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TV preview: From 999 to cats with nine lives, the joint is jumping
knife attacks. By 10am on a Sunday reports of four stabbings have come in.
Ambulance is built around the personalities of the crew members out in the field, the people who answer the phones in the control room and, finally, the patients. Everyone has a story – some of them brief and simply told; others more complex and teased out over the hour.
In the course of a single shift, the crews are exposed to more trauma than most of us will hopefully ever experience over the course of a lifetime. What
shines through is not just their patience in what can often be trying situations, but their humanity and sense of humour. I didn’t expect to laugh during the programme, but I did.
A perfectly paced programme that goes from strength to strength. No need to choose between it and 24 Hours – you won’t go wrong watching both.
Over on the TV review page you can read my two cents’ worth on Dog Tales: The Making of Man’s Best Friend.
In the interests of balance, and because the first one was so good, I had a peek at the follow-up,
Cats beat dogs in the numbers game, being the world’s most popular furry pets. Like hounds, cats have adapted to get the most out of their human hosts. Their meow, for example, is perfectly pitched to elicit a caring response, just like a baby’s cry. Adult cats only meow to humans, not each other.
Cats have a reputation for aloofness and, when you consider how they have been persecuted in the past – the
Middle Ages being a particularly savage time – it’s a wonder they have anything to do with humans at all. But they do, and for that many a cat person is eternally grateful.
With the return of MSPs and MPs to Holyrood and Westminster, politics shows are returning to the schedules.
is the sort-of alternative to BBC1’s Question Time. It has the same basic set-up, an audience asking questions of a panel of politicians, commentators and other public figures, but is done on a smaller, more intimate scale.
Viewers liked the lack of fuss, with some preferring this to QT. Before the coronavirus crisis forced QT into more remote ways of working, the Fiona Bruce-hosted network show was gaining a reputation as too shouty. In Scotland there were rows over audience balance.
Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the new series of Debate
Night, hosted again by Stephen Jardine, will take place via Zoom, with a virtual audience taking part from home.
The first show on Wednesday takes in all of Scotland. After that, audiences will be drawn from Aberdeen (Sept 23); Edinburgh and Lothian (Sept
30); Argyll and Bute (Oct 7); Borders, Galashiels, Hawick and Peebles (Oct 28);
Glasgow (Nov 4); Dundee and Perth (Nov 11) and Ayrshire
(Nov 18). To apply for an audience spot, search “BBC Scotland Debate Night”.
High Fidelity (StarzPlay, available now)
Nick Hornby’s 1995 novel about a music-obsessed guy getting over a break-up was one of the best novels of that decade, and helped no end of folks in a similar situation. Though transplanted from London to Chicago, the film version of High Fidelity wasn’t bad either.
There had never been a TV series based on the book, until now. To give it a fresh spin, the lead protagonist has been gender-flipped, re-imagining the story from the point of view of Zoe Kravitz. She plays Robyn (aka Rob) Brooks, the record storeowner whose obsession with pop culture and top-five lists should appeal to many, not least because of her fourth wall-breaking narration.
Challenger: The Final Flight (Netflix, from Wed) In April 1983, the space shuttle Challenger became the second shuttle to reach space. During almost three years of service, it successfully completed nine missions, spending 62 days, seven hours, 56 minutes and 22 seconds in space.
Challenger hosted the first space walk of the spaceshuttle programme and carried the first American female and first black astronauts. But, in a tragedy that shocked the world, during Challenger’s 10th launch on January 28, 1986, broadcast live across the
US, the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after lift-off, killing all seven people on board.
This four-part documentary series takes an in-depth look at the Challenger disaster, a moment that changed the Nasa space programme for ever and has proved unforgettable for a generation of Americans.
The Devil All the Time (Netflix, from Wed)
Tom Holland, best known to superhero movie fans as Spider-Man, takes on an altogether more brooding role in this adaptation of the award-winning novel by
Donald Ray Pollock. A dark drama spanning the time between the Second World War and the 1960s, it tells the story of a young man living in the backwoods of rural Ohio and trying to make his way in the world.
