The Sunday Times - UK (2022-04-10)

THE BEST OF THE WEEK AHEAD SEVEN-DAY LISTINGS FOR APRIL 10-16

Dune
Friday, Sky Cinema
Premiere, 10.40am/8pm
Denis Villeneuve’s 2021 science
fiction movie (the first film in
a two-part adaptation of Frank
Herbert’s novel) won six
Oscars last month, including
awards for visual effects and
production design. Even if
the film’s humourless epic
tale is not the kind of thing
you would normally relish,
you might be won over by its
potent sense of spectacle.

FILM OF

THE WEEK

Book Of The Week
Monday–Friday, Radio 4,
9.45am FM/12.30am
Paterson Joseph reads The
Man Who Invented Motion
Pictures, by Paul Fischer, the
story of Louis Le Prince, the
French artist and inventor
who recorded the first-ever
moving image on film, using
his own design of camera. He
made some key films in Leeds,
but totally vanished in 1890.

The Ipcress File
ITV Hub
Much like the 1965 film, this
reboot of Len Deighton’s spy
novel was at its best when
dealing in atmosphere rather
than plot. If Joe Cole never
entirely convinced as the
secret agent (especially in
moments of emotional
extremis), the series still
crackled with tension
whenever Tom Hollander
appeared as his supervisor.

RADIO PICK

OF THE WEEK

DEMAND PICK

OF THE WEEK

THE REAL

MASTER CHEFS

VICTORIA SEGAL’S

TOP FIVE TV COOKS

PICK OF

THE WEEK

JULIA

Tuesday, Sky Atlantic,

from 9pm

As well as inspiring a

generation of ambitious home

cooks to attempt crêpes and

coq au vin, the American

television chef Julia Child

(who died in 2004) still

appears to spur on actresses:

Meryl Streep won an Oscar

nomination for playing Child

in the 2009 film Julie & Julia,

and now Sarah Lancashire

excels as she takes her turn

as the chef in this eight-part

biographical show.

Fanny

Cradock

Escoffier

grandeur

for postwar

homes. In

chiffon and food-colouring,

the overbearing chef has

become a high-camp icon.

Delia Smith

The nation’s

home ec

teacher

earned

the trust of

keen-to-learn viewers — and

made retailers keen for a

“Delia Effect” endorsement.

Madhur

Jaffrey

The actress

was highly

influential

in bringing

Indian food to a western

audience with her delicious

and wildly popular shows.

Nigella

Lawson

Always a

pleasure,

Lawson’s

shows stand

as sumptuous testament to

the well-stocked pantry.

Rachel Khoo

In a pop-up

supper-club

world, her

Little Paris

Kitchen

brought Amélie-charm to

hipster food culture.

While it is a hymn to both

television and food — plates

are shot from above in a

parade of buttery goodness

— Julia’s central focus is Child

and her husband, Paul, played

by David Hyde Pierce. Bebe

Neuwirth, a fellow Frasier

alumnus, also features,

playing Child’s best

friend and

champion,

Avis DeVoto.

Lancashire is

wonderful as

the formidable

Child,

shouldering her way through

life with a plate of cake in

one hand and a copper pan

in the other, parlaying

cook-book success into

national stardom with a show

where any “housewife in the

country can make what

I’m making”. There

are, however,

moments of

melancholy

behind

the

elegant

steamrollering.

Like the omelette

unexpectedly

whipped up in an

interview, Julia is

light yet rather

delicious.

Victoria Segal

Child’s play

Meryl

Streep as

the famed

TV cook

10 April 2022 29