From Darren McGarvey’s important look at how to manage people with addictions in Scotland to foreign correspondent Fergal Keane’s programme on PTSD, some serious topics are sensitively handled. But there is some light relief too:
Darren McGarvey’s Addictions – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 10pm
Scotland has the highest drug fatality rate in Europe and the highest alcohol-related death rate in the UK. We’re Britain’s gambling capital and we have a serious obesity problem. Why are so many Scottish people struggling desperately with addiction? In this sensitive new series, author, journalist and musician Darren McGarvey examines the issue while investigating measures that could and should be in place to help addicts. McGarvey is a recovering alcoholic. Like all good, empathetic people, he recognises that alcoholism is a complicated illness. In episode one he meets with medical experts and other recovering addicts. The programme approaches alcohol misuse from various considered angles. There are, of course, no straightforward answers, but this is a valuable report.
Britain’s Top Takeaways – Monday to Thursday, BBC Two, 8pm
Warning: don’t watch this series while feeling peckish, as you may end up blowing a fortune on takeaways. It’s a harmlessly formulaic competition in which top takeaway outlets from around the country go head to head in a pop-up HQ. The judges aren’t celebs for once. They’re ‘ordinary’ British couples and families tasked with sampling the wares of our contestants. It’s MasterChef meets Gogglebox, basically. An inevitable union we’ve all been waiting for. It begins with a battle betwixt five popular chippies, one of which is based in Coatbridge. They each add their own magic ingredients to the classic fish supper, a cornerstone of the national diet. Your affable hosts are Sara Cox and comedian Darren Harriott.
Fergal Keane: Living with PTSD – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm
The esteemed BBC News foreign correspondent Fergal Keane has reported on brutal conflicts for over 30 years. He’s witnessed so many harrowing atrocities, the absolute worst of humanity. Fourteen years ago he was diagnosed with PTSD. Recently, while filming in Kyiv on the eve of the Ukraine War, he made a decision: it’s time to go home and put war reports behind him. In this ruminative essay, Keane digs deep into his psyche while examining the effects of this debilitating condition. He’s very honest and self-aware. He states that his career was largely driven by idealism, but also by an addiction to the adrenaline of war reportage. It made him feel worthwhile. It also consumed him with survivor’s guilt.
Between the Covers – Wednesday, BBC Two, 7.30pm
A busy week for Sara Cox continues with the return of her engaging little book club. It’s impossible to dislike Cox, that’s just a fact, so this brief burst of ubiquity is entirely acceptable. Her guests this week are radio presenter Vick Hope, actor David Morrissey, television man Richard Osman and comedian/podcaster Deborah Frances White. This latest series is brought to you in conjunction with the BBC’s Big Jubilee Read, which celebrates the work of writers from across the Commonwealth. One of the novels under review in episode one is the Booker Prize-winning The English Patient by Sri Lankan author Michael Ondaatje. As always, the panel also wax lyrical about some of their favourite tomes.
DNA Family Secrets – Wednesday, BBC Two, 9pm
Stacey Dooley returns for another series of carefully handled and potentially life- changing DNA investigations. Three people take a test this week. Richard has always wanted to know the identity of his father; he never received a satisfactory answer from his mother, who passed away quite recently. Glen, who is mixed race, also doesn’t know who his father was. He’s always wondered about his exact ethnic heritage. Finding out will hopefully complete his sense of self. Meanwhile, Janet has reason to believe that she has a secret half-sister in Austria. Dooley’s expert team of geneticists, genealogists and doctors have to start from scratch in all three cases, but they get results. Uplifting revelations ensue.
Inside No. 9 – Wednesday, BBC Two, 10pm
It recently occurred to me that Inside No. 9 is a bona fide modern classic. Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith have, across seven series and over 30 episodes, maintained a remarkably high quality threshold. This is an ingenious endeavour made with evident love and care, it rewards the viewer on an almost entirely consistent basis. Exemplary television. The latest episode is a meta-textual critique of generic crime fiction tropes. Sophie Okonedo, brilliant as always, stars as a dysfunctional cop who’s been suspended from duty. But she’s still obsessed with solving the case of a missing child. The story unfolds in a discombobulating yet ultimately satisfying manner. Obviously I can’t say any more than that, but it’s a good ‘un.
Growing Up Scottish – Thursday, BBC Scotland, 10pm
This bittersweet nostalgia-fest about coming of age in Scotland during the last three decades of the 20th Century also doubles up as a talking head showcase for emerging comedians such as Rachel Jackson, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd and TJ Singh. Series two commences with an episode based around the intertwined themes of friendship and home. The comics ruminate on some of the pastimes we’d invent to amuse ourselves as children in those pre-internet days. Anything would do just as long as it staved off the ultimate malaise: boredom. They also discuss the complex rules of sleepovers, while reflecting upon the vicissitudes of living in tenement flats, semi-detached houses, rented accommodation and even but ‘n’ bens. An amusing diversion.
FILM OF THE WEEK
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance – Wednesday, Film4, 1:50pm
An early prototype for the revisionist Western subgenre, director John Ford’s 1962 classic is an elegiac meditation on cowboy mythology. It tells the story of an upstanding small town senator (James Stewart) and his unlikely friendship with a tough yet decent rancher (John Wayne). The film begins with the rancher’s funeral; we gradually learn more about their bond via flashbacks. Lee Marvin plays the vicious outlaw who brought them together. This is a practically perfect work of art. It strikes a chord graced with warmth and pessimism. Ford ensures that his message is quietly profound but never pretentious. It’s a thoughtful, conflicted farewell to traditional Hollywood Westerns and the dubious romanticism they often espoused.
LAST WEEK’S TV
The 1% Club – Saturday April 30, STV
A big Saturday night quiz show hosted by Lee Mack? That sounds like fun. It’s not, it’s merely serviceable. The problem is self-evident: Mack, whose stock in trade is quick-fire improvised banter, is constrained by the format of a show in which 100 studio contestants are tasked with answering questions based on “logic and common sense”. His irreverent comic persona is entirely at odds with that premise. I’m not suggesting that Mack is some sort of maverick comedy genius, but he’s a naturally funny man who should be hosting a quiz in which he’s given carte blanche to mock proceedings a la Les Dawson on Blankety Blank. He’s not suited to a conventional show like this.
Love Life – Friday May 6, BBC One
Season two of HBO’s romantic comedy anthology revolves around a new set of thirtysomething characters. Marcus and Mia are African Americans, which allows the writers to explore complex themes surrounding racial identity and cultural expectations. Marcus has never been in a long-term relationship with a black woman. His wife is white. But when he falls for Mia, who’s also in a relationship, he’s forced to confront an issue he’s always tiptoed around. That Love Life manages to navigate this territory in a witty, intelligent, nuanced way is a credit to the writers and cast. William Jackson Harper and Jessica Williams are charming and believable in their respective leading roles. This love story could be worth investing in.
