Last night on television Michael Hogan All hail Danny Dyer – first a king, now a saint
Who says historical programming is dumbing down? Lucy Worsley might be addicted to the dressing-up box, but at least she has a first-class Oxford degree to back it up. Danny Dyer, by contrast, is just a geezer off Eastenders.
Intellectual snobs might have clutched their pearls in horror at the very notion of Danny Dyer’s Right Royal Family (BBC One) yet this pop-history romp made irresistible viewing. One of Lord Reith’s three boxes was ticked: it might not have been terribly educational or informative but it was certainly entertaining.
On a joyous 2016 episode of the BBC’S genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?, the Cockney actor was gobsmacked to discover that he was a direct descendant of King Edward III. This two-parter (concluding next week) found him clambering further around his family tree and immersing himself in the lives of his illustrious forebears. Or as Dyer put it, “getting regal-ed out of my brains” on “a blue-blooded binge”.
He began by eating a sheep’s head (cue an emergency dash to the “khazi”) and learning to fight like his Viking 35 times great-grandfather Rollo. Dyer tried his hand at Norman-style hunting like his ancestor William the Conqueror and at Dover Castle, was treated like Henry II in his royal residence – although he was dismayed to hear that his servants had urinated on his “clobber”, using ammonia as a natural bleach.
To this slang-happy Cockney, palaces were “nice gaffs” and regal infidelity was “a roll-around with a little treacle”. Practising his sword skills, Dyer “got the hump with a watermelon” and roared: “You want some? Come on, then. Get hold of that.” It’s all too rare to see a grown man fighting fruit on prime-time TV.
This film lacked the revelatory element of his Who Do You Think You Are? episode, but Dyer’s affection for his ancestors (“love ya, gramps”) was infectious. His roguish charm reduced several academics to flirtatious giggles.
The highly watchable hour truly came alive during the closing sequence, which saw Dyer travel to France and live for a day like the devout Louis IX, his 26 times greatgrandfather. The crescendo came when Dyer discovered that he wasn’t just descended from kings but also saints, since Louis was canonised in 1297. “I’ve got sacred blood coursing through my veins,” he said, swelling with pride. St Daniel of Dyer – it has a certain ring to it.
Horizon: We Need to Talk About Death (BBC Two) was more cheery than it sounded. This thought-provoking film found Dr Kevin Fong asking questions which face not just the medical profession but every one of us.
Modern healthcare focuses on saving lives, but should we accept the inevitable and stop throwing everything into treating patients right to the very end? Would resetting the system to provide better palliative care result in better quality of life and enable us to die happier? After all, only three per cent of us say we’d like to die in hospital but more than half of us will.
Fong explored the issue at St Christopher’s Hospice in south London, where wise medical director Professor Rob George said that his job was helping to conclude lives, not battle diseases. “The biography, not the biology,” as he put it. Dr Mark Taubert, palliative care consultant at Cardiff ’s Velindre Cancer Centre, agreed that tough conversations can be better than intensive, invasive treatment. He introduced us to Alison, who had advanced bowel cancer but decided against further chemotherapy, determined to spend what time she had left celebrating her life, not suffering in bed.
Fong was an unobtrusive host, letting the professionals and patients do the talking. He went to the Netherlands to watch the Ambulance Wish Foundation take terminally ill Erica to her beloved Dolphinarium one last time. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” she sighed happily. “I enjoy this so much.”
Fong said that making the film had changed the way that he will think about every patient he sees. Erica ended her day by visiting her grandchildren. Alison threw a party, with Dr Taubert among the guests. The late David Bowie’s Heroes played the programme out. It was an uplifting climax to a documentary full of surprises.
Danny Dyer’s Right Royal Family
Horizon: We Need to Talk About Death