Dogs go for the lead role
IS IT OK to enjoy Crufts again these days? It must be, mustn’t it? It’s more than a decade now since its bust-up with the BBC over allegations of controversial breeding practices.And Channel 4 have happily shown it every year since.
Not only that but the great Clare Balding wouldn’t be on board if things weren’t thoroughly ticketyboo now, would she? Course not.
So yes, all things considered, I’m happy to admit I like it. Honestly, you can’t be too careful these days.
Sorry, where was I? Oh, yes, it’s day one of this year’s CRUFTS
– hurrah – coming live once again from the NEC and enjoying absolutely oodles of airtime (C4, 3pm, 8pm; More4, 6.30pm).
As ever I wouldn’t worry too much about the competitive element. Just settle back and enjoy the canine craziness.
Personally I’m a big fan of the doggy relay, but almost as entertaining are the agility bits and the “heelwork to music” (meaning dancing).
Ultimately, though, it’s just nice to admire the beauty and/or cuteness of these dogs.
That, and the dignity they maintain throughout, despite being saddled with names such as Nautilus Cha-Cha Typewriter The Ninth.
Also, it’s a big chunk of primetime telly where you don’t have to keep up with a plot.
Having said that, there’s one of those developing in BBC1’s new drama NOUGHTS + CROSSES (9pm) which I’m hoping becomes more challenging.
Based on Malorie Blackman’s multi-award winning young-adult novels, Noughts + Crosses is set in an alternative contemporary Britain where black people (the Crosses) rule over a white underclass (the Noughts).
But while that’s a great idea to explore and develop as a dramatic concept, turning prejudice on its head, the first part of this adaptation feels just a little too heavy-handed and obvious.
To transform a popular youngadult novel into a 9pm television drama requires building in, among other factors, several more layers of nuance, ambiguity and unpredictability.
So far there’s little evidence of these emerging. But that’s not to say they won’t.
In the long run it’ll be up to teenagers Sephy (a Cross, played by Masali Baduza) and Callum (a Nought, played by Jack Rowan), who are pursuing a relationship across the divide, to propel this story beyond the constraints of its USP, ideally by steering it to a love-conquers-all conclusion.
And finally, the latest contestants on MASTERCHEF (BBC1, 8pm) include Bruce.
Bruce is Bruce Tasker. He’s an Olympic bobsleigh bronze medallist.
So why isn’t he on the celebrity version?