Radio Times - 11 June 2022

166 Pages·2022·117.7 MB·English

11—17 JUNE 2022
THIS WEEK IN RADIO TIMES
From the editors
ON THE COVER
Television is often seen through the
Conversations
prism of the generations. As in, “That’s
with Friends
young people’s television”. Or, similarly, 8
“That’s old people’s TV”. The current debate As the adaptation of Sally Rooney’s
about the future of BBC4 captures it perfectly novel comes to BBC1, director Lenny
(turn to page 152 to read more about that). Abrahamson explains how he crafted
BBC3 is ostensibly aimed at the young, but in this story of love and relationships
its time the channel has produced outstanding Sherwood
14
dramas and comedies – Normal People, This
Writer James Graham introduces
Country – that have such a wide appeal that a
a deeply personal drama rooted in
transfer to BBC1 is inevitable. This week the
a Nottinghamshire community that
latest BBC3 drama to be granted the freedom of
was torn apart by the miners’ strike
BBC1’s airwaves is Conversations with Friends. and a double murder
Like Normal People, this adaptation of a Sally
Professor Brian Cox
20
Rooney novel has won praise from millions of
As a boy he dreamed of exploring space.
fans and recent converts to the Rooney-verse,
Five decades later, thanks to Nasa, he’s STAR TURNS
while leaving some wondering about the appeal
spending a week on the surface of Mars Alison Oliver plays
of a drama that deals with young love and the
Frances in Conversations
dilemmas facing those making – and breaking Paapa Essiedu 24 with Friends and (inset)
– relationships for the first time. Well, the Covid ruined his plans to take Hollywood Ziggy Stardust
answer is, what could possibly be more universal? by storm, but now the actor is turning
But don’t take our word for it. First read the back time in his new drama
Film
thoughts of the director Lenny Abrahamson Simon Barnes 30
27
and hear what the drama’s young stars Joe
You know where the story’s going, but even
Ben Stokes is England’s new cricket captain, but
Alwyn and Alison Oliver have to say on page 8.
so Titanic still packs an emotional punch
will the demands of the job blunt his talents?
Then tune into BBC1 on Wednesday night to
Streaming
decide for yourself. Packing it in! 116 36
David Simon on his drama We Own This City,
The podcasts that puts the wonder of travel
There’s another drama beginning in your suitcase which picks up where The Wire left off. Plus our
on BBC1 this week that again might pick of the best TV and films to stream now
Tim Harford
117
be wrongly pigeonholed. Some may Television
The presenter of Radio 4’s myth-busting More 43
say you need to be well into middle age to
or Less says you should put your faith in facts Thanks to The Unseen Queen and Borgen I’ve
remember the miners’ strikes of the 1980s
learned a lot about the nature of power and
and the divisive effect they had on those who Your RT
privilege, says Jane Garvey
were involved at first-hand, and the country
Money The increase in the rate of inflation Radio
as a whole. Yet in Sherwood, writer James 114
is going to hurt us all… 137
Graham – who was only two years old when
Where did David Bowie’s creation Ziggy Stardust
the strike of 1984 broke out – has woven a Books Richard Coles reflects on swapping
spring from? No, it wasn’t Mars, but the suburbs
TY gripping crime drama out of the bitter legacy his life as a vicar for that of a crime writer 138 of south London
T
GE of a decades-old industrial dispute. Gardening Joe Swift’s guide to alliums — an
E;
SI As Lesley Manville tells us on page 17, all-round superstar of the garden 140
S
A
GR “What James has done is take a story that is Travel Cruising for laughs in the company
D
AR autobiographical and weave in real-life events of Rory Bremner 142
H
C to turn out an amazing drama that I want
GE: RI people to see.” You can see the first two episodes ALSO THIS WEEK
PA Viewpoint Why go on holiday abroad when Join Jane and
HIS of Sherwood on Monday and Tuesday at 9pm. you can stay at home, says Ian McMillan 7 Rhianna and their
SIE. T Tom Loxley & Shem Law Puzzles Your favourite brain teasers 145 guoefs tthse f owre ae kp’rse TviVe w
S Editors, Radio Times
A
GR Feedback You have your say on the proposed
D SCAN TO LISTEN
AR Contact Radio Times by email on BBC budget cuts 150
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RIC [email protected] View from my sofa Martin Compston 154 radiotimes.com/podcast
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RadioTimes 11–17 June 2022 3
Watch, listen, stream
...
