Magzter Gold (Sitewide Promotion)

Magzter Gold (Sitewide Promotion)

Digital Delivery

Radio Times November 5th, 2016 Digital Back Issue Cover

Radio Times Week 45 - 2016 (Digital)

(1)

Single Digital Issue

Week 45 - 2016

$4.98

Powered By Zinio

Zinio

Satisfaction Guaranteed

Instant Start

Subscribe Instead

1 Year Subscription

51 digital issues

$163.44

($3.20/issue)

Go to Subscription

View Subscription Options

Also available on ZINIO Unlimited logo

Get unlimited access to Radio Times (Digital) + Back Issues & 5000+ other magazines

1-month free trial

Renews at $8.99/month after trial.
Cancel anytime.

Get unlimited access to Radio Times (Digital) + Back Issues & 5000+ other magazines. Renews at just $8.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

Start Trial Learn more

86 Articles

From the editor

Television always moves up a gear when the clocks go back and the nights draw in. But it’s not just a change of season that explains the arrival of two BBC titans in our living rooms: Sir David Attenborough’s epic Planet Earth II and dramatist Stephen Poliakoff ’s Close to the Enemy. Both are the embodiment of public service television and a timely reminder of the licence fee’s astonishing value. This week also sees the launch of one of the most expensive dramas ever made – a project the BBC was offered but couldn’t afford. Written by the celebrated Peter Morgan, The Crown oozes star quality and tells the story of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. It is clever, cinematic and sumptuous. And it’s being shown on Netflix, the…

From the editor

From the editor

Television always moves up a gear when the clocks go back and the nights draw in. But it’s not just a change of season that explains the arrival of two BBC titans in our living rooms: Sir David Attenborough’s epic Planet Earth II and dramatist Stephen Poliakoff ’s Close to the Enemy. Both are the embodiment of public service television and a timely reminder of the licence fee’s astonishing value. This week also sees the launch of one of the most expensive dramas ever made – a project the BBC was offered but couldn’t afford. Written by the celebrated Peter Morgan, The Crown oozes star quality and tells the story of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. It is clever, cinematic and sumptuous. And it’s being shown on Netflix,…

From the editor

WHAT I’M WATCHING… EMILY MAITLIS ‘I’m hooked on Divorce,” says the Newsnight presenter who interviews David Attenborough on page 8. “I also loved Fleabag and mourned its passing, and got stuck into Blood, Sex and Money – Radio 4’s Zola adaptation with Glenda Jackson. All a bit dystopian, I’m afraid.’ STEPHEN POLIAKOFF ‘Being a political junkie, I’m watching both Daily Politics and Ed Balls on Strictly Come Dancing,” says the writer who introduces his latest drama, Close to the Enemy, on page 30. “I’m also watching Ordinary Lies – and the last Bake Off on the BBC…’ WHAT WE’VE LEARNT THIS WEEK Haiti’s National Penitentiary was built to house 1,200 detainees. It currently holds 4,359 people, of whom only 529 have been sentenced by the court. The remaining 3,830 are held on “prolonged preventative detention”, which…

WHAT I’M WATCHING… EMILY MAITLIS ‘I’m hooked on Divorce,” says the Newsnight presenter who interviews David Attenborough on page 8. “I also loved Fleabag and mourned its passing, and got stuck into Blood, Sex and Money – Radio 4’s Zola adaptation with Glenda Jackson. All a bit dystopian, I’m afraid.’ STEPHEN POLIAKOFF ‘Being a political junkie, I’m watching both Daily Politics and Ed Balls on Strictly Come Dancing,” says the writer who introduces his latest drama, Close to the Enemy, on page 30. “I’m also watching Ordinary Lies – and the last Bake Off on the BBC…’ WHAT WE’VE LEARNT THIS WEEK Haiti’s National Penitentiary was built to house 1,200 detainees. It currently holds 4,359 people, of whom only 529 have been sentenced by the court. The remaining 3,830 are…

Our kind kingdom

IN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’S A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois memorably remarks that she “has always depended on the kindness of strangers”. It’s a wonderful line, but in Blanche’s mouth those words have always sounded a little desperate and sad. But in the past three weeks, as I have descended the eastern side of Britain, retracing the Jarrow March, hugging the arterial roads of Northumberland and Yorkshire, crossing the flat fields of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, I have found those kindnesses to be offered quickly and simply, effortlessly and unshowily. We are told continually that Britain is broken. We hear it shrieked on radio phone-ins and ranted in purple-faced newspaper editorials. The last 20 or so days and nights have shown me many things to despair at, from grown men cycling at speed…

Our kind kingdom

Our kind kingdom

IN TENNESSEE WILLIAMS’S A Streetcar Named Desire, Blanche DuBois memorably remarks that she “has always depended on the kindness of strangers”. It’s a wonderful line, but in Blanche’s mouth those words have always sounded a little desperate and sad. But in the past three weeks, as I have descended the eastern side of Britain, retracing the Jarrow March, hugging the arterial roads of Northumberland and Yorkshire, crossing the flat fields of Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire, I have found those kindnesses to be offered quickly and simply, effortlessly and unshowily. We are told continually that Britain is broken. We hear it shrieked on radio phone-ins and ranted in purple-faced newspaper editorials. The last 20 or so days and nights have shown me many things to despair at, from grown men cycling at…

Our kind kingdom

BARNES BITES BACK — AT THE YANKS Not everyone is delighted that this year’s Man Booker Prize went to American writer Paul Beatty. “I don’t agree with opening up the Booker — it’s daft,” Julian Barnes, the 2011 winner, tells RT. “For one thing, the Americans have got enough prizes of their own.” Also, adds Barnes, it’s not been reciprocated — “Which American prizes are open to Brits? In theory I think only the National Book Award is. I don’t think any Brit has won a major American award for years.” Barnes sighs, maybe aware of his own slightly curmudgeonly position. “Writers are like farmers. It’s always a bad year.” STRICTLY BORIS Ed Balls has shown us all how a stint on Strictly can make the public love a politician. But former Tory…

BARNES BITES BACK — AT THE YANKS Not everyone is delighted that this year’s Man Booker Prize went to American writer Paul Beatty. “I don’t agree with opening up the Booker — it’s daft,” Julian Barnes, the 2011 winner, tells RT. “For one thing, the Americans have got enough prizes of their own.” Also, adds Barnes, it’s not been reciprocated — “Which American prizes are open to Brits? In theory I think only the National Book Award is. I don’t think any Brit has won a major American award for years.” Barnes sighs, maybe aware of his own slightly curmudgeonly position. “Writers are like farmers. It’s always a bad year.” STRICTLY BORIS Ed Balls has shown us all how a stint on Strictly can make the public love a politician.…

Attenborough’s planet

Planet Earth II Sunday 8.00pmBBC1 THE ELUSIVE LEOPARD A decade ago, after months of trying, the Planet Earth team shot stunning footage of the rare snow leopard in the Himalayas. Ten years on, and armed with dozens of camera traps, they’ve repeated the feat and the results are even more spectacular ‘We can destroy or we can cherish’ DAVID ATTENBOROUGH PERHAPS I SHOULD have guessed that a man who has spent a lifetime hiding stealthily in undergrowth should be able to enter a room without anyone seeing. But the first time I’m aware that David Attenborough is behind me is when he observes, “It’s the small eyes – too close together – and the length of the nose. The rat is never going to make it.” He has found me in the middle of…

Attenborough’s planet

Attenborough’s planet

Planet Earth II Sunday 8.00pm BBC1 THE ELUSIVE LEOPARD A decade ago, after months of trying, the Planet Earth team shot stunning footage of the rare snow leopard in the Himalayas. Ten years on, and armed with dozens of camera traps, they’ve repeated the feat and the results are even more spectacular ‘We can destroy or we can cherish’ DAVID ATTENBOROUGH PERHAPS I SHOULD have guessed that a man who has spent a lifetime hiding stealthily in undergrowth should be able to enter a room without anyone seeing. But the first time I’m aware that David Attenborough is behind me is when he observes, “It’s the small eyes – too close together – and the length of the nose. The rat is never going to make it.” He has found me…

