1 May 2022 51THE BEST TV FROM MUBI AND BEYOND... FRIDAY 6 MAY
Doctor Strange in the
Multiverse of Madness, the
second movie for Benedict
Cumberbatch’s superheroic
wizard, arrives in cinemas
today, so fans can revisit his
first outing using Disney+.
Meanwhile, younger children
have a range of magic-
doers to enchant them.
Krysten Ritter’s witch in
2021’s Nightbooks (Netflix)
is quite scary, but the site
also has Emma Thompson
as the much kinder Nanny
McPhee (2005). On Disney+,
The Kid Who Would Be
King (2019) has a novel
take on Merlin, and The
Sorcerer’s Apprentice
(2010) is a fantasy adventure
with Nicolas Cage. The latter
film borrowed its title from a
piece in 1940’s Fantasia (also
on Disney+): a classic cartoon
featuring Mickey Mouse’s
own brand of magic.
Edward PorterBeautiful Boy
(BBC1, 11.45pm)
After winning attention with
his performances in Lady Bird
and Call Me by Your Name
in 2017, Timothée Chalamet
strengthened his claim to
stardom with his work in
this drama. He plays a
middle-class teenager who
becomes addicted to crystal
meth and heroin, so Felix van
Groeningen’s movie is not light
entertainment. It does have
a touch of Hollywood polish,
though, and it can’t help being
sweetened by Chalamet’s
gracefulness and the rapport
he shares with Steve Carell,
who plays the addict’s
anguished father (2018)Passport To Pimlico
(BBC2, 1pm)
Henry Cornelius’s film is a
quintessential Ealing comedy
in its joyful support for rebels
against officialdom — in this
case a group of Londoners
who establish an independent
state. These separatists are
utterly English in their efforts
to be foreign. (1949) B/W
Edward PorterKeep it in the family (BBC1, 9.30pm) Nice drop of Burgundy (BBC2, 1pm)FILM CHOICE
ON DEMAND
The Wilds
(Amazon, from Friday)
You can’t help feel sorry for
this 2020 “young adult” drama
about a group of teenage girls
stranded on a desert island
after a plane crash. First it
got lost in post-Covid chaos
and then it had its premise
usurped by the all-conquering
Bosch Legacy
(Amazon, from Friday)
Nobody was holding their
breath for a new reduced-
budget reboot of Amazon’s
biggest TV hit, but it’s great.
After turning in his badge at
the end of season seven, Titus
Welliver’s LAPD detective
Harry Bosch is now a private
eye, working alongside Honey
Chandler (Mimi Rogers), his
old courtroom nemesis.
Andrew MaleA Sense Of History
(YouTube)
This macabre 1992 short by
Mike Leigh is more in keeping
with an episode of The Fast
Show or Inside No 9 than more
familiar works of the award-
winning British director. A
proto-mockumentary, it stars
the great Jim Broadbent as the
23rd Earl of Leete, a revolting
specimen of the landed gentry
who, in recounting his family’s
history, gradually reveals ...Piranha (Netflix)
Alexandre Aja’s remake of the
fishy gorefest from 1978 is a
new option for Netflix users
who fancy a restorative dip
in the waters of mindless
entertainment. The story of
a swimming spot invaded by
man-eating critters, it offers
a black-comic mix of violence
and titillation. Most of the
flesh that tempts the piranhas
belongs to young, semi-naked
people. (2010) EPYellowjackets. However,
while there are many surface
similarities, Sarah Streicher’s
series is just as interested in
soapy thrills as psychological
mysteries and its teen-skewed
coming-of-age narrative at
least has a solvable mystery
at its heart, rather than the
constant cryptic allusions of
Yellowjackets. If that series
didn’t go where you wanted
it to, then season two of
The Wilds just might.Tagged: a Japanese-American island community faces wartime internment (BBC2, 9pm)The Terror — Infamy
(BBC2, 9pm/9.50pm)
Don’t tune into this Ridley
Scott-produced series
expecting a continuation
of season one’s polar-
exploration plot: while
the second run remains
concerned with a closed
community afflicted by a
mysterious force, the setting
is entirely different. This
time, a Japanese-American
fishing community on Los
Angeles’s Terminal Island
faces twin threats: the
horrors of internment camps
after Pearl Harbor and the
possibility that a spirit walks
among them, cracking its
bones in uncanny style. Rich
in both atmospheric horror
and historical importance
(cast member George Takei
was a child internee), The
Terror — Infamy finds new
ways to be chilling.
Victoria SegalLighthouses — Building
The Impossible (C5, 9pm)
After looking at bridges,
buildings, ships and railways,
Channel 5’s engineering man,
Rob Bell, has moved on to
lighthouses. In his second
outing he visits one known as
the Smalls, which protects
shipping from an eponymous
semi-hidden reef in the Irish
Sea. The first structure there
— essentially a large shed on
stilts — was built in the 18th
century after a series of
shipwrecks, but was itself
the site of the tragedy in 1801
(one keeper dead, the other
driven mad by his corpse)
that inspired the 2016 film
The Lighthouse. As well as
inspecting its Victorian
replacement (now unmanned)
Bell meets former keepers.
John Dugdale
Our Lives: Born Deaf, Raised
Hearing (BBC1, 7.30pm)
Actor Jonny Cotsen’s thought-
provoking film examines his
upbringing in the hearing
world and the effect that
mainstream schooling and
speech therapy has had on
his ability to take his rightful
place in the deaf community.
He’s a beguiling character, as
is his redoubtable mother.The Other One
(BBC1, 9.30pm)
For those unfamiliar with this
comedy, a series-two catch-up
sees Cat (Lauren Socha)
remind her hungover sister,
Cathy (Ellie White), about the
previous evening: “You know
the guy who gave you the
lovebite? Well there’s a strong
possibility that he’s our
brother.” Welcome back, girls.Love Life (BBC1,
10.40pm/11.15pm)
Season two of this romcom
moves the focus from Anna
Kendrick’s Darby to new
character, Marcus (William
Jackson Harper). A chance
meeting at Darby’s wedding
sees his life as a publisher of
books “for people who don’t
read” turned upside down.
Helen StewartCRITICS’ CHOICE
Witches, wizards,
worlds of wonder