TV Preview, They Shall Not Grow Old: Peter Jackson’s remarkable film brings the First World War to life

Plus: ‘The Little Drummer Girl’ continues to astonish, and ‘People Just Do Nothing’ lives up to its comedy heights

‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ is perhaps the best and most original of the many documentaries devoted to the First World War (BBC/IWM)

It’s as if you can smell the cordite, such is the atmosphere as we approach the centenary of the armistice that ended the Great War. The Queen and the massed ranks of the old British establishment will gather, as ever, for the Remembrance Sunday service at the Cenotaph, exactly a century after guns finally fell silent on the western front.

This being a special anniversary, there’s also a special Songs of Praise from the BBC (which in 1918 was still four years away from its birth, and so couldn’t cover the actual arrival of peace). This is followed by Home Front Heroes, in which celebrities, inevitably, reflect on the family’s wartime history. Then there’s another service at Westminster Abbey, plus a special documentary about that installation of ceramic poppies at the Tower of London in 2014.

But the televisual guns do not fall silent, such is the abiding fascination with the “war to end all wars”. There’s 100 Year of the RAF, tail-end johnnies flying in on Friday night; and Dan Cruickshank’s Monuments of Remembrance on Tuesday, which tells the story of the architecture of all those gracious cemeteries and memorials that have been such centres of attention again.

Probably the best, and most original, of the many documentaries devoted to the First World War is They Shall Not Grow Old. This is more of a feature film in fact, created as it is by Peter Jackson (best known for directing the Lord of the Rings trilogy). You may have seen the advance publicity: original film has been cleaned up, colourised, converted to 3D and rendered with an almost contemporary look. Thus that faded, jumpy black-and-white conflict is transformed into something that might have been videoed last week (not that we have any shortage of wars nowadays anyway).

Of course, something of the same has been done with The Second World War in Colour and similar series, but nothing as ambitious as this, nor so well put together with audio from old soldiers’ remembrances. Even those suffering from a touch of war weariness after four years of anniversary broadcasting will appreciate the depth of effort that has gone into this. Now all we have to do is get ready for the 1939-45 show.

People Just Do Nothing was, and is, one of the funniest things to come out of Hounslow, or anywhere. It’s about a bunch of idiots in a UK garage (or something) crew who run a pirate radio station. The police raided them at the end of that last series but, as one of the mugs tells us in this (sadly) the final series, the audience was so pitifully small that he virtually let them off. By the way, a feature film is on the way, plus a tour or two.

‘People Just Do Nothing’, a great success from that mighty digital comedy incubator BBC3 (BBC)

In mockumetary style, PJDN is a superbly scripted and enacted chronicle of fecklessness, corruption (ironically or not), drug abuse, evil, delusion and, above all, astonishing stupidity. It’s hard to pick out one of them who are last among equals, so to speak, but I suppose it has to be the scene-stealing Chabbuddy G, aka the Mayor of Hounslow, aka the Brown Casanova, aka the Ultrapaneer, aka Alan Brown Sugar, aka Asim Chaudhry. By the way, Chabuds has a girthy book out, “How To Be a Man”, in such he celebrates his success, especially as a lover: “Hey, sugar face, wanna make some beige babies and live the Ukip nightmare?”

Chabuds joins MC Grindah (Allan Mustafa), Mish (Lily Brazier) CJ Beats (Hugo Chegwin), and DJ Steves (Steve Stamp) also try to pit their minuscule wits against a hostile world. So bad are they at it that the BBC has even promoted them to BBC2, from their previous existence on BBC3, which transformed itself into a mighty digital comedy incubator when most expected it to curl up and die (This Country and Murder in Successville were other great achievements).

This week Kurupt FM try to replace their pirate radio kit that the police confiscated. In a small homage to Only Fools and Horses, Chabuddy styles himself as Dahl Boy goes hustling. The genius of the British has always been improvisation...

I can easily recommend The Little Drummer Girl, which maintains its high standards in this, the third episode. Obviously, rather like the real-life Mossad officers and Palestinian terrorists that feature at the heart of this drama, I can’t reveal too much about what you’re going to see, but you may rest assured it is gripping, beautifully shot and stylishly acted, with standout performances from Michael Shannon (Israeli spymaster Martin Kurtz) and Florence Pugh (a high-tensile alloy of petulance and steel as the reluctant spy/terrorist).

Though I suppose nothing will surpass the 1979 dramatisation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, this Le Carre dramatisation is certainly a fine piece of craft, on a par with The Night Manager. Fine viewing, then: no secret about that.

Michael Shannon stars in ‘The Little Drummer Girl’, based on the John le Carre book (BBC)

The animal kingdom is full of endearing creatures that are more or less endangered. (In fact we homo sapiens are actually the most pathetic, seeing as we know we will die out because we’re killing our own planet, but can’t be bothered to do much about it. But I digress.)

There can be few more charming things on four trotters than the tapir, and specifically the rare Malaysian tapir, which is basically a pig with a gigantic schnozzle. They look stupid, and they are, and the pair featured in The Secret Life of the Zoo don’t even seem too much keen on mating. No wonder they’re dying out.

Last, there’s no shortage of sport out there if you want to desert the western front. International rugby kicks off on Saturday, with England playing the All Blacks maybe the highlight. Sky is also offering, live, the United/City Manchester Derby on Sunday. Should be fun, at leastways for Pep.

World War One Remembered (BBC1, Sky News, Sunday 10am); Songs of Praise (BBC1, Sunday 1.45pm); Home Front Heroes (BBC1, Sunday 2.20pm); World War One Remembered: Westminster Abbey (BBC1, Sunday 5.10pm); 100 Years of the RAF (Channel 5, Friday 8pm); Dan Cruickshank’s Monuments of Remembrance (Tuesday, BBC4 9pm)​; They Shall Not Grow Old (BBC2, Sunday 9.30pm); People Just Do Nothing (BBC2, Monday 10pm); The Little Drummer Girl (BBC1, Sunday 9pm); The Secret Life of the Zoo (Channel 4, Wednesday 8pm); International Rugby (Sky Sports, BBC1, Saturday from 2pm); Manchester City v Manchester United (Sky Sports, Sunday 4pm)