The paths to faith and knowledge are paved with surprises
AS word spread that media mogul Robert Maxwell had gone missing from his yacht off the coast of Tenerife, a grim farce began unfolding in London.
“What do you think has happened?” asks a voice on the line.
“Shh! Don’t talk on the phone!” comes the reply.
Too late. The taped calls and other previously unheard and unseen material form part of a treasure trove at the centre of a gripping three-part documentary,
House of Maxwell (BBC2, Monday, 9pm).
Maxwell had been secretly bugging his executives’ phones for years. Through sheer vanity he also had an in-house film crew follow him everywhere.
Say the name Maxwell in relation to scandal now and the name most likely to come up, certainly among younger generations, is his daughter, Ghislaine, a convicted child sex trafficker for Jeffrey Epstein and others.
As the film opens the camera follows one of her many chroniclers, Scott Sharp, maker of the show True Crime Loser, as he goes to see the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York where she is being held.
“Fifty years this family has been in scandal,” says Sharp. “First the dad, then the brothers, and here we are, Ghislaine is on the chopping block. Stay tuned.”
Stay tuned indeed. The film ventures back and forth from
Maxwell’s final days on his yacht, Lady Ghislaine, as it charts his life and times. What a life it was. The Czechoslovakia-born son of poor farmers who became a war hero, a KGB/MI6 double agent, an MP, a self-made millionaire, the media giant who took on Rupert Murdoch (“a moth-eaten kangaroo” Maxwell called him) in the Fleet Street circulation battle to end all battles, Maxwell was a character who seemed to leap from the pages of an airport novel.
Behind the facade it was a different story, one that even today takes the breath away. Executive produced by Colin Barr (Glasgow Girls, Damilola, Our Loved Boy), this film tells the tale brilliantly.
Besides the footage and tapes there is an A-list of talking heads, ranging from Tom Bower, ace biographer and regular thorn in Maxwell’s side, to various execs who watched the publisher hustle his way to the top of an empire.
The quality bodes well for the next two parts, starting next week with the Maxwell brothers and ending with Ghislaine. Her daddy’s favourite, she has brought the Maxwell name back into the headlines in ways few could have imagined. What would the old man have thought? That is only one of many questions he left behind.Such is the track record of this infamous family no-one could dare close Ghislaine’s tale with the words “the end”. This one could run and run yet.
Pilgrimage: the Road to the Scottish Isles (BBC2, Friday, 9pm) finds another band of reasonably well kent faces hit the road in search of … what exactly?
There’s certainly a faith theme as the group of seven trace the steps of St Columba from Donegal to Iona. Most of those taking part lay claim to a faith,
while others are not entirely sure what they believe. It doesn’t sound as if it would make for a enthralling viewing, but as in the previous three series, which took the roads to Santiago, Istanbul and Rome, the combination of open road and wide-ranging conversations somehow works.
If all else fails there is the scenery to enjoy, which in the first episode consists of Ireland in the rain. In keeping with the subject there are no five star hotels at day’s end, just plain accommodation that’s a revelation in itself.
Much depends on the mix of celebrities, which here ranges from TV types Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen (“I don’t think I’ve ever walked so far not wearing Cuban heels”), Nick Hewer and Scarlett Moffatt to a cricketer, a paralympian, a comedian and an actor. Like the pilgrims you might be surprised where the path leads.
The holiday industry is back in business and so too are the travel shows.
Travel Man: 48 Hours in the Basque Country (Channel 4, Monday, 9pm) finds host Joe Lycett and his guest, the comedian James Acaster, on a short jaunt from Bilbao to San Sebastian.
Travel Man is your cheap and cheery kind of travelogue, never probing deep and always keen to race on to the next thing, be it a museum or a restaurant serving the latest in designer bar snacks.
As in Pilgrimage, enjoyment depends on who is doing the travelling. I find Lycett less Marmite than former presenter Richard Ayoade, but each to their own as they might say on Pilgrimage. In any case each show is only half an hour so if you don’t fancy one particular pairing or destination move on to the next (the whole series will be on All 4 from Monday).
Robert Maxwell was a character who could have leapt from the pages of an airport novel