The Sunday Times - UK (2022-06-05)

5 June 2022 31

THE BEST TV FROM NETFLIX AND BEYOND... SUNDAY 5 JUNE

The late Ray Liotta will be

remembered chiefly as the

lead in an undisputed classic,

1990’s Goodfellas (today,

Sky Cinema Greats, 11.15pm),

but he had other triumphs.

They include his turns in

two recent films: Marriage

Story (Netflix) and The

Many Saints Of Newark

(Tuesday, Sky Cinema Hits,

10pm). His trademark

intensity was there in

his breakthrough role in

the 1986 comic thriller

Something Wild (YouTube),

and he has a uniquely gory

scene in 2001’s Hannibal

(Netflix); but showed

a lighter side

in his cameo

in Muppets

From Space

(Tuesday, Sky

Cinema Family,

6.40pm).

Edward

Porter

Radioactive (BBC2, 9.30pm)

In telling the story of the

scientist Marie Curie, the

director of this biopic, Marjane

Satrapi, and its writer, Jack

Thorne, conduct a few

experiments of their own. The

film has bold visual ideas, and

the script uses flash-forwards

to describe the uses found

for radioactivity (Curie’s

specialism) in the years since

her death in 1934. The usual

prosaic style of life-story films

still makes itself felt, but those

added flourishes help offset

it. So too does Rosamund

Pike’s strong performance

in the lead role (alongside Sam

Riley as Curie’s husband,

Pierre). (2019)

Horton Hears A Who!

(C4, 2pm)

Based on the Dr Seuss tale

about an elephant who finds

a world in a mote of dust, this

animated movie adds a lot of

extra matter to that narrative

core, but the cheerful results

still have the Seuss spirit.

Co-dirs: Jimmy Hayward,

Steve Martino (2008)

Edward Porter

All the gear and ..? (BBC1, 8pm) Who the devil ..? (C4, 2pm)

FILM CHOICE

ON DEMAND

The Essex Serpent
(Apple TV+)
If you are familiar with the
Sarah Perry novel on which
this six-part costume drama is
based, you’ll be expecting a
dark, gothic and often blackly
funny drama stuffed
to lampriform gills with pagan
villagers, mythic water lizards

The Tenant Of Wildfell Hall

(Britbox)

The final novel by Anne

Brontë uses gothic tropes to

craft what many critics believe

is the first feminist novel. This

1996 adaptation, starring Tara

FitzGerald, Rupert Graves

and Toby Stephens arguably

improves on the book,

editing out the more preachy

passages and amping up the

romance and intrigue.

Andrew Male

Record Safari (YouTube)

Vincent Vittorio’s 2020 doc

about Alex Rodriquez, an

obsessive record collector,

takes the form of a road trip

across America with the

amiable Alex visiting record

shops from Seattle to

Manhattan in his quest for

rare, elusive and weird vinyl.

Collectors will drool with

envy; those who have never

understood compulsion will

be entertainingly nonplussed.

The Batman

(Buy as stream/download)

As is pretty much obligatory

for Batman tales nowadays,

the character’s latest movie

(starring Robert Pattinson) has

a grim, gloomy atmosphere.

In this case, however, the

Bat-signal is not the film’s only

source of brightness. Zoë

Kravitz’s Catwoman and Colin

Farrell’s Penguin add bursts

of cartoonish fun. Dir: Matt

Reeves (2022) EP

and sexual symbolism.

As such, it’s initially a

disappointment that this

adaptation, by Anna Symon

and Clio Barnard, seems so

humourless, so constrained by

the tight corset of 21st-century

costume drama. But there

is also rich sinister subtext

here that strains at those

limitations, and Clare Danes

is utterly magnificent as our

pioneering independent

heroine, Cora Seaborne.

Menace to society? Boyd, Merchant, Barreto, Walken, Perkins and Cole (BBC1, 9pm)

The Outlaws (BBC1, 9pm)

Judging by the long,

complicated recap sequence,

the first series of Stephen

Merchant’s genial but

occasionally ultra-violent

comedy drama about a group

of community payback

workers who discover a bag

of money did not, by its own

admission, end well. It is

aware of the loose ends, but

with a cast that includes

Christopher Walken,

Merchant himself, Darren

Boyd, Rhianne Barreto, Clare

Perkins, Gamba Cole and

Nina Wadia, is in no hurry

to tie them up. The director

John Butler handles multiple

storylines with a light hand

and is smart enough to

know that any programme

featuring Walken dancing

is one that people will want

to watch. More nightclub

scenes, please.

Helen Stewart

Platinum Jubilee

(BBC1, from 12.10pm)

As the festivities reach their

climax with The Platinum

Pageant (BBC1, 1pm), the

organisers will be praying

they’ll be spared the

drenching rain that ruined the

pageant on the Thames ten

years ago. Involving 5,000

people in St James’s Park and

nearby streets, today’s four-act

celebration encompasses a

military display, a showcase

for creativity, the story of

the Queen’s life and a finale

with Ed Sheeran and other

“national treasures”. Parties

around the UK will be covered

too. Earlier, there’s a Songs

Of Praise special (BBC1,

12.10pm); later, Kirsty Young

introduces highlights of the

weekend (BBC2, 8pm).

John Dugdale

Exploration Volcano

(Dave, 6pm)

Volcano expert and part-time

daredevil Chris Horsley heads

to La Palma in the Canary

Islands, where lava has started

exploding from a hill a mile

away from the nearest town,

threatening the homes of

7,000 people. He documents

the eruption and is on hand

to help the survivors.

Top Gear (BBC1, 8pm)

Paddy McGuinness, Andrew

Flintoff and Chris Harris

return for the show’s 32nd (!)

series and are up to their

usual vehicle-based, high-

octane high jinks. Having

obtained racing licences,

the trio head to Florida in a

manky RV to compete at the

Freedom Factory raceway

driving old police cars.

The Read: On The Black Hill

(BBC4, 8pm)

Working in conjunction with

Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime, The

Read features Callum Scott

Howells reading from the 1982

award-winning novel by the

late Bruce Chatwin, about the

lives of twin brothers Lewis

and Benjamin Jones on their

isolated upland farm in Wales.

Ian Wade

CRITICS’ CHOICE

He was all right, he

was a Goodfella