40 saturday review Saturday June 11 2022 | the times
The Great British
Sewing Bee
BBC1, 9pmIn a 1930s-themed quarter-final
the Loch Ness monster and
Frankenstein’s monster both
pop up, yet the most
frightening adversary for the
remaining sewers is a pair of
bib-fronted sailor trousers,
which leaves them all at sea. “I
have never done anything so
complicated before,” one of the
contenders laments.
The crew must be shipshape
for a creature-inspired
transformation challenge and
then a homage to the
Hollywood icons of the day in
the shape of a bias-cut gown. In
other words, make great Greta
Garbo garb. TEDNA Family
Secrets
BBC2, 9pmLife, for Luke, is a cabaret
and soon, perhaps, a bit of a
shock, as this performer
wants to discover if any of the
sperm he donated more than
30 years ago ever produced
any children. Given he donated
twice a week for four years
between the ages of 19 and 23,
there’s a chance he could
sell out his shows with
audiences composed of just
his children. Another story
followed by the presenter
Stacey Dooley is the flipside
to Luke’s, as five sisters who
were separated as children
want to learn if they’re full or
half-siblings. TE8.10 Cymylaubychain (r) 8.20 Meic y
Marchog (r) 8.35 Loti Borloti (r) 8.50 Ben
a Mali a’u Byd Bach O Hud (r) 9.00 Sblij a
Sbloj (r) 9.10 Y Brodyr Coala (r) 9.20 Do
Re Mi Dona (r) 9.35 Sion y Chef (r) 9.45
Antur Natur Cyw (r) 10.00 Peppa (r) 10.05
Guto Gwningen (r) 10.20 Oli Wyn (r)
10.30 Octonots (r) 10.45 Cei Bach (r)
11.00 Dysgu Gyda Cyw: Shwshaswyn (r)
11.10 Sam Tân (r) 11.20 Da ’Di Dona (r)
11.30 Sion y Chef (r) 11.45 Fferm Fach (r)
12.00 News 12.05pm Cegin Bryn: Yn
Ffrainc (r) 12.30 Heno Aur (r) 1.00
Bethesda: Pobol y Chwarel (r) 1.30
Garddio a Mwy (r) 2.00 News 2.05
Prynhawn Da 3.00 News 3.05 Teulu’r
Castell (r) 4.00 Awr Fawr: Peppa (r) 4.05 Y
Brodyr Coala (r) 4.15 Blero yn Mynd i
Ocido (r) 4.30 Patrôl Pawennau (r) 4.45
Ahoi! (r) 5.00 Stwnsh: Y Brodyr Adrenalini
(r) 5.10 Rhyfeddodau Chwilengoch a Cath
Ddu 5.30 Ditectifs Hanes (r) 5.55 Ffeil
6.00 Gwesty Parc y Stradey (r) 6.30 Y
Sioe Fwyd (r) 6.57 News S4C 7.00 Heno
7.30 News 8.00 Pobol y Cwm. Hywel
stands in Cai’s way of getting the job
8.25 Rownd a Rownd 8.55 News 9.00
Pobol y Penwythnos 9.30 Y Byd ar
Bedwar (r) 10.00 Grid 10.15 Prosiect Pum
Mil (r) 11.15-11.50 Bois y Rhondda (r)
(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC1 Wales As BBC1 except: 10.35pm
BBC Wales Live 11.00 Weather 11.05
Conversations with Friends. Adaptation
of Sally Rooney’s novel starring Sasha
Lane (r) 11.40 Conversations with
Friends (r) 12.10am Conversations
with Friends (r) 12.40-1.45 Top Gear (r)
● BBC1 Scotland As BBC1 except: 2.15pm
Politics Scotland 3.00-3.45 Money for
Nothing 12.10am The Edit (r) 12.25
Debate Night (r) 1.25 Weather for the
Week Ahead 1.30-6.00 BBC News
● STV As ITV except: 1.30pm-6.00 Live
STV Racing: Royal Ascot. Coverage of the
second day of the festival 10.30 STV
News 10.40 Scotland Tonight 11.05
Peston 12.05am-3.00 Teleshopping
3.50-5.05 Unwind with STV
● BBC Scotland 7.00pm The Great Food
Guys (r) 7.30 The Scandals That Shocked
Scotland (r) 8.00 Tiny Lives (r) 8.30 Darts
Dreams (r) 9.00 The Nine 10.00 The
Remotely Amusing Gameshow. Comedy
panel show (r) 10.30 Debate Night
11.30pm-Midnight Rewind 1990s (r)
● S4C 6.00am Cyw: Peppa (r) 6.05 Guto
Gwningen (r) 6.20 Oli Wyn (r) 6.30
Octonots (r) 6.45 Cei Bach (r) 7.00 Odo
7.10 Blero yn Mynd i Ocido (r) 7.20
Anifeiliaid Bach y Byd (r) 7.30 Patrôl
Pawennau (r) 7.45 Ahoi! 8.00 Bing (r)Downhill (15, 2020)
Film4, 9pm
This American version of the European arthouse hit Force Majeure
— the skiing holiday black comedy of 2014 by the Swedish director
Ruben Ostlund — isn’t quite as wonderfully unsettling, but it’s not
far off. Pete (Will Ferrell) and Billie (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) are at an
alfresco restaurant in Austria with their two sons. An avalanche
hits. Mum protects the kids. Dad scarpers. The snow settles.
