WHAT do I know? Not a lot if the National Television Awards are any guide. I have been saying for years, over and over like some demented Glaswegian parrot, that no good would ever come of the woefully unfunny Mrs Brown’s Boys.
This week it won best comedy at the NTAs, beating Derry Girls, Afterlife, Fleabag, and Sex Education. I don’t mind saying it stung. Only consolation: it is “the public”, whoever they are, that vote in the NTAs. Nothing to do with us, chums, so let us pretend it never happened and move on.
Perhaps next year the awards that shall not speak their name could hand out the prize on offer in Win the Wilderness (BBC1, Sunday). Six British couples were competing to win a house in Alaska. We were talking proper wilderness, with the distance to the nearest road 100 miles. Imagine getting home and realising you’d forgotten the milk. Or the children.
The house was owned by a nice old couple, now in their 70s, who had built it from scratch and wanted to hand it to a family who would keep it going. The 12 were a mixed bag of midwives, ex-coppers, accountants, engineers, etc, plus the regulation Scot (Chris, a sales manager). Everyone knew they were a long way from Kansas, or Kirkintilloch, when they received a can of anti-bear spray. One couple said they had lived “off grid” for years, which made you wonder how they found out about the programme.
After various tests, such as building a shelter, the best performing pair got to spend the day at the wilderness house and have a sort of second interview with the couple. For a programme that was about back to basics living it was hugely convoluted.
It is not so long since Peter Jackson colourised footage of soldiers in the First World War for the documentary They Shall Not Grow Old. One might think the impact would be lessened on seeing the same process done by another filmmaker. Not so, as anyone who saw Auschwitz Untold: In Colour (More 4, Sunday-Monday) would aver. How could any of these images fail to shock at any time?
In long and detailed interviews the programme duly brought to light aspects of the story that might have been forgotten, or not widely known: the heroism of those who were able to fight back, the escapes, how people tried to support each other.
One of the women who worked in the nearby armaments factory said there were lots of opportunities to sabotage the bullets and bombs. “I don’t think any of mine ever made it,” she said with pride.
To remind us that sickening history is never too far from repeating itself the filmmakers visited Pittsburgh, scene of the recent attack on a synagogue in which 11 people were murdered. By far the finest scene was the closer, when one survivor looked out over the Californian hills and told us of her six great grandchildren. The best revenge against Hitler, she said.
There is so much on digital television it can be easy to miss a new channel never mind a series. Sky Comedy, which launched this week, does have some crown jewels, though, including the new series of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Deciding to keep that one for a rainy day, I dropped in instead on Miracle Workers (Sky Comedy, Monday).
Starring Steve Buscemi as God, and Daniel Radcliffe as a lowly worker in Heaven Inc, it was a little bit The Office, with a smidgen of The Good Place and faint top notes of The Big Lebowski. Looked terrific, with movie quality production standards, but the jokes were slow in coming.
One of the season’s major dramas, The Trial of Christine Keeler (BBC1, Sunday), sallied off to the land of catch-up. After all the fun and games in previous episodes it was time for a reckoning. What’s the betting the good guys won and the not so good were suitably punished? Exactly.
Amanda Coe’s drama has managed to right a few of the worst wrongs about this tale, chief among them the hounding of Stephen Ward to his death, and the treatment of Keeler as a schemer rather than the vulnerable young woman she was. This week it was the turn of her dad (played by Neil Morrissey) to exploit her by selling his story. “Why are men so bloody rubbish?” asked Christine in the quote of the series.
The run ended on a nice note, with Christine dancing on her own in a club, looking carefree. A caption said she never wanted to be seen as a victim. Request granted, but with a heavy heart.
On Coronation Street (STV, Wednesday), Sarah Platt was planning her wedding to proud Scot Adam Barlow. For the nuptials he has chosen a Rennie Mackintosh theme. “He’s a complete legend in the art nouveau movement,” explained Sarah to her brother. A name check on Corry: true fame at last.
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