However, he is constantly threatened by the forces of evil in the shape of an unholy preacher on the run from the law, a crooked sheriff and a husband-and-wife team of serial killers. The ensemble cast includes Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan, Jason Clarke, Riley Keough, Bill Skarsgard, Eliza Scanlen and Mia Wasikowska.
Happy Valley (BritBox, from Thu)
In case you didn’t know it, Sally Wainwright is one of Blighty’s best writers, having honed her skills on Coronation Street, and the sublime series At Home with the Braithwaites.
Happy Valley is arguably her greatest creation. It re-teamed her with Corrie’s Sarah Lancashire, who was her first choice as a vengeful police sergeant in a rural West Yorkshire valley.
The actress gives an outstanding performance as Catherine Cawood, a West Yorkshire cop still coming to terms with the suicide of her teenage daughter, Becky, eight years earlier.
Now divorced and living with her troubled sister,
Clare (Siobhan Finneran), Catherine’s life is turned upside down when she hears that Tommy Lee
Royce (James Norton), the man who raped her daughter and drove her to suicide, has been released from prison. Here’s a chance to binge all 12 parts of the Bafta-winning saga.
IT’S good to talk. That was the message that was repeated again and again during Radio Scotland’s Six Men (Wednesday and Thursday), a two-part very personal documentary on the subject of suicide from musician
Gary Innes, above, more familiar as presenter of Take the Floor elsewhere on Radio Scotland’s schedule.
Innes has lost six teammates from his Fort William shinty club and his documentary, timed to coincide with World Suicide Awareness Day. He spoke to members of their families and asked wider questions about why suicide was so prevalent in the Highlands and what can be done to tackle it.
Inevitably, the personal accounts of friends and families of the men were the most powerful and upsetting elements. Innes himself admitted they were “the most difficult conversations I’ve ever had.” But there were moments of humour too. One of the mothers was still driving around with her son’s “Sexy” numberplate on her car, which she admitted “is seriously sad at my age”. But it helped keep the memory of her son close.
Six Men raised wider questions, too, about how we need to change our idea of masculinity away from the “strong and stoic” model to a more open and emotionally eloquent one.
And it’s not impossible. Shetland once had the highest rate of male suicides in Scotland, but, following an intensive and very visible campaign to raise the awareness of mental health support, it is now the lowest.
BAIT
Film 4, Thursday, 11.20pm
SHOT on a hand-cranked Bolex camera using 16mm black-and-white film he developed himself using instant coffee and vitamin C powder, Mark Jenkin’s Bafta-winning 2019 film plays out against the backdrop of the Brexit negotiations – courtesy of background radio news bulletins – and follows Cornish fisherman Martin Ward (Edward Rowe) across one summer as he tries to eke out a living in a community swamped with second-home owners.
One of these families, the Leighs, now occupies the harbourside cottage he and his brother Steven (Giles King) grew up in. And it’s their arrival with a car-load of champagne and other delicacies – plus two spoilt teenage children, Katie (Georgia Ellery) and Hugo (Jowan Jacobs) – that sets in train a series of events that result in tragedy.
Martin used to fish with elder brother Steven in their father’s boat but, since Steven diversified into coastal trips for stag parties, he has taken to pegging out nets on the beach instead, in the company of Steven’s son Neil (Isaac Woodvine).
Martin can sell four sea bass for £30 to the owner of the local pub, of which Neil earns £10. That’s just enough for a night out with Katie, with whom he’s having an on-off summer fling.
Though, as often as not, she ends up around a fire on the beach in the company of Hugo and his friends, all of them monied seasonal incomers. Hugo likes to take to the harbour in his wetsuit and try to spear fish.
One day he cuts open Martin’s single lobster creel and the
Leighs eat the contents. For them it’s a delicious accompaniment to their chilled white wine but for Martin it’s a significant loss of income. Meanwhile, local girl Wenna (Chloe Endean) opens a second front in the battle when she’s sacked from her job in the
His four children are determined to become the next chief executive.
