Welcome to the first "Worth Watching"

Featuring Chef's Table, This Time with Alan Partridge and more...

Hello,

Welcome to the first “Worth Watching” email.

Thanks so much for signing up.

Let’s get on with it.

Chef’s Table (Netflix) - The sixth season of this reality show debuted on Netflix last Friday, and the best one of the whole lot is about Asma Khan, who runs the Darjeeling Express Indian restaurant near Carnaby Street in London. This show is always better when the chef is more interesting than the food itself and Asma is one of the show’s best ever, no question.

She says this of her restaurant: “My aim is for you to leave feeling like someone had embraced you. That’s how food should be.” Five minutes into watching I was already on their website trying to book a table, before even checking whether anyone was actually available to come with me.

As the popularity of this restaurant is surely going to explode, I reckon you should get on it too.

This Time with Alan Partridge (BBC One and BBC iPlayer) - Don’t worry if you haven’t been following or do not get the mythology of Partridge. This Time is equally enjoyable for how it takes the piss out of the The One Show. And it does this. A lot.

In fact, The One Show is probably going to get jealous as Partridge’s studio is actually bigger than theirs. I actually prefer it.

Under the Wire (find it on BBC iPlayer) - This brilliant BBC Four documentary examines the last assignment by the late Sunday Times war correspondent Marie Colvin, who was killed whilst reporting the brutal conditions for civilians in Homs, Syria in 2012. It was on two weeks ago but it is still worth watching.

Featuring testimony from her colleagues and those who were with her on that assignment, you leave with a real sense of Colvin’s sheer determination and duty to report the stories others tried to suppress. Knowing the risks of reporting in Syria, Colvin said “anyway, it’s what we do” and went in anyway nonetheless.

After Life (Netflix, out on Friday) - This is a surprisingly tender and sweet comedy by Ricky Gervais. That’s a sentence I never thought I would write, but it is. Gervais stars as Tony, who is deeply depressed following the death of his late wife Lisa and doesn’t know how to move on.

In amongst the usual style of Gervais humour, there’s many tender notes on grief and moving on, like this: “We’re not just here for us, we’re here for others. We all have got to help each other struggles through until we’re die and then we’re done.”

Here's what is not worth watching this week:

Curfew (Sky One, Fridays at 9pm / On Demand) -  Let me try to explain the concept of this show without you going "what the fuck": The entire of Britain is under a curfew to protect citizens from a nightly zombie-style virus, but some people break out anyway to compete in an illegal Wacky Races style car race, the winner being allowed to go to a mythical sanctuary and never experience the curfew aga–... oh you went “what the fuck.” Look, I tried. But it doesn’t matter anyway, it’s not worth your time.

Baptiste (BBC iPlayer) - I've really tried to like this spin-off of The Missing, but so far it just doesn't seem to be working for me. Is anyone else finding this?

Shows to look out for next week… Leaving Neverland, Derry Girls.

Also… I’m on BBC Sounds’ Must Watch TV podcast. It is broadcast live on BBC Radio 5 Live on Mondays at 2.45-4pm and as a podcast later that day. You can subscribe where you subscribe.

That’s it for this week. If you have any shows that you reckon I should be watching, drop me a message and I’ll give it a go. 

And this is an experiment, any feedback is more than welcome.

BYEEEEEEEEEEEE. xx