TV critic Paul Whitelaw gives us his choices for the week ahead, with Positive charting Britain’s response to HIV via personal testimonies, Winter Walks offering some gentle watching and an insight into the art that brought character to Scotland’s post-war new towns.
Positive – Wednesday, Sky Showcase, 9pm
Fittingly, the first episode of this thoroughly researched three-part series goes out on World AIDS Day. It’s an insightful study of Britain’s response to HIV over the last 40 years, told via moving personal testimonies. The story begins in 1981, when virtually nothing was known about this new disease. It captures a sense of widespread fear and confusion, as Britain’s gay community gradually come to terms with the sheer tragic scale of the situation. Meanwhile, a broiling climate of moral panic is stoked up by homophobic tabloid reports. Younger viewers will doubtless be shocked by the ignorance and prejudice endemic within British society at that time. The warmth and dignity of the contributors provides a welcome counterbalance.
Winter Walks – Monday to Thursday, BBC Four, 7:30pm
A sleeper hit during last year’s locked-down winter, this meditative series returns for another gentle bout of celebrity rambling. It’s an intimate affair in which the presenters film their solo jaunts using a 360-degree camera. They occasionally bump into people along the way, but for the most part they’re alone while thinking out loud (that’s the idea anyway; they’ve obviously considered what they’re going to say beforehand). It’s an appealing celebration of the sights and sounds of rural England; tranquillity incarnate. This year’s walkers are farmer and author Amanda Owen, groovy priest Kate Bottley, BBC radio presenter Nihal Arthanayake and the inescapable Alastair Campbell, about whom I’ll say nothing; let’s not spoil the mood.
The Hunt for Bible John – Monday, BBC Scotland, 9pm
The final part of this fascinating series follows a police investigation which, as we know, ultimately went nowhere. There is no neat ending to this awful saga, no closure or justice for the victims and their loved ones. Bible John vanished into the ether. The police had practically nothing to go on beyond a vague description of the killer’s appearance. They were stumbling blindly in the dark, so much so they even enlisted the services of a flamboyant Dutch ‘clairvoyant’. A widely publicised Photofit not only led to hundreds of false leads, it stirred an already febrile atmosphere of fear and paranoia. The programme also exposes some appalling attitudes towards women, attitudes we recognise today as victim-blaming.
Stath Lets Flats – Tuesday, Channel 4, 10pm
The current series of this endearingly daft farce ends with the Greek wedding of Stath’s dad; the family patriarch and business tycoon. If you haven’t seen Stath Lets Flats before, then please allow me to nudge you towards every episode – there are eighteen in total – on streaming service All 4. It’s a charming, silly thing which pivots around Stath (series creator Jamie Demetriou), a hapless man-child who struggles with the basic requirements of his job as an estate agent. Demetriou’s sibling Nastasia, who you may recognise from What We Do in the Shadows, plays Stath’s sister. They’re naturally funny comic actors. It’s up there with Derry Girls as the best British sitcom of the last few years.
Meet You at the Hippos – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 10pm
In this one-off documentary, actor Mark Bonnar visits Scotland’s five post-war new towns: Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Irvine and Livingston. Why? Well, back in the 1970s his artist father Stan was involved in a commendable civic mission to add some colour to those utopian visions of the future. He created the stone hippos in Glenrothes, where I grew up. Thank you, Stan, they’re delightful. Father and son throw themselves into this idiosyncratic paean to the joys of public art. Despite the irreverent post-modern tone – it’s partly a pastiche of earnest art documentaries – the programme succeeds as a fundamentally heartfelt piece of socio-political history. Artists like Stan make the world a more interesting and magical place.
Between the Covers – Wednesday, BBC Two, 7:30pm
Our book club attendees this week are a quartet of comedians: Alan Davies, Sarah Kendall, Suzi Ruffell and Love Island narrator Iain Stirling. Apart from Davies, none of them are voracious readers. But that’s partly why this show works in its modest little way. There is something quite heartening about people enthusing over things they’d never normally bother with. And the whole point, of course, is to encourage viewers to investigate these books for themselves. Titles under review include Ascension, a spy thriller written by Oliver Harris, and Tan Twan Eng’s 2012 novel The Garden of Evening Mists, which is told from the perspective of a woman who was interred in a Japanese POW camp during WWII.
Paddy & Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism – Wednesday, BBC One, 9pm
The comedian and gameshow host Paddy McGuinness has three young children, all of whom have been diagnosed with autism. In this sensitive yet unsentimental programme, McGuinness and his wife Christine talk candidly about their situation. “Every family’s experience is different,” says McGuinness, “we can only speak for ours.” But in doing so, they will hopefully provide some succour to other parents with children on the autism spectrum. Their goal is to challenge preconceptions while gaining a greater understanding of neurodiversity. They also give voice to some kids with autism; no one talks over them or pontificates on their behalf. This, by some considerable margin, is the most valuable piece of television McGuinness has ever made.
