Recommended Television Programmes

[LHC]

Both these films are extraordinary.

The Sky Arts one is very moving. Leo Geyer has recreated the music played by the camp orchestras, composed of Jewish prisoners, who played in the camp. In one case he recreates a piece for which only a melodic line had survived. The recreated orchestra which is filmed here is based on his researches about what instruments were available at the camp. There is a review in the Guardian which explains much that I cannot write here.

The shorter film which I mention second is of course available on BBC iPlayer.

If anyone knows how to access the first one on Sky - is there a Sky equivalent to iPlayer? - please post it. (I watched via Freeview.)

Programmes on Sky Arts are usually repeated multiple times so there will be other opportunities to watch it on Freeview. For example, it's on again on Sky Arts tonight at 10.30.

[kernelbogey]

Programmes on Sky Arts are usually repeated multiple times so there will be other opportunities to watch it on Freeview. For example, it's on again on Sky Arts tonight at 10.30.

Thks

[LMcD]

Programmes on Sky Arts are usually repeated multiple times so there will be other opportunities to watch it on Freeview. For example, it's on again on Sky Arts tonight at 10.30.

Also available on Freesat channel 143.

[kernelbogey]

There are a number of survivors of Auschwitz - extraordinarily - some of whom appear in both films. At least two of them give, or gave until recently, talks at schools and elsewhere so that the story of the camps, and what was done there, is not forgotten.

Both films have this important message at their heart.

[Jonathan]

We are thoroughly enjoying the Netflix series "Extraordinary Attorney Woo", it's about an autistic lawyer in South Korea. It's whimsical and amusing in places and well worth a watch.

[oddoneout]

For some years now I've been accompanying Paul Murton (sic) on his Grand Tours of Scotland, and am delighted to see that he's now made a third series on Scottish rivers. The first episode is typically fascinating, featuring as it does Russian Army uniforms, a couple of Bulgarian beekeepers and a dirk that may well have inflicted some damage at Culloden.

That's good news. I happily watch these when they turn up, even when they are repeats of repeats, because I just enjoy looking at the scenery so much. My Scottish genes may be rather diluted but they still elicit a response in reaction!

[smittims]

I was fascinated by 'Carson, the man who destroyed Oscar Wilde'. A documentary about Sir Edward (later Lord) Carson , a famous Barrister who defended Lord Queensbury in the famous Oscar Wilde libel trial and later acclaimed (indeed , revered) as the creator of Northern Ireland. It was presented by Merlin Holland , who said he was Oscar Wilde's grandson,though he didn't seem old enough for that, possibly his great-grandson.

An incidental pleasure I noticed was that all the people in the film were older caucasian men, a refreshing change from the at-times-apparently obligatory political correctess we see on TV today.

[LMcD]

I was fascinated by 'Carson, the man who destroyed Oscar Wilde'. A documentary about Sir Edward (later Lord) Carson , a famous Barrister who defended Lord Queensbury in the famous Oscar Wilde libel trial and later acclaimed (indeed , revered) as the creator of Northern Ireland. It was presented by Merlin Holland , who said he was Oscar Wilde's grandson,though he didn't seem old enough for that, possibly his great-grandson.

An incidental pleasure I noticed was that all the people in the film were older caucasian men, a refreshing change from the at-times-apparently obligatory political correctess we see on TV today.

He was born in 1945, which means that when the programme was first broadcast (in 2021, I believe) he would have been in his mid-70s.

[smittims]

Thanks. I see his father, Vyvian Holland was born in 1886, so yes, he could be the son of a 58-year old man. I think John Ireland's father was in his 70s when John was born!

[LMcD]

Thanks. I see his father, Vyvian Holland was born in 1886, so yes, he could be the son of a 58-year old man. I think John Ireland's father was in his 70s when John was born!

I still can't believe that my grandparents were born in the reign of Queen Victoria - towards the end, admittedly.

[Serial_Apologist]

I still can't believe that my grandparents were born in the reign of Queen Victoria - towards the end, admittedly.

I know that feeling! My grandfather was born in 1875, the same year as Ravel, and my grandmother five years earlier. Given that she was older than many of the composers we regard as pioneers of Modernism, she had quite progressive tastes in the visual arts, being a huge admirer of the painter Bonnard, who influenced her own work as an artist: I have a landscape she painted of Ingatestone Church in Essex, viewed from a distance across fields. My own father, north London-born in 1908, would speak of climbing the hill to Alexandra Palace, which was still then on the edge of London's spreading suburbs. He would also speak of huge changes in everyday living in his lifetime - motor and airborne transport, Radio, TV, household washing machines, refrigeration and computers - declaring the likes of which to be unmatched for my own generation... He did not live long enough...

[LMcD]

I know that feeling! My grandfather was born in 1875, the same year as Ravel, and my grandmother five years earlier. Given that she was older than many of the composers we regard as pioneers of Modernism, she had quite progressive tastes in the visual arts, being a huge admirer of the painter Bonnard, who influenced her own work as an artist: I have a landscape she painted of Ingatestone Church in Essex, viewed from a distance across fields. My own father, north London-born in 1908, would speak of climbing the hill to Alexandra Palace, which was still then on the edge of London's spreading suburbs. He would also speak of huge changes in everyday living in his lifetime - motor and airborne transport, Radio, TV, household washing machines, refrigeration and computers - declaring the likes of which to be unmatched for my own generation... He did not live long enough...

i have a birthday card which my great-uncle Frederick sent in December 1915 to his twin brother Arthur, who was my maternal grandfather, telling him that he had just enrolled. Arthur lived well into his 80s, but Frederick was killed during the Battle of the Somme.

[LMcD]

'A Man On The Inside' on Netflix, starring Ted Danson. Sweet but also smart.

[LMcD]

BBC 4 tomorrow (Sunday)
10.30 Joan Sutherland talks to Bernard Levin and sings scenes from some of her most celebrated roles accompanied by the RPO conducted by Richard Bonynge
11.30 Joan Sutherland and Gerald Moore. A 20-minute recital recorded in Scotland and broadcast in 1962.
(Part of BBC4's celebration of Australia Day)

[gradus]

Lovely documentary/film from 2022 of James Taylor and Carol King in concert perhaps for the last time together on BBC4.