40 saturday review Saturday April 9 2022 | the times
Gazza
BBC2, 9pmPaul “Gazza” Gascoigne, the
former footballer, is an
irresistible subject for
documentary film-makers.
This two-parter looks back
over his colourful, often
tragic life and career. It
combines footage of Gazza in
his pomp with cultural
moments from the time,
previously unseen archive and
home videos, while also
offering a perspective on the
lengths to which some in the
tabloid press went to gain
access to his private life and
manipulate it to sell
newspapers. Gazza is involved,
as are his friends and family,
plus former agents, team-
mates and coaches. JCChasing Trane
Sky Arts/Now, 9pmJohn Scheinfeld’s 2016 profile
of the jazz giant John Coltrane
is a fine example of the rock
documentary form, bringing
the man and his boundary-
shattering music to life. The
archive footage includes
previously unseen clips of
Coltrane and his band in the
studio, discovered in a
California garage during the
production of this film. “My
music is the spiritual
expression of what I am,” the
saxophonist says. “My faith,
my knowledge, my being.” The
words of Coltrane are spoken
by Denzel Washington and
there are contributions from
Bill Clinton, Sonny Rollins
and Carlos Santana. JC10.00 River City 10.30 FILM The Decoy
Bride (2011) 11.55-Midnight Loop
● S4C 6.00am Cyw 8.20 Tomos a’i
Ffrindiau (r) 8.30 Straeon Ty Pen (r) 8.45
Sam Tân (r) 8.55 Timpo (r) 9.05 Abadas (r)
9.15 Rapsgaliwn (r) 9.30 Blero yn Mynd i
Ocido (r) 9.45 Fferm Fach (r) 10.00 Ty Mêl
(r) 10.10 Cymylaubychain (r) 10.20 Caru
Canu a Stori (r) 10.30 Sion y Chef (r) 10.45
Gwdihw (r) 11.00 Dysgu Gyda Cyw: Twm
Tisian (r) 11.05 Digbi Draig (r) 11.20 Guto
Gwningen (r) 11.35 Meic y Marchog (r)
11.50 Tomos a’i Ffrindiau (r) 12.00 News
12.05pm Garejis: Dan y Bonet (r) 12.30
Heno (r) 1.00 Cegin Bryn (r) 1.30 Garddio
a Mwy (r) 2.00 News 2.05 Prynhawn Da
3.00 News 3.05 Gareth Jones: Nofio Adre
(r) 4.00 Awr Fawr: Peppa (r) 4.05 Caru
Canu a Stori (r) 4.15 Rapsgaliwn (r) 4.30
Ty Mêl (r) 4.40 Fferm Fach (r) 5.00
Stwnsh: Angelo am Byth (r) 5.10
Rhyfeddodau Chwilengoch a Cath Ddu
5.30 Mabinogi-ogi a Mwy (r) 5.55 Larfa (r)
6.00 Y Sioe Fwyd (r) 6.30 Darllediad
Etholiadol (r) 6.35 Rownd a Rownd (r)
6.57 News S4C 7.00 Heno 7.30 News
8.00 Pobol y Cwm 8.25 Ar Werth 8.55
News 9.00 Y Llinell Las 9.30 Iaith ar
Daith (r) 10.30 Dim Byd i’w Wisgo (r)
11.00-11.35 Cymoedd Roy Noble (r)
(r) repeat (SL) In-vision signing● BBC1 Wales As BBC1 except:
6.55pm-7.00 Party Election Broadcast (r)
9.00-10.00 Hidden 10.35 Interior Design
Masters with Alan Carr 11.35 Would I Lie
to You? 12.05am Extraordinary Portraits
(r) 12.35-1.35 Dynasties II (r)
● BBC1 N Ireland As BBC1 except:
6.55pm-7.00 Party Election Broadcast
10.35 The Borrowers (r) 11.05 FILM Meet
Joe Black (1998) 1.55-6.00am BBC News
● BBC2 N Ireland As BBC2 except:
10.00pm-10.30 True North: Speed Kids
(r) 11.15 Crime NI (r) 11.55 Unspun World
12.25-12.45am Barra on the Foyle (r)
● BBC1 Scotland As BBC1 except:
6.55-7.00pm Party Election Broadcast
● ITV Wales As ITV except: 6.25pm-6.30
Party Election Broadcast 10.45-11.40
Love Your Garden. Water gardens (r)
● STV As ITV except: 6.25pm-6.30 Party
Election Broadcast 10.40 Scotland
Tonight 11.05 Worlds Collide: The
Manchester Bombing (r) 12.00-3.00am
Teleshopping 3.50-5.05 Unwind with STV
● UTV As ITV except: 6.20pm-6.30 Party
Election Broadcast 10.45-11.40 Love Your
Garden. Creating water gardens (r)
● BBC Scotland 7.00pm Roaming in the
Wild (r) 7.30 Scotland’s Home of the Year
(r) 8.00 Scotland’s Sacred Islands with
Ben Fogle (r) 9.00 The Nine. UpdatesAmerican Honey (15, 2016)
Film4, 11.05pm
Andrea Arnold’s fourth film throbs with raw teenage hormones
and chutzpah in a 21st-century version of On the Road. It stars
Sasha Lane, below, as Star, an 18-year-old who abandons her
trailer-park poverty to join a gang of lost teenagers rolling in a
minibus through flatlands and gas station forecourts and seedy
motels. By day they con folks out of $35 for magazine
subscriptions in suburbs and oil towns and earn 20 per cent; by
night they drink and party, undeterred by their bleak surroundings.
