Reclaiming Amy
BBC TWO, 9PM
There are few worse things than losing a child; but losing a child and being hounded in the press, accused of exploiting and failing her at her time of greatest need, is trauma on another level. There’s a palpable sadness to this documentary marking the 10th anniversary of singer Amy Winehouse’s death. And defiance, too. “You think you know my daughter. The drugs, the addiction, the destructive relationships. But there was so much more,” says her mother, Janis. As the title suggests, the idea is to dispel the myths that have grown up around Winehouse and her tragically early demise.
In practice, it’s a deeply felt attempt by her family and friends to set the record straight about the events that saw Winehouse go so spectacularly off the rails, and their role in them. A morality tale of an ordinary family overwhelmed by an extraordinarily talented daughter and the fame that consumed her. It’s the centrepiece of a Friday night line-up celebrating Winehouse on BBC Two and Four (see listings for details), among the best of which is Maurice Linnane’s fabulously up-close 2012 Arena film Amy Winehouse: The Day She Came to Dingle (BBC Four, 10.30pm). Gerard O’donovan