AMONG the many pleasures to be had from watching the rerun of the classic spy drama Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (BBC4/iPlayer, Saturday, 10.30pm) is the chance to have a look at a Glesga partly gone.
The Twitter account @LostGlasgow has kindly dug out some images of locations used in the series, including Watt Bros’ art deco basement. There’s another great shot of Ian Bannen (who plays MI6 agent Jim Prideaux) loitering with intent near the junction of Sauchiehall Street and Hope Street.
The production team fancied late 1970s Glasgow was a visual shoo-in for Cold War era Czechoslovakia. When you look at the city’s buildings with their faded grandeur, and the wide open streets populated by matchstick men and women in flared trousers and dodgy perms, they were not far wrong.
Glasgow also stood in for Moscow in Alan Bennett’s 1983 television drama, An Englishman Abroad, the tale of traitor Guy Burgess. Yes, when you want to evoke either grimness or beauty, Glasgow certainly is miles better. You’re welcome, world.
Swedish director Tomas Alfredson directed a big screen, big name version of le Carre’s novel in 2011, starring Gary Oldman as George Smiley. There was some trepidation about stepping on the hallowed ground once inhabited by Alec Guinness and company, but the cast was so terrific, and the production so convincing, that fans warmed to the new boy. But there remains something about the original that cannot be beaten. For my money, it’s Guinness’s Smiley, a riddle wrapped in a stout wool coat, an enigma to the end.
Showing over the Bank Holiday weekend, the seven-parter is topped by a repeat of Mark Lawson Talks to John le Carre (BBC4, Monday, 11.25).
We’re up to episode nine of Scotland’s Home of the Year (BBC Scotland, Wednesday, 8pm). Where has the time gone? This heat, set in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley, is the last before a grand finale that will see properties around Scotland duke it out for the title.
Glasgow won the last series with a stunning West End home that could double in any film for the swankiest of abodes. Wonder if another winner is lurking among the trio of homes featured here: a period pink property in Killearn, a Victorian terrace and a townhouse. All three are real labours of love, which is always a good start. William.
This is the third series of the show known to afficionados as SHOTY. It has been one of the new channel’s biggest hits, so it was no surprise to learn a fourth series has been commissioned. In previous years, the winner was obvious the first time you saw them, which rather drained the drama from the competition. This time there have been so many stunning homes it is hard to see a clear winner just yet, though that exquisitely styled pad in the centre of Edinburgh will take some beating.
What I’d really like to see are the homes of judges Anna Campbell-Jones, Michael Angus and Kate Spiers, so if you could sort that out IWC Media, that nosey among us would be particularly grateful.
Any chat show host hoping to stand out from the pack needs a USP. In Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (STV, Tuesday, 9.30pm) it’s the host’s ability to bring on tears before bedtime, and lots of them, in his guests. No matter how apparently blessed with fame and fortune his subject may be, the former Good Morning Britain presenter will always find a way to tap into some sadness.
In the seat opposite Morgan this week is Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who touches upon his mother’s ill health and his father’s devastation when she died. There is also a bit of politics too, with the MP saying the pandemic is a “once in a generation” chance to make society fairer and more caring.
As you can see from polls consistently giving the Conservatives a double digit lead over Labour, Sir Keir has a long way to go before he looks like a credible challenger to Boris Johnson. The recent elections in England were disastrous for the party, with the loss of Hartlepool to the Tories a real blow. Polls also show the Labour leader is having trouble cutting through to the public. In other words, a lot of voters do not know Sir Keir from Adam. Hence his appearance on Morgan’s show. Just as every chat show needs a gimmick, so it is now deemed necessary for every politician to have a backstory. Unless you are the current occupant of Number Ten, in which case talking about your private life is the last thing you want to do.
The only thing that makes the end of a series of Gogglebox bearable is the start of Celebrity Gogglebox (Channel 4, Friday, 9pm). The line-up in this series includes oor Lorraine Kelly and her daughter Rosie.
Don’t worry, Bez and Shaun from the Happy Mondays are back too. Oh happy days.
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