The Sunday Times Culture - UK (2021-11-14)

THURSDAY 18 NOVEMBER THE BEST TV FROM SKY AND BEYOND...

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DogTV (dogtv.com)

While many dog owners

leave a radio on when not at

home to soothe their pooch’s

separation anxiety, the

creators of DogTV believe

that mutt-specific visual

programming is where it’s

at. Tested on this writer’s

own dog, a four-year-old

golden retriever called

Nico, pictured, the ambient

burbling of the sleep-

aid films did the job, but

stimulation and relaxation

films only served

to make her

agitated, restless

and grumpy.

There is a trial

period, so try

before you buy.

Update: Nico

is snoring in

front of the

film Dog

Siesta as I type.

Andrew Male

I Was A Male War Bride

(TPTV, 1.55pm)

Although he plays a French

army officer in this Howard

Hawks comedy, Cary Grant

is spared the embarrassment

that might have come from

him trying to do a suitable

accent: he simply uses his

normal voice. Otherwise,

though, he happily lets

the film mock his dignity.

A gentle farce takes shape

as his character falls for an

American lieutenant (Ann

Sheridan) and has to defy

obstacles to spend time with

her. Hollywood’s paragon

of classic male elegance is

eventually forced to assume

a bold new look. (1949) B/W

Charlotte’s Web (Sky Cinema

Family, 2.25pm/9.30pm)

Gary Winick’s film is rowdier

than its source text — EB

White’s tale of a spider who

befriends a pig — but it still

keeps plenty of the book’s

charm. Its reverent depiction

of Charlotte might even have

some young viewers yearning

for a pet arachnid. (2006)

Edward Porter

Loving it: Mary Berry (BBC2, 8pm) Grant and Sheridan (TPTV, 1.55pm)

FILM CHOICE

ON DEMAND

Insecure (Sky/Now)
It is going to be hard to say

goodbye to Issa Rae’s Los

Angeles-set comedy-drama.

Now into its fifth and final
season, this award-winning

show about the sharp end

of black female friendship

has not always run smoothly
but it has been at its finest

Horror Noire (Shudder)

Xavier Burgin’s doc about the

role played in horror films by

African-Americans was one

of the festival hits of 2019.

This neat new companion

film brings together six short

supernatural tales by black

directors that address similar

issues. It is defiantly hit and

miss, but the hits blend

polemic and scares in an

effectively unnerving manner.

Andrew Male

Truman & Tennessee —

An Intimate Conversation

(BBC iPlayer)

Two great gay American

writers, two rivals, two men

caught between genius and

torment. Lisa Immordino

Vreeland’s twin portrait of

literary brilliance possibly

tries to draw too many

parallels between Capote and

Williams, but it’s fun to watch

her trying and the archive

interview clips are fantastic.

Home Sweet Home Alone

(Disney+)

Perhaps any retread of

Home Alone would be a bad

idea, but this one is oddly

misconceived. The burglars

tormented by the young hero

(Archie Yates) are benign

amateurs (Ellie Kemper and

Rob Delaney). Their ordeal

might still raise laughs, but

there is also a chance you

will just feel sorry for them.

Dir: Dan Mazer (2021) EP

when focused on the often

thorny relationship between

Issa (Issa Rae), an educational,

non-profit worker, and Molly

(Yvonne Orji), a corporate

lawyer. Often frank, often

messy, at its core this has

remained an acute, funny,

character-driven show

concerning the real pains,

pleasures and insecurities

of everyday black life. It may

have had a foul mouth, but it

had such a good heart.

Up the creek ... Dougray Scott’s disturbed detective searches for a missing girl (Britbox)

Crime (Britbox)

As an Edinburgh cop show

created by Irvine Welsh,

Crime can be seen as his

take on Ian Rankin, with

the presence of Ken Stott —

Rankin’s John Rebus in

the noughties — underlining

the link. Like Rebus, DI Ray

Lennox (Dougray Scott)

battles demons, but his are

so powerful that his search

for an abducted schoolgirl

is continually interrupted

by Jekyll to Hyde moments;

his partner (played by Joanna

Vanderham) and girlfriend

(Angela Griffin) have yet to

clock how troubled he is.

Scott and Vanderham

make a terrific double act,

but Welsh and his co-writer,

Dean Cavanagh, seem more

interested in wackiness

than telling a detective story.

See the interview with Irvine

Welsh in Culture this week.

John Dugdale

Mary Berry — Love To Cook

(BBC2, 8pm)

“I never use an ingredient you

can’t get in supermarkets all
over the country,” promises

the venerable Berry, stirring

white miso paste into a

marinade for whole unshelled
tiger prawns before going to

Norwich to taste scrambled

tofu. “For me it smells of

wartime dried egg,” she
says of the secret ingredient

(black salt), however, it is

unclear whether or not this is

a recommendation. Later, in
Nadiya’s Fast Flavours (BBC2,

8.30pm), Nadiya Hussain

disassembles some crabsticks

to make a sophisticated and
delicious-looking pakora

sandwich for a “quick lunch”

of the sort that no real person

has time to either make or eat.
Helen Stewart

Carol Klein’s Great British

Gardens (C5, 7pm)

Marchants garden and nursery

near Lewes is Carol Klein’s

destination this week, a place

that “simply flows with lyrical

musicality”. It is a delightful

and soothing look at a garden

determined to obliterate its

carbon footprint and exist in

harmony with the South

Downs around it.

Handmade — Britain’s Best

Woodworker (C4, 8pm)

With Mel Giedroyc echoing

Bake Off’s whimsical glory

days (“Two judges poised like

giant woodlice”), this crafting

competition whittles down the

contestants with two further

challenges: creating a drinks

cabinet “associated with a

particular decade” and an

elegant steam-bent lampshade.

Dalgleish (C5, 9pm)

It is hard to tell what’s more

disturbing in this adaptation

of PD James’s A Taste for

Death: the discovery of two

bodies in a Paddington

church, or the riot of ugly

1970s shirting. Bertie Carvel

is excellent as James’s icy

detective in a dank story of

class and cover-ups.

Victoria Segal

CRITICS’ CHOICE

Letting sleeping

dogs lie