They mercilessly exploit each other’s weaknesses including Kendall’s penchant for drugs and Shiva’s affair with colleague and political strategist Nate Sofrelli.
As the scheming offspring jostle for supremacy, aided by their respective partners, Logan urges them to maintain the status quo for the sake of appearances and avoid a gnarly public relations disaster for the company.
Supergirl – The Complete Fifth Season (Cert 12)
not have faced a sterner test against the champions, who last lost in the league at Anfield in April 2017. Meanwhile, Spurs and Everton will both have been keen to get off to a winning start after enduring disappointing campaigns last time out.
SUNDAY
Piers Morgan’s Life Stories (STV, 8pm)
Captain Sir Tom Moore joins Piers Morgan to look back on his extraordinary life, which spans an entire century. He reflects on the devastating accident that left him in intensive care at the age of 98 – and how his gratitude to the
NHS and battle to regain mobility led to the record-breaking charity walk that first brought after a KGB defector is snatched by the Russians. Bond’s investigations lead him into the centre of a drugsmuggling operation and the Afghan war, accompanied by a beautiful blonde musician who seems to know more than she’s letting on. Dalton brings a real toughness to the role, and Daniel Craig’s characterisation of the superspy owes much to this gritty, charming performance.
MONDAY
Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (2016) (Film4, 9pm)
him to public attention. Tom takes stock of his wartime service, reveals the untold story of his first marriage and discusses how his beloved second wife Pamela brought him happiness and a family before her terminal illness left him rebuilding his life once again.
Extinction: The Facts (BBC1, 8pm)
During his career, David Attenborough has encountered some of the world’s most extraordinary animals and plants. Now many of these wonders seem set to disappear from Earth forever. In 2019, with support from the United Nations, 500 scientists carried out their most comprehensive assessment of the natural world. Their findings revealed that the huge
When Jake’s grandfather, Abe, dies under mysterious circumstances, the youngster remembers the bizarre stories Abe told of his childhood during the Second World War, which he spent at a home on a small Welsh island run by Miss Peregrine. His father takes him to the island. But when Jake enters the apparently ruined house, which was bombed in 1943, he discovers that Miss Peregrine saved the children using a time loop that maintains everything as it was 24 hours before the house was bombed. Tim
variety of life, known as biodiversity, is being lost at a rate never seen before. This means one million species are at risk of extinction. With the help of ecologists, biologists, economists and environmental lawyers, this offering examines why biodiversity loss is happening and what it means not just for the natural world but for every one of us.
Strike – Lethal White (BBC1, 9pm)
Robin meets Raphael for a drink, and he explains more about Freddie’s bullying of Rhiannon, which gives Geraint a strong motive for Chiswell’s murder. They are interrupted by a call from Matthew, which Robin blocks before revealing they have separated. The police
Burton’s gloriously dark fantasy adventure based on Ransom Riggs’ bestselling novel.
Brassed Off (1996) (Film4, 11.30pm)
Pete Postlethwaite gives one of his most powerful performances as Danny, the ailing leader of a South Yorkshire colliery brass band who is determined to see his members compete in a prestigious music competition. He’s so obsessed, he fails to see why most of his musicians – including his cash-strapped son Phil (Stephen Tompkinson on top form) – are more concerned with the news that the pit is closing.
TUESDAY
All The Money in the World (2017) (Film4, 9pm)
On July 10, 1973, John Paul Getty III (Charlie Plummer) is strolling through balmy night-time Rome when he is snatched off the street by balaclava-clad men. The abductors demand a $17 million ransom by telephone from the boy’s mother, Abigail (Michelle Williams). Oil tycoon J Paul Getty (Christopher Plummer) refuses to plunder a single cent from his billion-dollar empire, coldly arguing that if he paid a ransom for one grandchild he would set a costly precedent.
White House Down (2013) (5 STAR, 9pm)
John Cale (Channing Tatum) is an ex-soldier assigned to protect Speaker of the House Eli Raphelson (Richard Jenkins), when he would much rather be part of the Secret Service detail guarding President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx). An interview for promotion goes badly and John licks his wounds by joining his daughter Emily on a guided tour
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