Courier TV critic Paul Whitelaw takes no prisoners this week as he gives his verdict on programmes including The Fall of a Tabloid King, Why is Covid Killing People of Colour and The Terror.
Max Clifford: The Fall of a Tabloid King – Channel 4, Monday, 9pm
This excoriating documentary delves into the sordid cesspit of Clifford’s life. The now dead publicist was a vile human being: an amoral hypocrite, bully and narcissist. A psychopath. A pervert. A paedophile. Much like Savile, he hid in plain sight. Clifford revelled in power and the fear he wrought. A self-styled arch-manipulator, he thought he was untouchable. So no wonder we all enjoyed some schadenfreude when he was eventually exposed and incarcerated. But, via contributions from some of his victims, the programme paints a far more important picture of an evil man who was kept afloat for years by some of our media. It’s the antithesis of Clifford’s philosophy. It prints the truth.
Would I Lie to You? – BBC1, Monday, 8.30pm
With the exception of Taskmaster, this is the best TV panel show by far. It’s not entirely consistent, but you’re guaranteed a few laughs per episode. A ringing endorsement, I know. The simple appeal of it is this: there’s no aggression, no unpleasantness; it’s a warm, breezy game you can play along with at home (in your parlour). And even after all this time, the effortlessly witty team captains Lee Mack and David Mitchell still appear to be enjoying themselves. The star guest this week is Johnny Vegas. Does he use a paint roller as a loofah in the shower? Did he and another man called Johnny once pretend to be members of Take That? Tune in to find out.
Why is Covid Killing People of Colour? – BBC1, Tuesday, 9pm
“As a 55-year-old black man,” says actor David Harewood, “I am three times more likely to die from Covid-19 than a white man of my age.” To find out more about the reasons behind this stark statistic, he talks to various doctors and scientists, as well as people of colour who have lost loved ones during the pandemic. It’s an angering expose of health inequality in Britain. “Race is a biological fiction,” says one doctor of Indian origin. Instead, this is a systemic sociological issue rooted in decades of economic and racial discrimination. People of colour are more likely to work in lower-paying frontline roles, where protective conditions are often woefully inadequate. A national scandal.
DNA Family Secrets – BBC2, Tuesday, 9pm
This touching series is basically ITV’s Long Lost Families in newly upholstered trousers. But that’s fine, it works. In recent years, the growing popularity of genetic testing has given us unprecedented access to our ancestry. In episode one we meet Bill, a mixed-race man who has never met his African-American father, and Richard, who recently discovered that he’s not biologically related to the man who raised him. He also learns that he may have a half-brother. Bill and Richard gain some comfort from their findings, but some of the surprises are overwhelming. Dooley also meets Charlie, a young wife and mother with a 50% chance of inheriting her father’s Huntingdon’s Disease. It’s an emotionally-charged journey.
The Terror – BBC2, Wednesday, 9pm
Medals will be issued to anyone who manages to endure episode one of this frost-bitten drama for more than ten minutes. I had to watch the whole thing, because that’s what they pay me for. In 1845, two Royal Navy ships embarked upon a pioneering mission to navigate through the Arctic. They never returned. There’s a potentially interesting story here, but it’s (sigh) tragically capsized by a mannered, arid screenplay. There is no heart, no soul. Zero momentum, nothing to cling on to. It’s just a procession of liveried characters whispering at each other in gloomy gas-lit cabins. The only highlight is a scurvy-ridden crewmember suffering a sub-Lynchian hallucination. A tedious voyage of the damned.
The Pandemic at No. 47- Channel 4, Wednesday, 10pm
Director Paddy Wivvel usually makes documentaries set in prisons and psychiatric hospitals. This time he focuses on his own middle-class neighbourhood during the first national lockdown. Despite its friendly outward appearance, this isn’t a cosy close-knit community at all. Most of Wivvel’s neighbours have never met each other before. As the programme unfolds, he talks to frightened people who have lost loved ones to Covid. He also pays lip service to the debilitating psychological effects of loneliness and isolation. But ultimately it’s a peculiar film that often comes across as a spoof of comfortable middle-class society. Some of the people are like characters from a satirical sketch show.
Luxury Holidays: How to Get Away This Year – Channel 4, Thursday , 8pm
I’m afraid I haven’t seen this programme, as preview copies weren’t available, but here’s the premise: host Sabrina Grant investigates whether a proper holiday (remember them?) might be possible in 2021, once restrictions are lifted. This is to assume that restrictions will be fully lifted at some point this year, and I don’t really see the point of speculating. Nevertheless, Grant explores potential options such as staycations off the beaten track, and promises to provide important information on how we should prepare for new quarantines and variants. Or you could just do the sensible thing and stay at home. We’ll be able to go on holiday again one day. Now is not the time.
