Now this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship
SHOULD you need a masterclass in how to handle a cheeky interviewer, go straight to Louis Theroux Interviews: Dame Judi Dench (BBC2, Tuesday, 9.15pm).
The filmmaker who has pulled the pigtails of everyone from gangster rappers to Neil and Christine Hamilton, has a laidback style that belies a sharp journalistic eye.
But there is no need for his interviewee to be on their guard in this, the second of six sitdowns (last week was Stormzy; well worth a trip to iPlayer). It’s Judi Dench for heaven’s sake, the original national treasure before the label was stuck on every celeb of a certain age.
Theroux wisely acts the part of devoted but occasionally impudent grandson when he visits the great Dame in her Surrey home, and she plays him right back. If the pair ever wish to appear on stage as Bertie Wooster and one of his terrifying aunts I’d buy a ticket.
Dame Judi introduces Louis to one of her pets, a parrot called Sweetheart who talks like a robber’s dog (if a robber’s dog could speak), and requires to be addressed in similar style. Always loved animals, says Dame Judi. Had 17 cats during the war.
“During which war?” asks Theroux, which earns him the first of several theatrical points to the door by Dame Judi and a cry of “Louis, OUT!” Pups who have had an accident on the new carpet will know the tone.
Theroux makes his way through all the talking points of her career and her family life. She was married to her great love, fellow actor Michael Williams, for 30 years. Two decades on from his death she still struggles to talk about his passing.
She does not seem to have been out of work since leaving drama school. During lockdown her TikTok videos with grandson Sam had millions of views. Now she has macular degeneration and can’t get around as much as she would like, but she is still working, as we see from a clip of her being interviewed on stage by Gyles Brandreth (another charmer).
Theroux has brought champagne and laughter, and as the pair make their way arm in arm through her orchard, with trees planted for pals and loves long gone, it looks like a beautiful friendship has begun.
There is no mucking about
with fancy titles for Scotland’s Biggest Families (BBC One
Scotland, Monday, 8pm), which delivers exactly what it says on the mega-sized tin. Filmed over a year, the three part documentary follows the lives of the Hanns from Dundee (13 children, plus grandchildren) and the Sullivans from Lossiemouth (11 and another on the way).
Lots of questions come to mind as we drop in on households where everything is complicated by numbers. If you think it’s tough getting out the door in under half an hour with one child, try 13 of them.
Then there is the noise. As one dad says, sometimes the hilarity and hyperactivity turns into fighting. What about the expense? How do they afford all that shopping, the clothes, Christmas presents? And regrets – do the parents, or their children, have any or is life a
game of one big happy if chaotic family? Worth catching as they are a likeable bunch, and the silence when the hour is over is heavenly.
This week there is no better way to fill an hour than to drop in at The White Lotus (Sky Atlantic, Monday, 9pm). Created, written and directed by Mike White, the first series of this award-garlanded comedy/drama about filthy rich folk was set in Hawaii. Now we are in Sicily and the general gorgeousness of everything (bar most of the guests) is off the charts.
Jennifer Coolidge returns as Tanya, whose money can buy anything except love and the figure she wants. Two young couples have come on holiday with each other and are clashing nicely, while the grandfatherson-grandson trio who want to trace the old boy’s roots are a handful. Besides Coolidge the superb cast includes Michael
If you think it’s tough getting out the door in under half an hour with one child, try 13 of them
Imperioli (Christopher from The Sopranos) as a Hollywood hot shot, F Murray Abraham as his father, and Aubrey Plaza as a fantastically bored by everything young wife. She doesn’t even watch Ted Lasso. That’s the level of monster we are dealing with here. If you think no-one could do neurotic like the manager of the Hawaii resort you haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting the hilariously tactless Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore).
The three-part Alexander Armstrong in South Korea (Channel 5, Tuesday, 9pm) starts at warp speed with the Pointless presenter’s first evening in Seoul (population 26 million). It’s a young, busy, buzzy place, a treat for (or assault on) all the senses. The always genial Armstrong immerses himself in “K culture”, which includes having a makeover to turn him into a K pop star. That outfit would never do on Pointless, Al.