Recommended Television Programmes

[gradus]

Having watched Vengeance Most Fowl on the iPlayer, I left the tv on only to find that the next programme up was the film of Professor Branestawm with Harry Hill and a wonderful cast. Strongly recommended if like me you remain amused by things that made you laugh as a child.

[smittims]

I enjoyed 'Mr and Mrs Edgehill' ,a 1985 BBC film with Judi Dench and Ian Holm, currently on iPlayer.

It's an original plot . Mrs. has stuck to Mr. through thick and thin, his latest failure being a pineapple plantation on a fictional British Pacific colony called 'Somola' in the late 1930s. Pan American want to build a flying boat refuelling station on an uninhabited island called Cowri, because it is halfway between Hawaii and Australia, and the Colonial Office feel there ought to be a British Resident there,as the lsland is nominally British. So Edgehill is chosen and sent there. Afte many mishaps they settle,and are still there when the Pacific war breaks out and we are left to presume that the Japanese have conquered Somola, leaving the Edgehills marooned , PAA having evacuated after the Pearl Harbor attack.

I was disappointed that it ended there. I had hoped they'd either be rescued by the US Navy or still bethere, forgotten and rediscovered, in 1945, when they'd be acclaimed as heroes at last.

[LMcD]

'The Other Mendelssohn' - a documentary on Sky Arts tomorrow at 9.00 p.m., followed by a repeat of the first of Nicola Benedetti's very enjoyable late-night sessions recorded at the Edinburgh Festival.

[vinteuil]

... have been enjoying the four-part Archie on ITVx - telling how Archie Leach turned himself in to Cary Grant.

Exemplary performance from Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant, magisterial Harriet Walter (when is she not) as his Mother, Laura Aikman perfect as Dyan Cannon, his fourth wife and the mother of his only child.

Recommended

.

[LMcD]

... have been enjoying the four-part Archie on ITVx - telling how Archie Leach turned himself in to Cary Grant.

Exemplary performance from Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant, magisterial Harriet Walter (when is she not) as his Mother, Laura Aikman perfect as Dyan Cannon, his fourth wife and the mother of his only child.

Recommended

.

I've seen it and agree with you.

[Roger Webb]

Spielberg's 'West Side Story' on Channel 4 tonight at 9.00pm

[kernelbogey]

I caught the second of Simon Schama's Story of Us on BBC2. Interesting and very personal account of postwar British society and culture.

[kernelbogey]

Having watched Vengeance Most Fowl on the iPlayer, I left the tv on only to find that the next programme up was the film of Professor Branestawm with Harry Hill and a wonderful cast. Strongly recommended if like me you remain amused by things that made you laugh as a child.

[Serial_Apologist]

I caught the second of Simon Schama's Story of Us on BBC2. Interesting and very personal account of postwar British society and culture.

I had feared from the start of this second episode that Schama was going to soft soap his way through postwar British history, but was soon corrected when most of the programme was devoted to the consequences of Powell's racist speeches and Thatcherite de-industrialisation in the 1960s and 80s; the implications he left us were mixed by the ending, notwithstanding Schama's self-declared optimism. I look forward to next week's final episode.

[LMcD]

I caught the second of Simon Schama's Story of Us on BBC2. Interesting and very personal account of postwar British society and culture.

I forgot to record this after watching the first programme - thank Heavens (yet again) for iPlayer!

[johncorrigan]

... have been enjoying the four-part Archie on ITVx - telling how Archie Leach turned himself in to Cary Grant.

Exemplary performance from Jason Isaacs as Cary Grant, magisterial Harriet Walter (when is she not) as his Mother, Laura Aikman perfect as Dyan Cannon, his fourth wife and the mother of his only child.

Recommended

.

Thanks. Mrs C and I found this fascinating. I knew nothing about Cary Grant before. I was surprised to find that he was such an enormous star. I had seen old films by him and usually enjoyed his performances, but I didn't ever see him when I watched movies in the sixties and seventies. This series showed me why he disappeared from sight. Some terrific performances indeed. I loved seeing Jason Watkins who is always good value, in my opinion. Thanks again.

[LMcD]

I was sufficiently impressed by the first part of ITV's 'Out There' to tune in tonight. Martin Clunes stars while his wife produces.

[kernelbogey]

The Lost Music of Auschwitz - a brief notice in The Guardian - Sky Arts 2100 - 2230. Probably a tough programme to watch.

Also a shorter, and more general programme on BBC1, What Happened at Auschwitz: 2030 - 2100.

[kernelbogey]

The Lost Music of Auschwitz - a brief notice in The Guardian - Sky Arts 2100 - 2230. Probably a tough programme to watch.

Also a shorter, and more general programme on BBC1, What Happened at Auschwitz: 2030 - 2100.

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.)

[Serial_Apologist]

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.)

As far as I have been able to find out, one has to subscribe.