This week, Paul falls under the spell of a malevolent magician and serves behind the counter at a Victorian grocers…
NEXT WEEK’S TV
INSIDE NO. 9
Monday, BBC Two, 10pm
Reece Shearsmith indulges his passion for magic in this engrossing episode about an arrogant and highly secretive illusionist whose murky past comes back to haunt him. Every instalment of Inside No. 9 involves a certain amount of ingenious sleight-of-hand – the episode title is ‘Misdirection‘ – so no wonder this milieu provides them with ample opportunity to wrong-foot the audience. Going into any more detail would, of course, spoil the macabre fun, but ‘Misdirection‘ is Shearsmith and Pemberton (who plays an older magician with a mind-melting trick up his sleeve) at their most Tales of the Unexpected-like. It’s a claustrophobic journey into the Magic Circle of Hell.
BACK IN TIME FOR THE CORNER SHOP
Tuesday, BBC Two, 8pm
A breezy piece of social history wedded to a simple, sure-fire formula, Back In Time… will doubtless still be running long after we’ve all become history ourselves. The latest series tasks a British family with running a traditional corner shop over several replicated decades (mother Jo’s great-grandparents ran one for real). It begins in the Victorian era, when this pillar of the community was born. Sara Cox and social historian Polly Russell guide the family through their never-ending daily chores; life for a Victorian shopkeeper involved churning butter, picking strawberries, slaving in the kitchen, making deliveries via horse and cart, and risking a hernia by carrying enormous bollards of cheese. It is, as always, a likeable lesson.
HOSPITAL
Thursday, BBC Two, 9pm
With the NHS under increasing threat, this candid observational documentary carries a severely urgent weight. It was filmed a few months ago in seven Liverpool hospitals, where staff and patients struggle to cope within an overworked and cash-strapped system. Episode three unfolds in a unit devoted to cardiac disease. The waiting list presents an ethical and logistical nightmare; operations for patients at high risk are being constantly delayed. Everyone has to cope as best they can. There are, thank God, moments of hope amidst the overarching gloom, as we witness dedicated doctors, surgeons and nurses literally saving lives, but it’s hard to banish the dire feeling that Hospital is a document of a vital institution in terminal decline (hosted by a broadcaster under similar threat).
ERIC BURDON: ROCK ‘N’ ROLL ANIMAL
Friday, BBC Four, 9:30pm
He was the electrifying leader of The Animals, who fought hard and heavy during the British Invasion. He became a leading – if somewhat foolish – light in the flower power movement and scored hits with the multiracial funk band War. And yet Eric Burdon remains somewhat overlooked. This profile gives him his due. An engaging raconteur, Burdon rakes over his eventful life with support from admirers such as Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith and Sting. It’s the story of how a working-class Newcastle kid with a deep love of black American music made it, just about, in a poisonous industry. Burdon doesn’t hold back on his justifiable bitterness, and his once great voice is shot, but he’s no casualty. He survived.
FILM of THE WEEK
COP LAND
Wednesday, ITV4, 10:30pm
Sylvester Stallone reminded the world that he can actually act in this low-key crime drama about a sad-sack small town cop who gradually decides to stand up against police corruption. It’s not quite as good as it should be – the cast also includes Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel and Ray Liotta – but Cop Land is still a notable minor piece: Scorsese via Springsteen, Gary Cooper and Rocky.
LAST WEEK’S TV
DOCTOR WHO
Sunday February 16, BBC One
This was, by some considerable margin, the best episode of Chris Chibnall’s Doctor Who to date (he didn’t write it). A witty, atmospheric Gothic horror yarn in which the Doc and co visited Mary Shelley on the dark and stormy night of her fateful Frankenstein nightmare, it encompassed an authentically disturbing and dangerous half-formed Cyberman, plus hints towards whatever Chibnall has in store for the season finale. It was trad, dad, and all the better for it.
THIS COUNTRY
Monday February 17, BBC One
A mock-doc set in “a typical Cotswold village”, this BAFTA-winning gem is, like the similarly warm and subtle Detectorists, a sitcom beloved by those lucky enough to be aware of its existence. The creators/stars have stated that this third series will be the last. Do yourselves a favour and watch the whole thing on iPlayer.
BUMPS
Friday February 21, BBC One
The comedians, and actual real-life couple, Lucy Montgomery and Rhys Thomas were responsible for this inoffensive sitcom pilot about – sigh – a mildly dysfunctional big-kitchen family. Montgomery and Thomas have been involved with some great comedy – e.g. Brian Pern, a Thomas co-creation – but Bumps is disappointingly generic.