Television
(cid:2)
Your TV guide starts on p43
The British
Soap Awards
Saturday 8.00pm ITV
Having been denied
the opportunity to party
for the past two years,
Soapland’s finest assemble
1
at London’s Hackey
Empire to celebrate
their achievements.
Phillip Schofield will
try to keep order.
Monday, Tuesday
9.00pm BBC1
James Graham’s rich drama
is set in his home county of
Nottinghamshire, where
tensions from the 1980s
spill over into a murder case.
Based on real events, the
story emerges from flinty
performances — including
Lesley Manville (right) as
the wife of a former miner.
FEATURE P14 (cid:2)
4
5
Brian Cox: Seven
Soccer Aid
Days on Mars
Sunday 6.30pm ITV
Friday 9.00pm BBC2
The fundraising match for
How do you drive a car on
Unicef is always a good laugh
INTERVIEW P24 (cid:2) Mars? Our favourite physicist
as celebs show off their skills
joins the Nasa scientists
against football legends.
The Lazarus Project steering the Perseverence
Olympians Mo Farah and Usain
rover between Martian rocks,
Thursday 9.00pm Sky Max
Bolt set the pace, while Andriy
searching for signs of ancient
A time-bending new drama sees a young man (Paapa Essiedu,
Shevchenko and Lee Mack will
life in what was once a lake.
above with Caroline Quentin) join a team tasked with averting
be swapping passes. Alex Scott
global armageddon. But what about troubles closer to home?
INTERVIEW P20 (cid:2) (above) reports from pitchside.
4
THE 10 BEST SHOWS THIS WEEK
11—17 JUNE 2022
Streaming
WHAT I’M WATCHING…
(cid:2)
The best of streaming starts p36
This week’s contributors reveal all
We Own This City LESLEY MANVILLE
Box set available “I loved the Netflix drama
from 7 June NOW
Call My Agent! because that
The electrifying
was just fabulous escapism,”
follow-up to the
cult US crime drama says the actor. “And I recently
The Wire. Based on a true story,
watched the BBC’s Time with Stephen
it stars The Walking Dead’s Jon
Bernthal (right) as a member of Graham and Sean Bean because I was
a corrupt Baltimore police task going to work with the director Lewis
force that believes its activities
Arnold on Sherwood and I hadn’t seen
are beyond suspicion…
it. That was a major, major piece of
FEATURE P36 (cid:2)
television that won’t be forgotten.”
Sherwood — page 14
7
Call My Agent!
God’s Favorite Idiot
Available from SAMIRA AHMED
15 June Netflix
“I’m rewatching the joyful
A new comedy starring Love & Anarchy
Toast of London on iPlayer,”
Melissa McCarthy (above) and
Season 2 available from
her husband Ben Falcone. says the
16 June Netflix
After IT worker Clark
Series two of the Swedish romcom with
(Falcone) is struck by
Bjorn Mosten and Ida Engvoll. As the
lightning, he discovers he’s
dares that Max and Ida set for one
been chosen by God to help
another escalate, so too do the stakes
the world — with help from his
in their workplaces and is so obviously
friend Amily (McCarthy).
personal lives.
done from the
imaginations
Radio
of the creators
without regard
Toast of
for whether
The film section starts p30 (cid:2) The radio section starts p114 (cid:2) London
every viewer
Titanic 1111 h Sat, Fri 9.00pm Film4 will get them.”
Ziggy Stardust
Itinerant chancer Leonardo DiCaprio and society Professor Brian Cox
at 50
girl Kate Winslet have a date with destiny in James
— page 20
Saturday 8.00pm
Cameron’s era-defining romantic disaster epic.
Radio 4
Ziggy played
guitar… A treasure
trove of rich archive
and fresh insights JUBILEE
from those close to SOUVENIRS
David Bowie add
depth to this Celebrate the Queen’s 70-year
10
9 exploration of reign with a souvenir bundle of
his most famous
persona. Oh, yeah…
FEATURE P114 (cid:2)
RadioTimes 11–17 June 2022 5

IAN
McMILLAN
Why jet to the sun?
