The Herald - The Herald Magazine
After the hatches and despatches, it is time for the matches
HOW to get eye-watering amounts of sex on television before the watershed? A few programme makers have wondered down the years. The answer turns out to involve Sir David Attenborough and call the series something cute, like The Mating Game (BBC1, Sunday, 8pm).
Oh, and don’t feature humans of course. Zebras and termites fine, beardy blokes and strangely supple women, no thanks.
You have to feel for nonhuman life on this planet. Between Sir David and countless other documentary makers, the poor creatures barely enjoy a moment’s privacy. They are born, the cameras are there. They take their first steps out into the world, dodging danger at every turn, the cameras are there. Hunting, eating, fighting, dying, the cameras are there. And now the lenses are trained on their most intimate moments.
Not that there is much of an attempt to hide, as we see in the first episode of five, titled In Plain Sight. The first stop is Namibia to see ostriches do the birds and bees thing. As Sir David tells us, ostriches have had 60 million years to get the mating game down pat. They will have needed every minute because it is quite the palaver.
Each flock is dominated by a single male. From time to time, younger males will challenge the alpha ostrich for mating rights. With an ostrich able to kill a lion with a kick (Sir David again), the scraps can be pretty brutal. Even if the challenger wins his work has only just begun. He must then pass muster with the females, and what a high maintenance lot they are. He races for them, he drops to his knees and dances, he sends out booming calls across the desert.
Finally, a pair get together. What is the etiquette here, though? Should viewers make their excuses and leave? The decision is made for us as the cameras move on to the next lot: zebras. If you think ostriches are vicious, check out the males in this bunch.
Being an Attenborough production, the photography is exquisite and the editing top notch, and it makes a pleasant change for a wildlife programme not to feature scenes of hunting and death (the reason they usually leave me cold). Or at least that’s what I thought before the hyenas turned up. There are always hyenas.
More big beasts are on show in Blair and Brown: The New Labour Revolution (BBC2, Monday). This new five-part documentary series comes from the makers of equally outstanding Thatcher: A Very British Revolution. “In their own words,” the voiceover promises, “this is New Labour”.
The two main men are there of course, in archive footage and in interviews for the documentary. Young bucks now turned old lions, with the battle scars and jowls to show for it.
The most revealing material comes from the many aides interviewed, including Douglas Alexander, former parliamentary researcher and speechwriter for Gordon Brown, and Anji Hunter, a friend of Blair’s from university who went on to run his office.
The story begins with Labour in the wilderness, having
suffered a drubbing in the 1983 General Election. Some 60 Labour MPs were kicked out the door, but coming the other way were a couple of youngsters …. Well, you know the score from there.
The film sets out in detail how they helped each other climb the ladder. There were others following of course, among them Peter Mandelson, interviewed at length. Together, this “trio of musketeers” (Mandelson), brought New Labour into being. But when it came to it, only one of the original star duo could be leader. And therein lies the tale that will be told over the next month. Essential viewing for politicos; and you can bet Mr B and Mr B will be watching to see who comes out best. The battle goes on.
With the return of Bond to cinemas (finally), and the third series of Succession arriving on Sky Atlantic/NOW on October 18, it is beginning to seem a lot like Christmas come early.
Jesse Armstrong’s tale of a media dynasty fighting among themselves to replace the ageing king (Brian Cox) has it all: intrigue, scalpel-sharp comedy, tragedy, a New York setting and, oh my, that opening music. The wonderful thing about Succession is that all the characters are as bad as each other, so when they do and say horrible things you can sit back and just enjoy the high-stakes bare-knuckle fight.
The first series was something of a sleeper hit, the second took the show mainstream, and the hype for the third is now heading off the charts. If you are late to the party, or you would like a refresher before the new episodes start to drop, seasons one and two of Succession are available after the weekend (Sky Atlantic, daily from Monday, 5.40pm/6.45pm).
The young challenger must pass muster with the females, and what a high maintenance lot they turn out to be