The very best of the week ahead
Sunday A Suitable Boy
BBC ONE, 9.00PM
It was a Herculean task, turning Vikram Seth’s 1,535-page doorstopper – one of the longest novels in the English language – into a six-part series. If anyone can pull it off, it’s surely TV’s foremost literary adaptor, Andrew Davies. Together with Oscar-nominated film-maker Mira Nair, he’s distilled Seth’s novel into a family saga that’s at once intimate and epic, set against a stunning backdrop. We begin in 1951 in a newly independent northern India, where spirited literature student Lata Mehra (Tanya Maniktala) is looking towards her own future. Her mother has arranged the marriage of Lata’s elder sister to the titular “suitable boy” but the defiant teenager isn’t interested in romance. That is, until she falls for mysterious fellow student Kabir Durrani (Danesh Razvi). Meanwhile, religious tensions mount between Muslims and Hindus in the wake of Partition, as India’s first national democratic election approaches. Michael Hogan PICK OF THE WEEK
Hitler’s Supercars
CHANNEL 4, 8.00PM
During the rise of the Third Reich, Adolf Hitler ordered two German car manufacturers to build the fastest vehicles the world had ever seen as a propaganda coup. This one-off documentary charts the rivalry that reaped Grand Prix victories and smashed speed records. MH
Monday
Anthony
BBC ONE, 8.30PM
Anthony Walker’s early twenties, as depicted in Jimmy McGovern’s drama, are in some ways unremarkable: a job interview, a wedding, a birth. In other ways, they are very impressive: the black child of a single mother in a tough part of Liverpool, he overcomes prejudice and the supposed limitations of his surroundings to win awards, save lives, make history on
Pointless (really) and, at 25, be sitting on the cusp of a pioneering legal career.
But in the most critical way, his life is simply impossible: in 2005 the real Anthony was murdered in a racist attack, at just 18. McGovern’s tenderly realised piece considers the life he might have had, told in reverse and crafted alongside his mother Gee (here played by Rakie Ayola). Relative newcomer Toheeb Jimoh gives a heartfelt, charismatic performance as Anthony, with excellent support from Bobby Schofield ( Knightfall) as his troubled friend Mick and World on
Fire’s Julia Brown as his wife, Katherine. If there is a criticism, it is that the other lives are, beside Anthony’s, merely sketched out; but what a moving and effective act of commemoration this is. Gabriel Tate
The Confessions of Thom Thomas Quick
CHANNEL 4, 10.00PM 1
From Feltham Sings to Consent, director dir Brian Hill has long had ha an eye for a good story. Sweden’s Sw most notorious serial se killer here provides another an gripping true-life tale ta with an astonishing twist. tw With full access to a deeply de troubled man who confessed conf to a variety of gruesome grues murders, Hill delves deeply into a disturbed psyche and questions some of the assumptions that led to his conviction. GT
Tuesday
Our Baby: A Modern Miracle
CHANNEL 4, 10.00PM
Transgender issues might be increasingly in the news but it’s far too easy to forget that behind the headlines are real people with interesting stories and lives. This documentary tells one of those stories, that of transgender couple Jake and Hannah Graf. Hannah, a former British Army officer, transitioned in her twenties with the support of her parents. Jake’s transition was more complicated: “I was a little ball of rage,” he admits, adding that drink nearly killed him. The two of them are happily married and hope to have a baby. A Modern Miracle follows that journey, which is to be undertaken thanks to the help of surrogate Laura, a no-nonsense mother of two from Belfast, through various twists – the biggest of which turns out to be the arrival of Covid-19. It’s a fascinating story and one that feels all the stronger due to its refusal to shy away from more delicate moments, with the couple challenged over gender stereotyping and remarkably open about their at times complex responses. The result is an emotive, moving film and one that even the most sceptical viewers would enjoy. Sarah Hughes
The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
This entertaining series saves the best for last with a fascinating episode focusing on the extent of Rupert Murdoch’s involvement in the 2016 US elections and the Brexit referendum, and considers the problem of succession. SH
Wednesday
Anne: The Princess Royal at 70
ITV, 9.00PM
This special documentary marks the 70th birthday – and half-a-century of public service – of a royal trailblazer, tireless charity worker, world-class horse-rider and the most industrious member of the Royal family firm. The film-makers enjoy rare access as the Princess Royal looks back on her life, work and the reality of growing up as a “a goldfish in a bowl”, as she wryly puts it. The first daughter of a monarch to go to school, she talks openly about a family in which women tended to be seen as “honorary men”, and ponders the challenges for younger royals, recalls the bloody 1974 kidnap attempt and explains why she refused titles for her children. Peter and Zara talk fondly of being raised by an Olympian, while husband Sir Tim Laurence gives a glimpse of her private side. Director Ian Denyer and royal author Robert Hardman follow the famously active Princess on her travels, visit her in lockdown and learn that whatever the future brings, it certainly won’t be restful. Driven by a deep sense of duty, the powerhouse Princess undertakes more than 500 engagements each year and shows no sign of slowing down. MH
Great Continental Railway Journeys
BBC TWO, 8.00PM
Is he ever at home? Michael Portillo seems to be permanently sporting his trademark pastel blazers and clutching his trusty Bradshaw’s handbook. This series begins with an emotional Spanish journey into his family’s past. MH
Thursday
Imagine: Kate Prince – Every Move She Makes
BBC ONE, 10.45PM
“Dance spoke to me before anything else,” says choreographer Kate Prince, the founder of the innovative ZooNation dance company and subject of this illuminating profile. While the
Imagine cameras are there to follow Prince as she undertakes her most ambitious project yet – Message in a
Bottle, a West End show marrying the music of Sting with a story about refugees – the most interesting points are concerned not with the mechanics of putting on the show but with how Prince thinks. She is honest about her limited ability as a dancer and founded ZooNation to showcase the talent of performers such as close friend Teneisha Bonner, a wonderful dancer with a background in pop and street dance. SH
The Forgotten Frontline
BBC ONE, 9.00PM
The scandalous scale of care home deaths continues to be one of the major talking points around the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. This report, filmed in two different homes over a number of months, asks if care homes were sacrificed to save the NHS. SH
Friday
British Academy Television Awards 2020
BBC ONE, 7.00PM
Richard Ayoade hosts this socially distanced awards ceremony where nominees will accept awards virtually. The necessarily low-key nature of the event is a particular pity given what an exceptional year of television it celebrates. While there are richly deserved nods for such high watermarks as Giri/Haji, The Virtues,
Catastrophe and Succession, the nominations have been hogged by
Chernobyl and Fleabag; although
Andrew Scott is a surprising absentee for the latter. Plenty of juicy stories await: Brexit: The Uncivil War would make a pungently controversial winner of Best Single Drama, Glenda Jackson would be a deserving Best Actress for her performance in
Elizabeth is Missing, almost five decades after her last Bafta, and past accusations of a lack of diversity have been at least partly addressed by a deserving quartet of nominees for Male Comedy Performance with Cypriot, Rwandan, Moroccan and Pakistani heritage. Russell T Davies’s excellent if divisive Years and Years and Jed Mercurio’s Line of Duty are perhaps the most glaring omissions. But with so much uncertainty, it feels like the perfect time to savour TV at its best. GT
Gospel According to Mica: The Story of Gospel Music in Six Songs
BBC FOUR, 9.00PM
Raised as a gospel singer before finding pop fame, this revealing and thoughtful film finds Mica Paris considering how faith and music have entwined. She sings with the Kingdom Choir, explores the tragic life of Sam Cooke and chats to Stormzy. GT