Avoid airport agony and head to the British coast this summer
P
icture the scene: Bridlington been more than half-empty;
SEA, SAND...
in the late 1960s. Me and my a speckling of masked people
…and staycation
parents and my brother are like me would be gazing out
for a stress-free
walking along the harbour wall from the shore, perhaps
holiday option
looking like people in a bread jotting melancholy para-
advert. Except in my case I look like some- graphs in notebooks. Chairs would be
body in a lard advert. My dad’s trilby is stacked on the tables of fish and chip
jaunty; my mam’s headscarf is as colourful as restaurants and the Kiss Me Quick hats
a blush. My brother and I are like drawings of would have been packed away in case they
each other. The sun is as warm as the oven we gave anybody rule-breaking ideas.
cook our Yorkshire puddings in. The chips we
are eating are the best chips ever in the So I wrote about my memories of
history of the world, as I will attest in a post- the sea and, as I wrote and rewrote
card I will send later to my mate Mark Smales. them, each memory pulled another
My dad turns to my mam and says, “Why go memory in its wake until I reminded
abroad?” and she grins. myself that one of the reasons we go on
And here’s another scene: a crowded airport
somewhere in this country in 2022. The queues ‘ One of the reasons the event is happening we are turning it into an
of people seem to stretch across at least a time Instagram moment to savour. My memories of
we go on holiday is
zone and a half. A family stand in the same place UK holidays feel particularly vivid, so I strongly
they’ve stood in for hours. The dad looks as recommend that you give the chuntering airport
to make memories’
grumpy as a Halloween lantern; the mother’s grin queues a swerve this summer. Go to Eastbourne,
has been painted on by an amateur. The kids Lytham St Annes or Whitley Bay and create
can’t decide whether to fight or weep so they do I’m as much of a fan of the rest of the world as your own memories of the British seaside.
both. Edvard Munch walks by with a sketchpad. anybody is, but since the brief openings of the Mind you, picture the scene: Bridlington, the
I’m exaggerating, of course, but I think you lockdown gates I’ve reignited my love of the late 1960s. Me and my parents are running for
can get my drift. After the Covid restrictions that British seaside, so much so that I’ve written a the shelter of a shelter as the rain throws itself at
shackled holidays abroad for the past two years, book about it, which is coming out in early the ground like a toddler having a tantrum. My
this year was to be the time that we all grew fast- summer. It’s a kaleidoscope of seaside memories dad’s trilby is flattened to his head and my
track wings and flew to the bits of the map that came to me in the endless spring of 2020 mother looks like she’s fallen in the bath. My
where it doesn’t drizzle, but somehow it doesn’t when I couldn’t go anywhere else and I had to brother raises his teenage fists to the sky and
seem like that. There are delays everywhere; reconstruct things litorally and oceanically from shouts, “Why go abroad?” Why indeed?
there are shortages of staff and shortages of the haunted wing of my brain. Originally I was
goodwill and the idea of the last-minute impulse going to go to various coastal places and observe Ian McMillan presents The Verb on Fridays
Y decision to jet to the sun doesn’t seem so sunny and write, but I realised that, if I had managed at 10.00pm on Radio 3. His book My Sand Life,
T
ET any more. to slip away to the sea, the streets would have My Pebble Life is published by Adlard Coles
G
FFRROOMM TTHHEE RRTT AARRCCHHIIVVEE…… 7—13 JUNE 1997 MONDAY
tv
BBC1
WHAT WE WATCHED WHAT YOU SAID 7.00pm Big Break
We had uncertainty in Chigwell, with Sharon Sherwood Forest could well have been the Alex Higgins takes on Ray
and Tracey’s errant husbands coming out of setting for a certain ITV period drama, Reardon and David Roe.
prison. But would the Birds of a Feather keep said Mervyn Capel of Newmarket, Suffolk.
7.30 Mastermind
flocking together? “We will eventually say He wrote: “The scene: historic England. Our
From Blenheim Palace.
goodbye,” said Pauline Quirke, on the green-clad hero, returning after fighting in
possibility of ending the hit sitcom. “But we foreign wars, rides north to the town of 8.00 EastEnders
have such a good laugh doing it. We had a his birth, accompanied by a loyal giant of Mark faces some life-
particularly busy year on Auntie’s Bloomers. a companion. But the hero’s hometown is changing decisions.
