6 February 2022 51THE BEST TV FROM MUBI AND BEYOND... FRIDAY 11 FEBRUARY
Rooney, a documentary
on the famous footballing
Wayne, debuts on Amazon
Prime Video today. As well
as featuring the man himself,
looking back on his career, it
hears from David Beckham,
Rio Ferdinand and Thierry
Henry. Amazon’s squad of
football docs also includes
Simeone — Living Match
By Match, which spends
a season with the Atletico
Madrid manager and former
Argentina player Diego
Simeone, and a film from
last year: Sir Alex Ferguson
— Never Give In. One of
Rooney’s fellow Manchester
United greats, Bryan Robson,
is profiled in the new
documentary Robbo (buy or
rent); Netflix still has 2021’s
Pele, in which the Brazilian
icon tells his story; and the
poignant film Finding Jack
Charlton is on BBC iPlayer.
Edward PorterWhitney (C4, 11.35pm)
Channel 4 marks the 10th
anniversary of Whitney
Houston’s death with this
showing of Kevin Macdonald’s
profile. Made with the help
of her family, it seems to
run into obstacles in its
most dramatic reporting.
After hearing claims that
Houston was abused as a
child by her cousin, Dee Dee
Warwick, Macdonald brings
his inquiries to an end quite
quickly. All in all, though, the
film is certainly worth seeing
if you have any interest in its
subject. Its material, including
home-movie footage and
several useful interviews, is
vividly assembled. (2018)Space Jam — A New Legacy
(Sky Cinema Premiere,
10.30am/6pm)
Bugs Bunny and the other
Looney Tunes stars team up
with LeBron James for this
basketball-themed comedy,
but you can enjoy its few
funny jokes without knowing
anything about the sport.
Dir: Malcolm D Lee (2021)
Edward PorterIce-cold: Giallini (More4, 9pm) Whitney Houston (C4, 11.35pm)FILM CHOICE
ON DEMAND
Marvel’s Hit Monkey
(Disney+)
How could you fail to be
romanced by a show in
which a vengeful macaque
assassin and the ghost of
an American hitman who
goes by the name of Bryce
Fowler join forces to battle
the vicious might of the Tokyo
New Tricks (Britbox)
Unloved by critics, adored by
viewers, this police procedural
ran from 2003 to 2015, with
unfortunate cast changes and
ever-worsening scripts. But it
is a treat to revisit those early
episodes and marvel at the
chemistry between Amanda
Redman’s Supt Pullman and
her old-time cops, played
by Dennis Waterman, James
Bolam and Alun Armstrong.
Andrew MaleThe Woman In The House
Across Street From The Girl
In The Window (Netflix)
Intended as a parody of female-
centric psychological thrillers,
this comedy thriller mini-series
from Rachel Ramras and Hugh
Davidson is actually light on
jokes. Ironically, it works far
better as an actual thriller,
especially thanks to Kristen
Bell’s perfectly po-faced
performance as the delusional
woman at the centre of it all.Street Gang — How We
Got To Sesame Street
(Buy as stream/download)
Like the television show that
provides its subject matter,
this documentary movie
is both entertaining and
educational. Its interviews
supply a useful overview of
Sesame Street’s origins, and
the archive clips of the puppet
characters in action are
reliably sweet and funny.
Dir: Marilyn Agrelo (2021) EPcrime underworld? The
problem with the show
creators Will Speck and Josh
Gordon’s animated action
series is that it clearly thinks
this isn’t enough of a
proposition. So, rather than
giving us the streamlined
monkey-versus-yakuza action
drama we so crave, they
overload the scripts with
Fowler’s ironic macho
“banter”. Were they afraid
we might miss the joke?Faking it: Julia Garner learns that greed is the mother of invention (Netflix)Inventing Anna (Netflix)
Between 2013 and 2017,
Anna Sorokin defrauded
members of Manhattan’s
glitterati while masquerading
as a wealthy German heiress.
In reality she was a working-
class, former magazine
intern from Russia. This
witty and diverting comedy-
drama from Shonda Rhimes,
the creator of Grey’s Anatomy,
tries to understand Sorokin
(played by the excellent Julia
Garner, of Ozark renown)
while revelling in the
audacity of her scam.
Was she an untrustworthy,
manipulative narcissist, or
a desperate antihero whose
exploitation of shallow,
obnoxious millionaire
buffoons was actually quite
funny and admirable?
Probably a bit of both. Anna
Chlumsky plays the journalist
who is on her trail.
Paul WhitelawIce Cold Murders — Rocco
Schiavone (More4, 9pm)
It is hard to understand why
the Ice Cold Murders bit of the
title has been retained as series
two of the Italian crime drama
begins, as its two-part opening
instalment is set in Rome
during a heatwave. This
presumably means it unfolds
before Rocco (Marco Giallini)
was banished to the Alps, a
situation that’s confirmed
by the fact his wife (Isabella
Ragonese) is still alive here
— part of the chain-smoking,
rule-breaking detective’s back
story is that she was killed in
an ambush while he was still
based in the capital. She walks
out, and he tries to woo her
back while he and his all-male
team follow the ramifications
of a death in a quarry.
John Dugdale
Leaders Of WWII — The
Early Years (PBS, 7.35pm)
The Second World War was
not the first conflict in which
Charles de Gaulle and Winston
Churchill faced Adolf Hitler.
This film investigates their
Great War: De Gaulle’s
bravery, Churchill’s 1915
Dardanelles campaign and
a plausible explanation of
Hitler’s Iron Cross.Your Garden Made Perfect
(BBC2, 8pm)
To Liverpool, where Andrew
and Paolo’s pleasant semi
exists under the shadow of
a looming wall so unpleasant
that the couple rarely venture
outside. It is fertile territory
for Angela Scanlon and her
gardeners, who, to their great
credit, both produce near-
miraculous designs.Susan Calman’s Grand
Day Out (C5, 8pm)
Sunday evenings watching the
BBC’s All Creatures Great and
Small was a happy fixture in
the Calman household, so
meeting the daughter of James
Herriot is an honour indeed.
“I find it quite emotional
actually,” she weeps. “It’s such
a big part of my childhood.”
Helen StewartCRITICS’ CHOICE
Wayne’s world in
the floodlight