Everyone’s OK. Well, physically, at least — it’s a deliciously
uncomfortable scenario. Tapping into themes of masculinity,
midlife crises and selfishness, it’s meat and drink for Jesse
Armstrong (Succession), who co-wrote the script. Ferrell is
convincingly tortured, and the decision to shift the focus towards
Louis-Dreyfus’s character pays off handsomely. (86min) Ed PottonFilms of the day
Maurice (15, 1987)
Film4, 12.40am
For 30 years it was largely dismissed as a “minor” Merchant Ivory
sandwiched between glitzier EM Forster adaptations, A Room with
a View in 1985 and Howards End in 1992. Yet this elegant, heart-
rending romance is now ripe for the reclaiming as a gay landmark.
It was released during the height of the Aids crisis in 1987, and its
portrayal of repressed “forbidden” love may seem tame today, but
context is all. James Wilby is the titular blond who falls for rich boy
Clive (Hugh Grant, above left with Wilby) at Cambridge, to much
mutual agonising — this being an era when “the unspeakable vice
of the Greeks” was punishable by jail. Rupert Graves completes
the love triangle as the earthy under-gamekeeper. (134min)
Larushka Ivan-ZadehThe Savoy
ITV, 9pmA barometer suggesting a
return to normality is the sight
of Christopher Biggins in the
Savoy Grill discussing the
exotic meats he consumed on
I’m a Celebrity... This sight had
been absent from London’s
five-star institution since it was
forced to close during the
pandemic. To stay competitive
in the packed field of luxury
hotels, the Savoy has been
readying a new seafood dining
experience. At the River
Restaurant by Gordon Ramsay
the chefs’ pollocks are on the
line as they prepare for launch
by introducing Ramsay to the
menu and the dining room.
Is Gordon happy? “This is a
clusterf***.” Oh. TERegional programmes
Wednesday 15 | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice
Tumbledown
BBC4, 10pm
On Sunday night in Our
Falklands War: A Frontline
Story, Robert Lawrence, a
Scots Guards platoon
commander, described the
events that changed his life
during the Battle of Mount
Tumbledown, the last big
engagement of the conflict.
Lawrence admitted he
was pleased his colleagues
weren’t able to take part in
more battles without him. In
1988, six years after the
Falklands conflict ended,
Tumbledown aired on the
BBC and drew an audience of
more than 10 million; before
it was shown a question had
been raised in parliament
about the production, where
the Ministry of Defence was
said to be “unhappy” with
the script. The MoD even
threatened an injunction
against the film, while
the army tried to discredit
Lawrence. This is no
glorious paean to a great
endeavour or a useful myth to
wrap around the truth, as it
asks a number of complicated
questions. Lawrence was shot
in the head, lost 42 per cent of
his brain, and the left side of
his body was paralysed.
The “gratitude” he received
on his return was to be left
out of a victory parade and
instructed not to wear his
uniform at a service at St
Paul’s Cathedral. While
muscular heroes enacting
foreign policy by firepower
reigned in 1980s Hollywood
action movies, here was a
film that dealt with the savage
realities of combat. Colin
Firth’s performance as
Lawrence, right, earned him
a Bafta nomination for best
actor and he shines, his future
star quality on display as a
dashing officer, desperate
for action, who becomes
angry at having his calling
snatched away from him.
Toby EarleCatch
up
The Midwich
Cuckoos
Sky Max/Now
John Wyndham’s
1957 sci-fi novel
has been adapted
for screen twice
under the title
Village of the
Damned (in 1960
and then by
John Carpenter
in 1995). This is
the first
television
version, with
the main
writing credit
going to DavidFarr (The Night Manager).
Without wishing to give away
the main concept of
Wyndham’s text, it’s an
unsettling tale set in a sleepy
English commuter town
where things turn strange
after a power cut leaves
residents briefly
unconscious. Our hero
for the eight-parter
is Dr Susannah
Zellaby (Keeley
Hawes), the town’s
psychotherapist, a
useful job for the
drama as it helps
the script explore
its allegory
about modern
parenthood and
our anxieties
around bringing
up children.
Joe ClayHow Safe Is
Your Pension?
Channel 5, 7pm
Not frightened enough by the
cost of living crisis while you’re
of working age? Then how
about adding the prospect of a
nightmare retirement on top of
your worries, when you can
take your foot off the gas and
have more time to fret over the
state of your finances? To
understand the problems that
lie ahead for pensioners both
now and in the future, one
couple have their pension plan
analysed and pension pot
cracked open to see how well
prepared they are for
retirement. Will it be enough
for them to live it up or barely
live on? TE