The best on the box
James Croot’s television picks for the week ahead.
Far From the Madding Crowd, 12.55pm, Friday, Three
A century after it was first adapted for the big screen, this 2015 version of Thomas Hardy’s 1874 classic novel is far and away the best yet. Danish director Thomas Vinterberg and screenwriter
David Nicholls place their headstrong leading lady front and centre, as the men struggle to keep up with her. It helps that they have such a terrific actress in Carey Mulligan, who manages not only to muck in around the farm convincingly, but also ‘‘rock’’ a succession of sumptuous Victorian costumes (especially hats) and deliver Hardy’s portentous dialogue in exquisitely honeyed tones. Great expectations will be rewarded by this impressivelooking, terrifically acted, wellexecuted drama.
Soundtracks: Songs That Defined History, 8.30pm, Friday, Prime
New eight-part documentary series that explores the music tied to iconic moments in history. Every episode covers a tragedy, triumph, or the start of a movement – and the music that came to define it. First up, it’s the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
Lion, 8.30pm, Saturday, Rialto
Very much a film of two halves, both of them excellent, Australian director Garth Davis’ debut feature deservedly lapped up accolades from around the globe earlier this year. Adapted from his book A Long Way Home, this is the tale of Saroo Brierley (Sunny Pawar, Dev Patel) a young Indianborn, but Tasmanian-raised man desperate to find the original family he lost more than two decades earlier.
Father Brown, 9.30pm, Saturday, Prime
Mark Williams cycles back on screen to solve more mysteries in the sleepy village of Kembleford in this charming 1950s-set British series, based on the short stories by G K Chesterton. In the first episode, Father Brown is sceptical when a parishioner believes she’s being haunted by her sister who went missing years ago. However, when she herself vanishes, he must investigate both disappearances.
The Brokenwood Mysteries, 8.30pm, Sunday, Prime
Detective Senior Sergeant Mike Shepherd (Neill Rea) and Detective Kristin Sims (Fern Sutherland) return for the fourth season of the award-winning local drama series. In this week’s episode, a birthday picnic for Mike turns sour when the group witness a fatal skydiving accident.
QI, 9.45pm, Tuesday, Prime
Finally, only three years after it aired in the UK, we come to series L of this popular UK panel show. This week, Stephen Fry takes a look at the animal kingdom – from lonely whales to larval locomotives – with Sarah Millican, Ross Noble, Colin Lane and Alan Davies.