jack (BBC1, 9pm)
The tortured relationship
between Anne Lister (Suranne
Jones) and Mariana Lawton
(the excellent Lydia Leonard)
is the emotional focus of
tonight’s costume-drama
romp. Viewers should also be
ready, however, for a lot of
talk about the burgeoning
railway industry and its effect
on the canal network.Idris Elba’s Fight School
(BBC2, 9pm)
One thing that’s clear from
this reality show: Idris Elba is
a stickler for punctuality. After
four weeks’ training, his crew
of eight trainee boxers face
their first sparring bouts —
but the actor senses a lack of
commitment and discipline in
some of the recruits. Stern
Elba talkings-to follow.The Sex Lives Of College
Girls (ITV2, 10pm)
Created by Mindy Kaling, this
comedy-drama is less under-
the-counter than its title might
suggest. It follows roommates
at college in New England as
they navigate new environs
— some, such as well-off mean
girl Leighton (Reneé Rapp),
hiding more than others.
Victoria SegalCRITICS’ CHOICE
Crimes shrouded
by conflict