THE HOT LIST
BEST OF TV AND STREAMING
DIFFERENT VIEWPOINTS
THE LAST DUEL Disney+
■ WITH director Ridley Scott’s latest film House Of Gucci out now, his last cinematic offering, The Last Duel, gets an early streaming release having only been out on the big screen in September. Based on the true story of France’s last trial by combat in the Middle Ages, it revolves around the challenge to a duel made by Matt Damon’s knight Jean de Carrouges to his former friend and squire Jacques Le Gris (Adam Driver) who is accused of raping his wife Marguerite (Jodie Comer). Told from the alternative perspectives of the main characters, we see how a story can be very different depending on whose version we believe in this vividly realised, visually arresting historical drama.
OUT OF SEASON
GARDENER’S WORLD WINTER SPECIALS BBC Two, Friday, December 10, 8pm
■ THE team interrupt their annual winter break for the first of three seasonal specials celebrating gardens in what is is often seen as a dead time horticulturally. For this episode, the aptly-named Adam Frost has a look around Cambridge University Botanic Garden, Joe Swift visits a north London garden inspired by the Grand Canyon, Nick Bailey extols the virtues of evergreens while Kate Bradbury gives tips on providing food and shelter for wildlife during the coldest months.
INTRIGUING CASE
VIENNA BLOOD BBC Two, Friday, December 10, 9pm
■ MORE late Victorian intrigue is afoot as this atmospheric crime drama returns for a second series – a sort of Freudian take on Ripper Street. Brilliant psychoanalyst Max Liebermann (Matthew Beard) and gruff detective Oskar Rheinhardt (Juergen Maurer) join forces once more to investigate a baffling murder case in 1900s Vienna. This time around the duo investigate the death of a countess who appears to have drowned in her hotel bath and happened to be one of Liebermann’s patients. As ever, there’s more to it than meets the eye and there’s another intricate puzzle to unravel.
ART ON SHOW
GRAYSON’S ART CLUB: AN EXHIBITION FOR BRITAIN Channel 4, Friday, December 10, 8pm
■ ONE of the TV highlights of lockdown was Grayson and Philippa Perry’s celebration of public art which encouraged contributions on a given theme for each week of the two-series run. Of an astounding 17,000 submissions received, a few pieces of work were chosen each week by Grayson and Philippa to go in an exhibition which is now taking place in Bristol. Grayson takes us on a tour of the exhibition and talks to some of the artists again, recalling how the collective creative spirit was so uplifting during some very dark times. And the good news is that a third series of Grayson’s Art Club has been confirmed for early next year.
GOING SOLO
NICK CAVE: IDIOT PRAYER BBC Four, Friday, December 10, 9pm
■ DURING the height of the pandemic last year, singer-songwriter Nick Cave decided to perform a solo concert with a Fazioli grand piano at Alexandra Palace. The result is a stripped back, mesmerising and often moving set of Cave’s songs that span his career with the Bad Seeds and Grinderman as well as featuring covers of songs by T. Rex and Leonard Cohen. It’s followed by BBC Four Sessions at 10.25pm which features a full set from Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds around the release of their Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! album.