19 December 2021 53THE BEST TV FROM BRITBOX AND BEYOND... WEDNESDAY 22 DECEMBER
Top Of The Pops
(BBC4, 7pm)
Are you hanging up your
stocking in the hall? The
tradition of reviving festive
editions of the chart show
continues tonight with the
1978 round-up, which
features Olivia Newton-John
and John Travolta, Abba,
Darts, the Bee Gees and
Wings — but also Father
Abraham and Brian and
Michael. A strange year,
indeed. Also repeated this
week are shows from 1998
(Thursday 23) and 2002
(Christmas Eve, BBC4, 7pm).
A super-rare 1967 Rolling
Stones performance is a
highlight of Top Of The Pops
Christmas Hits (Christmas
Eve, BBC4, 8pm), which also
features Slade, Mud and
Frankie Goes to Hollywood,
plus the Human League, Ian
Dury and Madness.
Andrew MaleThey’ll always have Paris (Netflix)ON DEMAND
Steptoe And Son (Britbox)
If you are spending the festive
period alone, or currently
trapped in the sitting room
with an unpleasant relative,
have we got a treat for you.
Ray Galton and Alan
Simpson’s Pinter-like sitcom
about a warring father-and-
son rag-and-bone business
The Wonder Years (Disney+)
The original 1988-93 series
was about a white teenage
boy coming of age in 1968-73
America. This remake focuses
on a black teenager (Elisha
“EJ” Williams) in Alabama
during the same period. With
that small change, everything
changes. It is still nostalgic and
funny but is now offset against
a past that feels more real and
less shrouded in sentiment.
Andrew Maleremains one of the finest
depictions of the awful burden
of family and the dream of a
solitary life. While the two
writers’ dialogue has a rich
Dickensian poetry to it, Harry
H Corbett and Wilfred Brambell
invest their battling and
embattled characters with a
grotesque Beckettian wit. With
weighty irony, both the 1973
and 1974 festive specials are
about the desire to flee the
country at Christmas.This’ll sleigh them: new host Sara Pascoe with Patrick Grant and Esme Young (BBC1, 8pm)The Great British Sewing
Bee (BBC1, 8pm)
Sara Pascoe was a contestant
on last year’s Christmas
Sewing Bee, losing to Denise
van Outen; this year she
returns triumphant as
presenter, stepping into
the gap left by Joe Lycett’s
departure. While the format
fitted her predecessor like a
made-to-measure challenge,
omens for Pascoe’s tenure
are still good: the estimable
judges, Patrick Grant and
Esme Young, seem happy in
her presence, as do 2021’s
celebrity stitchers, Anneka
Rice, Rev Kate Bottley, Kiell
Smith-Bynoe and Antony
Cotton. Tasks include making
an appliqué sweatshirt and a
fancy-dress outfit, a reminder
of how surprisingly joyful
watching people threading
a sewing machine and
inserting a zip can be.
Victoria SegalEmily In Paris (Netflix)
Without breaking a high-
heeled step, series two of
the millennial working-girl
fantasy kicks off just a day
after Emily and Gabriel
consummated the “will they,
won’t they?” of season one.
It’s a tricky situation for any
show that hopes to run and
run, but Darren Star, who also
created Sex and the City, isn’t
daunted and immediately
sends his girl to St Tropez. Lily
Collins has charm as the lead
character, phone surgically
attached to her hand, prattling
implausibly, a marketing
genius, but she has none of
the grit of 1980s careerist
Murphy Brown or 1990s
columnist Carrie Bradshaw.
She is more Mary Tyler-Less
than Mary Tyler-Moore.
Helen Stewart
The Hairy Bikers Go North
(BBC2, 8pm)
Meeting food producers as
they ride along the Pennines
(will it have to be electric
bikes next time?), the Bikers
compile a menu for a fake
Christmas meal uniting
their families, including
charcuterie, roast pork plus
trimmings and “Christmas
pudding marshmallow trifle”.Paul O’Grady — For The
Love Of Dogs (ITV, 8pm)
The veteran presenter helps
staff at the Battersea shelter
as they look for owners for
Ricky, a Staffie that hates loud
noises and being left alone,
and Polly, an ailing springer
spaniel. As the refuge is also
home to cats, he follows
the progress of Misty, a Maine
coon whose fur is a mess.Inside The Christmas
Factory (BBC2, 9pm)
Gregg Wallace has focused on
food in previous specials, but
here he follows a greetings card
from design to distribution.
Ignoring the word “factory”
as usual, Cherry Healey and
Ruth Goodman look at veggie
alternatives to turkey and
Cromwell’s ban on Christmas.
John DugdaleCRITICS’ CHOICE
It’s still number
one, it’s ...
Crazy Rich Asians
(BBC1, 10.35pm)
A romcom about a Chinese-
American (Constance Wu)
meeting the wealthy family
of her Singaporean boyfriend
(Henry Golding), Jon M Chu’s
film makes good use of its
characters’ riches. Its fancy
trappings are no doubt one
of the reasons it became a big
hit. Its chief assets, though,
have a deeper sort of value.
There is warmth in its mix
of humour and soapiness,
and the cast (also including
Gemma Chan and Awkwafina)
are a likable bunch.Guys And Dolls
(BBC2, 3.40pm)
Joseph L Mankiewicz’s classic
film of the Damon Runyon-
based musical has dapper
guys (Marlon Brando and
Frank Sinatra) and sparky
dolls ( Jean Simmons and
Vivian Blaine) and it presents
the show’s bouncy songs and
patter in a great sound-stage
version of New York. (1955)Sky’s the limit (BBC2, 3.40pm)FILM CHOICE
Pete’s Dragon
(BBC1, 3.05pm)
Disney’s remake of its 1977
film about a boy and his
amazing friend is a gentle yet
action-packed adventure tale
(with Oakes Fegley as Pete).
The original’s cartoon dragon
is replaced with a well-
rendered CGI beast, and
the woodland settings are
attractive. David Lowery, the
movie’s director, this year
gave us The Green Knight —
a very different piece of
work, but the way it depicts
verdancy is akin to this film’s
love of nature. (2016)Widows (Film4, 9pm)
The director Steve McQueen
came as close as he ever has
to Hollywood’s mainstream
when he made this thriller,
the story of a group of women
(led by Viola Davis) who
inherit a robbery plan from
their husbands. Even so, his
tightly controlled style and his
artist’s eye for a bold image
are still apparent. They help
him stock the film with tense,
unpredictable scenes. (2018)
Edward Porter