It’s A Sin – Channel 4

It’s a Sin is powerful and unflinching; a drama in the true sense of the word, with that delicious sweetness and vulnerability at its heart that’s a Russell T Davies hallmark. There’s glittering ambition, buzzy energy, naïve innocence, and fates entwined. A group of friends, really a little self-made family, are pulled together by fate, proximity, poverty and circumstance. Big characters sweep up the quieter ones in their wake; waifs and strays form an unbreakable life-long bond, and we take that plunge with them, ready for the ride of their lives.

It’s 1981 and we meet adorable little Ritchie (played by Olly Alexander) from the Isle of Wight, off to seek his fortune at university amongst the bright lights of London. His new friends are the gorgeous cross-dressing Roscoe (Omari Douglas), son of a strict Nigerian Christian family who want to pray the gay away, lovely innocent buttoned-up Colin (Callum Scott Howells) from South Wales and mother-hen Jill (Lydia West). I adore her snuggly jumpers and her warm heart. They’re all ready and set to take on whatever London throws at them, and they’ve got big plans for the future. They’re full of life and dynamic energy that looks exhausting to my middle-aged eyes, excited to take all the opportunities for fun they can find, in their studies, their work and their sex lives.

But already there’s a gate crasher at this party. Interspersed in the fantastic campy pop soundtrack there’s whispers of gay men mysteriously dying in New York. And the only outcasts in the local gay bar, so welcoming to everyone else, are the doom-mongers leafleting about a “gay cancer”. As Ritchie says incredulously “How can a disease know you’re gay?”. In the early 80s there’s nothing about AIDS in the news, there are no public health campaigns, GPs are dismissive (the elderly white male doctor as the face of authority is baffled that Jill wants information to help her friends), and conspiracy theories run rife. At this point in time it doesn’t even have a name. Sounds familiar? Having been filmed well before the Covid-19 pandemic, RTD never intended the AIDS storyline to be quite so timely, but the parallels are incredible and the tragedy is acutely painful.

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The Crown on The Custard TV Podcast

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – podcast time!

It was a pleasure to be invited to discuss the all-conquering Netflix smash-hit The Crown on The Custard TV Podcast. The episode is a treat, whether you watch the show or not. We had a blast discussing fancy weddings, unhappy marriages, and ridiculous hats, which, let’s be honest is a good 85% of the entire series.

It’s also a timely discussion with comments in certain quarters of the press this week about whether viewers can and do separate the fictional behind-closed-doors-stuff from the established fact. Personally, I find The Crown a really interesting jumping-off point for the British history they forgot to teach you at school. My history teachers were great, but the curriculum in the 80’s and 90’s was only really satisfied if the lesson involved ruffs, togas or ration coupons. I know I’m not alone in watching an episode on the Suez crisis, the death of Lord Moutbatten, or Princess Margaret visiting President Kennedy then going straight to Google to ask “Did it really happen like that?”.

Ultimately, The Crown is a very fancy soap opera. It’s The Kardashians with a perfect pedigree and much better acting. It’s lush, lavish, over-the-top, and a really pleasant distraction from the insurmountable problems of daily life. So, exactly like the real Royal Family then.

Anyway, don’t read this – listen to this! Will Matt, Mo and I convince Luke that The Crown worth his time? And will I be able to space the new episodes out like an advent calendar or scarf them all down in one go… like an advent calendar? There’s only one way to find out!

The Custard TV Podcast is available on The Custard TV blog, or on whichever platform you get your fresh podcasts.

‘Charlie Brooker’s Antiviral Wipe’ – BBC2

I know it’s so hard to want to engage in yet more corona-content 9 weeks into the UK’s hokey-cokey style lockdown when it’s everywhere, but a little something from Charlie Brooker back on the BBC after all this time was rightly worth getting excited about. And what else are you going to do this week… or next week, or the week after? The only people going out are those with a death wish (either their own kinky predilection, or suffering under a death-wish government that really doesn’t care either way if they die). Charlie’s Wipes were always filmed without a studio audience, looking a bit lo-fi and home-made. Charlie has always been alone on his sofa with assorted props, shouting as his TV. It’s absolutely the most relatable thing I’ve seen all year.