Attenborough’s planet

A WORLD YOU’VE NEVER SEEN

1 THE LEOPARD ON YOUR DOORSTEP If you want to see big cats, you head to the African savannah or the jungles of Asia, right? Wrong! India’s leopards have developed a taste for fast food, and are now a regular sight in Mumbai, one of the busiest cities on Earth. Urban leopards do occasionally prey on humans, but mostly they are content with taking wild, feral and domestic animals. Producer Fredi Devas used new thermal imaging cameras to capture these secretive big cats at night in a city of around 20 million people. 2 CHASED DOWN BY SNAKES A hands-over-the eyes scene from the opening Islands episode that will have everyone talking. Rarely has wildlife filming delivered a sequence so utterly terrifying as that of racer snakes chasing down and devouring baby marine…

A WORLD YOU’VE NEVER SEEN

The Crown Available from 4 November onNetflix ‘The Queen would have preferred the life of a solid English countrywoman’ PETER MORGAN PETER MORGAN HAS spent the best part of a decade living with a woman that he’s never met, and hopes he never will. It’s a relationship between two shy people that looks set to result in the most expensive television series ever made; Britain’s leading contemporary screen dramatist chronicling the longest reign in our history. He’s imagined the private life of the most public figure of our age. Morgan has a track record of plays, programmes and films about the real-life mighty brought low by their fatal flaws (President Nixon in Frost/Nixon, Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United), which has seen him headily…

A WORLD YOU’VE NEVER SEEN

1 THE LEOPARD ON YOUR DOORSTEP If you want to see big cats, you head to the African savannah or the jungles of Asia, right? Wrong! India’s leopards have developed a taste for fast food, and are now a regular sight in Mumbai, one of the busiest cities on Earth. Urban leopards do occasionally prey on humans, but mostly they are content with taking wild, feral and domestic animals. Producer Fredi Devas used new thermal imaging cameras to capture these secretive big cats at night in a city of around 20 million people. 2 CHASED DOWN BY SNAKES A hands-over-the eyes scene from the opening Islands episode that will have everyone talking. Rarely has wildlife filming delivered a sequence so utterly terrifying as that of racer snakes chasing down and…

A WORLD YOU’VE NEVER SEEN

EARLY ON IN The Crown it’s clear this epic series about the royal family will not be a toadying hagiography. It’s 1952, Princess Elizabeth has just touched down in Kenya on a tour of the Commonwealth with her husband. There’s a receiving line on the tarmac and as the young couple move down it, Philip raises a sarcastic eyebrow at a tribal chief in an elaborate feathered headdress and remarks in a public school drawl, “I like the hat.” His wife, walking two steps head, winces with embarrassment before turning to correct him. “It’s a crown,” she hisses. It was on that trip to Kenya that the 25-yearold princess found out that her beloved father, George VI, had died and that she was to become Queen. Despite the TV series graphically…

Dance till we drop

Strictly Come Dancing Saturday 6.55pm, Sunday 7.15pmBBC1 Ed Balls IT’S A GOLDEN rule of Strictly that you should always listen to the judges. It’s a vital part of learning. So when both Bruno and Craig warned me af ter my American Smooth not to overstretch myself, Katya and I thought hard about their advice. Their comments were, of course, about “that lift”, which didn’t go according to plan on the live show, with Katya looking as if she was about to take a dramatic tumble. It had worked every time in rehearsals – and we had tried things out to be sure she was still safe, even if her footing slipped. But we knew it was risky. We had invented it ourselves and we hoped people would be impressed, as well as a little…

Dance till we drop

‘If Trump wins, there will be less change than you might think’ INSOMNIAC’S GUIDE TO POLL NIGHT 00:30 Polls close in North Carolina, a swing state, and US TV networks will call the result based on exit polls. Can Trump win it? If he doesn’t, he’s in trouble. 01:00 Florida and Pennsylvania are called — if Trump fails to win either, he is losing the election. 03:00 If it’s still close, watch out for Nevada’s result. Also Utah, which Republicans normally win but where Trump has struggled with socially conservative Mormon voters, so an independent candidate might win. 04:00 By now, the major networks should be calling the election. But if the independent candidate in Utah steals the necessary votes, maybe neither Clinton nor Trump will have the 270 electoral college votes needed to win.…

The Crown Available from 4 November on Netflix ‘The Queen would have preferred the life of a solid English countrywoman’ PETER MORGAN PETER MORGAN HAS spent the best part of a decade living with a woman that he’s never met, and hopes he never will. It’s a relationship between two shy people that looks set to result in the most expensive television series ever made; Britain’s leading contemporary screen dramatist chronicling the longest reign in our history. He’s imagined the private life of the most public figure of our age. Morgan has a track record of plays, programmes and films about the real-life mighty brought low by their fatal flaws (President Nixon in Frost/Nixon, Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland, football manager Brian Clough in The Damned United), which…

A family’s agony

Damilola, Our Loved Boy Monday 8.30pmBBC1 IN THEIR PUBLIC appearances, often outside courthouses, the parents and siblings of Damilola Taylor, the ten-year-old boy stabbed to death on an inner-London sink estate in 2000, always looked so dignified and united. In truth they were riven by the pain of loss. As is often the case in tragedies involving the deaths of children, Damilola’s killing caused bitter ructions within the Taylor family – ructions that will be revealed for the first time in a new BBC1 drama. Damilola’s father, Richard, who has since won an OBE for his work with inner-city youths, cooperated fully with the project, in the hope that it will help those youths to understand the damage that mindless violence can do to families. “Richard always said he wanted us to show…

A family’s agony

EARLY ON IN The Crown it’s clear this epic series about the royal family will not be a toadying hagiography. It’s 1952, Princess Elizabeth has just touched down in Kenya on a tour of the Commonwealth with her husband. There’s a receiving line on the tarmac and as the young couple move down it, Philip raises a sarcastic eyebrow at a tribal chief in an elaborate feathered headdress and remarks in a public school drawl, “I like the hat.” His wife, walking two steps head, winces with embarrassment before turning to correct him. “It’s a crown,” she hisses. It was on that trip to Kenya that the 25-yearold princess found out that her beloved father, George VI, had died and that she was to become Queen. Despite the TV series…

Our useful Nazis

Close to the Enemy Thursday 9.00pmBBC2 ‘Many of these people had been active Nazis and were guilty of war crimes’ STEPHEN POLIAKOFF IF THE NAZIS ever come again I will hide you, I promise.” This disturbing message was often whispered to me at night by an Austrian friend of my parents who lived with us when I was a child. Even though this was many years after the war, her tone was so urgent I felt it was only days since hostilities had finished. I think this is one of the reasons I’ve always been fascinated by the immediate postwar period; it remains vividly alive for me and it is why I have chosen to set my new seven-part drama at that time. The story begins in 1946, when the euphoria felt over…

Our useful Nazis

‘I’m a Geordie Nigerian’

Black and British: a Forgotten History Wednesday 9.00pmBBC2 ‘On the door someone had painted a swastika’ DAVID OLUSOGA DAVID OLUSOGA WAS one of very few non-white people on the Newcastle council estate where he grew up. His Nigerian father had met his white British mum at the city’s university in the 1960s, and when they separated David joined his mum. “I’m a Geordie Nigerian,” he says of his ancestry. But in his case the famous Geordie warmth turned out to be more myth than reality. “The National Front attacked the house repeatedly with stones and broke all the windows and we were living under police protection,” he says now. “I was 14.” Olusoga and his mum were eventually forced out of their home by the racists. He remembers returning to the house and…

‘I’m a Geordie Nigerian’

Dance till we drop

Strictly Come Dancing Saturday 6.55pm, Sunday 7.15pm BBC1 Ed Balls IT’S A GOLDEN rule of Strictly that you should always listen to the judges. It’s a vital part of learning. So when both Bruno and Craig warned me af ter my American Smooth not to overstretch myself, Katya and I thought hard about their advice. Their comments were, of course, about “that lift”, which didn’t go according to plan on the live show, with Katya looking as if she was about to take a dramatic tumble. It had worked every time in rehearsals – and we had tried things out to be sure she was still safe, even if her footing slipped. But we knew it was risky. We had invented it ourselves and we hoped people would be impressed, as…

