Recommended Television Programmes

[Sir Velo]

An American Aristocrat's Guide to Great Estates. Smithsonian Channel

Not as ghastly as it might sound. Viscountess Hinchingbroke is an engaging presenter who clearly admires British stately piles and the various business strategems they employ these days to stay afloat.

[Globaltruth]

'Inside No. 9' Series 5 Episode 1 - crackling no-holds-barred script (that had quite a lot to say about the current state of the 'beautiful game) brilliantly delivered by all concerned. Excellent performance by David Morrissey. The title of the series has rarely been quite so apt as it was here.

Absolutely agree.
Read an interview with them recently as part of the launch - apparently the BBC just let them get on with it which they not only appreciate, but is hugely important for them.
They also hinted at perhaps a little more League of Gentlemen, not sure if that will be live shows or TV.
Just been in our local butchers and he actually does keep one or two specials under the counter for certain of us....

[Serial_Apologist]

Absolutely agree.
Read an interview with them recently as part of the launch - apparently the BBC just let them get on with it which they not only appreciate, but is hugely important for them.
They also hinted at perhaps a little more League of Gentlemen, not sure if that will be live shows or TV.
Just been in our local butchers and he actually does keep one or two specials under the counter for certain of us....

Is the BBC for the chop then?

[LMcD]

Absolutely agree.
Read an interview with them recently as part of the launch - apparently the BBC just let them get on with it which they not only appreciate, but is hugely important for them.
They also hinted at perhaps a little more League of Gentlemen, not sure if that will be live shows or TV.
Just been in our local butchers and he actually does keep one or two specials under the counter for certain of us....

Descendant of Corporal Jones, is he?

[Padraig]

My copy of Lost Lives was purchased in 1999. I have not yet succeeded in reading it all. No one belonging to me is included there, though I have known a few. I have read enough to appreciate the utter sadness of the events reported - the sudden violent deaths of living people in the homes, streets, and fields of Northern Ireland from 11 June 1966 until 29 July 1999, the year the book was published.
A television programme inspired by the book is to be shown on Sunday 17 February on BBC NI.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-51480198

[kernelbogey]

This may be a duplicate from upthread - no time to check just now - but I strongly recommend The Trial of Christine Keeler, especially for anyone who (like me) lived through that time of scandal. Sophie Cookson plays the lead brilliantly and there are no duff performances. Excellent screenplay, script and direction. The stitchup of Stephen Ward by the establishment it portrays is shocking. On BBC iPlayer, 6 episodes.

[LMcD]

This may be a duplicate from upthread - no time to check just now - but I strongly recommend The Trial of Christine Keeler, especially for anyone who (like me) lived through that time of scandal. Sophie Cookson plays the lead brilliantly and there are no duff performances. Excellent screenplay, script and direction. The stitchup of Stephen Ward by the establishment it portrays is shocking. On BBC iPlayer, 6 episodes.

I'm happy to back up your recommendation - I thought it was top-drawer TV drama.

[gurnemanz]

especially for anyone who (like me) lived through that time of scandal.

I "lived through" it aged about 14 via a mate who brought the Daily Express into school. I remember a group of us enthusiastically studying the scurrilous revelations during the lunch break. Fascinating to look at it all again with nearly 60 years perspective.

[jayne lee wilson]

Anyone else see the last episode of The New Pope? (Sky Atlantic).

Really extraordinary, shattering finale, almost wordless, I was sobbing my heart out by the end...

I've seen very little TV to match that for depth, intensity and sheer quality....
But you needed to see the whole of the two series to really understand, and feel it....

[kernelbogey]

I "lived through" it aged about 14 via a mate who brought the Daily Express into school. I remember a group of us enthusiastically studying the scurrilous revelations during the lunch break. Fascinating to look at it all again with nearly 60 years perspective.

And also the story told from Christine's perspective. As far as I remember the press coverage conveyed a self-righteous, yet voyeuristic, support for the establishment.

[gurnemanz]

And also the story told from Christine's perspective. As far as I remember the press coverage conveyed a self-righteous, yet voyeuristic, support for the establishment.

Good points.

[Stanfordian]

This may be a duplicate from upthread - no time to check just now - but I strongly recommend The Trial of Christine Keeler, especially for anyone who (like me) lived through that time of scandal. Sophie Cookson plays the lead brilliantly and there are no duff performances. Excellent screenplay, script and direction. The stitchup of Stephen Ward by the establishment it portrays is shocking. On BBC iPlayer, 6 episodes.

Some decades ago I remember seeing Mandy Rice-Davies in theatre, I think it was Tom Stoppard’s play 'Dirty Linen'.

[LMcD]

Some decades ago I remember seeing Mandy Rice-Davies in theatre, I think it was Tom Stoppard’s play 'Dirty Linen'.

She played Maddie Gotobed, opposite Henry McGee, in 1981.

[Constantbee]

So am I.

Some very deft & witty touches in episode 2

Thanks for this. Caught this right at the tail end of the series last night and am currently catching up. Always surprised how well Pratchett adaptations work on film and how they manage to overcome become Harry Potter for grownups. This one’s by Neil Gaiman, author of The Graveyard Book. Previous dramatisations like The Colour of Magic, Going Postal and The Hogfather usually get an outing here at Christmas or on wet Bank Holiday weekends – when you need cheering up.

It got mixed reviews. Well, what a surprise. Never trust 'em. The Guardian slammed it for thin characterisation apart from the two main leads. Not sure I agree with that, and not sure it even matters. It moves irreverently at such a fast pace there’s no time for more character development. A pleasant discovery

[kernelbogey]

Rock Island Line: the song that made Britain Rock
The story of the Lonnie Donegan 1956 skiffle hit: the song's genesis in Southern US prisons, recording in prison by the Lomaxes, then taken over by
Lead Belly. The birth of skiffle via Lonnie in the Ken Collyer Band and Chris Barber Jazz Band and the influence of skiffle on the emergence in the sixties of British Rock. A fascinating story fronted by Billy Bragg on BBC 4 (2018).