A sky-high salute to the RAF — courtesy of the flying McGregors
Let’s admit it straight away: RAFAt100 (BBC1) was a show to induce billowing green clouds of envy in any overgrown schoolboy whose bedroom ceiling was once festooned with Airfix models of spitfires and Beaufighters, dangling from cotton thread and drawing pins ... like mine.
Actor ewan McGregor and his older brother Colin got to fly in replica World War I biplanes and take part in a dogfight, before experiencing the near- vertical ascent and supersonic speeds of the modern typhoon.
ewan’s last major TV role was playing two brothers in Fargo. the characters looked nothing like each other. By contract, in real life he and Colin are practically twins.
they heard first-hand accounts of the Battle of Britain from Geoffrey Wellum, an 18-year- old pilot in 1940 who described vividly how to shake off a Messerschmitt in an aerial duel.
After a sortie, he said, the survivors would make for the pub and look around to see which of their comrades hadn’t made it back: ‘You had a couple of pints and you had to snap out of it.’
But the memory of lost chums has haunted him all his life. Now 96, squadron Leader Wellum swallowed back tears as he recalled seeing spitfires at a recent fly-past: ‘their cockpits were full of ghosts.’
the McGregor boys looked awestruck — and who wouldn’t? this was a conversation they would never forget. A chat followed with a pair of pilots from the civilian Air transport Auxiliary — Mary, 100, and Joy, 94, whose job delivering planes to airfields mean they flew everything from Hurricanes to Lancasters during World War II.
Both ladies were bubbling with mischief. Joy complained that ewan was a poor substitute for ‘my favourite toyboy’, Professionals star Martin shaw.
By now it was plain what made the RAF, which celebrates its centenary on April 1, the world’s greatest air force. It’s more than the planes and history — it’s the people.
the McGregors proved the right presenters, respectful but never stuffy, and thrilled to inspect the historic planes. It helps that only ewan is an actor: Colin was an RAF pilot for 20 years, flying missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. that made my envy more bearable.
three years after the departure of Clarkson and co, Top Gear (BBC2) has sorted out the right presenters, too. Matt LeBlanc, reportedly earning £1 million a series, is the chief star and the show’s focal point, with former racing driver Chris Harris as his deadpan sidekick.
the duo’s rapport was faked last year, but it’s gradually becoming more real: they respect each other’s deep love of anything with an engine, even if their senses of humour don’t mesh (Harris doesn’t have one and LeBlanc is American, after all).
Hyperactive Rory Reid is used in more sparing doses this year, often paired with barking-mad German race queen sabine schmitz, who is delirious fun.
Most of all, the show has rediscovered its rhythm. the scriptwriters aren’t straining for jokes with every line, cutting down the number of awkward silences in the studio as another gag dies. Instead, they’re building up to big laughs, such as the cod Countryfile trailer that ended the latest episode.
the format now has more than enough good segments to fill an hour. this means the producers can sometimes leave out elements, such as timed laps or celebrity circuits, to keep the show from getting too formulaic.
After two years of misfires and mechanical catastrophes, top Gear is a well-oiled machine once again.