They’re all at it on the Caribbean guest list...
I’ve just finished my In Conversation Q&A shows in Manchester and London. Before Christmas I toured with an orchestra, which was a dream come true. So life is good.
The albums Savage: Songs From A
Broken World and Savage: Live At Brixton Academy are out now.
THERE SHOULD be a Bafta category for it. (BBC One, Thursday) has broken a new record: the most guest stars to appear in a single episode, even including one married couple.
I counted at least five famous guests but others may have been out of shot, sunning themselves for a few days in Saint Marie.
This was also the series’ first story about a zoo. Alas, no monkeys were among the accused. On the guest list of suspects this time were actors Shelley Conn, her real-life husband Jonathan Kerrigan, Jonas Armstrong, Blake Harrison and Charlotte “Call The Midwife” Ritchie. If you’re a British TV actor, you’d be disappointed if you still haven’t been invited to the Caribbean.
Nonetheless, it was a quirky, engaging episode as Ardal O’Hanlon’s Detective Jack pretty much stumbled his way towards the killer.
We all miss Dwayne (Danny John-Jules) in the police station but now we have the police commissioner’s niece, Officer Ruby Patterson played by Shyko Amos, who was like an injection of adrenaline into the whole drama. Talking of Jack, she said: “You are way better than my uncle describes you…” Go, girl!
Her partner JP (Tobi Bakare) was not impressed: “She’s so extra.” Which, of course, means… “extra”. I don’t know, either. But you can start using it because it’s been on the BBC.
Finally, the crime was solved and everyone returned to the beach for a well-earned break, watching Ardal O’Hanlon in a wet suit with shades of the blessed Father Dougal.
FDeath in Paradise Cold Feet
OR ANY 50-something, Monday) is beginning to feel like therapy but in an enjoyable way. We don’t recommend any reader to actually take up the advice given by Adam (James Nesbitt) or David (Robert Bathurst) but take a lead from wiser counsel around them.
First up, Adam. When you’re having that midlife crisis, please do not reach for hair dye. It seems obvious but: no. A serial monogamist exploiting “the universal language of sexual attraction”, Adam was using “plant food for hair” to enrich his retreating mop. It worked very well, with Adam leaving his mark everywhere. Then there was the obliging female barista to whom he took quite a shine. Adam was delighted when she topped his latte with a heart. You’re not 14, mate! He was misreading signs everywhere.
If she’d given him a free biscuit, that’s another thing. But imagine what cafés would be like if everyone asked out every barista who put a pretty design on their coffee. Think of the queueing.
Then there’s goofy David (Robert Bathurst) who still appears very serious about his gangster moll (Siobhan Finneran). He was already down on his luck when he encouraged his call centre mates to walk out over the pay rise. What? David was not behaving like himself! Was he too loved up? Not when he shouted at his son, formerly Leslie (he with the shotgun) from The Durrells. The sight of actor Callum Woodhouse threw me completely. He was meant to be in Corfu in tennis flannels. As if that wasn’t confusing enough, Woodhouse’s character was also called Josh, his co-star’s name in The Durrells! Anyway, “new” Josh has quit university only two years into amassing an
(ITV,
FROCK HORROR: Lucy Worsley dresses up to uncover the untruths of history
LUCY WORSLEY escaped from her dressing-up box last week and imposed herself across the pond.
American History’s Biggest Fibs
(BBC Four, Thursday) proved once and for all that the US invented fake news.
The TV historian came up with countless examples – well, enough to fill an hour – of where history had been overly embroidered, much like her many extraordinary outfits.
The first boo-boo was Independence Day. The famous 4th of July should actually be celebrated on the 2nd. I must change my electronic diary immediately and cancel that Trump-size order of burgers for this year’s shindig.
The reason? Paperwork! It took two days to decide on the exact wording for the document. Call that a political negotiation? Two years and 500 pages – that’s a proper treaty.
But it didn’t stop with Independence Day...
We may see the Boston Tea Party as a “jolly jape” but it was seen by many in the United States, including George Washington himself, as “a crime”.
Most revealing however was the fact that during the War of Independence, Paul Revere and his famous horse did not warn militia that the British were coming.
That’s fake news, immortalised in an
1860 Longfellow poem. Another rider got there before him. Most likely Revere was in a café, sipping a fancy latte and inventing the line, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story”.