The TV shows to watch this week: From Helen Mirren’s Catherine the Great to The Apprentice
A warm welcome to scheming courtiers, a ruthless ruler and women trying to get ahead in a male-dominated world. But enough about Suralan Sugar’s return, says Sean O’Grady, Sky Atlantic’s new Russian costume drama is also well worth a watch
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How many monarchs can Helen Mirren fit into one career? Quite a few, it would seem. The latest addition to the regal collection is Sky Atlantic’s Catherine the Great, which carries great promise. The photography looks sumptuous and of course the life and times of this, well, great reforming empress of Russia. Ruthless too, and makes our current generation of politicians look like Teletubbies by comparisons.
Catherine herself deposed her own husband, no less, and went on to rebuild Russia’s strength and help modernise it into an equal European power, and respected as such, something of a theme in Russia’s chippy history. In her way she was also something of a feminist pioneer, proving that a woman could rule as well, indeed better, than any of the available male alternatives, her bigger handicap being born a German. A lusty lady, Catherine also had her court favourites, but I think that stuff about the horse is a myth. Not sure how Sky Atlantic will choose to handle it, however. The four-parter starts on Thursday night.
Even more ambitious is the BBC’s World on Fire, a cross-border, cross-continent drama weaving together the lives of families who are connected to one another, though they may not always realise. It’s an interesting concept, mixing the kind of storyline techniques you’d associate with a soap, but with higher production values and, of course, the backdrop of a global war. The corporation has certainly invested a great deal in this Sunday evening blockbuster, including an outstanding cast: Lesley Manville, Sean Bean, and Helen Hunt are among the stars, directed by Adam Smith.
Just in case you were wondering whatever happened to Ed Balls, dancer, politician and academic, but are afraid of putting his name into a Twitter search, he’s turned himself into a sort of popular economist, co-presenting What Britain Buys and Sells in a Day, with Ade Adepitan and Cherry Healey. Obvious Brexit gags aside, the UK is one of the world’s most internationally open economies, depending, more than most, on trade for its livelihood. It also reflects the impact of economics, and changing tastes, in the physical as well as financial landscape – Britain’s renewed appetite for avocados is denuding natural Peruvian deserts.
The distressing case of Jamal Khashoggi is the subject of a special Panorama, “The Khashoggi Murder Tapes”. A year on from the assassination of the blameless Saudi journalist at the hands of Saudi agents, respected BBC reporter Jane Corbin has spoken to those who have heard the horrific real-time recordings of the butchery that took place in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul, and traced responsibly for the murder right back to the highest echelons of society in Saudi Arabia. The best kind of public service broadcasting, then, and a reminder of how important the BBC journalism remains, here and abroad.
As autumn draws in and viewers return to their screens, the schedulers are launching new series of old favourites. Strictly Come Dancing gets properly under way this week, with the first competitive round and the first sacking among the 15 celebrities who have set themselves up, literally, for a fall. Tess Daly and Claudia Winkelman present.
Equally venerable (both have, unbelievably, been around since 2004) is The Apprentice franchise. I’m not sure how many of the 15 or so winners of the various series are still with Suralan, now Lord Sugar, but hope springs eternal and the great joy of the programme lies, of course, with the pure idiocy of the contestants. The premise is the same as ever, and the usual catchphrases and adventures are in evidence, honed to a cosily predictable peak of perfection. I have never reconciled myself to the fundamental conundrum in the series, which is why any of these “entrepreneurs” who want to emulate Sugar and be their own boss and build a business empire up on their own wits would actually want a job working for some boss in some corporate environment. Lord Sugar, in other words, when he was starting out flogging car aerials door to door on the Tottenham Court Road, would never have wanted to work for some rude opinionated old bugger like himself; he was, in fact, no one’s apprentice.
Last, The Great British Bake Off is continuing to rise to the occasion over on Channel 4, where Sandy Toksvig, Noel Fielding, Paul Hollywood and Prue Leith have gelled like a toothsome homemade gala pie into a truly coherent confection. This week it’s desserts and, I can’t resist saying, the contestants all receive their just desserts.
Catherine the Great (Sky Atlantic, Thursday 9pm); World on Fire (BBC1, Sunday 9pm); What Britain Buys and Sells in a Day (BBC2, Monday 9pm); Panorama: The Khashoggi Murder Tapes (BBC1, Monday 8.30pm); Strictly Come Dancing (BBC1, Saturday 6.40pm, Sunday 7.15pm); The Apprentice (BBC1, Wednesday 9pm); The Great British Bake Off (Channel 4, Tuesday 8pm)
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