The Sunday Times - UK (2022-05-01)

1 May 2022 47

THE BEST TV FROM SKY 1 AND BEYOND... THURSDAY 5 MAY

The new true-crime mini-

series The Staircase (today,

Sky Atlantic, from 9pm), which

centres on a novelist accused

of murdering his wife, has a

strong cast led by Colin Firth

and Toni Collette. This pair’s

career highlights give you

plenty to choose from. Firth’s

wet-shirted Darcy in 1995’s

Pride And Prejudice can be

seen on Britbox, and The

King’s Speech (2010) is on

Netflix. Collette’s work

ranges from the lovable 1994

comedy Muriel’s Wedding

(Amazon Prime Video) to the

2018 spinechiller Hereditary

(Netflix). The Staircase’s chief

writer-director, Antonio

Campos, is not as famous but

he has made intriguing films.

They include Netflix’s The

Devil All The Time (2020),

a lurid tale of backwoods

America with Tom Holland

and Robert Pattinson.

Edward Porter

Top Hat (BBC4, 9pm)

BBC4 dances the night away

with Fred Astaire and Ginger

Rogers this evening. The Gay

Divorcee (10.40pm), the 1934

film that gave the duo their

first purpose-built showcase,

is preceded by this classic

from 1935. Featuring songs by

Irving Berlin and an easy blend

of romance and screwball

comedy, Mark Sandrich’s

film is the movie that best

encapsulates the charm of Fred

and Ginger’s fantasy world.

Also on BBC4, bookending

these films, are two relevant

documentaries: a chapter

from The RKO Story (8pm)

and an episode of Talking

Pictures (12.20am). (1935)

Them That Follow

(Film4, 9pm)

A tale of pious rednecks who

handle venomous snakes, this

messy drama has oddity value

— partly because of its subject

matter and partly because one

of its characters is improbably

played by Olivia Colman.

Co-dirs: Britt Poulton, Dan

Madison Savage (2019)

Edward Porter

Hunter gatherer: Myles (Alibi, 9pm) Top that: tails they win (BBC4, 9pm)

FILM CHOICE

ON DEMAND

Julia (Sky/Now)
If there is a fault with Sarah
Lancashire’s performance as
the American television cook
and broadcasting pioneer
Julia Child in this delicious
eight-part drama, it’s that her
acting is so natural and so
seemingly effortless that you
worry people won’t see the

Bang Bang Baby (Amazon)

Set in Milan in the late 1980s,

this Italian-language crime

drama stars Arianna Becheroni

as Alice, a shy teenager who

joins a crime syndicate in the

hope of impressing her father.

Hyperkinetic, irreverent and

violent, it riffs on everything

from Trainspotting to Breaking

Bad to the neon-lit nightmare

cinema of Gaspar Noé and

Nicolas Winding Refn.

Andrew Male

London Rock (YouTube)

The faceless online archivists

must once again be saluted for

unearthing a rare gem, in this

case Lawrence Moore’s early

1970s profile of the London

counter-culture that examines

the turn-of-the-decade fashion

for paganism (Stonehenge,

druidic rites, etc) and “getting

it together in the country”. It

features rare performances by

Fairport Convention, the Faces,

Jethro Tull and Marc Bolan.

Once You Know

(Buy as stream/download)

Pessimism gives power to

this documentary on global

warming. Whereas most

film-makers addressing this

subject look for rays of hope,

Emmanuel Cappellin talks to

thinkers who believe disaster

is inevitable and that we need

to plan for social upheaval.

Although a touch pretentious

in its manner, the film is

grimly fascinating. (2020) EP

labour and the craft come

awards time. It’s a magnificent

show, simultaneously joyous

and melancholy, subtle in its

emotional complexities, with

a Mad Men-like attention to

period detail and a perfect

supporting cast (particularly

David Hyde Pierce as Paul

Child, watching his wife’s

career take off as his fades);

but, ultimately, this is

Lancashire’s hour, and she

devours it with relish.

Sobering thoughts: can Roisin Gallagher handle returning to her parental home? (Britbox)

The Dry (Britbox)

In some Irish female-centred

comedy dramas — Sharon

Horgan’s Women on the

Ve rg e, Aisling Bea’s This Way

Up — the heroines are Celtic

Bridget Joneses, but with their

mild anxieties and excesses

seemingly turned into

full-blown mental illness.

The Dry conforms to the rule,

as Shiv (Roisin Gallagher), a

recovering alcoholic, returns

from London to her parents’

(Ciarán Hinds and Pom

Boyd) Dublin home and,

like Bridget, gets everything

wrong — how to behave

at an AA meeting, please

everyone, deal with an ex.

In the best scenes, the rest

of her family share the

spotlight. They, too, are

misfits: unsure how to be

mother and father to a live-in

gay son and a supposedly

sensible daughter.

John Dugdale

Secret Spenders (C4, 8pm)
There’s a nod to rocketing fuel
prices and household inflation
in the introduction, but let’s
not kid ourselves, Anita Rani’s
show is not targeted at those
struggling to keep body and
soul together, it is a blatant
excuse to boggle at lunatic
overspenders. Tonight,
Londoner Rai is worried that
her husband is addicted to
shopping in TK Maxx, but the
impact of her £2,700 facials,
their twice-a-week takeaways
and lunch dates at The Ivy
seem to have passed her by.
Will “lifestyle guru” Anna
Whitehouse’s advice to
take advantage of free taster
sessions at all their local gyms
make a dent in their — or real
cash-strapped viewers’ —
finances? It all feels very 2019.
Helen Stewart

Paul Merson — A Walk

Through My Life (BBC2, 8pm)

A companion to his raw 2021

documentary about gambling

addiction, this film sends the

former England footballer

into the Yorkshire countryside

with only a 360-degree

camera. Plenty of space, then,

to contemplate his demons

— and the role faith and family

play in fighting them.

Meet The Khans —

Big In Bolton (BBC3, 8pm)

Welcome to the beautifully

groomed world of boxer Amir

Khan and his wife, Faryal

Makhdoom, preparing to spend

three months apart as he heads

off to train for his grudge

match against Kell Brook.

Lifestyle insights include

press conference protocols

and how to buy a new suit.

We Hunt Together

(Alibi, 9pm)

This stylish thriller revolves

around Hermione Corfield’s

Freddy Lane, a character who

could happily hang out with

Killing Eve’s Villanelle and

Luther’s Alice Morgan. Babou

Ceesay and Eve Myles are the

detectives drawn back into her

orbit in this second series.

Victoria Segal

CRITICS’ CHOICE

Strong double act

hits our screens