44 saturday review Saturday January 1 2022 | the times
New York: World’s
Richest City with
Kim Cattrall
Channel 5, 9pmShe may no longer be part
of the Sex and the City gang,
but you can take the girl
out of Manhattan... Yes, Kim
Cattrall, aka Samantha Jones,
is our guide for a glossy
whizz through the Big Apple.
Actually, she’s just phoning in
narration duties as we meet
some of the city’s players and
hustlers, from upmarket estate
agents to cab drivers and
rubbish collectors. If nothing
else it conveys the rush and
the sense of excitement that
New Yorkers feel simply by
working there. JJA Discovery
of Witches
Sky Max/Now, 9pmTalk of a “blood rage” abounds
in the third and final series of
the popular fantasy. The blood
rage was a vampiric scourge
defeated in the 12th century
but which, as a council of
senior bloodsuckers in 2021
concludes, is back with a spate
of vicious murders in Oxford.
Meanwhile, our lovers, vampire
Matthew (Matthew Goode) and
witch Diana (Teresa Palmer),
have returned in time from
their adventure in 1590 and are
embroiled in all the goings-on.
To explain further is futile, but
fans can know that the series is
as richly and demonically
moody as ever. JJMonty Don’s
Adriatic Gardens
BBC2, 8pm
After visiting Italy, Japan, the
US and the Islamic world,
Monty Don is dusting off his
travel hat and slacks for a trip
through the Adriatic’s glorious
gardens. He starts by exploring
Venice, travelling about by
barge, with first up a labyrinth
of hedges that, seen from
above, spell out the name of
the Argentine writer Borges.
Later he visits a restored public
garden with a secret
passageway leading to the
famous St Mark’s Square. And
so on. As always, Don is such
an eloquent guide, it feels more
like a gentle education than
mere travelogue. JJ
Rothko: Pictures
Must Be
Miraculous
PBS America, 8.45pmFifty-two years after the icon
of modernism’s death, Mark
Rothko’s vast hues inspire
almost cult-like devotion. To
devotees, viewing a Rothko
evokes almost a spiritual
experience. In 2012 a Rothko
abstract was sold for
$86.9 million at auction,
footage of which starts this
elegant profile, one for history-
of-art aficionados. It includes
interviews with Rothko’s family
and brief contributions from
the actor Alfred Molina, who
played him in the award-
winning play Red. JJCatch
up
Vienna Blood
BBC iPlayer
There’s nothing wrong with
old-fashioned drama when it’s
done with care and attention,
and Vienna Blood is proof.
Back after a quietly successful
debut in 2019, this trilogy of
episodes starts with the story
of the Melancholy Countess.
Once again the drama
catches your attention with
its elegant recreation of
high society in 1907
Vienna, then draws you in
further through the
whodunnit aspect, there
to be cracked by the
show’s double act,psychiatrist Dr Max
Liebermann (Matthew Beard)
and bowler-hatted detective
Oskar Rheinhardt (Jürgen
Maurer). Yes, this is a bit
Holmes and Watson, but more
Austrian in feel and more
psychoanalytical in method;
in other words, Sherlock
Holmes meets Sigmund Freud.
James JacksonFriday 7 | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice
Death in Paradise
BBC1, 9pm
It has become almost a cliché
to talk up Death in Paradise as
a “blast of warmth” in the
schedules. Yet watching the
first scenes of the new series,
transporting us to dusty
Caribbean roads lined with
tropical trees, the only
reaction is to sigh with longing
for a sunnier way of life.
Perhaps it’s one’s body craving
vitamin D, but a gloomy
January evening is the ideal
scheduling for the show. The
other reason for its popularity
is presumably the refreshing
(apparent) simplicity of it all.
The murders keep coming and
they keep being solved, tied
up with a bow, by the end of
each episode, which at times
can seem a hair away from
turning into an upbeat Lilt
advert. And so tonight’s pre-
credits homicide involves a
couple frantically paying off a
ransom demand to get back
their kidnapped daughter.
Then the husband is found
dead at the drop-off. Cut to
credits. Cut to clumsy British
detective DI Neville Parker
(Ralf Little, right) at home with
pet (CGI) lizard, Harry, about
to find out his latest case. And
so he hits the scene of the
crime and is off to interview
those involved. All of this
hardly needs to be said — it is
what has happened in 80
episodes before this. But this
is deceptively well-crafted TV,
given how effortless it is to
watch. A subplot is introduced
about Parker bumbling his
way through hosting a quiz
night, and making a fool of
himself with his partner, and
potential romantic interest, DS
Florence Cassell (Joséphine
Jobert). Of course, Parker is
no fool when it comes to
crime; despite a tendency to
act like a bit of an idiot at
times, he is laser-guided in
spotting the clues to
whodunnit.
