THE HOT LIST
THE BEST OF TV AND STREAMING THIS WEEK
LOUIS LOOKS BACK
LOUIS THEROUX: LIFE ON THE EDGE BBC Two, Sundays at 9pm and BBC iPlayer
EVER since the 1990s Louis Theroux has been meeting and probing people living on the periphery of the mainstream, looking at different subcultures, alternative lifestyles and marginalised communities in his compelling documentaries. His new series for the BBC, which started last Sunday, is a sort of greatest hits compilation in which Theroux looks back over his career and catches up with some of the people who’ve fallen under his curious but disarming gaze in the past. Theroux has also included his own home movie footage and news archive to delve deeper into his stories about human psychology and see how life turned out for his subjects.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to do with this new series,” says Theroux.
“I think we’ve been able to make the whole add up to more than the sum of the parts and to bring out surprising themes and commonalities. And, if nothing else, it was an interesting review of how my haircuts and glasses have changed over the years.”
GOING EXTINCT
EXTINCTION: THE FACTS BBC One,
Sunday, September 13, 8pm WITH a staggering million species now endangered, Sir David Attenborough explores the science of extinction and how this crisis will affect us all. The programme looks at what is causing the loss of biodiversity and what it means for us as part of the ecological system as a whole. The consequences on food and water supplies, our security, the climate and the likelihood of pandemics are all knock-on effects of these changes. Experts will join Sir David to explain how all groups in the natural world are in decline and deliver the sobering news that extinction is now happening up to 100 times faster than at its natural evolutionary rate.
DOWN MEXICO WAY
SUE PERKINS: ALONG THE US-MEXICO BORDER
BBC iPlayer MANY celebrity travelogues are little more than televised jollies but Sue Perkins’ latest adventure is a more gritty affair as she travels the US-Mexico border during a time of high tension thanks to Donald Trump’s belligerent attitude. The two-part series opens in Tijuana where Sue meets migrants hoping to cross the border, Americans who’ve retired to Mexico and medical tourists who are after cheap dental work. In part two, she visits the city of Juarez which is adjacent to El Paso on the other side of the border to find out what life is like there.
ON THE MEND
THE REPAIR SHOP BBC One, Mondays at 4.30pm, Wednesdays at 8pm, BBC iPlayer JAY Blades and the team return with a new series of programmes that provide heartwarming, intimate stories as people bring in treasured family heirlooms for repair. As the highly-skilled experts get to work restoring often badly damaged items, we hear the personal tales behind them. The new series kicks off with a pair of vintage weighing scales and a battered handbag.
MATTER OF TIME
MEMENTO BBC Two, Saturday, September 12, 9.45pm
■ AS Christopher Nolan’s time-bending spy thriller Tenet revives cinemas, here’s a chance to see one of his earlier works from 2000, another film concerned with our relationship with time. Memento unfolds in reverse chronology as Guy Pearce’s detective Leonard Shelby tries to find out who killed his wife. Complicating matters is the fact he suffers from a type of amnesia that means he can’t build new short-term memories so, as he hunts down the killer, he has to keep track of what he’s found out from scribbled notes on paper and on his body. A clever idea brilliant executed.