T2 TRAINSPOTTING

Film4, 11.10pm

Danny Boyle’s sequel is more than just a trip down memory lane. Back in 1996, Trainspotting’s gallery of junkies and rogues (Ewan

McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller) proudly and raucously chose not to choose life. But now, they all have come to terms with the gnawing possibility that life may have, in fact, not chosen them. There’s no chance of this poignant film matching the legacy of its predecessor, but thankfully it doesn’t tarnish it either.

With live sport off the menu for the foreseeable future, we’ll be bringing you a rundown of what’s on offer on the best of the streaming services, next up… politically nuanced drama, and two of his most accomplished creations, G.B.H. and Jake’s Progress, are worth checking out. The former follows the machinations and petty feuds of left wing council politics in Thatcher-era Liverpool, the latter is a domestic drama about a “difficult” child and the broken relationship between his

Night Dinner, currently airing its sixth season, and Graham Linehan’s The IT Crowd, starring Richard Ayoade and Chris O’Dowd as nerdy tech support, along with clergy comedy classic Father Ted, also by Linehan. David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s warped vision of modern life, Peep Show, competes with US sitcom Seinfeld as the most straightforwardly hilarious thing on the platform. The political slant continues with The Gravy Train, sure to be a favourite amongst Eurosceptics for its cutting satire of corruption in the EEC, while black comedy Shameless, set on a Manchester housing estate, gained infamy for its bold, uncensored treatment of social issues including sexuality, mental health and abuse.

2017

Thomas Turgoose as young misfit Shaun in This is England