The Sunday Times - UK (2022-04-24)

24 April 2022 47

THE BEST TV FROM IPLAYER AND BEYOND... TUESDAY 26 APRIL

The evergreen Barbra

Streisand celebrated her

80th birthday on Sunday,

giving us an excuse to

ransack the archives. Fan

Maureen Lipman, whose

husband, Jack Rosenthal,

scripted Streisand’s film

Yentl, presents a personal

tribute in To Barbra (BBC

Sounds). Another admirer,

Richard E Grant, introduces

Sunday Night Is Music

Night (BBC Sounds), with

the BBC Concert Orchestra

and singers Louise Dearman,

Katie Birtill and Graham

Bickley performing Streisand

songs. The lyricist Don Black

interviews the singer in

Barbra Streisand — From

The Way We Were ... To The

Way We Are (BBC Sounds),

and the documentary Barbra

Streisand — Becoming

An Icon 1942–1984 is on

the BBC iPlayer.

Clair Woodward

The Ides Of March

(Sky Cinema Greats, 6.15pm)

George Clooney’s fourth

movie as a director is a

political drama that discusses

a well-worn talking point: how

much chicanery is forgivable

if it benefits a politician

who might do good things?

Although the film has no

radical new ideas to add to

this debate, the ruthless cut

and thrust of the characters’

schemes makes the storyline

a winner, and the actors know

how to give a speech. Ryan

Gosling plays an adviser to

a presidential hopeful, and

Philip Seymour Hoffman

and Paul Giamatti appear as

master strategists. (2011)

The Boxtrolls (Sky Cinema

Animation, 8.20pm)

Ideal for young fans of comic

grotesquerie, this ornate film

from the studio Laika features

a human boy living with a

group of friendly troglodytes

who look like cousins of

Fungus the Bogeyman.

Co-dirs: Graham Annable,

Anthony Stacchi (2014)

Edward Porter

Getting a rush in Portrush (C4, 9pm) Say cheese? (SCA, 8.20pm)

FILM CHOICE

ON DEMAND

Outer Range (Prime Video)
In present-day Wyoming, a
rancher called Royal ( Josh
Brolin) discovers a vast,
perfectly circular bottomless
hole on his land. Then a
drifter named Autumn
(Imogen Poots) arrives, up
to no good, and the absurdist
nature of the whole enterprise

Senzo — Murder Of

A Soccer Star (Netflix)

This five-part investigation

into the unsolved 2014 killing

of South Africa footballing

hero Senzo Meyiwa is scrappy

yet utterly gripping. The

director, Sara Blecher, follows

every possible explanation,

including theories that touch

on religion, racism, money,

politics and jealousy, but is

blocked in her quest for truth.

Andrew Male

True North: Speed Kids

(BBC iPlayer)

A highlight in BBC Northern

Ireland’s documentary series

on six-counties life is this film

about kids (the youngest is six)

who take part in the fast and

dangerous world of Bam Bam

minibike racing. While the

film-makers focus on Max

and Paige, you may be uneasy

at the fascination this daring

world holds for both children

and parents alike.

Flee

(Buy as stream/download)

By using animation to tell its

tale, this lauded documentary

gives anonymity to its subject:

an Afghan man who describes

how he was forced out of his

homeland as a child and went

on a hazardous journey to

Denmark. But the film’s style

is also an artistic asset: its

ideas enrich the poignant

story. Dir: Jonas Poher

Rasmussen (2021) EP

takes off in numerous

mystifying directions.

Occasionally suspenseful,

sometimes surreally funny

and with exceptional

performances from Brolin,

Poots and Lili Taylor (as Royal’s

wife, Cecilia), it’s also a deeply

frustrating show that seems

very pleased with its central

philosophical metaphor when

in actual fact it is merely a

western adventure with a

giant hole in it.

Across the great divide: lovers Masali Baduza and Jack Rowan (BBC1, 10.40pm)

Noughts + Crosses

(BBC1, 10.40pm)

Positing a Britain in which

apartheid is reversed, series

two of the Malorie Blackman

adaptation picks up where

series one ended, with

interracial lovers Callum

( Jack Rowan) and Sephy

(Masali Baduza) on the run

and the latter pregnant.

Meanwhile, her presumed

death has made her the spark

for a vigilante movement of

fellow-Crosses pledged to get

vengeance. Once again, the

alternative-reality drama

shows that it’s not very good

at thriller scenes, but much

better are those involving

Sephy’s politician dad

(Paterson Joseph) or

reflecting Blackman’s dazzling

overarching premise: with

Britain a colony of “Aprica”

and the white “Nought”

majority oppressed.

John Dugdale

Back To Chernobyl
(PBS America, 6.35pm)
Filmed in decrepit buildings
in Pripyat, the town built to
service the nearby Chernobyl
nuclear plant, still-traumatised
survivors of the 1986 disaster
speak calmly and powerfully
about their experiences. A
female doctor chokes back
tears recalling the abortions
of damaged babies, 36 in one
haunting day; and a former
soldier, whose battalion was
charged with clearing the
reactor roof of radioactive
material, gives chilling insight
into how they were seen by
their superiors. “You have to
understand,” he says, “they
treated us as living materials.
At the time we were ... I don’t
dare say flesh. Flesh that had
to do the job ... bio robots.”
Helen Stewart

Life After Life

(BBC2, 9pm)

“So, I hear you tried to

kill your maid,” says the

psychiatrist to whom Ursula

is sent as she struggles with

“bad dreams”. Worse is to

come in this adaptation of

Kate Atkinson’s time-slipping

novel, as Ursula (Thomasin

McKenzie) experiences a

harrowing 16th birthday.

Derry Girls (C4, 9pm)

The Quinn family’s annual

visit to Barry’s seaside

amusement park in Portrush

unfolds in typically farcical

style in a plot that involves

missed trains, misplaced

bags and a real-life game of

Guess Who?. Kit-Kats also play

a vital role as the girls — and

boy — as ever, scatter chaos

wherever they go.

Hullraisers (C4, 9.35pm)

Lucy Beaumont’s warm-

blooded sitcom continues to

wreck the best-laid plans of its

three protagonists. There’s a

nursery mix-up for Toni (Leah

Brotherhood), an ill-advised

adventure in babysitting

for Rana (Taj Atwal) and a

surprise hospital stay for

Paula (Sinead Matthews).

Victoria Segal

CRITICS’ CHOICE

From Broadway

to Stoney End