tv | The Arts Desk

tv

Francis Bacon: A Brush with Violence, BBC Two

Adam Sweeting Sunday, 29 January 2017

Francis Bacon died in April 1992, aged 82, but heaven knows how he managed to live that long.

Who Do You Think You Are? - Ian McKellen, BBC One

Jasper Rees Thursday, 26 January 2017

Science has yet to determine whether thespians are the product of genetic predetermination. We all know about the Foxes and Redgraves, myriad self-spawning dynasties of actors bred of actors wed to actors, while there are plenty of others who go about their fathers’ and mothers’ business. But we also know that there will never be another McKellen.

Case, Channel 4

Jasper Rees Wednesday, 25 January 2017

Another night, another woman battered/strangled/raped/murdered. On Sunday a pregnant woman was brutally slapped about by her husband in Call the Midwife, while Emily Watson’s character in Apple Tree Yard was the victim of a punishment rape. And so it continues in Case, the latest Nordic noir to make its way here, this time from Iceland.

Apple Tree Yard, BBC One

Mark Sanderson Monday, 23 January 2017

Only the final 60 seconds of this first episode of Apple Tree Yard could have been described as a psychological thriller. We know Dr Yvonne Carmichael is in the dock – the genetic scientist was shown handcuffed in a prison van right at the start – but we don’t know what she is supposed to have done.

Comment

Homeland, Series 6, Channel 4

Adam Sweeting Monday, 23 January 2017

The big surprise of this new-season opener of Homeland was that black ops specialist Peter Quinn (Rupert Friend) didn't die at the end of series 5 after all, despite the fact that we last saw him apparently moribund in his hospital bed, having penned a poignant adieu to sometime paramour Carrie Mathison. But, after surviving a hefty dose of sarin gas, he isn't the man she used to know.

Meet the Trumps: From Immigrant to President, Channel 4

Jasper Rees Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Tom Lehrer famously declared satire dead when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Henry Kissinger not long after he'd bombed Cambodia back to the Middle Ages. Lehrer never wrote another song. Meanwhile other satirists battle on. Every day delivers fresh material to work with.

Sound of Musicals with Neil Brand, BBC Four

Marina Vaizey Saturday, 14 January 2017

"Oh what a beautiful morning! Oh what a beautiful day!" Curly the cowboy sang in the opening scene of Oklahoma!, the first musical from Rodgers and Hammerstein (1943).

Comment

Hospital, BBC Two

Jasper Rees Thursday, 12 January 2017

It’s the ghastly scenario of a grim morality play. A man called Simon comes into hospital for the removal of a tumour in his oesophagus and the construction of a new food pipe. But there are not enough berths in the intensive therapy unit to ensure he can have post-operative care. Why? Because elsewhere in the country Janice has ruptured her aorta in a car accident.

David Bowie: The Last Five Years, BBC Two

Jasper Rees Sunday, 08 January 2017

It’s been 12 months since the news guy wept and told us: David Bowie, ever out in front, became the first to depart in the year of musical mortality 2016. After the initial lamentations, the memorial tributes have been a mixed bag. Best was the life story stitched together for Radio 4 from a vast back catalogue of audio interviews.

Taboo, BBC One

Adam Sweeting Sunday, 08 January 2017

The arrival of this oppressively atmospheric 19th-century historical drama is being trailed as the BBC's bold attempt to break the Saturday night stranglehold of soaps and talent shows. No doubt they were encouraged by the success of all those Saturday night Scandi dramas on BBC Four, and if Taboo falls short it won't be because of a lack of stellar names.