With the help of returning experts Philomena Cunk and Barry Shitpeas, Brooker reflected on basically everything that’s happened so far this year, all that stuff that seemed like a big deal in January – Brexit, assorted Royal Family nonsense, Philip Schofield’s big revelation – which now barely feels like a footnote in the 2020 Big Book of Doom.

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Streaming Not Screaming: What to Watch in Lockdown

It’s an unprecedented global pandemic and suddenly everyone’s a critic. Everyone, and I mean truly everyone has been giving unsolicited advice. Not just on how the earth is healing and humans are the virus (fuck off Extinction Rebellion), dangerous drugs that will kill you, not save you (fuck off Donald Trump), or nonsense symptom checkers that have no basis in fact (fuck all the way off thickos on Facebook). People everywhere are desperate to tell you what you should be watching while you’re stuck at home. I mean, let’s be real, no one has ever read Stylist magazine for culture. And you don’t see me advising on nail polish trends for the season (but it’s black, it’s always black) so stay in your lane Stylist! The person you need in a time of crisis is a socially awkward anxious organiser who has been running this precise scenario in her head for years, and has concluded the only logical thing to do is get really comfy and claim control of the TV remote.

Now, finally, you have the time! Binge away! But don’t binge the news; that’s something you need to limit for your own sanity and peace of mind. And by all means if you have the great American novel in you (or any nationality will do), and you have the motivation, go for it! But don’t feel pressured to be productive. Everything is wild and your whole year has gone tits-up in just a few days. You need time to process what’s happened, and find the mental resilience to get through through the day. Dump those haters who make you feel guilty for being a bit unproductive. Do what makes you feel good. But please, for the love of God, keep any and all coronavirus poetry to yourself.

Read On…

‘Kingdom’ – Netflix

I had a tip last week from a friend that there’s a zombie drama I should be watching. Never one to pass up juicy morsel of living dead action (especially since The Walking Dead jumped the zombie shark. RIP.) I fired up Netflix to take a look. Late at night. In the dark. By myself. Obviously. I make the smartest choices!

Welcome to Kingdom. This is Netflix’s first original Korean series, adapted from a webcomic The Kingdom of the Gods, written by Kim Eun-hee and drawn by Yang Kyung-il. And straight away you can tell it’s the comic-book look, style and lighting that’s fundamental to the show. It’s set in medieval Korea, in the Joseon era; lush and beautiful like a travel documentary (a time-travel documentary?). There’s at least 75 tonnes of cultural references I don’t yet understand. But that’s fine, and exactly as it should be. Don’t tell when you can show, and what a magnificent show it is. The lavish death rites of the King had me fascinated and that was just opening credits. The trick is the rites are presented backwards because of course the King isn’t exactly dead, but 100% alive either.

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'Danny Dyer's Right Royal Family' – BBC1

Danny Dyer’s National Television Award’s speech was dedicated to Harold Pinter, his unlikely theater mentor ,with typical passion and flair. “He believed in me when no-one else did. I’m getting all fucking emotional, I don’t now what’s the matter with me, for fuck’s sake,” he said. Underneath that geezer posturing he’s built a career on, he’s got a serious but uplifting message; “To all you young kids living out there in poverty, who don’t think they have a right to hope or dream or believe, do not let where you’ve come from define where you’re going in life. You can be whoever you want to be.” Sure Danny has got the swagger in spades, but what he’s got to say is worth listening to. And despite his humble upbringing he’s got quite a story to tell.
Last week we saw the first episode of his Right Royal Family a spin-off documentary series thanks to his outstanding turn on Who Do You Think You Are in 2018. His reaction to finding out his unbroken ancestral line leads back to royalty was a TV highlight of the year. This two-parter sees him expand on that royal pedigree and pick out the most interesting royals from his lineage in what he promises to be a right nutty royal caper.
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'Sacred Games' – Netflix

