The Herald - The Herald Magazine
Alison Rowat’s TV review
THERE is a particular kind of television show that deals in the best and worst of humans. It is not a documentary on war and other suffering, nor something in the God slot of religious programming. It is the likes of The Dog House (Channel 4, Thursday).
Here, and in similar fare such as Paul O’Grady: For the Love of Dogs (STV), we learn of rotten people who abandon pedigree puppies if they are sickly, or bin their old dog because they are building a new house. How great would it be if the presenter, plus cameras, scooted round to doorstep the selfish eejits? I’d watch that. Heck, I’d present it for free.
Tendency towards breach of the peace: I shall add that to the very long list of reasons why I’m only trusted to review programmes, not make them. What The Dog House and its ilk do is restore faith in humans by showing us the staff who look after animals in their hour of need, and the people who offer them a new home.
Filmed at the HQ of the
Wood Green animal charity in Cambridgeshire, we watched as staff tried to match Kevin (abandoned French bulldog puppy), Sandy (frightened of humans), and Rocky (Newfoundland, did not fit with future plans), with the right families.
Not everything worked out, some dogs ended up with other people, and the producers did that annoying thing where everyone has to have a backstory that plays out to sad music, but this was an hour to madden, then gladden, the heart.
You could say much the same for The Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up to Cancer (Channel 4, Tuesday). Lucky is the person who has not had reason to send a rude gesture in the direction of that wicked disease.
Here we had celebrities doing their bit to raise money by baking cakes, interspersed with films about people with cancer.
“I love it when the celebrities mess up,” said Prue Leith, one of the judges, neatly putting her finger on the show’s appeal.
If you tuned in to the first show hoping to see James McAvoy, too bad. We had to make do instead with
a couple of lesser known comedians, an actor and a singer. It was like turning up for afternoon tea at the Savoy and discovering they had run out of everything except Rich Tea biscuits. Never mind: he’s on next week (see TV preview).
Brave is the family booking a holiday abroad this year given all the uncertainties with The Germs. One option for a splash out staycation trip to London was given the once over on Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby (BBC2, Thursday). That should really be the thrice over, such is the attention to detail at the Shangri-La hotel at the Shard. Then again, with rooms from £450-£700 a night, you expect a bit more than a chocolate on the pillow
Presenters Monica Galetti and Giles Coren were sniffy at first.
For them, the futuristic style of the architecture screamed “business hotel”. But they were soon won over by the efforts made to make the place family friendly, such as a safari themed room for children.
There was barely enough here to fill the hour, and you could sense the production team scraping the bottom of a designer barrel for content. It is rarely a good sign when one of the most fascinating things about a hotel is its window cleaning arrangements (five full-time staff working 365 days
a year in case you are wondering). I did love the baths though, each with a view of London from the skies.
“I’m Harvey,” said the latest addition to Coronation Street (STV, Friday). Alas, he was not a six foot invisible rabbit but an only too visible drug dealer. Corry seems to be operating a one-in, one-out policy on wrong ‘uns, the latest being Harvey, come to make the lives of Leanne and Simon even more of a misery. Leanne has had enough. I’ll sort it, she tells Si. Anyone else reckon this won’t end well?
There was an almost impossible job to be done in making Return to Dunblane with Lorraine Kelly (STV, Thursday). The Scots broadcaster wanted to mark the 25th anniversary of the murders, and pay tribute once
more to the parents who campaigned successfully for a ban on handguns.
A quarter of a century on, what happened that day in
March continues to horrify. It was unspeakable, and the pain caused to the bereaved families is unimaginable. Had it been anyone else knocking on the doors of parents, a couple of them talking publicly for the first time, one might have thought twice about watching. This was a tough hour of television to get through, but Kelly made it work. The bond she had struck and maintained with the community was plain to see. She had done more than her job all those years ago; she had, in a small but important way, helped. In what was otherwise an iffy week for the media with *that* interview in a California garden, Kelly did the community, herself, and her profession, proud.