I knocked teapots over, we called each other oppressed by a villainous landowner with
by different names…” In fact, they would call an army led by a foppish swordfighter… 8.30 The Peter Principle
it a day the following year, though a revival The latest version of Robin Hood? No, Comedy with Jim Broadbent.
launched in 2014 on ITV, the most recent Sharpe, the recent Napoleonic romp from 9.00 Nine o’Clock News
episode of which (over Christmas 2020) saw ITV. All that was missing was Friar Tuck!”
Linda Robson acting without her co-star Nonetheless, Sean Bean swashbuckled 9.30 Birds of a Feather
thanks to Quirke having flown the coop. on until 2008. DAVID BROWN Tracey’s dream becomes
a nightmare.
RadioTimes 11–17 June 2022 7
Conversations with Friends
Wednesday 10.40pm, 11.10pm, 11.35pm BBC1 (11.05pm, 11.40pm, 12.10am in Wales)
T
As the latest steamy Sally Rooney wo years ago, Normal People broke out
of the youth-focused, online-only realm
of BBC3 to take BBC1 by storm. Locked
adaptation comes to BBC1, director
down in a pandemic, millions of us, both
young and old, jumped at the chance to
Lenny Abrahamson
says the sex scenes
escape our dreary, socially distanced
existence and fling ourselves into this adaptation
aren’t decorative – they’re essential of novelist Sally Rooney’s searing story of teen-
age first love, set the other side of the Irish Sea.
K E L LY-A N N E TAY LO R
INTERVIEW BY
THE L ANGUA
8
Normal People is Rooney’s second novel. Now a low-key observational look at relationships couple, Melissa and Nick. Nick (played by Joe
her debut, Conversations with Friends, is follow- among a bunch of young Dubliners and, like Alwyn, who is the boyfriend of pop star Taylor
ing a similar trajectory from BBC3 to BBC1, and Normal People, is peppered with emotive sex Swift) and Frances (a breakthrough role for first-
the man behind both is Irish film-maker Lenny scenes – but it has a rather different focus. It’s time Irish actor Alison Oliver) are both socially
Abrahamson. Conversations with Friends takes less about first love, more about the intricacies of shy and introverted, but drawn to each other.
monogamy, fidelity and sexuality. Across-the-table glances and half-formed
Two Trinity College students, Frances and sentences soon become desperate kisses and
Bobbi, become entangled with an older married hook-ups in stolen moments. Between two (cid:3)
FRIENDS
AND LOVERS
From left: Sasha
Lane, Alison Oliver,
Joe Alwyn and
Jemima Kirke star
as troubled quartet
Bobbi, Frances, Nick
and Melissa
GE OF LOV E
9
SECRE TS
(cid:4) characters who struggle to communicate, sex That’s fair enough, because they’re from the
becomes an extension of conversation. It’s a same universe; there’s an obvious world of
series that unpicks the chaotic elements of being connection between them. Luckily, we’ve all & LIES
human – “the Dionysian part, the part ruled by been doing it long enough to go, ‘We can’t
desire”, as Abrahamson puts it. control any of that, there’s no point in worrying
B
about expectations.’ All you can do is the thing
efore the success of Normal People, the that’s in front of you, as well as possible, and be
55-year-old Dubliner was best known for as true to the specifics as you possibly can be.”
his independent films, and garnered global One of the biggest differences between Normal The stars on intimacy
recognition for 2015’s Room, which People and Conversations with Friends was
coordinators – and
received four Academy Award nominations. So Rooney’s involvement, as Abrahamson explains.