Dance till we drop

Our magic garden

DIY SOS at Great Ormond Street Hospital Thursday 8.00pmBBC1 ‘IT WAS THE BOILER HOUSE ROOF’ CHRIS BEARDSHAWGarden designer I’ve always believed gardens should be transformative spaces, but when I first stared down on the space that would eventually become the Great Ormond Street Hospital garden it was about as uninspiring as it’s possible to be. There, in the centre of the hospital, surrounded by high buildings with very little natural sunlight, was the grey flat roof of the old boiler house. One of the great lessons in gardening is to look around and see what’s growing naturally because that will indicate the growing conditions. On this roof there was nothing but air conditioning units. Nonetheless, I was inspired to create something that would, in a small way, help people going through some of the…

Our magic garden

‘If Trump wins, there will be less change than you might think’ INSOMNIAC’S GUIDE TO POLL NIGHT 00:30 Polls close in North Carolina, a swing state, and US TV networks will call the result based on exit polls. Can Trump win it? If he doesn’t, he’s in trouble. 01:00 Florida and Pennsylvania are called — if Trump fails to win either, he is losing the election. 03:00 If it’s still close, watch out for Nevada’s result. Also Utah, which Republicans normally win but where Trump has struggled with socially conservative Mormon voters, so an independent candidate might win. 04:00 By now, the major networks should be calling the election. But if the independent candidate in Utah steals the necessary votes, maybe neither Clinton nor Trump will have the 270 electoral…

First Test: India v England From Tue 3.30amSS2(Tue onlySky Sports Mix), 3.45amRadio 4 LW, 5 Live Sp Ex ‘Jonny Bairstow still has five more Tests to play this year’ ENGLAND’S CRICKETERS HAVE had one of their busiest seasons yet – but by far their biggest challenge is to come. This week, they begin a five-Test series in India, the first of that duration in more than 30 years. And then? Next year sees the longest international home season in their history, with Test series, ODIs and T20s against South Africa and West Indies – and the Champions Trophy. With more cricket being played than ever, it’s little wonder records are tumbling: Alastair Cook recently became the most capped England Test player and is the youngest player to score 7,000 Test runs. He also…

Dressed to kill

Don’t miss… The new RT Guide to Films is available now — for details, see p50 WHEN THE FASHION designer Tom Ford first said that he was turning his hand to films, the world raised a collective eyebrow. His debut, A Single Man starring Colin Firth, was a triumph: critically acclaimed and commercially successful. Most people would have been tempted to cement their reputation with a quick follow-up. Ford waited – and waited… “I certainly didn’t intend it to be seven years,” he says, suave and charming in his trademark black suit and white shirt. “But I’ve opened 100 stores, I’ve started a women’s business and, most importantly, I’ve had a child, who is now four.” His new film, Nocturnal Animals (in cinemas from Friday 4 November) is beautiful to look at, but…

Dressed to kill

A family’s agony

Damilola, Our Loved Boy Monday 8.30pm BBC1 IN THEIR PUBLIC appearances, often outside courthouses, the parents and siblings of Damilola Taylor, the ten-year-old boy stabbed to death on an inner-London sink estate in 2000, always looked so dignified and united. In truth they were riven by the pain of loss. As is often the case in tragedies involving the deaths of children, Damilola’s killing caused bitter ructions within the Taylor family – ructions that will be revealed for the first time in a new BBC1 drama. Damilola’s father, Richard, who has since won an OBE for his work with inner-city youths, cooperated fully with the project, in the hope that it will help those youths to understand the damage that mindless violence can do to families. “Richard always said he wanted…

A family’s agony

Strictly over the top

WOULD YOU EXCUSE me for just a moment, I must fling myself onto the nearest chaise longue like Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. Why? Because I’ve been working so hard. Get me a gin and tonic and the finest cashmere blanket, I’m utterly exhausted. In fact, I’m so exhausted I might have to have a little cry. Honestly, being a television critic, it’s like working on a trawler, but without the cold, hardship, sleeplessness, waves, seasickness, precariously low wages, cod and hourly risk of death. I have to watch TV for a living! I have to write about TV for a living! I have to sit in a room, snarl at interlopers who interrupt the minute workings of my finely tuned mind, watch something and – get this – write about it!…

Strictly over the top

Our useful Nazis

Close to the Enemy Thursday 9.00pm BBC2 ‘Many of these people had been active Nazis and were guilty of war crimes’ STEPHEN POLIAKOFF IF THE NAZIS ever come again I will hide you, I promise.” This disturbing message was often whispered to me at night by an Austrian friend of my parents who lived with us when I was a child. Even though this was many years after the war, her tone was so urgent I felt it was only days since hostilities had finished. I think this is one of the reasons I’ve always been fascinated by the immediate postwar period; it remains vividly alive for me and it is why I have chosen to set my new seven-part drama at that time. The story begins in 1946, when the…

Our useful Nazis

LUXURY DRAMA 1 The Crown Netflix Believe the hype. Netflix’s lush behind-the-facade look at the accession and early reign of Elizabeth II twinkles with details that will have royalists poring over every scene. No stodgy reverence here, though. A wonderful cast and scalpel-sharp script show the finely balanced power games played at the Palace. Available from 4 November DAYTIME HIGHLIGHT 2 The Moonstone iPlayer (BBC1) Fresh from the glorious return of Cold Feet, John Thomson (right) takes the lead role of Sergeant Cuff in a new dramatisation of the first ever detective novel, by Wilkie Collins. It’s daytime drama at its best: unpretentious, slightly old-fashioned in many ways, but warmly watchable and there for you on iPlayer as a treat if you were at work and missed it. AN OLD FRIEND 3 Morph Sky Kids/NowTV The stop-motion clay character, loved by…

A fine, unsettling example of the TV director’s art

Marc Munden doesn’t direct TV very often, but when he does… boom. I first saw his name when I had to know who’d created the teeming, velvety richness and dizzying innovations in BBC2’s stellar 2011 dramatisation of The Crimson Petal and the White. A glance at IMDB revealed Munden had also brought The Devil’s Whore and The Mark of Cain to life. Then he helmed C4’s genre-smashing conspiracy thriller Utopia. This year he was behind the camera for National Treasure, a stunningly accomplished C4 drama. Naturally, most praise went to the actors: Robbie Coltrane as Paul Finchley, a beloved comic accused of a litany of sexual assaults. Julie Walters as his wife, who has to confront how much of her life has been built on denial. And Andrea Riseborough as their…

A fine, unsettling example of the TV director’s art

Good old-fashioned iPod

Fifteen years ago, the original iPod revolutionised our view of technology. Its headphones became a status symbol, then a fact of life. Those headphones are now wireless (Apple Airpods, £159) but the rest of the iPod line is years out of date. Yet despite the dominance of streaming and smartphones, there are still people for whom “Dedicated Audio Players” are the solution: children who shouldn’t be on Wi-Fi, music buffs who ripped their collection in high quality, and people who spend long hours in the air or underground. For kids, the iPod shuffle (£49) is as dinky as ever but six years old, and you try explaining to them why there’s no screen. The Sandisk Clip Sport (£29) is cheap, small and has double the memory. For audiophiles with big music collections, the…

Good old-fashioned iPod

SATURDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Strictly Come Dancing 6.55pmBBC1 ENTERTAINMENT You can never tell which way Strictly viewers are going to go. After being voted into the Dreaded Dance Off twice, Anastacia clearly assumed that we’d put her there for a third time and she’d possibly be waltzing out the door. But no, it was Daisy Lowe who found herself in the bottom two instead. As Ed Balls almost dropped his partner from a height that week, Daisy must have been devastated. And Ed must have been walking on air. Which makes a change. They all lived to dance another day, but it just goes to show that TV voting can be baffling. An awkward interview in the Clauditorium, a perceived air of smugness, too much emphasis on your dance “journey” and it won’t matter…

SATURDAY Choices

‘I’m a Geordie Nigerian’

Black and British: a Forgotten History Wednesday 9.00pm BBC2 ‘On the door someone had painted a swastika’ DAVID OLUSOGA DAVID OLUSOGA WAS one of very few non-white people on the Newcastle council estate where he grew up. His Nigerian father had met his white British mum at the city’s university in the 1960s, and when they separated David joined his mum. “I’m a Geordie Nigerian,” he says of his ancestry. But in his case the famous Geordie warmth turned out to be more myth than reality. “The National Front attacked the house repeatedly with stones and broke all the windows and we were living under police protection,” he says now. “I was 14.” Olusoga and his mum were eventually forced out of their home by the racists. He remembers returning to…

