TV to Look Forward to in 2022. Plus "The Tourist," "Toast of Tinseltown" and "The Language of Love"
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Hello,
Welcome to the first Worth Watching of 2022.
I'll start with some good news. There’s a lot of good television on right now and even more great television in the year ahead.
Let’s start with shows you can watch this weekend.
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The Tourist (BBC iPlayer) - A completely ridiculous and unbelievable but extremely watchable six part series written by Harry and Jack Williams, the pair behind shows like The Missing and Baptiste. All six episodes are available to watch now.
Here’s the premise: a man driving in the Australian outback is involved in a traffic collision caused deliberately by the other driver. We don’t find out his name, because when he wakes up in hospital he experiences amnesia and cannot remember his name either. You at home try to work out who he is pretty much at the same time as he is.
Some of the plot twists in Harry and Jack William’s shows can feel a bit too far-fetched, but as the plot in The Tourist was never that believable in the first place (people with amnesia don’t tend to lose their name, for one thing), you enjoy the unpredictable twists and turns. And whilst Dornan is the star of the show, the scene stealer in this show is Constable Helen Chambers (Danielle Macdonald). She's a total star.
Toast in Tinseltown (BBC iPlayer - all episodes) - This sitcom shouldn’t work, simply because you hardly relate to the main character. Steven Toast (played by Matt Berry) - he's a smug and self-entitled actor who never gets the role or the acclaim he desperate yearns for, because he is a smug and self-entitled actor. Yet the show works because of the surreal and left-field situations he is thrown into, as well as how it manages to take shots at the luvvie acting and media world.
Toast of Tinseltown is the first Toast series in seven years. The new series follows Toast being thrust into a new acting gig in America. I would recommend watching the Toast of London series first, simply so you get into the characters more. Luckily, all of the episodes from those series have moved over to BBC iPlayer from All 4.
(Personally speaking, I think that Toast of London is better than these new episodes, but it is still worth your time. The shorter running time the sitcom had on Channel 4 meant that it felt that little bit tighter).
The Language of Love (Channel 4 - first episode) - A sweet and surprisingly uplifting new Channel 4 dating show where singletons head abroad hoping for a holiday romance, but neither person on each of the dates speak the same language. They show claims that this is an experiment to see whether physical chemistry can overcome language barriers, but it is also an excuse to innocently laugh at poor translation blunders (in one scene a Brit shouts “HOW OLD ARE YOU?” as the Spanish man responds with “I’m very well.”) It is also a joy to watch these daters awkwardly trying to impress each other, without being able to use words. It’s like a romantic game of charades.
Unlike Love Island this show exudes constant positive energy and the fact that the show uses subtitles, rather than dubbing, forces you to concentrate. Sadly, there is no room for LGBTQ+ dating in this format, but I’m happy to give it a slide so long as they make allowances if the show comes back for a second series.
Four Lives (BBC iPlayer - all episodes) - A three part drama looking at the serial killer Stephen Port, and the failures of the Metropolitan police investigating the murders leading up to his arrest.
A recent inquest said that the police failings and their inability to catch Port sooner likely contributed to three out of four deaths Port caused. This three part drama, which was delayed until the inquest concluded, comprehensively lays out what went wrong with the investigation: from poor communication, to the police ignoring pleas from the victim’s families that the deaths could all be linked.
As this series relies so heavily on research and testimony, it stands as much as a piece of journalism as much as an emotional television drama. The dramatisation of the pain and suffering the victim’s families makes you incandescent at how poorly they were treated and how little they were heard.
TV PICKS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2022
After a relatively 2020 and a great slew of programmes in late 2021, we’re now set up for a great 2022. However, the sheer volume, variety and secrecy of shows that air each year means that the successes are hard to predict. Then there’s the fact that some of the expensive dramas by the streaming services end up being damp squibs.
SAYING THAT… here’s some shows to look out for this year:
Derry Girls (Channel 4) - The third (and final - sob!) series by Lisa McGee has completed filming and will air later this year.
Happy Valley (BBC) - The third and final instalment of the much loved police drama written by Sally Wainwright and starring Sarah Lancashire.
This Is Going To Hurt (BBC) - The much anticipated adaptation of the book on the NHS by Adam Kay will air on the BBC, with Ben Whishaw in the title role.
Conversations with Friends (BBC) - The next Sally Rooney adaptation. I don’t need to tell you how successful Normal People was.
The Crown (Netflix) - The royal drama has finally met the nineties. There’s also an entirely new cast again.
Trigger Point (ITV) - A relaxing and calm drama on bomb disposal (this is a lie) by Jed Mercurio, the creator of Bodyguard and Line of Duty.
Bridgerton (Netflix) - The gamechanger period drama returns for a second season.
Heartstopper (Netflix) - A delightful young adult LGBTQ+ romcom.
LITTLE BIT OF TV NEWS:
CBBC now ends their daily broadcasts at 7pm, ahead of the revival of BBC Three. Both channels will air using the same broadcast signal. No date yet on the revival of the channel. I will let you know in this newsletter when I do.
Fans of Borgen: a fourth series of the much loved Danish political drama is returning later this year on Netflix, so now is a good time to catch up. Matt Chorley at Times Radio had an interview with its creator, Adam Price, about what to expect.
I’ll leave you with this TV recommendation from Rylan.
WHERE TO FIND ME THIS WEEK:
On Must Watch this week we reviewed The Book of Boba Fett (Disney+), The Tourist (BBC iPlayer) and Four Lives. We also spoke to Owen Teale about everyone thinking he was H on Line of Duty.
On Podcast Radio Hour this week I was asked to give my tips on how to make a great podcast. There’s loads of advice from experts such as Greg James, Dino Sofos, De-Graft Mensah and more.
That’s all for this week. Thanks so much for reading and have a great weekend.
Scotty / @scottygb
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