Tony Blair the man in charge? Not quite
● Dear NHS: 100 Stories To Say Thank You, edited by Adam (Trapeze, £16.99) is out now. Adam is due to play a string of shows in the autumn, lockdown permitting (adamkay.co.uk).
IT’S NOT often that documentaries are as compelling as drama but I would make an exception for The Rise Of Rupert Murdoch (BBC Two, Tuesday). What a superb piece of television, which was ostensibly the real-life version of the HBO drama hit Succession, starring Brian Cox. In fact, the doc rather edges the drama, not least because most of the main “characters” are figures with whom we’re familiar, some we admire and inevitably some we despise.and some we may have changed our minds about in the watching of this revealing show.
There were two jaw-dropping moments in the first episode. First was a comment from Nigel Farage who admittedly likes to stir the pot. He claimed that there “wouldn’t have been a Brexit” had Tony Blair taken us into the euro, probably through a referendum. Really? Is he, in this instance only, doubting his only abilities to convince the British public? Surely not.anyway, it’s debatable that the Conservative Party would have given up the fight for an EU referendum simply because we were in the euro. Life under the euro would likely have been a shambles anyway.
The other small hand grenade tossed into the pages of history came from BBC TV presenter and former Sunday Times editor Andrew Neil who, one suspects, knows a thing or two about Murdoch. He claimed that prime minister Tony Blair “in the week leading up to the land invasion of Iraq spoke to Murdoch more than his own foreign secretary”. Murdoch, according to Neil, was acting as a contact between Number 10 and the White House. Blimey. When it comes to Iraq, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Over-ridingly, most of the press doesn’t come out of this documentary well, but it’s no less fascinating as a result.you realise, which I’m sure we know, that press barons such as Murdoch hold a unique power, legitimate or not.
How fascinating it would have been to be a fly on the wall at the dinner party involving Murdoch, his wife Anna, opposition leader Tony Blair and his wife Cherie. Murdoch said afterwards: “Cherie is a bit strange, but I like him.” That was the next election sorted then.
There is an unexpected winner from this first episode. No, not GMB presenter Piers Morgan who revealed he played snooker with James Murdoch, son of Rupert, into the early hours of one morning, but the
ITV must think we really, really love Rowan Atkinson’s Maigret (Sunday) because they’re repeating it so soon after its first run. Now fans of murder mystery, and we are many, tend to remember who the killer is if nothing else. So showing this repeat now, tepid fare at best, is barking. Meanwhile, the BBC, which has lost barely any revenue under lockdown (so don’t complain), gives us Olympic Games Rewind. What about a wonderful “old” literary adaptation – such as a Dickens, Trollope, or Elliot? BBC apparently has few new shows to offer but no imagination either. Search your archive! often mocked former prime minister John Major who was asked directly by Murdoch, “I would like you to change your European policy.” Major, to his credit, said “No”.as far as I could see, Major was also not on the guest list of politicians and flunkies who bounded on to Murdoch’s luxury yacht on Australia’s Hayman Island (owned by Murdoch) in 1995, a list that included Blair, his spokesman Alistair Campbell and Australia’s PM Paul Keating.
So have a pint of ale on us, Sir John. Tony Blair, meanwhile, is allowing Campbell to speak for him.
There was an intricate power struggle at the heart of Cursed (Netflix, Friday), a blood-dripping, teenage Arthurian fantasy.there was a young king struggling with a drought, a doped-up young sorcerer Merlin who couldn’t cast a spell to save himself, and a marauding force of rapists and pillagers about to lay siege to a castle. OK, delete “intricate” because there is nothing very subtle about this retelling of the Arthurian legend which also featured a young Lady of the Lake, called Nimue, and a troubadour/mercenary Arthur who appeared to move between locations in these darkened forests without any horsepower. But he had charm and a ready tune to deploy. Meanwhile, the lead actress, Katherine Langford, played our heroine – a kick-ass witch – like she was about to conquer this bizarre kingdom within two episodes using her plastic, lighting-up sword. More weirdly, she could fire lengths of greenery and vine at any enemy who approached her, making her TV’S next gardening superhero (after Alan Titchmarsh, of course).
Cursed isn’t Game Of Thrones, but it really would like to be. It literally rained blood, courtesy of Merlin The Dope, in its first episode so its credentials can’t be faulted.whether Nimue can overthrow Knotweed Landing remains to be seen. Finally, if you’d like to watch an antidote to Cursed, listen to the American accents take over the Dark Ages in the returning comedy Miracle Workers (Sky Comedy, Monday).we all know that the Darkages belonged to the British when everyone spoke either RP orwest Country.at least, that was my takeaway from Sky’s barmy Britannia.
My favourite character in Miracleworkers is Peter Serafinowicz’s king who channels the comedy power of Alan Rickman’s unrivalled Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood.also, Steve Buscemi plays a **** shoveller, in a scatalogical tour de faeces. And shock... it’s actually quite funny.