22 May 2022 47THE BEST TV FROM SKY AND BEYOND... THURSDAY 26 MAY
Radioman (Audible)
In what could well develop
into the new Shoestring
(there’s one for the
teenagers), Nikolaj Coster-
Waldau stars as a former
radio presenter turned
crimefighter in his first
audio drama. He plays
Chas Vincent-Jones, who,
alongside DCI Ian Whittaker
(David Morrissey) aims to
solve a series of gruesome
killings in the fictional
Yorkshire town of Tanford.
Making murder meta, the
pair make their own podcast
called Crimesville to help
them find the killer. Also
starring Cathy Tyson, Divian
Ladwa and George Georgiou,
Radioman was inspired by
journalist Dimiter Kenarov’s
Mask of Sanity, about his
hunt for a serial killer in
Macedonia; score and sound
design are by Benbrick.
Clair WoodwardOnce Upon A Time In
Hollywood (Film4, 9pm)
An entertaining, balmy tour
of Los Angeles in the late
1960s, Quentin Tarantino’s
2019 film is a work of fiction
centred on two dreamt-up
characters: a fading actor
(Leonardo DiCaprio) and his
loyal right-hand man (Brad
Pitt). It does, however, depict
a few real people, and the
most prominent is the actress
Sharon Tate (played by Margot
Robbie). We see her going
to a cinema to watch herself
in 1968’s The Wrecking Crew
(a kitschy spy spoof starring
Dean Martin), which is no
doubt why Film4 is showing
that movie today (4.05pm).The Last Letter From
Your Lover (Sky Cinema
Premiere, 12.10pm/4.55am)
Using interwoven storylines,
Augustine Frizell’s film offers
a double helping of smooth
romantic schmaltz. Shailene
Woodley has a glitzy role
in a 1960s tale, and Felicity
Jones stars in a more humble
present-day drama. (2021)
Edward PorterTaking flight: Cuoco (Sky Max, 9pm) Fairy tale: Robbie (Film4, 9pm)FILM CHOICE
ON DEMAND
Fringe (Starzplay)
It has slipped the bonds of
popular memory, but between
2008 and 2013 this series,
devised by JJ Abrams, was
one of the most audacious
on television. In simple
terms, the show followed
the adventures of a federal
task force investigating
Capturing Mary (Britbox)
A fascinating curio by the
notoriously hit-and-miss
screenwriter Stephen Poliakoff,
this 2007 TV play works best
as a showcase for the talents
of Maggie Smith, who plays an
unreliable narrator recounting
her life story to the caretaker of
a grand London house. Cryptic
and haunting, it is one of
Poliakoff ’s less sympathetic
portraits of postwar British life.
Andrew MaleDarren McGarvey’s
Addictions (BBC iPlayer)
Now perhaps better known as
a social commentator than his
incarnation as the Glaswegian
rapper Loki, McGarvey is also
rapidly becoming an excellent
TV presenter. As a former
alcoholic, the Orwell Prize
winner knows whereof he
speaks and this three-part
examination of the causes and
effects of addiction is vital,
educational and sympathetic.Prayers For The Stolen
(Mubi)
The friendship that helps
three girls endure tough times
in this Mexican drama also
gives viewers a ray of hope as
they make their way through
the film’s sombre tale. Tatiana
Huezo’s movie is a vivid
picture of life in a village
terrorised by drug cartels,
where young women know
they are at constant risk of
being abducted. (2021) EPparallel universes. Blessed
with a trio of lead performers
(Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson
and the great John Noble)
who delivered their dizzying
scientific dialogue with an
utterly straight face, here
was a show that went way
beyond the game-playing of
Christopher Nolan’s Inception
or Tenet and headlong into
proper, chilling, head-
spinning nightmare television.
Well overdue a revival.Journey in time: Sue Perkins traces her ancestry through two world wars (BBC1, 9pm)Who Do You Think You Are?
(BBC1, 9pm; Scotland,
Friday, 10.40pm)
Last year, BBC1 unusually
chose the Channel 4 star
Josh Widdicombe to launch
the 18th series. Now it has
reverted to the norm in
picking BBC stalwart Sue
Perkins to lead off the 19th.
And the mood is more
typical too. Widdicombe
laughed as his posh ancestors
were revealed, whereas
Perkins is often tearful as
she hears about her relatives’
travails — particularly those
of her German forebears
in London in 1914 and the
1940s ordeals of the family
one of them left behind.
Perfectly judged in tone, the
film is also niftily structured,
with things said early on
(including a chat with
Mel Giedroyc) that end up
paying dividends later.
John DugdaleThe Flight Attendant
(Sky Max, 9pm/10.05pm)
One of the great joys of the
first series of this energetic
comedy thriller was its
overwhelming unlikeliness:
Kaley Cuoco, the big-eyed
pneumatic blonde from
the avowedly mainstream
The Big Bang Theory, a woman
with a $1 million per episode
salary, striking out to play an
alcoholic air hostess whose
one night in Bangkok ended in
bed with a dead man. Further,
she executive produced, having
optioned the original book
by Christopher A Bohjalian.
Now she’s back, her character
clean, sober and soon drawn
into another frenetic mystery,
thanks to her CIA side hustle,
with Sharon Stone playing her
mother. Welcome aboard.
Helen Stewart
Fannie Lou Hamer’s
America (PBS, 7.20pm)
This powerful documentary
tells the story of civil-rights
activist Fannie Lou Hamer,
who was born in Mississippi
in 1917 and left school at age 12
to pick cotton. Using Hamer’s
own words from interviews
and speeches, the film charts
her journey into politics and
her remarkable legacy.PRU (BBC3, 10pm)
Set in a pupil referral unit
for excluded teenagers, this
spirited new comedy follows
the lead of its pilot with a full
series of flying scissors and
steep learning curves. Here,
Halil ( Jaye Ersavas) decides
to stop taking his ADHD meds
and new girl Sienna (Nkechi
Simms) must hatch a plan
to help control him.Big Boys (C4, 10pm)
Jack Rooke’s sweet-natured
semi-autobiographical comedy
follows Jack (Dylan Llewellyn)
as he starts university after
his dad’s death. In the style
of Liam Williams’s Ladhood,
Rooke narrates these scenes
from his life; Jon Pointing
plays Jack’s unlikely new
alpha-male best friend, Danny.
Victoria SegalCRITICS’ CHOICE
The new Shoestring
— vigilante style