The Herald - The Herald Magazine
WEEKEND TV CHOICE
SATURDAY
Tony Robinson’s History of Britain (C5, 7.30pm)
For some people, history means kings and queens, but the series Tony Robinson’s History of Britain offers us a different view. It focuses on the lives of ordinary people and what they can tell us about their times – and in doing so it can sometimes challenge our received wisdom.
The first in the current series took us back to the Roman era, and he second focused on the Edwardians. Now the latest episode takes us to an era that is very much within living memory – the 1950s. It’s a decade that many people (including some who weren’t even born then) think of as a simpler, happier time when Britain was enjoying an economic boom.
In 1957, Prime Minister Harold Macmillan famously announced that most of the UK had ‘never had it so good’, a phrase it’s very hard to imagine any contemporary politician coming out with unless they were prepared for a major backlash.
Yet as Tony points, life could still be tough, even as those living though those days found ways to have fun. He finds proof in the story of immigrant Irish woman Mary Powell, who joined the NHS. It was her childhood dream to be a nurse, yet the job turned out to involve militaristic matrons and curmudgeonly consultants, as well as patients with distressing conditions.
Yet Mary could escape the wards – and the nursing accommodation – on nights out. Tony also recreates a day in the life of ‘Flash John’, a Manchester rag-and-bone man. His job could be difficult and anything but flash, but he also had a very happy home life with ‘the best wife in the world’.
Next, the presenter turns his focus to the consumer boom through the experiences of Doreen Turner, a working-class mother of five who ditched being a housewife in favour of getting a job so her family wouldn’t be left behind.
She found that while modern life wasn’t everything it was cracked up to be, she did benefit from friendships with her colleagues.
SUNDAY
Peaky Blinders (BBC1, 9pm)
“One last deal to be done. Then we
weapons in fights), debuted on 12 September 2013, and introduced us to Tommy Shelby, head of the IrishRomani gangster family who ruled the roost in Birmingham in 1919.
Beneath those deadly caps, the Shelby men sported vicious undercuts (the sides and back of their heads were shaved totally bald with longer hair on top), and carried themselves like gods – crushing all who dared get in their way.
As the series went on and the years passed, we watched as the Shelby empire expanded beyond Birmingham to the north and south of England and beyond, while they tangled with everyone from Winston Churchill to Oswald Mosely.
Effortlessly stylish and incredibly cool, Peaky Blinders offered a glimpse at a facet of working-class England that was rarely seen, and audiences and critics (mostly) loved it. At the heart of the story is Tommy, a man haunted by his experiences in the First World War, plagued by depression and lost love, and compelled over and over again to go into battle on behalf of or to defend his family and their interests.
Cillian Murphy, the actor who brings Tommy to life, has been showered with awards for his performance as the cleareyed criminal, described by one critic as “not a good man but a phenomenally watchable one”.
We all know truly great drama rarely rests on the talents of one person, and it’s very true of Peaky Blinders.
Paul Anderson as Tommy’s unstable brother Arthur steals just about every scene he’s in and, like his brother, has experienced massive mental trauma and had more than his fair share of brushes with death.
As for the future? Steven Knight has suggested a film instead of a seventh series. Watch this space...