Worth Watching: 'Britain's Nuclear Bomb Scandal' and 'Smoggie Queens'

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Hello,

Welcome to Worth Watching.

We’re now firmly in the traditional post-Autumn TV period / pre-Christmas TV slump, where broadcasters have finished airing the slate of shows they are most proud of, but have not yet started to air their Christmas TV shows.

ITV capitalises on the lack of competition by airing I’m A Celebrity nearly every night of the week, swallowing up a lot of what was left from the available audience anyway.

However, there are still some shows worth mentioning, thankfully. And all of my recommendations this week come from free-to-air television.

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We’ve also had a few more shows announced by the BBC for the Christmas period (on top of Wallace & Gromit and Strictly etc.)

• A Gladiators Christmas Special with Louise Minchin, Joel Dommet, Rob Beckett and Ellie Taylor taking on the course.

• Have I Got Sport For You? with Jason Manford, looking at the year in SPORT.

• A new Philomena Cunk special Cunk on Life.

• The BBC will also be airing Incredibles 2, Matilda the Musical, Black Panther and Minions: Rise of Gru for the first time on British television.

• Yes, there will be festive episodes of University Challenge, Only Connect, House of Games and Celebrity Mastermind.

• The BBC also announced two MasterChef specials featuring Gregg Wallace, but I guess we’re going to have to wait and see whether the BBC broadcasts them.

Oh and Wallace & Gromit will be the BBC Christmas ident this year.

I’ll be doing festive picks on this newsletter over the Christmas period. Sign up as a paid subscriber to get the full uninterrupted list in your inbox mid-December.

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FOUR SHOWS TO WATCH THIS WEEK

Britain's Nuclear Bomb Scandal: Our Story (BBC Two, one episode) – Between 1952 and 1963, Britain tested 45 atomic and hydrogen bombs and hundreds of nuclear experiments in Australia and the South Pacific. Nearly 40,000 servicemen and scientists were sent there to help carry these experiments out.

In this harrowing and damning new documentary, you’ll hear from veterans who claim that they were inadequately protected from such tests (watching bombs detonate from a beach wearing only shorts and a t-shirt.) There’s also a horrifying story about Navy ships being driven into atomic clouds to test how they would be able to deal with fallout.

The veterans in the programme say they that they have experienced health issues for decades, some of which have been passed down to their children. The Ministry of Defence, on their part, say that death and cancer rates are similar to the general population. This documentary features powerful testimony and in a year where Mr Bates vs The Post Office created awareness and legislative change, you wonder (and hope) what an impact a documentary like this will give.

Smoggie Queens (BBC Three - from this Thursday) – An enjoyable new sitcom following a set of LGBTQ+ friends who often hang out under one roof. The vibe is also surreal too. They imply a character has died twice in the first 15 minutes.

Written, created, and starring Phil Dunning (spoiler: he’s the character who nearly died twice), I like how it spins the traditional family sitcom into a ‘chosen family’ of queer friends. The series is full to the brim with references to Teesside, helping to improve its reputation in the North East and a setting for every crime show.

I also particularly like the message that it gives out to any queer youth watching: that if you feel like you haven’t found like-minded queer mates yet, don’t lose hope and don’t give up. It’s a message I wish I had heard when I was younger, to be honest.

The first episode immediately aired after the series finale of Drag Race UK, which has also been a belter of a series too.