Daily Mail - Daily Mail Weekend Magazine
Films of the week
THE CHILDREN ACT
(2017) 12 ◆ Monday, 9pm, BBC2 ★★★★
This adaptation of Ian Mcewan’s 2014 novel stars Emma Thompson as Fiona Maye (above), a judge who wears the heavy responsibility of making life-and-death decisions in the High Court’s family division. She takes on an especially troubling case – not the first – involving 17year-old Adam, who, as a Jehovah’s Witness, is refusing a life-saving blood transfusion on religious grounds. Her job deals in absolutes: she is the last word of the law. But as she tackles this case, taking the unusual step of meeting Adam in hospital, Fiona’s personal life has become unsteady, her marriage failing. Not so much about what is right or wrong – in the law, or in life – this thought-provoking drama explores how we all search for meaning in different ways.
POLTERGEIST
(1982) 15 ◆
Saturday, 11.10pm, BBC2 ★★★★ A critical and commercial hit, this slick, big-budget supernatural horror follows a family tormented by evil spirits. As the haunting escalates, the spirits snatch Carol Anne (Heather O’rourke, above), the sweet little girl who innocently spoke to them through the TV set. If you want more spooky thrills on Halloween night, the TV schedules have a strong selection. Corpse Bride is a beautifully animated Gothic romance from Tim Burton (1.15pm, ITV2), while Burton’s revival of cult TV show Dark Shadows is at 6.50pm (also ITV2). No Halloween would be complete without, well, Halloween, the 1978 classic that launched a gazillion slasher films (10.45pm, Film4), and finally, you will find more vengeful ghosts inside the TV set in The Ring (12.35am, BBC1).