24 saturday review Saturday June 11 2022 | the times
When Alanis Morissette’s
album Jagged Little Pill was
released in 1995, the
Canadian-American singer’s
personal, bristly lyrics spoke
to a generation, and her
album sold more than 30
million copies. The rousing,
jilted girlfriend anthem You
Oughta Know is probably its
most memorable song, with
speculation continuing to this
day about the real-life identity
of “Mr Duplicity” who made
poor Alanis bear the cross of
rejection and pain. This profile
focuses heavily on that
seminal album but also wants
us to meet a very different
Alanis, a larky one taking us
into her world like a friendly
girl pal. In one sequence she
sifts through a treasure trove
of cassette demos and home
movie video and points to a
bag that she laughingly says is
packed with love missives
from former boyfriends. Like
that moment, this whole
programme feels both
intimate and highly
authorised, with a fair bit of
off-duty backstage footage
too that flatteringly captures
the excitement of her
stadium-packed heyday. But
there is anger too, and
Morissette’s recollections of
the sexism she encountered
during her formative years
is eye-opening, even in an
era when our eyes have
already been opened by the
#MeToo movement. It’s also
worth noting how few
documentaries about rock
greats have women at the
centre. When Jagged Little Pill
was released you got a real
sense that she was
channelling the fury of grunge
in her own particular and
personal way to bring a rather
prophetic and inspiring
message that young women
weren’t going to take it any
more. That message remains.
Ben DowellEngland v Italy
Channel 4, 7pm
The England team have their
first home game of this year’s
Uefa Nations League campaign
at Wolverhampton Wanderers’
Molineux ground and Gareth
Southgate’s men will need no
reminder of the opposition.
Italy of course were the team
that snatched Euro 2020 glory
from the men in white at last
year’s Covid-delayed
tournament. And on dreaded
penalties to boot. Because of
crowd trouble during that
match at Wembley last
summer, this game will be
behind closed doors. Another
grim fact to consider: England
haven’t beaten Italy in a
competitive match since a 1977
World Cup qualifier. BD
LGBTQ+ Hits at
the BBC
BBC2, 8pmSaturday nights have played
host to a number of pop
anthologies over the past few
months, and now it’s the time
to see some top LGBTQ+ stars
performing before Auntie’s
cameras, people “whose sex
and sexuality is central to the
story of their individual
careers”, according to the BBC.
The artists include George
Michael, Boy George, Freddie
Mercury, Beth Ditto and Barry
Manilow, which isn’t a bad
line-up. Some pushed the
boundaries from the start,
some only revealed who they
were after years of speculation,
we’re told. BDThe British Soap
Awards
ITV, 8pmPity the poor folk of Albert
Square and Weatherfield. The
genre of television that has
probably taken the biggest hit
from the streaming revolution
is the one that arguably
pioneered binge watching.
Viewing figures generally
declined even when twice-a-
week viewing went up to four
and sometimes five times a
week, and increasingly
outlandish storytelling dented
the genre’s credibility further.
Still, the great and the good of
EastEnders, Corrie, Emmerdale
and elsewhere will be getting
their rewards in a long night of
back-slapping. BD● S4C 6.00am Cyw: Sali Mali (r) 6.05 Caru
Canu a Stori (r) 6.15 Timpo (r) 6.25
Sigldigwt (r) 6.40 Y Brodyr Coala (r) 6.50
Gwdihw (r) 7.05 Twt (r) 7.20 Byd Tad-Cu
(r) 7.30 Patrôl Pawennau (r) 7.45 Deian a
Loli (r) 8.00 Bernard (r) 8.30 Dewi a’r
Ditectifs Gwyllt (r) 9.10 Seligo (r) 9.25
Boom! (r) 9.35 Ar Goll yn Oz (r) 10.00
Prosiect Pum Mil (r) 11.00 Bwyd Bach
Shumana a Catrin (r) 11.30 Garddio a Mwy
(r) 12.00 Ffermio (r) 12.30pm Wil ac
Aeron: Taith Rwmania (r) 1.00 Dau Gi
Bach (r) 1.30 Adre (r) 2.00 Ar Werth (r)
2.30 Teulu’r Castell (r) 3.30 Sain Ffagan
(r) 4.00 Bois y Rhondda (r) 4.30 Dim Byd
i’w Wisgo (r) 5.05 Cymry ar Gynfas (r)
5.35 Hen Dy Newydd (r) 6.35 Cenedl Pel
Droed Annibynol. Documentary (r) 7.00
News 7.15 Live Sgorio Rhyngwladol: Wales
v Belgium (Kick-off 7. 4 5). Coverage of the
UEFA Nations League Group A4
encounter at Cardiff City Stadium 10.00
Oci Oci Oci. Darts quiz hosted by Eleri
Siôn and Ifan Jones Evans. Last in the
series 11.00-11.35 Welsh Whisperer: Ni’n
Teithio Nawr! Pop performer Andrew
Walton, aka the Welsh Whisperer,^
