22 May 2022 43THE BEST TV FROM BRITBOX AND BEYOND... WEDNESDAY 25 MAY
Two well-matched films by
the director Robert Altman
crop up today: his 1976
western Buffalo Bill And The
Indians (with Paul Newman)
is on Talking Pictures TV
at 3.15pm, and Sky Cinema
Greats has his 1975 drama
Nashville at 12.20am. Both
are impish, zesty responses
to America’s bicentennial
(celebrated in 1976). If you
want more Altman, Netflix
has 2001’s Gosford Park
and BFI Player offers three
movies, including 1996’s
Kansas City. Alternatively,
stay in mid-1970s America
with Martin Scorsese’s
Rolling Thunder Revue
(Netflix). This documentary
about Bob Dylan’s 1975-76
tour is another ripe
evocation of that period, and
— through a playful cameo
by the actor Michael Murphy
— it pays tribute to Altman.
Edward PorterIndiana Jones And The
Last Crusade (Sky Cinema
Greats, 5.50pm)
The planned return of Harrison
Ford’s daring archaeologist in
a film next year seems an even
more redundant idea than
the superfluous comeback he
made in 2008. After all, the
series reached a satisfying
and apt conclusion in this
earlier third movie. By
revealing Indy’s quarrelsome
relationship with his father
(Sean Connery), the film
develops a well-judged strand
of sentimental drama. This
nicely complements the
ripping-yarn stuff, which is
of the usual high standard.
Dir: Steven Spielberg (1989)The Narrow Margin (Great!
Movies Classic, 1.05pm)
Richard Fleischer’s hard-
boiled thriller involves a cop
(Charles McGraw) guarding a
mob witness (Marie Windsor)
on a long rail journey. The
train is an express service,
but it can’t match the pace of
the film’s brisk plotting and
quickfire dialogue. (1952) B/W
Edward PorterKind in the extreme? (BBC2, 10pm) McGraw, Windsor (Great!, 1.05pm)FILM CHOICE
ON DEMAND
Oussekine (Disney+)
This new four-part French-
language drama is based on
a true story, that of Malik
Oussekine, a 24-year-old
French-Algerian student
who was beaten to death by
French police in 1989 after
walking past a protest against
immigration restrictions.
Meltdown — Three Mile
Island (Netflix)
This four-part account of the
partial meltdown of a Unit 2
reactor in Pennsylvania in
1979 is without a doubt a
gripping and terrifying watch.
A methodical mix of drama
and documentary, it is at its
best when piecing together
unseen news footage from
the time to debunk old myths
and present new facts.
Andrew MaleImagine: Miriam Margolyes
— Up for Grabs (BBC iPlayer)
One of the loveliest things
about this too-short hour-long
profile of the loveable, foul-
mouthed Great British actress
and national treasure is how
she engages with presenter
Alan Yentob. At first it seems
merely for laughs, but it’s
smarter than that, exposing the
tricks and conventions of his
interview technique and having
a few laughs at his expense.La Mif (BFI Player)
Youthful energy animates
this Swiss film, a drama that
throws you into the hubbub of
life in a care home for at-risk
teenage girls. The narrative
form imposed by the movie’s
director, Fred Baillif, is a bit
too elaborate, but the realistic
performances still come
across strongly. The young
actors are non-professionals
drawing on their own
experiences. (2021) EPAs much about the aftermath
of Oussekine’s death as the
attack itself, this is a deeply
serious yet multi-levelled
series about race, racism,
and France’s deep-seated
antipathy towards Algerians.
However, you have to doubt
the commitment Disney+
has to foreign drama when
it is still nigh-on impossible
to alter subtitles and change
languages within their
television app.Nothing fishy going on: Richard Hammond explores great British waterways (More4, 9pm)Britain’s Beautiful Rivers
(More4, 9pm)
In this series, Richard
Hammond ditches the car
keys and travels the length of
four British rivers exploring
their history, geography,
engineering and wildlife —
a kind of Top Weir. The first
episode is a source-to-mouth
journey along the 220 miles
of Britain’s longest river, the
Severn, a trip that provides
plenty of opportunities
for an atypically lyrical
Hammond to stare
thoughtfully into the
middle distance and ponder
the river’s mighty power.
Along the way, he stops
in Shrewsbury to learn
about the Severn’s strategic
importance during Norman
times, visits the scientists
designing fish-friendly locks
and enjoys a close-up of
Victorian engineering.
Victoria SegalGrayson’s Art Club —
Queen’s Jubilee (C4, 10pm)
England’s most stately artist
joins wife Philippa Perry and
Bake-Off judge Prue Leith in
the studio to celebrate the
Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. “I’m
not a flag-waving person,” he
says, still shocked at the fact
that footage of the coronation
in 1953 moved them all to
tears, “but that’s a good bit of
performance art. Theatre,
grandeur, emotion. She’s the
stamp of authenticity on our
cultural identity.” Harvesting
tributes from his television
art club, there’s not much
magnificence on display,
indeed there is a strong theme
of Her Majesty having a drink
and being tired. “What we have
really done is said something
about ourselves,” he proposes.
Helen Stewart
George Clarke’s Flipping
Fast (C4, 9pm)
Clarke is known mainly for
dream homes and loving
restorations, so it is strange to
find him hosting a gameshow
about making a quick buck.
Six teams compete to earn the
most over a year; all retain
any profits, and the winners
also keep the £100,000 the
teams are initially given.Inside No 9 (BBC2, 10pm)
Entitled A Random Act of
Kindness, this episode starts as
a humdrum tale of a divorcee
( Jessica Hynes), her bright,
sarky son (Noah Valentine)
and an either creepy or kindly
physicist (Steve Pemberton)
who enters their lives. But
then it morphs into science
fiction, with Reece Shearsmith
as a far-future boffin.Haftar’s Russian Mercenaries
(BBC2, 11.45pm)
BBC reporters find evidence of
possible war crimes carried
out by the Russian military
contractor, the Wagner Group.
Witnesses and a left-behind
computer point to murders of
civilians in Libya. Incidents
during operations in Syria and
Ukraine are also featured.
John DugdaleCRITICS’ CHOICE
State of the union
after 200 years