5 June 2022 47THE BEST TV FROM SKY AND BEYOND... THURSDAY 9 JUNE
Judy Garland (or Frances Ethel
Gumm, as she was then)
was born on June 10, 1922,
and BBC4 celebrates her
centenary this evening. In
the 2019 biopic Judy (9pm),
she is well impersonated by
Renée Zellweger, but this
feat is still no match for the
titanic performance given by
the woman herself in 1954’s
A Star Is Born (10.50pm).
Before this double bill comes
a 2001 documentary on
Garland from the series
Hollywood Greats (8pm),
which will remind you how
badly the film industry
treated her. For some
viewers, knowledge of her
woes is part of the pathos
of her most famous movie,
1939’s The Wizard Of Oz
(on Sky Cinema Greats
tomorrow, 7.05pm), yet this
evergreen also continues
to delight children.
Edward PorterWilly Wonka & The Chocolate
Factory (Sky Cinema Family,
6.40am/2.10am)
Your feelings about Tim
Burton’s Charlie And The
Chocolate Factory (which
is on Sky Cinema Family
today at 8.25am/4am) might
nowadays depend on what
you make of its star, Johnny
Depp. In any case, his pallid
version of the confectionery
magnate Willy Wonka lacks
the inscrutable, twinkling
charm possessed by Gene
Wilder’s take on the character
in this older film. Mel Stuart’s
musical adaptation of the
Roald Dahl tale looks its age,
but this enhances the movie’s
fine tinge of weirdness. (1971)Good Will Hunting (Sky
Cinema Greats, 4.25pm)
Written by Matt Damon and
Ben Affleck, this tale of a
young working-class genius
(Damon) adds erudite touches
to a salty feelgood drama.
This works especially well in
the scenes featuring Robin
Williams as a tough mentor.
Dr: Gus Van Sant (1997)
Edward PorterWhat a fibber: Courtenay (Britbox) Damon and Williams (SCG, 4.25pm)FILM CHOICE
ON DEMAND
42 Days Of Darkness
(Netflix)
Are we consuming Netflix
shows differently post-
lockdown? Rejecting the binge
watch in favour of single
evening episodes to savour
and ponder? If so, it might
explain the popularity of this
Chilean crime drama from
Derry Girls (All4)
Watching the five waiting for
their GCSE results against the
background of the Good
Friday Agreement was a
near-perfect way to say
farewell to Lisa McGee’s
sitcom. All the uplift was
there, but also a broad strain
of sentimentality. Like so many
farewell gigs, season three felt
great on the night but may not
stand scrutiny down the line.
Andrew MaleBackstage: Ralph Fiennes
In Straight Line Crazy
(Sky/Now)
David Hare, Nicholas Hytner
and Fiennes sit on the stage of
London’s Bridge Theatre and
convince Luke Jones that we
would really like to see a play
about the urban planner
Robert Moses. Whether the
idea excites or not, the insights
on stagecraft are a delight,
and even an off-duty Fiennes
is captivating to watch.Dobermann
(Buy as stream/download)
Re-released to mark its 25th
anniversary, this ultraviolent
French thriller might not be
as well suited to modern
tastes as it was to the 1990s’
craze for Tarantino-inspired
mayhem. Still, its tale of a
ruthless bank robber (Vincent
Cassel) is so extravagantly and
proudly over the top that it
deserves not to be forgotten.
Dir: Jan Kounen (1997) EPGaspar Antillo and Claudia
Huaiquimilla. Based on a
real-life case that took place in
Chile in 2010, it feels closer to
the mysteries of Costa-Gavras
than your regular crime
whodunnit. This is a show in
which place, character,
performance and believable
dialogue take precedent over
shocks, all of it centred by a
knockout central performance
from Pablo Macaya as the
investigative lawyer.Not a pointless exercise at all for family-tree researcher Richard Osman (BBC1, 9pm)Who Do You Think You Are?
(BBC1, 9pm)
The cash-strapped BBC must
have breathed a sigh of relief
when the budget came in for
cheery author and gameshow
host Richard Osman’s family
exploration, as a few cabs
around Brighton and
Shrivenham were all it took
to unearth what his ancestors
got up to. While he admits he
would rather find a pirate
than a duke, he learns that
his grandfather joined the
Army as a teenager, before
accelerating through the ranks
and becoming a policeman
when he left — something
Osman was keen to do
himself. He also discovers
a pair of crime-solving
ancestors from the 1830s who
once uncovered a dead body
and would have been right
at home in one of his own
murder-mystery bestsellers.
Ian WadeLittle House, Big Plans
(C4, 8pm)
In her new series, renovation
expert Sarah Beeny casts her
eye over the plans of people
who have decided their houses
are too small. “Extension,
extension, extension” is the
battle cry, as Beeny and
architect Damion Burrows
offer encouragement mid-
project and qualified praise at
the end. One begins to suspect
“interesting” is Burrows’s safe
word and the works are indeed
interesting, but it is the tussle
between Beeny’s practicality
and the owners’ fancy that
makes the show compelling,
not to mention the dawning
realisation that the way to
achieve the place of one’s
dreams is to shack up with a
builder who’ll labour for free.
Helen StewartReel Britannia (Britbox)
The first part of this cinema
history focuses on British New
Wave and northern working-
class life. Clips of the likes of
Rita Tushingham, Laurence
Harvey, Albert Finney and Tom
Courtenay exhilarate; and the
episode shows how 1960s
films as diverse as Billy Liar
and Tom Jones had upwardly
mobile lads as heroes. JDMillion Pound Pawn
(ITV, 9pm)
Pawnbroking used to be a
slightly dingy affair, but with
Marbella as a magnet for
wealthy Brits, brokers such as
Cheshire-based Kathy and Dan
from Sheffield are going global
in order to woo expats to part
with their valuables. From a
vintage Roll-Royce to Rolexes,
this is basically pawn porn.Putin’s Road To War
(PBS America, 9.50pm)
As Russia continues to wreak
havoc on Ukraine, this film
looks at how Putin’s ego led to
war. Together with deranged
enablers on his security
council, performing for their
master, it’s an insight into what
a dangerous and disturbed
individual he really is.
Ian WadeCRITICS’ CHOICE
Living a life over
the rainbow