James JacksonA Quiet Place Part II (15, 2021)
Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm
We’re back with the Abbott family for the sequel to John
Krasinski’s ingenious 2018 sci-fi horror hit. Fearsome matriarch
Evelyn (Emily Blunt, below) is grieving after the loss of hubby Lee
(Krasinski, killed last time, seen here in flashback) and determined
to protect daughter Regan (Millicent Simmonds), son Marcus
(Noah Jupe) and her newborn baby from those ruthless reptilian
invaders. The action begins moments after the end of the previous
movie, in the Abbotts’ upstate New York farmhouse, where the
fires are still burning from the climactic confrontation. The family
abandon the homestead with no specific destination in mind, and
without this location, the horror movie tension evaporates. The
aliens still produce proficient scares. (97min) Kevin MaherFilms of the day
Young Adult (15, 2011)
BBC1, 11.25pm
The Juno dream team of the writer Diablo Cody and the director
Jason Reitman reunite for this black comedy. Charlize Theron is
the self-absorbed central character in a script of such meticulous
cruelty that it’s like watching someone pulling the legs off a
spider. Theron deploys a curled lip as Mavis Gary, a writer of
teenage fiction on the rebound after a divorce, gradually
revealing her insecurities and self-hatred. She has fixated on her
high-school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson) as her one missed
chance of fulfilment. That he is happily married and a new father
matters not one bit. Theron collaborated with Reitman and Cody
in 2019 for the comedy drama Tully, about a mother of three
whose life is transformed by a night nanny. (94min) Wendy Ide● S4C 6.00am Cyw: Timpo (r) 6.10 Do Re
Mi Dona (r) 6.25 Y Brodyr Coala (r) 6.35
Nos Da Cyw (r) 6.45 Jen a Jim Pob Dim (r)
7.00 Bach a Mawr (r) 7.10 Twt (r) 7.20
Shwshaswyn (r) 7.30 Byd Tad-Cu 7.45
Pablo 8.00 Blociau Rhif (r) 8.05 Loti
Borloti (r) 8.20 Guto Gwningen (r) 8.35
Anifeiliaid Bach y Byd (r) 8.45 Cei Bach (r)
9.00 Olobobs (r) 9.05 Yr Ysgol (r) 9.20
Octonots (r) 9.30 Asra (r) 9.45 Patrôl
Pawennau (r) 10.00 Peppa (r) 10.05
Jamborî (r) 10.15 Guto Gwningen (r) 10.30
Tili a’i Ffrindiau (r) 10.40 Gwdihw (r) 10.55
Ynys Broc Môr Lili (r) 11.05 Nico Nôg (r)
11.15 Patrôl Pawennau (r) 11.30 Deian a
Loli (r) 11.45 Sion y Chef (r) 12.00 News
12.05pm Adre (r) 12.30 Heno (r) 1.00
Nyrsys (r) 1.30 Sain Ffagan (r) 2.00 News
2.05 Prynhawn Da 3.00 News 3.05 Yn Y
Ffram (r) 4.00 Awr Fawr: Olobobs (r) 4.05
Jen a Jim a’r Cywiadur (r) 4.20 Ynys Broc
Môr Lili (r) 4.30 Blero yn Mynd i Ocido (r)
4.45 Sbarc (r) 5.00 Stwnsh: Hendre Hurt
(r) 5.15 Ar Goll yn Oz (r) 5.35 Ci Da (r) 5.55
Ffeil 6.00 Codi Hwyl (r) 6.30 Cwpwrdd
Epic Chris (r) 6.57 News S4C 7.00 Heno
7.30 News 8.00 Sgwrs Dan y Lloer:
Matthew Rhys (r) 8.55 News 9.00 Siop
Siarad Owain 9.30 Fferm Ffactor Selebs
(r) 10.30-11.35 Enid a Lucy (r)
(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC1 Wales As BBC1 except:
7.30-8.00pm Kiri’s TV Flashback. New
series. Kiri Pritchard-McLean unearths
the funniest Welsh TV moments
● BBC2 Wales As BBC2 except:
7.00-8.00pm The Hairy Bikers Go North.
Simon King and Dave Myers explore
Cumbria and the Lake District (r)
● BBC1 N Ireland As BBC1 except:
10.35pm Give My Head Peace. Uncle
Andy gets his Covid jab 11.05 The Graham
Norton Show. With guests including
Martin Freeman 11.55 FILM Young
Adult (2011) Comedy starring Charlize
Theron 1.25-6.00am BBC News
● STV As ITV except: 10.55-11.10pm STV
News 4.05-5.05am Unwind with STV
● BBC Scotland 7.00pm The Seven 8.00
Paramedics on Scene. Paramedics rush to
a driver whose car has landed in a ditch
(r) 9.00 Meet You at the Hippos. Mark
Bonnar explores street sculptures made
my artists in the Scottish new towns he
grew up in (r) 10.00 Still Game. Wullie
begins seeing a woman half his age (r)
10.30 Rab C Nesbitt. Rab goes back
to live with his mother (r) 11.00 Music
Vault. Including performances by Biffy
Clyro and Goodbye Mr McKenzie (r)
11.45-Midnight Rewind 2000s. A look
back at stories from the year 2000 (r)Regional programmes