The hero of Netflix’s first Indian drama is Sartaj Singh (played by Saif Ali Khan) who cuts a rather lonely figure. He’s a honest and honorable detective who refuses to be intimidated by his corrupt colleagues in Mumbai’s police force. Probably because he refuses to tow the line he’s never landed a big case. He’s trapped in a corrupt system with no way out. In good cop show style, he’s unhappily divorced, scarred, gaining weight and taking medication for anxiety. No wonder as he’s under immense pressure from his station chief to lie under oath about a unarmed teenager shot down right in front of him.
This seems like more than enough to be dealing with, but no. Right from the outset Sacred Games is a game to be played by two. His opponent is Ganesh Gaitonde (Nawazuddin Siddiqui), a notorious gangster and a fugitive in hiding for 15 years. He makes contact with Sartaj out of the blue seemingly to spill his guts about his extraordinary life.  He also has a cryptic warning. Mubai’s time is numbered – there’s 25 days until the whole city is destroyed. Is he threatening the city both men say they love or is he tipping Sartaj off in the hope of saving them all? His personal god complex is clear; his first words to Sartaj are “Do you believe in God?”, but after all he’s been through he thinks he might really be immortal. And the way the show sets him up, he really could be.
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Just for Play-Play: the Best of Catch-Up TV

Join me for a catch up on the best of catch-up…
Can Science Make Me Perfect? iPlayer until 16 July

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Alice and James Cameron’s Avatar Alice

The annual talk of an ideal summer beach body never really takes the argument to a logical conclusion:

Thankfully Alice Roberts, Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University of Birmingham, is here to build the perfect female form – part science, part sci-fi and all nightmares. With doctors, sculptors and SFX experts she rebuilds her own body from scratch, and fixes the flaws that natural selection has embedded in our collective DNA. Her intentions are the best; making giving birth safer, solving the problems of our bad backs and giving us excellent sight and hearing. She unveils the life-size model in London’s Science Museum to gasps of amazement, but certainly not delight. Part elf, part bird and part kangaroo I think I’ll stick to human 1.0. Thanks all the same Alice.
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'The Bridge' – Series 4, Episode 8

This is a full review of The Bridge: Series 4, Episode 7. Catch up with all the reviews here. Don’t read on unless you’re completely up-to-date on the BBC2 schedule!
The Case
An urgent message about the identity of the killer is left in an in-tray of a man who is on some sort of compassionate leave. Not a detail everyone will have noticed, but it makes administrators livid. So our professional runaways Julia and Ida are back in the storyline and on the run from Niel’s mild-mannered assistant Susanne Winter. Back in the day she also answered to Steph, and was having an affair with tragic Tommy as a lot of people suspected by the end of the last episode. Prior to that she flew under the radar throughout the series, but she’s a badass brutal thug, who doesn’t give a shit. Tasing kids in the middle of suburbia in broad daylight and stuffing them in the boot of a car, with zero concern for nosey neighbours hiding behind their net curtains.
And after that scene I nominate Sofia Helin for the next James Bond. Saga’s presence of mind is like nothing else on earth. She’s just been shot but she finds her gun and takes out Susanne’s moving car. It’s interesting to me how Steph/Susanne has hidden so well behind a respectable mousy exterior, perhaps assisted by the European stereotypes of being an Asian woman. Her carefully constructed identity jars with the idea that she would be boastful, keeping trophies as Saga mentions and as the police find in the prop department, I mean, flat.  Also, we all know the case can’t be wrapped up neatly with a bow on top in just 20 minutes.
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'Britannia' – Sky Atlantic

Britannia is the much discussed and much trumpeted new Sky Atlantic drama. It’s also the first co-production between Sky and Amazon. It’s written by Jez Butterworth, who seems to have theater and screenwriting experience in spades, but not much on the CV for telly. Not like our collective expectations are set too high, but it’s been bandied about that Sky are in desperate need of something substantial in the swords and bloodlust category as the wait for Game of Thrones will be glacial. But the people who have seen it already are split into two camps – either it’s brilliantly bat-shit or terribly confusing. Well, which is it then?
Set in 43 AD this is about the Roman conquest of Britain. This is the second time around, as Julius Cesar went home with his tail between his legs in 54 BC, and boy, despite the man being long dead, do we hear a lot about that. We meet General Aulus Plautius, played by David Morrissey, not worrying in the slightest about his accent or where in the Roman Empire he hails from. To misquote Doctor Who, a lot of countries have a north. Aye up legionnaires!
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