The film provides a devastating window into the sordid roadside
economics of the part of America that coastal sophisticates
sometimes refer to as “the flyover zone”. Few films have bottled
the electricity of teenage life as well as this. (160min) Kate MuirFilms of the day
Funny Cow (15, 2018)
Channel 4, 1.30am
A wild and discombobulating cod-biography that pings through
the appropriate beats (tough childhood, unlucky breaks, pain,
catharsis, self-reinvention), but is really more about the force of
personality of its protagonist. Maxine Peake dominates, playing
the eponymous comedian — a fictional creation known only as
Funny Cow — who begins life in an unnamed northern city in the
1950s. Abuse follows her into the 1970s and her husband hates
her wish for independence. She becomes a stand-up comedian,
but it’s a painful journey after shadowing a jaded stand-up (Alun
Armstrong) in working men’s clubs. This isn’t lottery-financed,
middlebrow sludge, but a tough, compassionate account of
survival at all costs. (103min) Kevin MaherEurope’s Forgotten
Dictatorship
PBS America, 9pmThe bloodless seizure of power
by military officers in Greece in
1967 had devastating
consequences, including the
arrest and torture of thousands
of Greek leftists and the
abolition of the monarchy.
Meanwhile, in Portugal, the
fascist dictator António de
Oliveira Salazar ruled the
country with an iron fist for
four decades. His regime finally
collapsed in 1974 during the
Carnation Revolution, four
years after his death. Over
the next two nights, this
documentary tells the story
of these two 20th-century
authoritarian regimes. JCRegional programmes
Wednesday 13 | Viewing guide
Critic’s choice
Grand Designs: The Streets
Channel 4, 9pm
From 2015 to 2019 Kevin
McCloud made repeated trips
to Graven Hill, Oxfordshire,
where one of the biggest self-
build experiments yet seen in
the UK was under way. Ten
households were embarking
on a mission to build their
own homes and create a
new street, and McCloud
followed the progress of this
endeavour over the course of
a six-part series. There was as
much jeopardy and drama as
you would expect from an
entire street of grand designs,
with each of the participants
creating their own highly
individual homes.
Three years later, McCloud
is back to check on progress,
and what started with ten now
numbers more than 100. As
well as revisiting some of the
original pioneers, he is
following some of the next
wave of intrepid self-builders,
starting with Carlos and Maite,
right, who have plans to build
a Spanish-inspired home.
Maite, who is from La Rioja in
northern Spain, is also
involved in the design of the
building, but doesn’t have any
formal training. She’s being
assisted by an architect and
they have conflicting ideas
about how the house should
look. “Creative tension is
healthy when you’re
collaborating,” Carlos says.
However, the main issue is
that they don’t have the
money to finish the project.
McCloud is also witnessing
the birth of another new
street in Glasgow, assisted by
Natasha Huq, an Edinburgh-
based architect and historic
buildings consultant. Glasgow
city council has granted six
families permission to
construct their architectural
visions on a small plot in the
city and McCloud and Huq
visit the first project to go up
there — an American ranch-
style home. Joe ClayCatch
up
Newark, Newark
UKTV Play
The high-octane comedy
actress Morgana Robinson
seems to improve anything
she is in — I think it’s partly
those incredible
eyes of hers —
although this
amiable,
sometimes
sharp East
Midlands-
set
sitcom,
written
by
Nathan
Foad(Bloods) doesn’t need too
much heavy lifting. She plays
chip shop manager and single
mum Maxine, who is dealing
with a recent divorce and her
likeably earnest son Leslie (Jai
Hollis) coming out as gay. In
the first episode she is
celebrating her 40th birthday
with a drizzly barbecue. There
are enough decent lines and
neatly drawn supporting
characters (such as
Maxine’s doltish
ex, played by
Mathew Horne,
left with
Robinson)
to keep
this
sizzling
nicely.
Ben
DowellMary Berry’s
Fantastic Feasts
BBC1, 8pm
In an episode postponed from
March 9 for a Question Time
special on the war in Ukraine,
Mary Berry is here to help with
more unfussy winning recipes.
Tonight there are three culinary
tyros who want to throw a
spectacular afternoon tea to
say thank you to a friend who
runs a youth charity in Cardiff.
As the trio join Berry at her
home for their lessons, she is
helped by Roman Kemp, the
radio presenter, and Tom Read
Wilson, the presenter and actor,
to help the party to go off with
a bang, with the recipes
including a four-tier clementine
cake. James Jackson