Wednesday’s TV tips
She might be better known for her off-screen antics these days, but people shouldn’t forget that Lindsay Lohan has starred in a decent movie or two.
Angel-faced and sporting cute freckles, Lohan stars as separated twin sisters Hallie and Annie, who meet up by accident and join forces in an attempt to reunite their estranged parents, and switch places to try to convince the warring couple to reconcile.
Few can deny Lohan’s star quality, and she doesn’t disappoint here in her first feature-length film. She’s well supported by veteran actors Dennis Quaid and Natasha Richardson. The film might be a little corny in places, but there’s enough substance to keep viewers entertained for two hours and young teenage girls will love it.
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Dennis Quaid, Elaine Hendrix, Natasha Richardson, Lisa Ann Walter
The series that follows the lives of the fascinating characters of Gibraltar returns – with the most glamorous night of the social calendar: the Miss Gibraltar competition.
For the eight women taking part, they’ve endured months of nerves and preparations, but there are still a couple of hurdles to over come yet – namely the modelling, swimwear and evening wear round, and they will also be asked to talk about their chosen charities.
Meanwhile, in Gibraltar’s only prison , HMP Windmill Hill, cameras follow prisoner Dylan Alvez as he offers an insight into his life. He’s spent almost five months inside, but his parole hearing is coming up, and all he can think about is getting out and seeing his four children. He’s nervous as the day approaches...
Plus, we also catch up with Dr Eric Shaw, as he and his team are called out to a museum where a huge swarm of bees in the roof is proving a problem.
In Rachel Allen: All Things Sweet, Rachel is at home in Ireland to indulge her passion, and ours, for sweet things. From rich desserts to afternoon tea, children’s treats to dinner party wow factor, Rachel has it covered.
And with desserts, cakes and confectionery often amongst the most technical of kitchen challenges, there is also a compendium of techniques, tricks and chef’s tips designed to help us all get the best possible results.
Each show also features Rachel visiting people across Ireland involved in the food industry to learn their specialist skills. Filmed on location around Country Cork and Dublin Rachel meets ice-cream makers, hand made boiled sweet producers, bakers, chefs and chocolatiers to name but a few.
In Rachel’s latest series, life really is sweet!
Has it really been a decade since we first embraced the horror of besuited, power-dressing bright young things dispensing jaw-dropping soundbites?
Well, almost, and in that time we have witnessed some stunning acts of stupidity; folks so obsessed with pushing their own ideas they ignore their team mates, and of course the wannabe business folks who became stars, such as Ruth Badger, Raef Bjayou and Stuart Baggs.
In the latest offering, Summit and Tenacity (no, they’re not a Britain’s Got Talent double act) are summoned to a service station on the M25.
There, Alan Sugar challenges them to organise coach tours.
With just two days to persuade punters to part with their cash and take day trips to tourist attractions outside London, our teams really have their work cut out.
Fifty per cent of each group sell tickets, while the others negotiate knockdown entry prices to their chosen attractions in Oxfordshire and Canterbury.
No pressure then.
It’s never been done before, but this two-part documentary has secured camera access to Broadmoor, the most famous high security hospital in the world, in Berkshire.
Often mistaken for a prison, it treats severely mentally disordered patients, known for treating the likes of Charles Bronson, Ronnie Kray, Peter Sutcliffe and Kenneth Erskine. Cameras filmed in the hospital for a year, and for the first time, patients have been allowed to tell their stories.
In the first episode, one patient refuses medication – and it has to be forcibly administered – while another with a history of violence refuses to return to his room and staff have to restrain him.
Meanwhile, another patient speaks of his abusive childhood with his psychiatrist, and the staff reveal much of their daily routines and explain that on high dependency wards, violent incidents occur every other day.
Christopher Nolan has had the sort of film-making career many directors can only dream of. Having put The Dark Knight trilogy to bed, and scoring a monster success with Inception, he’s now back with one of the most anticipated films of the year.
Re-teaming with Anne (Dark Knight Rises) Hathaway, Interstellar sees astronaut Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) attempting to save his starving family by travelling to the stars. Inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Right Stuff, it’s Nolan’s most ambitious film to date, and has already attracted positive reviews from film-makers Brad Bird and Edgar Wright. But what do Danny Leigh, Claudia Winkleman and guest Peter Bradshaw think of it?
Time to find out in the first of a new series. They’ll also be giving us their thoughts on Keira Knightley’s romantic comedy Say When.
Plus, Benedict Cumberbatch plugs The Imitation Game, a biopic of wartime codebreaker Alan Turing.
Hugh Jackman plays Gabriel Van Helsing, a man who makes it his job to hunt down and destroy all manner of nasty beasties. His priestly bosses in Italy send him to darkest Transylvania to do battle with uber-villain Dracula.
Jackman made his name in Bryan Singer’s X-Men films as the surly, but hunky, Wolverine, so it made sense to Hollywood bigwigs to plonk him in another blockbuster sooner rather than later.
The result is this stylish horror flick. It looks sumptuous, with beautiful costumes and sets (as well as very easy-on-the-eye leading actors) – there’s not a lot not to like here. Stephen Sommers, who was also at the helm of The Mummy and The Scorpion King does a fine job with this stylish offering.
Hugh Jackman, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham
A man struggles to cope with his Alzheimer’s sufferer wife so, after 40 years of happy marriage, she’s institutionalised. During a visit, he realises she has transferred her feelings onto another man, a wheelchair-bound mute.
At first, he’s devastated, but then realises he must make a sacrifice to ensure her final days are as happy as possible.
We’d go out on a limb and say it’s the moving film you’ll see this week – this month, even. However, it’s also heartbreaking and may upset some viewers.
Julie Christie is simply brilliant as the Alzheimer’s sufferer - her best performance for many a moon. Make sure you’ve got a decent-sized box of tissues within arm’s reach.
Starring: Gordon Pinsent, Julie Christie, Olympia Dukakis, Alberta Watson.
