What to watch
Prince: Last Year of a Legend
CHANNEL 4, 10.00PM
Confidants, famous fans and protégés pay tribute to a musical genius in this peculiar documentary which has plenty of good material but only a sketchy idea of what to do with it all; the strain of trying to understand such a studied enigma is tangible. Proceeding from April 2015 through the following 12 months of frenetic gigging (including jamming with Stevie Wonder at the White House) and recording to his death from an accidental overdose of painkillers, Last Year of a
Legend is from the show-and-tell school of documentary making.
Zawe Ashton’s narration is a case in point: “Prince plays his famous rock anthem, uniting and inspiring his audience,” we’re told, over footage of the singer performing
Purple Rain to a demonstrably rapt crowd.
Nothing Compares 2 U is described thus: “Often appearing on lists of the greatest songs, it’s a testament to Prince’s skill as a songwriter”. It then takes a curious turn into true-crime territory as “Prince’s last hours turn murky”. Yet it’s essential viewing for fans, both for the behind-the-scenes peak at the singer’s home Paisley Park and for the reminder, courtesy of scintillating concert footage, of what a blazing talent we have lost. Gabriel Tate
The Real T. Rex with Chris Packham
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
Naturalist Chris Packham travels the globe to gain a greater understanding of the Tyrannosaurus Rex through fossils, computergenerated reconstructions and the dinosaur’s nearest living descendants. Was the dinosaur a pea-brained scavenger or sophisticated predator? Packham’s conclusions are characteristically forthright.