The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Review
CITIZENS OF BOOMTOWN: THE BOOMTOWN RATS
BBC Two, 9.20pm
Are The Boomtown Rats one of the most misunderstood bands of recent times? Watching this fascinating documentary it’s hard not to conclude so given that Bob Geldof ’s post-Live Aid fame has long since eclipsed their music. Yet back in the mid-1970s when Geldof, Garry Roberts, Johnnie Fingers, Pete Briquette, Gerry
Cott and Simon Crowe formed the Rats they gave the music-starved teenagers of Ireland a soundtrack for rebellion. “They really did change the country,” says Telegraph music critic Neil McCormick in the film, a statement that sounds overblown until you realise how very different the Ireland of the 1970s was. This was a grey country mired in repression, where the most popular music came from showbands and the only escape for the young was the boat to England.
The Rats roared into that space with songs such as Lookin’ After No. 1. Before long they had relocated to London, recorded a string of hits and were poised to break America. So what went wrong? This fascinating film provides no easy answers, although it’s hard to escape the feeling that the Rats, and Geldof in particular, were often their own worst enemies. Packed full of great interviews it’s well worth your time. Sarah Hughes
6.00 am Milkshake!
9.55 SpongeBob
SquarePants (R) (S) 10.00 The Loud House (R) (S) 10.10 Access (S)
10.15 Friends (R) (S)
10.45 Friends (R) (S)
11.15 Friends (R) (S)
11.45 Goosebumps (2015) Fantasy adventure starring Jack Black (S)
The Addams Family (1991) Black comedy starring Anjelica Huston (S)
Addams Family Values (1993) Comedy sequel starring Anjelica Huston and Raul Julia (S) Dogs with Incredible Jobs (R) (S)
News (S)
Jane McDonald:
Cruising the Caribbean (S)
QUEEN NIGHT
Sky Arts, from 7.30pm
Queen fans rejoice as
Sky Arts dedicates an evening of programming to celebrating the band, kicking off with live footage from their 1974 gig at London’s Rainbow Theatre (7.30pm), before moving on to the excellent 2012 documentary, Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender (9.15pm), which combines archive footage and previously unseen interviews to get beneath the surface of a complicated life.
The evening is rounded off by concert footage from 1985’s Live in Rio (10.55pm) and the more recent documentary
The Show Must Go On (12.15am).