FILM CHOICE

The Man Who Knew Infinity BBC2, 11.15pm

SRINIVASA Ramanujan (Dev Patel) is a 25-year-old shipping clerk in 1914 Madras, who dreams about formulae, which he scribbles in chalk on temple floors. With the blessing of his employer Sir Francis Spring (Stephen Fry), Ramanujan bids a tearful farewell to his new wife (Devika Bhise) and travels to Trinity College, Cambridge, to nurture his gift under revered academic GH Hardy (Jeremy Irons). Adapted from Robert Kanigel’s 1991 biography, The Man Who Knew Infinity is a handsome dramatisation of the real-life Indian mathematician who came to England to share his passion for numbers. Patel and Irons are a pleasing double act – youthful exuberance colliding with stuffy stiff-upper-lipped restraint.