10 April 2022 47THE BEST TV FROM SKY AND BEYOND... THURSDAY 14 APRIL
The recent Oscar for West
Side Story’s Ariana DeBose
reactivated discussions
about the future of the
musical. Well, get this: it’s
alive and well on the small
screen. Whether the trend
started with Flight Of The
Conchords (Sky) or Rachel
Bloom’s Crazy Ex Girlfriend
(Netflix), which illustrated
its character’s borderline
personality disorder via
show tunes, we now have
animated sitcom Central
Park (Apple TV+) — better
songs than Hamilton! — plus
comedy drama, Somebody
Somewhere (Peacock
on Sky), which charts its
main character’s emotional
development via uplifting
karaoke-style performances;
also Nicôle Lecky’s Mood
(BBC iPlayer), in which the
writer’s stunning original
songs provide moments of
insight and release during
the show’s darkest moments.
Andrew MaleThe Remains Of The Day
(BBC4, 8pm)
The Merchant-Ivory team
made one of their best films
when they adapted Kazuo
Ishiguro’s novel about events
in an English country house in
the 1930s. Its story is a sharp
critique of rigid, class-bound
thinking — both in politics and
in the characters’ personal
lives. If there was ever a
risk of this drama becoming
as starchy as some of the
behaviour it describes, the
actors emphatically solve the
problem. Anthony Hopkins,
as a doctrinaire butler, and
Emma Thompson, as a kind
housekeeper, give wonderful
performances. (1993)Shadow (Film4, 11.10pm)
Zhang Yimou’s most recent
film about warriors in ancient
China is as spectacular as his
best-known works in this vein,
Hero and House of Flying
Daggers, but not as colourful.
A tale of contrasts and dualities,
it has a design scheme in
which almost everything is
black, white or grey. (2018)
Edward PorterLincoln’s misericords (BBC2, 9pm) Hopkins, Thompson (BBC4, 8pm)FILM CHOICE
ON DEMAND
61st Street (BT Player)
Sometimes, it comes down
to one great performance.
At its best, this tale of
Chicago police corruption
and wrongful conviction
is reminiscent of Richard
Price and Steven Zaillian’s
award-winning 2016 mini-
series The Night Of, yet it
One Day In The Life Of
Television (YouTube)
Originally broadcast in 1989,
Peter Kosminsky’s three-hour
documentary employed more
than 50 crews to capture 24
hours of broadcasting. Cut
down to three hours, it is a
fascinating time capsule,
capturing everything from the
industrial conflict at TV-AM to
WH Smith’s own ramshackle
satellite channel, Lifestyle TV.
Andrew MaleTaboo (BBC iPlayer)
This nightmarish Regency
drama is back in the news
following the writer/star Tom
Hardy’s announcement of a
second season. Critics were
sniffy about it on its release in
2017 but it has aged well and,
beyond Hardy’s begrimed
performance as 19th-century
antihero James Delaney, its
depiction of a British nation
drunk on corporate greed
feels horribly up to date.Sunset (Mubi)
Set in Budapest in 1913 and
centred on a woman ( Juli
Jakab) investigating murky
events in a millinery store,
Laszlo Nemes’s film is a
one-stop shop for viewers
fond of costume dramas and
arty weirdness. The director
keeps the camera close to his
protagonist (as he did in 2015’s
acclaimed Son of Saul) and
follows her into a vivid tale
of prewar unrest. (2018) EPsuffers from a less compelling
narrative and some decidedly
variable acting. However,
it also features one of the
dramatic performances of
the year, from Courtney B
Vance ( Johnnie Cochran in
The People vs OJ Simpson) as a
public defender on the verge
of retirement brought in on
one last job. It’s a clichéd role,
but Vance invests it with a
heartfelt depth and humanity
that is awe-inspiring to watch.Evans above: will Lucy Boynton and Will Poulter miss the point in question? (Britbox)Why Didn’t They Ask
Evans? (Britbox)
A man falls from a cliff as
Agatha Christie’s mystery
begins, and Bobby (Will
Poulter) is at his side as he
asks the titular question in
his dying words. Our hero is
slow to grasp that this death
may have been murder,
teaming up with his posh,
flirty friend, Frankie (Lucy
Boynton) to investigate it, but
the opener’s languid build-up
allows scope for lovely comic
turns by Emma Thompson,
Jim Broadbent and Conleth
Hill. Reviewing an earlier
adaptation, Clive James
found it implausible yet
“highly enjoyable” if you
were willing “to wallow
in what you could not
swallow”. And that is the
case here too: all the cast
shine, and so does Hugh
Laurie as writer-director.
John DugdaleThe Kardashians (Disney+)
Fans worried about keeping
up with the Kardashians
when the family announced
an end to their eponymous
series in September 2020
will be relieved by their
return under a slightly shorter
banner. The new show, now
on Disney+, has been trailed
with the line “You have no
idea what’s coming” — but of
course you do, with a format
that to an untutored eye
appears indistinguishable
from the previous 20 seasons.
Tonight, the identikit gang
assembles at Kim’s house
for a barbecue (catered, of
course), where she reveals
that she has been asked to
host Saturday Night Live and
wonders if it will be a problem
that she is not funny.
Helen Stewart
Art That Made Us
(BBC2, 9pm)
This absorbing programme
explores how art created in the
aftermath of the black death
was often disruptive, fevered
and irreverent. Among the
highlights are encounters with
high-strung mystic Margery
Kempe (Chaucer’s Wife of
Bath) and Lincoln Cathedral’s
surprising misericords.Taskmaster (C4, 9pm)
Ardal O’Hanlon, Judi Love and
Sophie Duker are among
the latest batch of contestants
capering for Greg Davies and
Alex Horne in this mutant
gameshow, a cross between
Twin Peaks and The Crystal
Maze. Tonight’s inexplicably
entertaining challenges
include devising a duel and
finding hidden ducks.Brickies (BBC3, 9pm)
Whirling camera angles and
sudden slo-mo keep things
breezy in this documentary
series about young bricklayers
on a mission to “get rich or
die trowelling”. In between
working on a Stoke housing
development, the engaging
crew discuss money, their home
lives and their dream cars.
Victoria SegalCRITICS’ CHOICE
Musicals for all