‘I’m a Geordie Nigerian’

PICK OF THE DAY Planet Earth II 8.00pmBBC1 DOCUMENTARY OF THE WEEK A pygmy three-toed sloth hears the siren call of a potential mate. But, oh, he has to cross water and climb trees. As he’s a sloth, he does all of this very… slothfully, in his cumbersome furry coat. When he swims, it looks like someone has abandoned a bath mat. It’s a lovely sequence in the opening episode of the kind of majestic documentary series — which comes ten years after the first Planet Earth — that gets waved in the faces of people who object to the licence fee. There are so many beautiful, touching, impressive, frightening images it’s almost overwhelming. Like the thumping fight between two komodo dragons, and the heart-stopping sequence with hordes of racer snakes chasing newborn marine…

PICK OF THE DAY Damilola, Our Loved Boy 8.30pmBBC1 DRAMA OF THE WEEK The lonely death of ten-year-old Damilola Taylor in the dirty stairwell of a block of south London flats in 2000 revulsed the nation. Damilola, who’d arrived in Britain with his mum and siblings from their home in Nigeria, was a boisterous boy who loved football. The details of how he came to receive the grievous leg wound that killed him as he made his way home from computer club are still unclear. This subtle film, written with anger and tenderness by Levi David Addai, will make you heartsore for Damilola’s family as their loved boy’s death tears into his parents Gloria and Richard (the fine Wunmi Mosaku and Babou Ceesay). The Taylors, who must fight for justice, slowly unravel as Richard,…

TUESDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY MasterChef: the Professionals 8.00pmBBC2 FOOD “A car crash of a dish!”… “That’s brilliant. Ten out of ten!” You couldn’t get more extreme critiques. But Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti are always very definite (and almost always in agreement) when tasting the food prepared by the chefs. Gregg Wallace just seems happy eating anything. In theory, this show should be a great advert for the places where these talented chefs work, but seeing what some of the contestants produce could have the opposite effect. Although one cheeky young man makes the steely-eyed Monica giggle during the skills test (yes, really, she giggles!), and another contender is clearly a potential star, they generally don’t do that well making steak diane or a pistachio frangipane tart. There are raised eyebrows and sorrowful headshakes…

TUESDAY Choices

Our magic garden

DIY SOS at Great Ormond Street Hospital Thursday 8.00pm BBC1 ‘IT WAS THE BOILER HOUSE ROOF’ CHRIS BEARDSHAW Garden designer I’ve always believed gardens should be transformative spaces, but when I first stared down on the space that would eventually become the Great Ormond Street Hospital garden it was about as uninspiring as it’s possible to be. There, in the centre of the hospital, surrounded by high buildings with very little natural sunlight, was the grey flat roof of the old boiler house. One of the great lessons in gardening is to look around and see what’s growing naturally because that will indicate the growing conditions. On this roof there was nothing but air conditioning units. Nonetheless, I was inspired to create something that would, in a small way, help people going…

Our magic garden

WEDNESDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Black and British: a Forgotten History / Black Is the New Black 9.00pm/10.00pmBBC2 DOCUMENTARY New seriesIn the past year or so there’s been a regrettable resurgence of the view that Britain is somehow indigenously white; that people of colour are a destabilising recent addition. An important four-part series by British-Nigerian historian David Olusoga puts that record straight. Olusoga first visits Cumbria and East Sussex, both of which bear evidence that Britain under Roman rule included settled citizens of African origin. This was still the case in Tudor and Georgian times, as the stories of Henry VIII’s trumpeter John Blanke and Dr Johnson’s friend Francis Barber confirm. The unveiling of commemorative plaques at the relevant locations (see right) underlines that this programme is a stirring gesture of remembrance, as well as…

WEDNESDAY Choices

THURSDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Close to the Enemy 9.00pmBBC2 DRAMA New seriesStephen Poliakoff, television’s resident writer of eccentric, languid dramas, returns with a typically opaque is-it-a-thriller-ifnot-what-is-it? series, set in the aftermath of the Second World War. Jim (One Day) Sturgess is captain Callum Ferguson, who’s about to be demobbed but is called upon to perform one last duty: to babysit a prominent German engineer and his young daughter. Snatched from their beds by British troops, they are understandably distraught. But Britain needs his expert knowledge of jet engines. Poliakoff’s love of huge, once glamorous but now faded buildings (Shooting the Past, Joe’s Palace, Dancing on the Edge) is again evident, as Ferguson moves the pair into a cavernous hotel where mysterious prostitutes walk the corridors at night. Though not as wilfully weird as some of…

THURSDAY Choices

First Test: India v England From Tue 3.30am SS2 (Tue only Sky Sports Mix), 3.45am Radio 4 LW, 5 Live Sp Ex ‘Jonny Bairstow still has five more Tests to play this year’ ENGLAND’S CRICKETERS HAVE had one of their busiest seasons yet – but by far their biggest challenge is to come. This week, they begin a five-Test series in India, the first of that duration in more than 30 years. And then? Next year sees the longest international home season in their history, with Test series, ODIs and T20s against South Africa and West Indies – and the Champions Trophy. With more cricket being played than ever, it’s little wonder records are tumbling: Alastair Cook recently became the most capped England Test player and is the youngest player to score 7,000…

Dressed to kill

Don’t miss… The new RT Guide to Films is available now — for details, see p50 WHEN THE FASHION designer Tom Ford first said that he was turning his hand to films, the world raised a collective eyebrow. His debut, A Single Man starring Colin Firth, was a triumph: critically acclaimed and commercially successful. Most people would have been tempted to cement their reputation with a quick follow-up. Ford waited – and waited… “I certainly didn’t intend it to be seven years,” he says, suave and charming in his trademark black suit and white shirt. “But I’ve opened 100 stores, I’ve started a women’s business and, most importantly, I’ve had a child, who is now four.” His new film, Nocturnal Animals (in cinemas from Friday 4 November) is beautiful to…

Dressed to kill

PICK OF THE DAY International Football 7.15pmITV/7.30pmSky Sports 1 England v Scotland (kick-off 7.45pm ITV) The rivalry between these home nations doesn’t feel as intense as it was during their regular meetings in the 1960s and 70s. But this is their first competitive fixture since 1999, when England denied Scotland a place at Euro 2000 in a nervy two-leg play-off. One of the English defenders hanging on desperately at Wembley 17 years ago was Gareth Southgate — now, a series of fiascos has unexpectedly placed him in the senior squad manager’s unlucky shoes. He needs a win to atone for a disappointing draw in Slovenia; his opposite number Gordon Strachan is on the verge of dismissal after a horrible 3–0 drubbing in Slovakia. However the fans behave, one of the coaches is going to…

‘I spent two and a half days waiting for my mother to die’ The Vigil Monday 8.00pmRadio 4 SOMETIMES THE MOST natural life events are the least talked about. Forty years ago it was childbirth; nowadays it seems to be the other end of the life cycle, the death of a loved one. We know, of course, that our parents will die at some point, but how many of us really have an idea of what happens, question how long it might take or discuss it with friends and family? Recently, I heard of someone who was told her father was dying and immediately googled “dying” to find out what to expect. There’s very little public discussion about it, probably because it’s delicate, sensitive, scary – and also inevitable. With minimal advice, other…

PICK OF THE WEEK

Drama: The Thrill of Love Saturday 2.30pmRadio 4 “It’s obvious when I shot him I intended to kill him,” said Ruth Ellis (above) from the witness box at the Old Bailey in June 1955. Ellis, who never denied murdering her lover, David Blakely, was the last woman to be executed in Britain. But Amanda Whittingdon’s dramatisation is very much a whydunnit rather than a whodunnit. The story of Ellis’s last months unfurls through her relationship with three women — a fellow nightclub hostess, an experienced madam and a cleaning lady. It’s a seedy world where men with money can buy whatever and whoever they want; and throw punches when a woman disappoints them. The younger girls, including Ruth, dream of becoming the next Diana Dors and driving around in a silver Rolls-Royce — but…

PICK OF THE WEEK

The Archers this week...

