Hello,
It’s Worth Watching. And oh boy, quite a few things to talk about:
Paxman is back quizzing geeks from 8.30pm tonight on BBC Two, and then for the next forty weeks.
The Cricket World Cup Final got a peak of 8.3 million last night, across Channel 4 and Sky. Having the rest of the tournament behind a walled garden risked the tournament dropping out of the national conversation. Glad it worked out.
The BBC News channel has a new font that is dividing opinion (so British).
Netflix say that Stranger Things has received record viewership over its first four days of release, which shows that the switch to streaming is showing no sign of abating. BUT Netflix won’t release the rest of their figures, and how many shows perform poorly? When was the last time we all properly binged on their content?
Here are some things to look out for this week:
Queer Eye is back… again (Netflix, from Friday) - *Breathes in* Am I the only one who is starting to feel like too much of this show is coming too soon? This is the fourth series of Queer Eye in just 18 months, and there are eight new episodes coming this week, bringing the total to 32. There’s also a special series filmed in Japan on the way. Now, don’t get me wrong, Queer Eye still has that special quality that a lot of makeover shows currently lack, particularly when it comes to mental health and self-care, but any good show can fall flat if it becomes too saturated. The next series is fine, but I remember not watching the last half of the third series just because it felt like I had already seen it before. *Hides*
There are a lot of commemorative MOON shows this week - 50 years since the moon landings has resulted in a lot of special shows. The Day We Walked on the Moon (ITV, Tuesday 9pm) is a good place to start. Lots of ooh-ing and ahh-ing at nice pictures of space with talking heads harking on about how important it all is.
It is a bit too basic in parts though, with ITV falling into their habit of acting like you are thicker than you actually are. So for a bit more science and detail I recommend (particularly the last 30 minutes of) Neil Armstrong - First Man on the Moon (BBC iPlayer). You learn a great deal about overwhelming intrusion the astronauts received upon their arrival back on earth, having to visit 23 countries in 45 days. Why was Armstrong so media shy back on Earth? “He felt that he was an engineer” a friend of his says in the doc. “He was a test pilot and he was just testing one of the machines when he was landing on the moon.”
Three more: Stargazing Live (BBC Two, 9pm tonight) with Brian Cox and Dara O’Briain is back for a 90 minute special. The Sky at Night (BBC iPlayer) provides insight into what it was like for the BBC to report on the Apollo 11 missions, presenter Maggie Aderin-Pocock rightly pointing out how jarring it is that it was referred as “man” on the moon and not “humans” on the moon. And Channel 4 is live-streaming the entire Apollo 11 missions, playing it out on Facebook and YouTube from tomorrow.
War in the Blood (BBC iPlayer) - A 1hr40 documentary about revolutionary cancer trials might not sound like tempting television at first glance, but please do watch this.
The film’s director, Arthur Cary, is one of my favourite documentary makers in recent years. One of his previous works, The Last Survivors, telling the story of the last Holocaust survivors living in the UK, floored me. He has a real knack at capturing people at their most personal, most honest, without it ever feeling intrusive.
And a suggestion from a reader of this newsletter - Schitt’s Creek (Netflix) from Susan: “I love everything about this show. Brilliant writing and fantastic acting. A friend from Canada told me about it I have watched every episode and series so far.”
Remember… You can listen to the Must Watch BBC Sounds podcast, where I debate the best (and worst) TV of the week with Nihal Arthanayake and Hayley Campbell. It’s on Mondays at 3.45pm on Mondays, then as a podcast. Also, thanks so much for all of your feedback on the Twitter show #What2Watch. I present with Dionne Grant and there’s five more weeks to go this series. You can catch it on Thursdays at 8pm.
That’s it for this week. If you find this newsletter useful, please do tell others to subscribe. It’ll always be free, just tell them to sign up on the homepage. And if you have a TV recommendation yourself, just respond to this email.
I must go now. My planet needs me.
*newsletter scrolls out of shot*
Scotty x