Sally Rooney’s playlists
why did he want to bring this second adaptation “Sally had been so involved in the first series. But
of the “Rooney-verse” to the small screen? we totally got why [she took a step back from the
“Conversations with Friends was initially second] – she was in the middle of her third JOE ALWYN
being developed as a feature film, rather than a novel. She was around for the first phase, when
TV series,” Abrahamson explains. “I loved the we were breaking the story into episodes, and
book, but I couldn’t feel my way towards it as a part of conversations about casting. After that PLAYS NICK
feature film. Then I read Normal People and
absolutely loved it. It was really obvious that, ‘Sally was happy for What is it that Nick sees in Frances that
because of the way it was chaptered and the way he cannot find in his wife Melissa?
us to do our thing.
the points of view moved, it made complete Frances and Nick are similar. They
sense as television. are used to being defined by the
“There was a lot of interest in it because She trusted us’ outspoken people [Bobbi and Melissa]
Conversations, the book, had been a great next to them. That isn’t what makes
success. Then it happened so quickly – I said, them like each other, but it is what
‘Yes, I’d like to do it as television.’ We went to the she was just happy for us to do our thing and initially pulls them together.
BBC and they said, ‘OK, based on that, if you get trusted us. It was funny, at the very end, showing
the rights, it’s green lit. You can make it next her finished episodes – we were hoping she Sex scenes in Conversations with Friends
year.’ That was amazing. That doesn’t happen. wouldn’t go ‘Wait! What?!’ Luckily, she was very are used as an extension of speech. What
“To be able to go back to Sally and say, ‘Look, positive about it.” do we learn about your character Nick
W
I know you already sold us the rights to your first and his young lover Frances when they
novel, but would you mind selling us the rights hen news spread that Conversations are in the bedroom?
to your second as well?’ And then dangle that with Friends was being adapted, When they’re physical with each other,
lovely prize of ‘it’s actually going to happen’ – she Abrahamson had his fair pick of actors it’s one of the few times they are able
was very enthusiastic. keen to audition. Interestingly, three of to communicate properly. Often in a
“Then, towards the end of the process on the four main leads are not actually Irish. conversation, around a table or in a
Normal People, it became really obvious that the “We had a lot of people who were interested in room, they struggle — but, when they
key to Conversations was to make it into a the show,” he explains. “We did audition wonder- are intimate, they connect in a way
series,” he adds. “And I couldn’t really bear to not ful actors and very well-known actors in all that they don’t otherwise.
do it, having enjoyed Normal People so much.” parts. In terms of casting outside of Ireland,
But, after a sizzlingly successful adaptation of there are probably more brilliant Irish actors
Nick is often described as passive —
Normal People, there was a palpable pressure to than you could reasonably expect to come from a
is it difficult to play someone who is so
get Conversations with Friends right. “We knew country of this size, but it’s really hard to find the
uncomfortable with expressing emotion?
that whatever we did, comparisons would be right person for the right role who is also just
It is tricky — Nick is lots of different
made and every single review of Conversations amazing – so, we looked everywhere.”
things, but within a small bandwidth. He
with Friends would talk about Normal People. Three of the four leads are relatively well-
is a closed-off character — he keeps his
established actors – but, for Alison Oliver, this
cards close to his chest, for his own
was her first job after graduating from the Lir
reasons. He has been through this storm
Academy, the Dublin drama school that gave us
[a debilitating bout of depression] and,
Normal People’s stand-out star Paul Mescal.
when we meet him at the beginning, is
What’s the difference between working with new
in a place of recovery. He has very low
actors versus those with more experience?
self-worth, doesn’t feel loved or capable
“I love working with somebody very early on in
of loving. Meeting Frances teases him
their career – there’s an openness. Working with
back to life. They help each other heal.
Alison was very pure. She came on set with no
weariness or expectations. She’d try to pick up a
Other than reading the book and script,
box if we were moving rooms! I had to say, ‘No,
how did you get into character?
you don’t have to carry anything. You’re number
Sally Rooney creates a music playlist for
one on the call sheet, you’re carrying the entire
each character while she’s writing her
show!’ It was adorable. To be able to give some-
novels. They don’t narratively fit the
body early in their career a really good experi-
SIE CLANDESTINE ence on set is a great thing – because I think story, but they give a feeling of that
S
RA Nick (Joe Alwyn) and people are very vulnerable at the beginning.” person and put you in a headspace,
G
D Frances (Alison Oliver) find which is interesting and useful.
R Both Normal People and Conversations with
HA each other irresistible
C Friends refuse to shy away from the intimacy (cid:3)
RI
10 RadioTimes 11–17 June 2022