Unlikely pairings seem to be a bit of a theme in Ambridge at the moment, but knocking odd couple Jim and Jazzer into the shadows is the double act of Kate and Lynda. Each bonkers in their own lovable way, neither is particularly given to making compromises — so clearly a match made in drama heaven when it comes to co-directing the Christmas show. Lynda’s aiming for something with “tone” but Kate’s thoughts are beginning to turn in the direction of something Simon Cowell might recognise. Talking of pantomime villains, Rob’s now got wind of the fact that one of Amside’s properties is vacant and is interested in having a look. Which leaves Lillian speechless… though not for long.…

Time for a change

THIS WEEK FINALLY brings the US Presidential election. The campaign has gone on longer than An Evening with Ken Dodd but has left few people tickled. It’s cost even more than that new Netflix drama about the Queen, but without Peter Morgan’s snappy dialogue. Supporters of that system say it tests the candidates and their policies. I don’t doubt that it stretches a politician’s stamina. But how much have the policies really been tested? The TV debates were mesmerising television, but, despite the efforts of the moderators, especially Chris Wallace in the final encounter, sloganising triumphed over policy analysis. Where could voters turn to find the candidates truly challenged on the details, the contradictions, their own records? A news conference? Hillary Clinton has been criticised for holding fewer news conferences than the Queen. Donald…

Time for a change

HOUSE OF WOGAN Bob Shennan, the BBC’s new director of radio, will soon announce the renaming of Radio 2’s London headquarters Western House, making it Wogan House in honour of the late, great Terry Wogan. And why not? After all, Radio 1’s enclave within New Broadcasting House is named for John Peel. But because Western House is a building on its own, across the street from New BH but separate from it, this name change has required much diligent to-ing and fro-ing with London’s civic officialdom. Shennan, until recently Radio 2’s controller, is a patient man and has persisted. If all goes well, he will welcome Lady Helen Wogan, Sir Terry’s widow, to perform the opening ceremony. DISMAL DESMOND The other week John Humphrys disclosed on the Today programme that his actual first…

Strictly over the top

WOULD YOU EXCUSE me for just a moment, I must fling myself onto the nearest chaise longue like Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd. Why? Because I’ve been working so hard. Get me a gin and tonic and the finest cashmere blanket, I’m utterly exhausted. In fact, I’m so exhausted I might have to have a little cry. Honestly, being a television critic, it’s like working on a trawler, but without the cold, hardship, sleeplessness, waves, seasickness, precariously low wages, cod and hourly risk of death. I have to watch TV for a living! I have to write about TV for a living! I have to sit in a room, snarl at interlopers who interrupt the minute workings of my finely tuned mind, watch something and – get this – write…

Strictly over the top

LUXURY DRAMA 1 The Crown Netflix Believe the hype. Netflix’s lush behind-the-facade look at the accession and early reign of Elizabeth II twinkles with details that will have royalists poring over every scene. No stodgy reverence here, though. A wonderful cast and scalpel-sharp script show the finely balanced power games played at the Palace. Available from 4 November DAYTIME HIGHLIGHT 2 The Moonstone iPlayer (BBC1) Fresh from the glorious return of Cold Feet, John Thomson (right) takes the lead role of Sergeant Cuff in a new dramatisation of the first ever detective novel, by Wilkie Collins. It’s daytime drama at its best: unpretentious, slightly old-fashioned in many ways, but warmly watchable and there for you on iPlayer as a treat if you were at work and missed it. AN OLD…

A fine, unsettling example of the TV director’s art

Marc Munden doesn’t direct TV very often, but when he does… boom. I first saw his name when I had to know who’d created the teeming, velvety richness and dizzying innovations in BBC2’s stellar 2011 dramatisation of The Crimson Petal and the White. A glance at IMDB revealed Munden had also brought The Devil’s Whore and The Mark of Cain to life. Then he helmed C4’s genre-smashing conspiracy thriller Utopia. This year he was behind the camera for National Treasure, a stunningly accomplished C4 drama. Naturally, most praise went to the actors: Robbie Coltrane as Paul Finchley, a beloved comic accused of a litany of sexual assaults. Julie Walters as his wife, who has to confront how much of her life has been built on denial. And Andrea Riseborough as…

A fine, unsettling example of the TV director’s art

Good old-fashioned iPod

Fifteen years ago, the original iPod revolutionised our view of technology. Its headphones became a status symbol, then a fact of life. Those headphones are now wireless (Apple Airpods, £159) but the rest of the iPod line is years out of date. Yet despite the dominance of streaming and smartphones, there are still people for whom “Dedicated Audio Players” are the solution: children who shouldn’t be on Wi-Fi, music buffs who ripped their collection in high quality, and people who spend long hours in the air or underground. For kids, the iPod shuffle (£49) is as dinky as ever but six years old, and you try explaining to them why there’s no screen. The Sandisk Clip Sport (£29) is cheap, small and has double the memory. For audiophiles with big…

Good old-fashioned iPod

SATURDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Strictly Come Dancing 6.55pm BBC1 ENTERTAINMENT You can never tell which way Strictly viewers are going to go. After being voted into the Dreaded Dance Off twice, Anastacia clearly assumed that we’d put her there for a third time and she’d possibly be waltzing out the door. But no, it was Daisy Lowe who found herself in the bottom two instead. As Ed Balls almost dropped his partner from a height that week, Daisy must have been devastated. And Ed must have been walking on air. Which makes a change. They all lived to dance another day, but it just goes to show that TV voting can be baffling. An awkward interview in the Clauditorium, a perceived air of smugness, too much emphasis on your dance “journey”…

SATURDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Planet Earth II 8.00pm BBC1 DOCUMENTARY OF THE WEEK A pygmy three-toed sloth hears the siren call of a potential mate. But, oh, he has to cross water and climb trees. As he’s a sloth, he does all of this very… slothfully, in his cumbersome furry coat. When he swims, it looks like someone has abandoned a bath mat. It’s a lovely sequence in the opening episode of the kind of majestic documentary series — which comes ten years after the first Planet Earth — that gets waved in the faces of people who object to the licence fee. There are so many beautiful, touching, impressive, frightening images it’s almost overwhelming. Like the thumping fight between two komodo dragons, and the heart-stopping sequence with hordes of racer…

PICK OF THE DAY Damilola, Our Loved Boy 8.30pm BBC1 DRAMA OF THE WEEK The lonely death of ten-year-old Damilola Taylor in the dirty stairwell of a block of south London flats in 2000 revulsed the nation. Damilola, who’d arrived in Britain with his mum and siblings from their home in Nigeria, was a boisterous boy who loved football. The details of how he came to receive the grievous leg wound that killed him as he made his way home from computer club are still unclear. This subtle film, written with anger and tenderness by Levi David Addai, will make you heartsore for Damilola’s family as their loved boy’s death tears into his parents Gloria and Richard (the fine Wunmi Mosaku and Babou Ceesay). The Taylors, who must fight for justice,…

TUESDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY MasterChef: the Professionals 8.00pm BBC2 FOOD “A car crash of a dish!”… “That’s brilliant. Ten out of ten!” You couldn’t get more extreme critiques. But Marcus Wareing and Monica Galetti are always very definite (and almost always in agreement) when tasting the food prepared by the chefs. Gregg Wallace just seems happy eating anything. In theory, this show should be a great advert for the places where these talented chefs work, but seeing what some of the contestants produce could have the opposite effect. Although one cheeky young man makes the steely-eyed Monica giggle during the skills test (yes, really, she giggles!), and another contender is clearly a potential star, they generally don’t do that well making steak diane or a pistachio frangipane tart. There are raised…

TUESDAY Choices

Make a will – it’s not morbid

NO ONE LIKES thinking about their own death. But death is inevitable and making a will isn’t a morbid thing to do. It’s a loving thing and a practical thing that ensures the ones you care for get what you want them to have with the least argument Of course many of us are afraid of the cost of making a will. Or think we can do it ourselves with a kit from a shop. But lawyers tell me they make more money sorting out badly drawn up amateur wills than they do from the fees they charge for making good ones. The safest way to make a will is to get a solicitor to do it for you – and throughout November many of them are doing it more or less…

Make a will – it’s not morbid

WEDNESDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Black and British: a Forgotten History / Black Is the New Black 9.00pm/10.00pm BBC2 DOCUMENTARY New series In the past year or so there’s been a regrettable resurgence of the view that Britain is somehow indigenously white; that people of colour are a destabilising recent addition. An important four-part series by British-Nigerian historian David Olusoga puts that record straight. Olusoga first visits Cumbria and East Sussex, both of which bear evidence that Britain under Roman rule included settled citizens of African origin. This was still the case in Tudor and Georgian times, as the stories of Henry VIII’s trumpeter John Blanke and Dr Johnson’s friend Francis Barber confirm. The unveiling of commemorative plaques at the relevant locations (see right) underlines that this programme is a stirring gesture…

WEDNESDAY Choices

Know what these mean?

