The weekend on television Ed Power How Aids forced Britain to face its own bigotry Mini Monet Millionaire Fearless
It’s one thing to chronicle the Aids outbreak of the early Eighties and the ensuing public health panic. But to do so in an entertaining fashion while never downplaying a generational tragedy is a particularly impressive achievement. Epidemic: When Britain Fought Aids (Channel 4, Sunday) was, at one level, a serious tribute to the doctors, activists and politicians who confronted an ignorant nation with the grim reality of a then-untreatable condition. But, with sparky narration from Julie Walters, the documentary also took us back to the world of cheesy pop, terrible haircuts and light-hearted historical moments from the decade (such as Clive Sinclair welcoming the first C5 electric buggy off the production line).
There was also much evidence of over-the-top bigotry which, in retrospect, seems heartbreaking. Comedian Paul O’grady remembered performing at a gay club that was raided by police wearing rubber gloves as protection against HIV.
As the extent of the Aids crisis became clear, senior politicians hesitated to approve a public information campaign. Norman Fowler (Secretary of State for Social Services at the time) recalled, with visible frustration, a reluctance to confront the looming public health disaster. The fear was that, by highlighting the dangers the disease posed to the gay community, impressionable citizens might be seduced by the lifestyle.
Common sense prevailed in the end and, by 1986, Britain was leading the way with a Government flier campaign which soberly set out the facts about HIV and Aids (accompanied by a less sober television campaign chock full of Hollywood explosions). As more than 20million leaflets with the slogan “Aids: Don’t Die of Ignorance” were pushed through letterboxes, there was a surprise upside, according to this documentary: many closeted gay men across Britain were empowered to finally open up about their sexuality.
Indeed without the crisis, Rupert Whitaker (co-founder of the Terrence Higgins Trust) suggested, the present era of tolerance towards sexual minorities might never have come to pass. Aids forced society to see that homosexuality was not some hidden menace.
Of course, it would be too glib to describe this as a happy ending and Epidemic did not present it as such. Nonetheless, Channel 4 is to be commended for gleaning something celebratory from one of the darkest chapters in modern British history.
This latest adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (Channel 4, Sunday) continues to weave a claustrophobic spell with its portrayal of a dystopian United States where human fertility is scarce and in which women’s roles are reduced to chattels and window dressing.
In this seventh episode, the focus switched from Elisabeth Moss’s handmaid Offred – a reproductive slave whose godly “duty” is to copulate with her master (Joseph Fiennes) – to her husband from her past life.
Luke (O-T Fagbenle), has thus far only been encountered in flashback and was believed dead by Offred. Now it was confirmed that he was very much alive and living as a refugee north of the border in the Toronto enclave of “Little America”.
In an episode that jumped back and forth across the timelines, we revisited his and Offred’s attempt to escape the US, renamed Gilead, and under the literal boot-heel of black clad religious police. With daughter Hannah they had fled the city and were smuggled in the boot of a car to a staging post near Canada. But their guide never returned, having been lynched for activities unbecoming of a God-fearing citizen of Gilead. With thuggish zealots on their trail, the family dashed for the border only to be heartbreakingly separated.
This was an uncharacteristically action-packed episode, with the emotional catharsis provided by the final scene in which present-day Luke was passed a note from Offred via a sympathetic Mexican diplomat. “I love you, so much,” she had hastily written. “Save Hannah.” His face crumpled and an hour that had sustained itself largely through the thrill of the chase delivered its crushing final coda.
The bleakness of this series is unlikely to relent in the final three episodes – yet it is this unflinching determination to be true to its nightmare premise that has made
The Handmaid’s Tale one of 2017’s most riveting dramas.
Epidemic: When Britain Fought Aids ★★★★
The Handmaid’s Tale ★★★★
BBC ONE, 7.30PM
In 2009, Kieron Williamson held his first art show. He is now worth £2million and, at the ripe old age of 14, preparing for a major exhibition. Martin Shaw narrates this profile of the watercolour prodigy and the parents who have so carefully managed his career. GT
ITV, 9.00PM
Emma (Helen Mccrory) exploits rifts in the establishment’s hitherto united front to meet with Logan (Jonah Lotan), who reveals some telling facts about his relationship with Linda, as this tortuously enjoyable thriller approaches its climax.