TELEVISION deals in two kinds of celebrities. There are the ones it sends on assignments stuffed with five star hotels and friendly faces around every corner. These are the kind of folk who make programmes such as Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy (BBC2, Sunday, 8.20pm).
It was only last year that the star of Julie and Julia, Spotlight, and the currently showing Inside Man, first embarked on his search for Italy. He has managed to find it again for a second series, which is good for him, and good for those of us who enjoyed watching this dapper gent, “Italian on both sides”, living la dolce vita last time. There may be someone who can rock a jeans and sweater combo better than Stanley, but we have yet to meet them.
For the first episode Tucci is in the preposterously beautiful Venice, home to eye-wateringly expensive restaurants, one of which made the papers a few years ago for charging four Japanese students £970 for a meal. Yes, police were called.
Stanley has been told that he can feast like a local just two minutes from the Rialto Bridge, so off he goes, darting through a warren of streets, eventually stumbling across the All’ Arco wine bar. There he tries cicchetti, or small pieces of bread with yummy toppings, which he pronounces delicious with a glass of chilled white. It is 8.30am and Tucci is just getting started.
How easy it is to get to some of the fabulous locations shown in the series I don’t know, and his cooking demonstrations are not exactly burdened with details, but programmes such as these are all about the vibe. Sit back, have a bowl of pasta, a glass of wine, and relax.
Now we come to the second kind of TV show featuring famous folk. I say famous, but some of the faces in Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins (Channel 4, Sunday, 9pm) you might struggle to name. We are in the realm of former soap actors and ex-footballers here, all of whom are trying to convince the shouty, hardman instructors they have what it takes to join the elite military unit.
This week the focus is on commanding a team: what it means, what it takes, and the most important takeaway of all, what to do when things go wrong. The tasks are tough, with the scorching desert setting doing the contestants no favours.
Those the instructors are concerned about are taken in for a chat (not a euphemism; it really is just a chat), and one such meeting this week leaves the tough guy teachers almost speechless.
By the by, among the raw recruits is one Fatima Whitbread. The former javelin champ is bus pass age, but when it comes to true grit she leaves the youngsters standing.
From games of murderball (it’s like rugby but with a tyre instead of a ball) to the realm of civility that is home to Portrait Artist of the Year (Sky Arts, Wednesday, 8pm). In here, everyone and everything is lovely, so why go anywhere else of a midweek evening?
Back for a ninth series, the format is simple: each week, take nine artists, professionals and amateurs, and ask them to paint a person of note. Run the results past expert judges, add Joan Bakewell and Stephen Mangan as hosts and celebrity-wranglers, and there you have it, a relaxing hour’s viewing.
This week the subjects are the writer and podcaster Elizabeth Day, Nick Grimshaw, broadcaster, plus his dog, Stinky Blob, and the jockey Khadijah Mellah.
What is remarkable about Portrait Artist of the Year is the way the standard keeps improving. It is hard to tell amateur from professional at times. The winner of the “life-changing” prize gets to paint Sir Lenny Henry and have their work presented in the National Portrait Gallery in London.
If you fancy some argy bargy before the art, there is Britain on Strike: The Debate (Channel 5, Monday, 9pm). As prep, the channel is showing a documentary, 1978: Winter of Discontent, the night before. The debate itself is likely to be more focussed on the strikes of summer 2022, and the ones set for the months ahead, but 1978-79 informs so much of the thinking on this subject it’s worth having a recap. The debate is hosted by Jeremy Vine, so it won’t be at all heated.
Did you take the advice of last week and buy into the City slicker drama, Industry (BBC1, Tuesday, 10.40pm)?
Half the time on Industry I have no idea what anyone is talking about, such is the pace of the dialogue and the amount of jargon used.
The second series gets into its groove this week as the new kids on the trading block start to declare their independence and some of the older guard return to behaving badly (if they ever stopped). The episode ends in perfect fashion with a classic track from Donna Summer.
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