Broaden your mind with (virtual) travel
LUPIN has returned to Netflix, and what a fine series it is. Although my chief reason for liking it this time is not the acting and writing, which are nonetheless superb, but for gazing enviously at France like I’m seeing it for the first time. Given everything we’re enduring, this may be as close as any of us get to the country this year which, yes, some French will applaud.
In the first episode, we followed a very speedy car chase through – it appeared – the narrow country lanes of Normandy, or what we tourists call an exciting journey in a French mini-cab. Lupin (Omar Sy) found himself almost unknowingly with a policeman as they pursued a car in which his son had been locked in the boot. But Lupin, the master criminal, illusionist and all-round Robin Hood figure, already knew his company had other ideas about how the day would pan out.
But back to the travelogue. It’s been so long since I visited our near neighbour that I even delighted at seeing that incredibly unfriendly bar. We’ve all had those tumbleweed moments as we reach for the right French word which never comes… “Je, je, je…. Hello there!”
This pacy, tension-filled crime caper, though rather dark, gripped me for all of its 42 minutes.
Unfortunately, Lupin’s arrival at a deserted, rundown chateau was not met with our trusty British renovation specialists Dick and Angel, who stalk any decent wreck in need of a French dresser or three, or a useful ornamental pond and fountain.
This one, to be honest, was in need of the Top Gear treatment – a stick or two of dynamite.
In a dramatic ending, our hero was dealing with an ill-shaven, evil hitman (what’s happened to French grooming?) who fortuitously found a double-barrel shotgun lying about, along with some ammunition. Bad guys have all the luck. After a credible dust-up between the two, they adjourned for a pain au chocolat – no, wait, Lupin was swept into the arms of the law who would be advised to avoid that bar on the return journey to Paris, or our resident escapologist will slip away before you can say, “Ooh la la”.
In the spirit of the special relationship from the G7, not a trade deal, but a deftly, funny Anglo-american comedy. A much better result. Intelligence (Sky One) is back for a second series, and is one gag-laden comedy thanks to some sharp quips from writer and actor Nick Mohammed and a slick performance from an old “friend” David Schwimmer.
You keep thinking, ‘What’s he doing here…? Did he take a drastically wrong turn on the way back from the Friends Reunion?’
The comedy is set in spy centre GCHQ – who are mocked mercilessly here but they apparently like it. There must be a recruiting drive for “GCHQ Bude”. Who knew? One of highlights was the music over the end credits – take your enjoyment where you can – of Noel Coward singing, “There will be dark times just around the corner…” Hurrah!
Forget all the fuss about Line Of Duty, my entry for one of the contenders for drama of the year is Time (BBC1, Sunday), the gritty beyond belief prison drama, with so little sentimentality within the walls of its Victorian clink that no one will watch Porridge in
the same way again. Pleasingly it was a better episode for Sean Bean’s floundering Mark who was taught by the prison chief lag how to box so he could stand up to his bully. Within moments, they were duking it out for a matter a seconds before Mark bit off a good chunk of his opponent’s ear. Cage-fighting awaits Mark on the outside.
How do you serve a family of five with multiple meal requests without going broke? The old-fashioned solution – telling the kids “eat what you’re given” – has fallen out of favour. Mercifully Prue Leith is on hand with Cook Clever, Waste Less (Channel 4, Monday).
NHS workers Preeti and Sanjev were spending £213 a week on food for their brood. Prue and Rupy Aujla showed them how to make three main meals out of one “big cook”, for just £3.07 a head – spiced roast chicken and cauliflower traybake; giant fila chicken (or cauli) samosas, and a cauliflower and lentil salad.
Result? Happy sprogs and a saving of £2,800 a year – enough for a holiday...when we can have one.
Previously, Leith turned left-over parsnips into a cake and made booze from orange peel, by pouring brandy over it (I’d rather drink the brandy). I can’t recall seeing Prue do a cooking show before but one thing is certain: expect parsnip showstoppers in the next Bake Off.