SUSIE DENT WAS five years old when she discovered her love of words, reading the labels on shampoo bottles at bath time. “I noticed that the ingredients were written in different languages and I started working out which words corresponded to which. I was fascinated by the shape of words even before I knew what they meant,” she says. By the age of eight, the back of the family car became her seat of learning. “Instead of taking a toy or a fiction book on a long journey, I would take German and French vocabulary books, and I would set myself targets of learning a certain number before we reached our destination. The longer the journey, the happier I was.” Fast-forward eight years to convent school and coveted sixth-form roles. “I so…

Know what these mean?

THURSDAY Choices

PICK OF THE DAY Close to the Enemy 9.00pm BBC2 DRAMA New series Stephen Poliakoff, television’s resident writer of eccentric, languid dramas, returns with a typically opaque is-it-a-thriller-ifnot-what-is-it? series, set in the aftermath of the Second World War. Jim (One Day) Sturgess is captain Callum Ferguson, who’s about to be demobbed but is called upon to perform one last duty: to babysit a prominent German engineer and his young daughter. Snatched from their beds by British troops, they are understandably distraught. But Britain needs his expert knowledge of jet engines. Poliakoff’s love of huge, once glamorous but now faded buildings (Shooting the Past, Joe’s Palace, Dancing on the Edge) is again evident, as Ferguson moves the pair into a cavernous hotel where mysterious prostitutes walk the corridors at night. Though not…

THURSDAY Choices

Princess Kate’s style secrets

INSIDE VOGUE: A DIARY OF MY 100TH YEAR ALEXANDRA SHULMAN If you were left wanting more after September’s BBC2 documentary on Vogue — which saw film-maker Richard Macer granted rather conditional access to the goings-on at Vogue towers — then this is the solution. Editor Alexandra Shulman’s diary of the magazine’s 100th year culminated in a royal coup — the Duchess of Cambridge on the cover. Shulman proved inscrutable in Macer’s film, but she opens up in Inside Vogue (£14.85, incl p&p), offering up anecdotes featuring a roster of A-listers, from Benedict Cumberbatch to Princess Kate herself. BLACK AND BRITISH: A FORGOTTEN HISTORY DAVID OLUSOGA Black & British: A Forgotten HistoryWed 9pmBBC2 Black British history, as David Olusoga explores in both his latest series and the accompanying book, is rich, varied and long —…

Princess Kate’s style secrets

PICK OF THE DAY International Football 7.15pm ITV/ 7.30pm Sky Sports 1 England v Scotland (kick-off 7.45pm ITV) The rivalry between these home nations doesn’t feel as intense as it was during their regular meetings in the 1960s and 70s. But this is their first competitive fixture since 1999, when England denied Scotland a place at Euro 2000 in a nervy two-leg play-off. One of the English defenders hanging on desperately at Wembley 17 years ago was Gareth Southgate — now, a series of fiascos has unexpectedly placed him in the senior squad manager’s unlucky shoes. He needs a win to atone for a disappointing draw in Slovenia; his opposite number Gordon Strachan is on the verge of dismissal after a horrible 3–0 drubbing in Slovakia. However the fans behave, one of…

The Monica method

WHAT ARE THE skills that can give the most basic cook a professional sheen? Monica Galetti, who judges MasterChef: the Professionals, reveals her top three secrets to being better in the kitchen – and the mistakes most commonly made. 1. STAY SHARP ABOUT KNIVES “People are afraid of large knives, so I tend to tell people who are not professional chefs that they only need two knives – a small vegetable knife, which is pretty much good for everything, and a medium-sized kitchen knife to go with it. If you start really getting into butchery and filleting fish, then you would look to buy a boning knife or filleting knife. But make sure you concentrate when using those knives. Once I was doing a cooking demonstration and I chopped off the top…

The Monica method

‘I spent two and a half days waiting for my mother to die’ The Vigil Monday 8.00pm Radio 4 SOMETIMES THE MOST natural life events are the least talked about. Forty years ago it was childbirth; nowadays it seems to be the other end of the life cycle, the death of a loved one. We know, of course, that our parents will die at some point, but how many of us really have an idea of what happens, question how long it might take or discuss it with friends and family? Recently, I heard of someone who was told her father was dying and immediately googled “dying” to find out what to expect. There’s very little public discussion about it, probably because it’s delicate, sensitive, scary – and also inevitable. With…

A foodie’s heaven

‘Lisbon is such an easy town – it’s endlessly interesting’ Rick Stein’s Long Weekends Friday 9.00pmBBC2 THE NATION’S FAVOURITE Cornish chef packs his suitcase and heads out on another run of European excursions for his BBC2 Long Weekends series. This time round, he visits Danish capital Copenhagen, Cádiz in Spain, Thessaloniki in Greece and Palermo in Italy, but his first port of call is Portugal’s capital Lisbon, with its pastel façades and freshly caught fish. “Lisbon’s really quite special,” he says. “It’s a higgledy-piggledy place, with lots of funny little streets winding up and down the steep hills, and so many of the buildings are covered in beautiful old antique tiles. “It’s right on the Tagus River, in a spectacular location, and I particularly like cities that are on the ocean. Lisbon is close…

A foodie’s heaven

PICK OF THE WEEK

Drama: The Thrill of Love Saturday 2.30pm Radio 4 “It’s obvious when I shot him I intended to kill him,” said Ruth Ellis (above) from the witness box at the Old Bailey in June 1955. Ellis, who never denied murdering her lover, David Blakely, was the last woman to be executed in Britain. But Amanda Whittingdon’s dramatisation is very much a whydunnit rather than a whodunnit. The story of Ellis’s last months unfurls through her relationship with three women — a fellow nightclub hostess, an experienced madam and a cleaning lady. It’s a seedy world where men with money can buy whatever and whoever they want; and throw punches when a woman disappoints them. The younger girls, including Ruth, dream of becoming the next Diana Dors and driving around in a…

PICK OF THE WEEK

PRIZE CROSSWORD One reader receives a Waterstones £75 voucher; five runners-up get a £15 voucher. All six receive a voucher for Waterstones Book of the Week, Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain by Barney Norris, a moving novel that tracks the lives of five characters all facing personal tragedy. WORDFINDER Find the name of the show in the shaded squares to win the prize below. EASY CLUES For fun! Email your answers to xword45@radiotimescomps.co.uk PRIZE CROSSWORD ACROSS 6 I then buckled metal up front (2,3,4) 8 Spades fit into rock (5) 10 Fault with section of renewal form, take it back (4) 11 Translate rare Vulcan dialect (10) 12 TV host from college losing locks (5,7) 15 Nothing in ship has flamboyant style (7) 16 Put together and pass behind (7) 18 Lack of energy, having no roll? (12) 20…

Only Connect with Victoria Coren Mitchell The connecting wall from the BBC2 game show Only Connect is an inventive combination of general knowledge, word play and lateral thinking to give your brain cells a workout! How to play Your task is to sort the 16 seemingly random words/phrases below into four groups of four connected words. You may find some clues fall into more than one category, but there is only one complete solution. If you get stuck, have a look at the clues, on the side of the page… SCRIBBLE PAD To buy Alan Bennett’s Keeping On Keeping On for £20 incl p&p, call 0344 245 8092 quote ref RTBENNETT45. Calls cost no more than the national rate. Trackword How many words of three letters or more can you find by tracking from one square…

The Archers this week...

