WHAT’S HOT TO WATCH TODAY
I MUST confess I was in two minds about watching my preview copy of BILLY CONNOLLY’S ULTIMATE WORLD TOUR (9pm, ITV).
I’d read reports that Billy’s already fragile health had deteriorated further (he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013) and I was worried that the whole thing might be way too upsetting, this guy being one of my all-time comedy heroes.
But it’s OK, it really is. It’s a look back at some of the many TV travelogues Billy has filmed over the last 25 years, mixed with a few new mini-adventures filmed around Florida, where he lives these days, and while it’s obviously impossible to ignore his condition, it’s not one on which he chooses to dwell on.
Instead, he’s clearly still getting a kick from hanging out with new people (including the local Crocodile Response Agent) and hearing about their lives, and when he does turn philosophical it’s refreshingly positive. ELSEWHERE, tonight’s visit to OXFORD STREET 24/7 (9pm, Channel 5) focuses on this summer’s Pride event, for which hundreds of thousands of revellers came to London’s West End, celebrating in what proved to be sweltering conditions.
Needless to say, looking after so many people posed a big challenge for the St John Ambulance volunteers, and casualties were inevitable.
One guy they treated had been found sprawled on the pavement, screaming in agony. Turned out he’d dislocated his knee.
And how had he done that? By slipping on a banana skin. Not wishing to sound unsympathetic but I could have sworn people only did that in cartoons.