This week’s TV picks: Celebrity profiles
Here’s our pick of celebrity profiles available on streaming services…
ATTENBOROUGH AT 90, BRITBOX First shown in 2016, this celebration of the life and work of Sir David Attenborough illustrates why he is a national treasure. Among the gems he shares is how he got into TV by accident – he didn’t even own a set at the time! Not a bad start for one of the most influential figures in natural history programming!
JAMES DEAN: THE FIRST AMERICAN TEENAGER,
AMAZON PRIME VIDEO This is a thoughtful 1970s account of James Dean’s short life and career. Best remembered for just three films, including 1955’s Rebel
Without A Cause, it looks at his lesser-known TV roles, and features interviews with Hollywood legends, including Sammy Davis Jr.
WHITNEY: CAN I BE ME, NETFLIX This biopic investigates Whitney Houston’s professional and personal struggles prior to her untimely death in 2012. As well as her early days as a gospel singer, it looks at her rise to fame, her relationships, and how Kevin Costner, co-star in The Bodyguard, had a hand in the success of her 1992 hit I Will Always Love You.
BECOMING, NETFLIX The former First Lady is one of the most influential women in the world and now uses her platform to help young girls realise their own potential. This one-off documentary tells her story, beginning with her upbringing in a working-class Chicago neighbourhood, and her fight to overcome the low expectations that others – including her own high school teachers – had for her growing up.
BEING GAIL PORTER, BBC
IPLAYER In the 1990s, Gail Porter was one of the UK’S most famous TV presenters but, as she says herself in this one-off documentary, ‘the celebrity fairytale became a nightmare’. The brave and honest film follows Gail on an illuminating journey into her past as she speaks to old friends, relatives and medical professionals to understand her descent into depression, anorexia, self-harming and homelessness.
HILLARY, SKY ON DEMAND/NOW TV This four-parter profiles the former First Lady who once seemed a dead cert to become the first female president of the United States. As she opens up about her life and career, Hillary Clinton talks candidly about everything from husband Bill’s affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky to her views on political rivals Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. Bill and daughter Chelsea also contribute.
GEORGE MICHAEL: FREEDOM, ALL4 When George Michael died on Christmas Day 2016, he had almost finished working on this documentary, which looks back at the highs and lows of his life and career. Directed and narrated by George, it features previously unseen footage and contributions from famous friends and fans, including Mary J Blige, Stevie Wonder, James Corden and Jean Paul Gaultier.
IMAGINE… LENNY HENRY: YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK,
BBC IPLAYER Coinciding with the publication of his autobiography earlier this year, Sir Lenny looks back at his early years before finding fame in 1975 on talent show New Faces. He relates his mum’s experiences of arriving here from Jamaica in 1957, his childhood in the West Midlands and learning his trade as a comedian on the working men’s club circuit.