Unlikely pairings seem to be a bit of a theme in Ambridge at the moment, but knocking odd couple Jim and Jazzer into the shadows is the double act of Kate and Lynda. Each bonkers in their own lovable way, neither is particularly given to making compromises — so clearly a match made in drama heaven when it comes to co-directing the Christmas show. Lynda’s aiming for something with “tone” but Kate’s thoughts are beginning to turn in the direction of something Simon Cowell might recognise. Talking of pantomime villains, Rob’s now got wind of the fact that one of Amside’s properties is vacant and is interested in having a look. Which leaves Lillian speechless… though not for long.…

WHAT WE WATCHED

2003 8–14 NOVEMBER Andrew Duncan sat down with Helen Mirren to discuss the return of Prime Suspect and her first TV role in seven years. Foreshadowing her Oscar-winning performance as the Queen, Mirren remarked upon her respect for the royal family upon becoming a dame earlier in the year: “I’ve chilled a lot about the royal family. I respect them hugely now. I was ignorant and prejudiced before.” She further explained that she was “dragooned” into her membership of the Workers’ Revolutionary Party in the 1970s: “It was a mad ego trip for many of those involved.” 1995 4–10 NOVEMBER Ian Richardson’s Machiavellian Prime Minister Francis Urquhart was a cover star in 1995, as The Final Cut completed the House of Cards trilogy. Conservative MP Julian Critchley told RT: “The Final Cut seems…

WHAT WE WATCHED

Victorian slums are still here

EMAILfeedback@radiotimes.comOR WRITE TO Letters Editor, Radio Times, Vineyard House, 44 Brook Green, London W6 7BT Please include full address and phone number Having lived in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham all my life, I was keen to see how the BBC would portray the local homelessness problem in No Place to Call Home (19 October BBC2). The saddest part of this programme was that it had so much in common with The Victorian Slum (Mondays BBC2). I was devastated to think that what was happening then is similar to what is happening now. We were the richest country in the world but people had no decent homes or enough food; had to work ridiculously long hours for little money; and, 100 years on, we live in the same kind…

Victorian slums are still here

Time for a change

THIS WEEK FINALLY brings the US Presidential election. The campaign has gone on longer than An Evening with Ken Dodd but has left few people tickled. It’s cost even more than that new Netflix drama about the Queen, but without Peter Morgan’s snappy dialogue. Supporters of that system say it tests the candidates and their policies. I don’t doubt that it stretches a politician’s stamina. But how much have the policies really been tested? The TV debates were mesmerising television, but, despite the efforts of the moderators, especially Chris Wallace in the final encounter, sloganising triumphed over policy analysis. Where could voters turn to find the candidates truly challenged on the details, the contradictions, their own records? A news conference? Hillary Clinton has been criticised for holding fewer news conferences…

Time for a change

HOUSE OF WOGAN Bob Shennan, the BBC’s new director of radio, will soon announce the renaming of Radio 2’s London headquarters Western House, making it Wogan House in honour of the late, great Terry Wogan. And why not? After all, Radio 1’s enclave within New Broadcasting House is named for John Peel. But because Western House is a building on its own, across the street from New BH but separate from it, this name change has required much diligent to-ing and fro-ing with London’s civic officialdom. Shennan, until recently Radio 2’s controller, is a patient man and has persisted. If all goes well, he will welcome Lady Helen Wogan, Sir Terry’s widow, to perform the opening ceremony. DISMAL DESMOND The other week John Humphrys disclosed on the Today programme that…

Farewell to a friend

Jimmy Perry, 1923–2016 The Dad’s Army creator remembered by RT photographer Don Smith I GOT TO know Jimmy on the set of Dad’s Army, back in 1968. If I thought a programme was going to be good, I’d make a point of photographing it for Radio Times, and with Dad’s Army, right from the word go I thought it was brilliant. Jimmy would be sitting in the audience roster and eventually I said to him, “I think the show’s wonderful.” From that moment on we became very good friends. I was invited to tea later at the flat he shared with his long-term partner Mary Husband, who was a successful costume designer I’d known since 1956. They were a great couple and looked after each other tremendously. I used to take the pictures…

Farewell to a friend

‘Watchdog is why I work in TV’

What does a night in front of the telly involve in your house? I don’t sit down to watch any old thing, it’s always something in particular. I watched The Fall addictively and I was hooked on the first series of The Missing. The Durrells was the first drama series we’ve ever watched as a family – the children used to really look forward to Sunday evenings. Who has the remote control? I’d love to say it was me, but it’s the children. It’s the same with the radio. I’ve woken up to the Today programme for as long as I remember, but as soon as we get in the car they put on Capital or Heart for the school run. They do let me listen to the news bulletin at 8am, but…

‘Watchdog is why I work in TV’

Make a will – it’s not morbid

NO ONE LIKES thinking about their own death. But death is inevitable and making a will isn’t a morbid thing to do. It’s a loving thing and a practical thing that ensures the ones you care for get what you want them to have with the least argument Of course many of us are afraid of the cost of making a will. Or think we can do it ourselves with a kit from a shop. But lawyers tell me they make more money sorting out badly drawn up amateur wills than they do from the fees they charge for making good ones. The safest way to make a will is to get a solicitor to do it for you – and throughout November many of them are doing it more…

Make a will – it’s not morbid

Know what these mean?

SUSIE DENT WAS five years old when she discovered her love of words, reading the labels on shampoo bottles at bath time. “I noticed that the ingredients were written in different languages and I started working out which words corresponded to which. I was fascinated by the shape of words even before I knew what they meant,” she says. By the age of eight, the back of the family car became her seat of learning. “Instead of taking a toy or a fiction book on a long journey, I would take German and French vocabulary books, and I would set myself targets of learning a certain number before we reached our destination. The longer the journey, the happier I was.” Fast-forward eight years to convent school and coveted sixth-form roles.…

Know what these mean?

Princess Kate’s style secrets

INSIDE VOGUE: A DIARY OF MY 100TH YEAR ALEXANDRA SHULMAN If you were left wanting more after September’s BBC2 documentary on Vogue — which saw film-maker Richard Macer granted rather conditional access to the goings-on at Vogue towers — then this is the solution. Editor Alexandra Shulman’s diary of the magazine’s 100th year culminated in a royal coup — the Duchess of Cambridge on the cover. Shulman proved inscrutable in Macer’s film, but she opens up in Inside Vogue (£14.85, incl p&p), offering up anecdotes featuring a roster of A-listers, from Benedict Cumberbatch to Princess Kate herself. BLACK AND BRITISH: A FORGOTTEN HISTORY DAVID OLUSOGA Black & British: A Forgotten History Wed 9pm BBC2 Black British history, as David Olusoga explores in both his latest series and the accompanying book, is…

Princess Kate’s style secrets

The Monica method

WHAT ARE THE skills that can give the most basic cook a professional sheen? Monica Galetti, who judges MasterChef: the Professionals, reveals her top three secrets to being better in the kitchen – and the mistakes most commonly made. 1. STAY SHARP ABOUT KNIVES “People are afraid of large knives, so I tend to tell people who are not professional chefs that they only need two knives – a small vegetable knife, which is pretty much good for everything, and a medium-sized kitchen knife to go with it. If you start really getting into butchery and filleting fish, then you would look to buy a boning knife or filleting knife. But make sure you concentrate when using those knives. Once I was doing a cooking demonstration and I chopped off…

The Monica method

A foodie’s heaven

‘Lisbon is such an easy town – it’s endlessly interesting’ Rick Stein’s Long Weekends Friday 9.00pm BBC2 THE NATION’S FAVOURITE Cornish chef packs his suitcase and heads out on another run of European excursions for his BBC2 Long Weekends series. This time round, he visits Danish capital Copenhagen, Cádiz in Spain, Thessaloniki in Greece and Palermo in Italy, but his first port of call is Portugal’s capital Lisbon, with its pastel façades and freshly caught fish. “Lisbon’s really quite special,” he says. “It’s a higgledy-piggledy place, with lots of funny little streets winding up and down the steep hills, and so many of the buildings are covered in beautiful old antique tiles. “It’s right on the Tagus River, in a spectacular location, and I particularly like cities that are on the…

