“London 2012 Opening Ceremony” and “The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty”
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Hello,
Welcome to the Worth Watching newsletter, telling you what is worth watching on television and streaming in the next week.
London 2012 Opening Ceremony (BBC One, Friday 10:45pm and iPlayer) - With Tokyo 2020 delayed until 2021, the BBC is now having to fill hundreds of hours of television that would have been wall-to-wall sport. So they’ve decided to open up the vault and repeat London 2012 all over again, starting with the Opening Ceremony on BBC One tonight.
I know that deciding to revisit such a hopeful and united part of our country’s history might feel like a gut punch right now, but having watched the ceremony already last month (peak me), it actually didn’t feel that way. If anything, it made me feel like such a hopeful and united time could be in front of us again rather than behind.
There’s also Imagine: One Night in 2012 (iPlayer), a documentary looking into how the ceremony was put together from the perspective of the volunteers and Danny Boyle’s creative team.
BBC Two have been repeating sporting highlights from Beijing 2008 for the past three days. From tomorrow (Saturday) London 2012 sporting highlights will be shown on BBC One afternoon. Highlights from Rio 2016 will be shown next week.
The Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty (BBC iPlayer and BBC Two on Tuesdays, 9pm) - There are strong Succession vibes throughout this three part documentary looking at the business practices within Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.
I was able to get all three episodes and I binged them in one go. Whilst the first episode is an interesting glimpse at how intertwined Blair’s government and senior executives at Murdoch’s newspapers were, the latter two episodes I found the most compelling (they are only dropping one episode a week). The second episode looks into the phone hacking scandal, the third at the relationship between Murdoch, Trump and Fox News.
If you enjoyed this series, I would recommend The Sun King, a fascinating Audible series presented by David Dimbleby. The podcast series (only available to subscribers) covers all of major moments throughout the media mogul’s life.
I May Destroy You (BBC iPlayer) - I’ve mentioned this show a couple of times in this newsletter before. This is just a reminder to say that if you have not got round to watching the series yet, you absolutely should. The final two episodes (that I won’t spoil here) make the finest, most gripping hour of TV that you will watch all year.
The Plot Against America (Sky Atlantic / Now TV) - A great, detailed adaptation of the 2004 Philip Roth novel, which looks into what may have happened if Charles Lindbergh had won the Presidency in the 1940 election. It’s a fascinating portrait into how fascist ideology can slowly infiltrate society. Also, how extremist political opinions can have terrifying consequences.
Some tidbits:
From Monday BBC Radio 2 returns to its normal schedule, with specialist radio shows also returning. BBC Radio 1, which has had extended breakfast shows throughout the pandemic, is continuing to the same schedule for the time being.
BBC One have announced that they will be repeating the first series of Line of Duty on television from the start of August. I wonder whether they will show the whole lot as we wait for the most current season to wrap production.
BritBox has announced that it will have performances by the RSC, Royal Ballet, Donmar Warehouse and the Royal Opera House on its platform from the 23rd July. Until now you have been able to see some of these shows on iPlayer and BBC Four.
Alison Hammond, one of the most entertaining presenters on television, is finally hosting This Morning on the 14th and 21st August. Until now she’s just been one of their correspondents.
Netflix added 26 million new users in the first half of 2020 (they added 28 million in the whole of 2019). However, the last quarter saw less growth than predicted, and you wonder whether production delays on current series will have an impact on future growth.
Remember, I review television each and every week on Must Watch, which you can subscribe to on BBC Sounds. It’s out on Mondays.
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Have a great weekend,
Scotty / @scottygb