This week, take Paul’s advice and don’t miss the BBC’s new documentary Blair & Brown, or do some TV island hopping with Scotland’s Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle, or a slightly more sinister trip to Murder Island.
Blair & Brown: The New Labour Revolution – Monday, BBC Two, 9pm
This fascinating series traces the rise and fall of New Labour, a nominally successful project in which the Labour Party made itself electable by abandoning its socialist principles. The timing isn’t accidental: Labour, post-Corbyn, are struggling to repeat the trick. The key difference, as the programme reveals, is that Tony Blair presented himself as a plausible leader. Episode one illustrates how Labour managed to transform their image. Blair comes across as an ambitious, ingratiating salesman. Brown, a serious political thinker, emerges as the better man. They provide telling contributions, as do Mandelson and Campbell. Once Johnson’s reign ends, I hope the BBC make a similar series about him.
Scotland’s Sacred Islands with Ben Fogle – Tuesday, BBC Scotland, 8pm
Ben Fogle, with his face like a bemused Easter Island statue, is an affable and mostly harmless buffoon. He presumably means well, as you’ll see in this slightly peculiar Hebridean travelogue/spiritual quest. His journey begins in the Inner Hebrides, where he explores its enduring connection with the peaceful tenets of Christianity. These islands have, for aeons, been a magnet for pilgrims, hippies, artists, musicians and poets: people who want to get away from the noise of life on the mainland. One of our host’s interviewees is a transgender woman who hasn’t faced any prejudice in her island community. If Fogle’s goal was to present the Hebrides as some sort of utopia, then he’s succeeded.
Dementia & Us – Tuesday, BBC Two, 9pm
The symptoms of dementia cannot be strictly diagnosed. It affects people in a complex variety of ways. Filmed over two years, this revealing two-part series follows four people with dementia as they and their loved ones adjust to life with this cruel, debilitating disease. The tone at first is somewhat optimistic: people always find a way to thrive with love and laughter. How else are we supposed to get through this agonising, unjust ordeal? If you’re diagnosed with dementia, that doesn’t mean your life is over. Far from it. But there is no happy ending. Dementia & Us is an honest, sensitive, sad, unflinching and important piece of television. It strikes a nerve. It actually matters.
Murder Island – Tuesday, Channel 4, 9:30pm
Crime writer Ian Rankin is the brains behind this new genre-bending reality series, in which eight members of the public investigate a specially-written murder mystery. Preview copies weren’t available at the time of writing, but the premise is intriguing. Our amateur sleuths pitch up on a craggy island in the hope of solving that week’s case and winning a £50,000 reward. They’ll receive expert guidance from (presumably fictional) police officers while encountering various suspects – all who appear to be harbouring dark secrets. Episode one involves a fatal land dispute. It sounds, in essence, like a more extravagant version of that old Cluedo TV adaptation from the 1980s, so it could be lots of fun.
Our Lives: Boots & Beards – Wednesday, BBC One, 7:30pm
A Scots-Asian hillwalking group, Boots & Beards is a healthy, heartening community endeavour. This delightful documentary meets its Glasgow-based founders, cousins Naveed and Kashif, who devised the concept five years ago as a way of bringing friends and family members together. It blossomed from there. We follow the group – which includes men, women and children – as they return to Scotland’s great outdoors after a year in lockdown. They’re preparing for their 100th walk. As with all Our Lives documentaries, this is a celebration of good, inspiring, “ordinary” people. Treat yourselves on iPlayer. When viewed from a certain angle, the world’s not so bad after all.
Iceland with Alexander Armstrong – Wed, Channel 5, 9pm
According to “Xander” himself, the only thing he knew about Iceland before making this series is that it’s where Bjork comes from. Oh, and there are puffins. So you do get the impression that he’s actually learning something about that beautiful, rugged isle. To his credit, he seems genuinely smitten with the geography, people and culture of Iceland. In episode one he circles an active volcano via helicopter, meets a nice woman who believes in elves, hangs out with Iceland’s “scary” 2019 Eurovision entrants, visits a male genitalia museum and marvels at an actual massive organ (oh, please yourselves etc.). Iceland comes across as an impeccably groovy, liberal and eccentric place. They’re way ahead over there.
Savile: Portrait of a Predator – Thursday, STV, 9pm
How did Jimmy Savile, one of the UK’s most prolific sex offenders, manage to commit his crimes without punishment? This damning report reveals all. Savile was a calculating opportunist who inveigled his way into places – hospitals, nightclubs, television studios – where he could prey on vulnerable young people. He formed a shield of protection around himself via supposedly altruistic charity work and friendships with powerful figures such as Margaret Thatcher and Prince Charles (neither of whom, the lawyered-up programme points out, were aware of his heinous ulterior motives). Those with suspicions either turned a blind eye or felt powerless to challenge him. A sickening saga.