A foodie’s heaven

PRIZE CROSSWORD One reader receives a Waterstones £75 voucher; five runners-up get a £15 voucher. All six receive a voucher for Waterstones Book of the Week, Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain by Barney Norris, a moving novel that tracks the lives of five characters all facing personal tragedy. WORDFINDER Find the name of the show in the shaded squares to win the prize below. EASY CLUES For fun! Email your answers to xword45@radiotimescomps.co.uk PRIZE CROSSWORD ACROSS 6 I then buckled metal up front (2,3,4) 8 Spades fit into rock (5) 10 Fault with section of renewal form, take it back (4) 11 Translate rare Vulcan dialect (10) 12 TV host from college losing locks (5,7) 15 Nothing in ship has flamboyant style (7) 16 Put together and pass…

Only Connect with Victoria Coren Mitchell The connecting wall from the BBC2 game show Only Connect is an inventive combination of general knowledge, word play and lateral thinking to give your brain cells a workout! How to play Your task is to sort the 16 seemingly random words/phrases below into four groups of four connected words. You may find some clues fall into more than one category, but there is only one complete solution. If you get stuck, have a look at the clues, on the side of the page… SCRIBBLE PAD To buy Alan Bennett’s Keeping On Keeping On for £20 incl p&p, call 0344 245 8092 quote ref RTBENNETT45. Calls cost no more than the national rate. Trackword How many words of three letters or more can you…

WHAT WE WATCHED

2003 8–14 NOVEMBER Andrew Duncan sat down with Helen Mirren to discuss the return of Prime Suspect and her first TV role in seven years. Foreshadowing her Oscar-winning performance as the Queen, Mirren remarked upon her respect for the royal family upon becoming a dame earlier in the year: “I’ve chilled a lot about the royal family. I respect them hugely now. I was ignorant and prejudiced before.” She further explained that she was “dragooned” into her membership of the Workers’ Revolutionary Party in the 1970s: “It was a mad ego trip for many of those involved.” 1995 4–10 NOVEMBER Ian Richardson’s Machiavellian Prime Minister Francis Urquhart was a cover star in 1995, as The Final Cut completed the House of Cards trilogy. Conservative MP Julian Critchley told RT: “The…

WHAT WE WATCHED

Victorian slums are still here

EMAIL feedback@radiotimes.com OR WRITE TO Letters Editor, Radio Times, Vineyard House, 44 Brook Green, London W6 7BT Please include full address and phone number Having lived in the London borough of Barking and Dagenham all my life, I was keen to see how the BBC would portray the local homelessness problem in No Place to Call Home (19 October BBC2). The saddest part of this programme was that it had so much in common with The Victorian Slum (Mondays BBC2). I was devastated to think that what was happening then is similar to what is happening now. We were the richest country in the world but people had no decent homes or enough food; had to work ridiculously long hours for little money; and, 100 years on, we live in the…

Victorian slums are still here

Farewell to a friend

Jimmy Perry, 1923–2016 The Dad’s Army creator remembered by RT photographer Don Smith I GOT TO know Jimmy on the set of Dad’s Army, back in 1968. If I thought a programme was going to be good, I’d make a point of photographing it for Radio Times, and with Dad’s Army, right from the word go I thought it was brilliant. Jimmy would be sitting in the audience roster and eventually I said to him, “I think the show’s wonderful.” From that moment on we became very good friends. I was invited to tea later at the flat he shared with his long-term partner Mary Husband, who was a successful costume designer I’d known since 1956. They were a great couple and looked after each other tremendously. I used to…

Farewell to a friend

‘Watchdog is why I work in TV’

What does a night in front of the telly involve in your house? I don’t sit down to watch any old thing, it’s always something in particular. I watched The Fall addictively and I was hooked on the first series of The Missing. The Durrells was the first drama series we’ve ever watched as a family – the children used to really look forward to Sunday evenings. Who has the remote control? I’d love to say it was me, but it’s the children. It’s the same with the radio. I’ve woken up to the Today programme for as long as I remember, but as soon as we get in the car they put on Capital or Heart for the school run. They do let me listen to the news bulletin…

‘Watchdog is why I work in TV’

In This Issue

Description

Details

Reviews

Recent Digital Issues Browse all

Recent Radio Times Digital Issues Browse all back issues

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription February 1st, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 1-7th February 2025: $4.95

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription January 25th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 25-31st January 2025: $4.99

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription January 18th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 18-24th January 2025: $4.99

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription January 11th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 11-17th January 2025: $4.99

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription March 15th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 15-21st March 2025: $5.02

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription March 8th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 8-14th March 2025: $5.02

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription March 1st, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 1-7th March 2025: $5.02

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription February 22nd, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 22-28th February 2025: $4.95

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription February 15th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 15-21st February 2025: $4.95

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription February 8th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 8-14th February 2025: $4.95

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription February 1st, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 1-7th February 2025: $4.95

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription January 25th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 25-31st January 2025: $4.99

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription January 18th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 18-24th January 2025: $4.99

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription January 11th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 11-17th January 2025: $4.99

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription March 15th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 15-21st March 2025: $5.02

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription March 8th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 8-14th March 2025: $5.02

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription March 1st, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 1-7th March 2025: $5.02

Radio Times (Digital) Subscription February 22nd, 2025 Issue

Radio Times (Digital) 22-28th February 2025: $4.95

Customers Also Viewed

Houdini Puzzle Collection Magazine (Digital) Subscription April 10th, 2018 Issue

Houdini Puzzle Collection Magazine (Digital)

Houdini Puzzle Collection: $5.20

Clay Shooting (Digital) Subscription May 1st, 2021 Issue

Clay Shooting (Digital)

April 2021: $6.23

Paint & Draw Watercolours Magazine (Digital) Subscription July 26th, 2019 Issue

Paint & Draw Watercolours Magazine (Digital)

Paint & Draw Watercolours: $7.28

GREEN is (Digital) Subscription June 1st, 2020 Issue

GREEN is (Digital)

vol.2: $20.92

Radio Times Magazine (Digital) Subscription March 15th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times Magazine (Digital)

(1)

51 Issues: $163.44 ~~$256.02~~

Prazeres da Mesa Magazine (Digital) Subscription November 26th, 2024 Issue

Prazeres da Mesa Magazine (Digital)

12 Issues: $25.99 ~~$29.88~~

SAIL Magazine Subscription March 1st, 2025 Issue

SAIL Magazine

(6)

8 Issues: $20.97 ~~$59.88~~

Hello! Magazine (Digital) Subscription March 17th, 2025 Issue

Hello! Magazine (Digital)

(1)

51 Issues: $106.87 ~~$191.76~~

¡Hola! Mexico Magazine (Digital) Subscription March 20th, 2025 Issue

¡Hola! Mexico Magazine (Digital)

(1)

24 Issues: $54.00 ~~$62.40~~

Samsung Galaxy Tab The Complete Manual Magazine (Digital) Subscription December 9th, 2015 Issue

Samsung Galaxy Tab The Complete Manual Magazine (Digital)

Samsung Galaxy Tab The Complete Manual 3rd Edition: $6.99

Houdini Puzzle Collection Magazine (Digital) Subscription April 10th, 2018 Issue

Houdini Puzzle Collection Magazine (Digital)

Houdini Puzzle Collection: $5.20

Clay Shooting (Digital) Subscription May 1st, 2021 Issue

Clay Shooting (Digital)

April 2021: $6.23

Paint & Draw Watercolours Magazine (Digital) Subscription July 26th, 2019 Issue

Paint & Draw Watercolours Magazine (Digital)

Paint & Draw Watercolours: $7.28

GREEN is (Digital) Subscription June 1st, 2020 Issue

GREEN is (Digital)

vol.2: $20.92

Radio Times Magazine (Digital) Subscription March 15th, 2025 Issue

Radio Times Magazine (Digital)

(1)

51 Issues: $163.44 ~~$256.02~~

Prazeres da Mesa Magazine (Digital) Subscription November 26th, 2024 Issue

Prazeres da Mesa Magazine (Digital)

12 Issues: $25.99 ~~$29.88~~

SAIL Magazine Subscription March 1st, 2025 Issue

SAIL Magazine

(6)

8 Issues: $20.97 ~~$59.88~~

Hello! Magazine (Digital) Subscription March 17th, 2025 Issue

Hello! Magazine (Digital)

(1)

51 Issues: $106.87 ~~$191.76~~

Reviews