A SUMMER OF SIZZLING TV!
Top Gear’s a flop and Versailles’s been panned. But don’t despair — it’s all hotting up on the box
They were supposed to be two of the TV treats kicking off the summer. First, there was the return of Top Gear under Chris evans’s stewardship, which some instantly branded Flop Gear. Then Versailles, BBC2’s controversial ten-part series set in the reign of the Sun King, France’s Louis XIV, turned out to be an X-rated stinker.
however, the GOOD news is that I can forecast a TV heatwave for the rest of the long summer months, with outstanding new comedies, innovative drama, controversial serials from europe and America, dazzling science and a spine-chilling touch of the supernatural.
And that’s not forgetting the super sports bonanza already under way with the euro football championships, Wimbledon, the rugby union summer series, athletics and the U.S. Open golf... as well as the small matter of the Olympics in Rio.
here is my pick of the rest of the summer’s TV viewing.
SPOOKY SEARCH
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD, BBC1 June 28 WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH: To find out what goes bump in the night COLIN MORGAN, who was outstanding as the young wizard in Merlin, has had to settle for co-star’s roles since that Saturday spectacular ended. he was good in humans and in the second series of The Fall, but now he has the chance to carry the show again in this mystery about ghostly goings- on in a Somerset village during the Industrial Revolution.
Morgan plays psychologist nathan Appleby, with Charlotte Spencer as his wife, also called Charlotte. As nathan is drawn deeper into the world of unexplained science and the occult, Charlotte becomes afraid that he is risking his sanity, their marriage and perhaps their lives as well. There’s also a time-travelling twist.
The entire series is available online from today on iPlayer, in the BBC’s first major binge - watching experiment — giving viewers the chance to see all six episodes at once in advance of the start of the series on June 28.
ANARCHY IN THE UK
THE SECRET AGENT, BBC1 July WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH: It’s a timeless classic NOVELIST Joseph Conrad’s vision of Britain in the grip of terrorism is even more relevant today than when he wrote it 110 years ago. This version features Toby Jones (star of Capital and Marvellous) as Verloc, who runs a seedy shop in Soho as a cover for his real identity — he’s a Russian spy.
Intent on provoking the British government into cracking down on violent anarchists, he decides to stage a bomb attack. But his unhinged plot drags his wife Winnie (Line Of Duty’s Vicky McClure) and their family into danger and pits him against Inspector heat of Scotland yard (Stephen Graham) and a political madman who is known only as The Professor (Ian hart).
PARTY GIRLS
BRIEF ENCOUNTERS, ITV July WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH: you’ll get a buzz from it DOWNTON Abbey’s Penelope Wilton, Sophie Rundle (Ada from Peaky Blinders), Angela Griffin (DS Lizzie Maddox in Inspector Lewis) and Sharon Rooney from My Mad Fat Diary are the co-stars of this six-part romantic drama set in the early eighties — four very different women whose personal lives are transformed when they start throwing ‘Tupperwa-
ware parties’ with a twist. Instead of selling plastic pots, they are introducing their friends to saucy lingerie and erotic toys from the sex shop chain Ann Summers. It’s a drama with four overlapping storylines: Sophie feels invisible to er husband, Penelope’s husband is ore interested in running his butcher’s shop, Angela’s partner is in and out of prison, and Sharon is apped looking after her father and three brothers. All the women feel liberated by the sex toy parties ... very liberated indeed.
BETTER ASK BRIAN
FORCES OF NATURE WITH BRIAN COX, BBC1 July WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH: It’s a wonderful world THIS time the prof explores how natural phenomena occur on our own planet, from the infinite variety of snowflakes to the swirling colours of the Northern Lights. Many of his questions are basic, with fascinatingly complex answers. Why is the sky blue, for instance, and why is the Earth round? He journeys to Indonesia to discover how volcanoes create new islands, and to the Caribbean, where he investigates how humpback whales navigate the oceans. He even catches a glimpse of a rare moonbow — a rainbow seen by the light of the full moon.
POIGNANT TRIBUTE
CENTENARY OF THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME, BBC1 July WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH: Because we will never forget OVERNIGHT vigils will mark the 100th anniversary of the start of the battle, in which more than 1.5 million Allied troops were killed — 57,000 on the first day alone, July 1. The BBC will broadcast during the morning from the battlefield.
The Prince of Wales, the Duchess of Cornwall, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry will all be in attendance. On BBC2, historian Peter Barton will present an analysis of the battle.
SAGA LOUT
THE REBEL, Gold July WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH: To let your inner troublemaker run riot SIMON CALLOW is best known as a Shakespearean actor and film star, but here he stars as OAP hellraiser Henry Palmer in three-part comedy The Rebel, adapted from the long-running cartoon strip in the Oldie magazine.
Henry was a Mod in his teens. When he married and had children, he had to settle down ... but being widowed has brought out his wild side.
When Henry buys a walking stick, it’s because he needs it to smash the CCTV cameras before a shoplifting spree at Tesco.
And when he visits the recycling centre, he’s on a mission to stuff cardboard in the bottle bank ... anything to annoy the council.
KILLER SISTERS
THE OUT-LAWS, More4 July WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH: It’s a wickedly funny family drama ONE of the success stories in TV this year has been Channel 4’ s foreign box- sets, showing both on TV and online, under the logo Walter Presents.
This one is a darkly witty Belgian drama about four sisters who plot to kill the brother-in-law who, they feel, is spoiling their family bond and threatening their inheritance.
But the man won’t die easily and, as their murder attempts become more extravagant, they start to attract the attention of the police.
It’s in Flemish, with English subtitles but don’t let that put you off.
IRISH CHARMER
MY MOTHER AND OTHER STRANGERS, BBC1 August WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH: For the superb Hattie Morahan THE veteran screenwriter Barry Devlin, whose credits stretch back to The Darling Buds Of May, sets this period drama in Northern Ireland during World War II.
It follows Rose and Michael Coyne and their family after 4,000 U.S. troops set up an airfield near their village.
Aaron Staton ( the one- eyed ad exec from Mad Men) plays Captain Dreyfuss, a charming officer who falls for Rose — but it’s the actress who plays Rose herself, Hattie Morahan, who inspired Devlin to create the story. ‘She somehow manages to combine a magical serenity with a capacity to be daft as a brush ,’ he says.
It is also pleasing to find a historical drama set in Northern Ireland that isn’t all about the Troubles.
NOBODY’S BOY
HIM, ITV August WHY YOU SHOULD WATCH: Because it’s dangerous to ignore this boy THE psychological turmoil of family break-up creates eerie drama when a 17-year-old boy — referred to by his warring parents simply as ‘HIM’ — discovers he possesses a supernatural power that he inherited from his grandfather. The teen, played by newcomer Fionn Whitehead, feels unwanted by both his mother (Katherine Kelly, from Coronation Street and Mr Selfridge) and father (James Murray).
They have both remarried and the boy is an awkward reminder of their previous lives. His new stepsisters are not keen to welcome him, either.
Everyone dismisses his paranormal abilities as attention- seeking, until they eventually grow too overwhelming to be ignored.
It’s an original way to treat divorce drama, with more than a touch of Stephen King about the story.