travels to the top of the Swansea and
Amman Valleys — Gwaun Cae Gurwen,
Tairgwaith and Cwmgors (r)
(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC1 Wales As BBC1 except:
5.00pm-5.30 Kiri’s TV Flashback. Vintage
television clips reveal Wales’ most
unusual characters (r) 10.20 Match of the
Day Wales 10.50 FILM 21 Bridges (2019)
Thriller starring Chadwick Boseman
12.20am-2.10 FILM The Finest Hours
(2016) Fact-based disaster movie starring
Chris Pine and Casey Affleck
● BBC1 Scotland As BBC1 except:
10.20pm Sportscene. Highlights of
Republic of Ireland v Scotland 11.05 FILM
21 Bridges (2019) 12.35am FILM The
Finest Hours (2016) 2.25 Weather for the
Week Ahead 2.30-6.00am BBC News
● STV As ITV except: 1.10pm-4.00 Live
STV Racing: From York. Coverage from
York, Sandown Park and Chester
3.50am-5.05 Unwind with STV. Daily
escape designed to calm the mind and
encourage relaxation and reflection
● BBC Scotland 7.00pm The Seven 7.15
The Edit 7.30 The Mart. Documentary
about a livestock market in Thainstone,
Aberdeenshire (r) 8.00 Amazing Hotels:
Life Beyond the Lobby. Giles Coren and
Monica Galetti work in the Marina Bay
Sands, Singapore (r) 9.00 Best of Chewin’
the Fat (r) 9.25 Rab C Nesbitt (r) 9.55 FILM
Philomena (2013) 11.30pm-Midnight
Scoobs and the Rave Years (r)21 Bridges (15, 2019)
BBC1, 10.20pm
The idea of ever again attempting a serious, thoughtful, A-list cop
drama died with 1995’s Heat. What emerged in its place was a
scrappy genre of moody B-list cop noirs that take their inspiration
from Michael Mann’s classic. And so the hard-boiled 21 Bridges.
Chadwick Boseman is Andre Davis, a New York police detective
who, as we first encounter him, is facing an internal affairs
investigation into his trigger-happy ways. A lesser film might have
set up Davis as yet another Dirty Harry clone, a badass rule-
breaker who gets the job done. Instead, from a nimble and
twisty screenplay, Davis is revealed to be moral and concerned
primarily with the righteous reputation of the NYPD. Boseman,
below with Sienna Miller, proved to be an easy leading man.
(99min) Kevin MaherFilms of the day
The Finest Hours (12, 2016)
BBC1, 11.50pm
The Finest Hours is basically The Perfect Storm with
Brylcreem, transplanting the CGI squall of that film to 1950s
New England to tell the real-life tale of a stricken oil tanker.
Chris Pine plays Bernie Webber, the coastguard who is sent
by his boss (Eric Bana) to the aid of SS Pendleton, which has
broken in two in gale-force winds. Everyone says that it’s
a suicide mission, obviously. The drama splits three ways:
between Bernie and his crew; the men on the sinking ship,
led by a taciturn engineer played by Casey Affleck; and the
people worrying on the shore, who include Bernie’s fiancée
(Holliday Grainger). No prizes for guessing the outcome,
but the voyage is satisfying. (117min) Ed PottonThe Smile... A
Debut Concert
Sky Arts, 9pmA studio performance in the
round involving Thom Yorke,
with his unique falsetto, and
the sublime gifts of Jonny
Greenwood, both of Radiohead,
and the warm drumming of
Sons of Kemet’s Tom Skinner
makes this appointment
viewing for any music fan.
Their three consecutive live
shows took place within 24
hours at the stunning
Magazine venue in London’s
Docklands earlier this year. The
numbers include the single The
Smoke and the mournful
Speech Bubbles, one of a few
tracks you may well have never
heard before. BDRegional programmes
Saturday 11 | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice
Music Box: Jagged
Sky Documentaries, 9pm
Catch
up
Pistol
Disney+
“I can’t sing,” says a man
called John Lydon.
“We can’t play,” Paul
Cook replies. And
the rest, of
course, is musical
history. You have
to feel for Danny
Boyle, the director.
Any biopic of this
much trawled over
period of British
cultural history
was going to
attract the kind of
sneers worthy of
Sid Vicious. Butactually you may enjoy this. It
is very much the story of the
guitarist Steve Jones,
beautifully played by the
handsome Toby Wallace,
whose awful home life, petty
thieving and the life-changing
moment he walked into
Vivienne Westwood
and Malcolm
McLaren’s Kings Road
boutique Sex
powers the tale.
Lydon has loudly
objected to this
project, though at
least Anson Boon
(on right, with Jacob
Slater as Paul Cook)
captures his charisma
superbly. Not one for
the punk purists,
perhaps. But a fun
watch nonetheless.
Ben Dowell