Thursday’s TV tips

The best of tonight's gogglebox offerings

Thursday’s TV tips

FILM: Fair Game (Film4, 6.40pm)

(2010) This fact-based drama is all about the build-up to the Iraq War.

CIA agent Valerie Plame’s former diplomat husband is sent away to investigate rumours that Saddam Hussein is trying to buy radioactive materials. He discovers that no such materials exist, but his reports back are flatly ignored, leading him to publicly condemn the Bush administration’s eagerness to wage war.

But when Valerie’s identity is leaked to the press, their lives are put in danger.

A superb cast bring to life a touchy, yet much-talked-about subject – and they do it well (it’s arguably Naomi Watt’s best performance to date, while Sean Penn shines as he always does).

Many politically minded viewers may feel slightly frustrated at times, especially if they don’t agree with the movie’s controversial claims, but that won’t take away from the overall effect of the film.

Starring: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Bruce McGill, Adam LeFevre

NATURE: Life Story (BBC1, 9pm)

No qualms about it, Sir David Attenborough is the kind of figurehead who will never need an introduction, his name now synonymous with some of the most weird and wonderful inhabitants of the animal kingdom.

And yet, amazingly, the veteran broadcaster still doesn’t show any signs of slowing the pace anytime soon – not bad going to say he’s in his late eighties.

But his hard work is our pleasure, and now he’s back on our screens having travelled the globe in filming his latest series, Life Story, in which he narrates the stories of animals’ journeys through life.

In this second episode, he follows a tiger cub whose family is under threat, a vulnerable veined octopus and a pair of sibling cheetahs guarding against starvation, as he explains how the animals develop new skills and learn how to survive on their own.

DRAMA: The Great Fire (UTV, 9pm)

This drama has taken hold of us like the eponymous blaze has taken hold of London.

Luckily, for our social life, this is the penultimate episode, but the cast and crew behind it should give themselves a whopping great pat on the back for a job well done indeed.

In tonight’s instalment, Thomas returns to the city in search of Sarah, and the king is furious to learn that his orders to create fire breaks have been ignored by his advisors.

Meanwhile, Sarah sneaks back into Hanford’s house and steals the mysterious box from Romero’s room. Later, when Lord Denton reads the letters in the box, he discovers that James, Duke of York, is the mastermind behind the plot to assassinate his brother Charles. Meanwhile, at Newgate, Thomas manages to free David and the other prisoners.

And Elizabeth confronts Pepys about his infidelity.

DOCUMENTARY: 24 Hours In A&E (Channel 4, 9pm)

Kerry is a 29-year-old dental nurse from Essex, who arrives in an emergency air ambulance having crashed her motorbike, severing her right leg below the knee in the process.

Kerry is classified as a ’code red’, which means her condition is very serious indeed. Specialists from seven different departments are called in to treat her.

Then 11-year-old Luke is admitted following a prolonged epileptic seizure. He has up to three such episodes a week, and his condition has left him with severe learning difficulties.

The final person featured is 19-year-old Tina. She has a sewing needle stuck in her foot, which sounds painful but not quite as dramatic as the cases that have preceded it.

What’s extraordinary is that Tina is more interested in listening to advice from her mother in Lithuania than to Mo, the doctor treating her.

Well, as the saying goes, mum knows best.

COMEDY: Drifters (E4, 9pm)

They say it’s grim up north, but life is anything but for Meg and co as they continue to run amok in Leeds.

From the talented pen of Jessica Knappett, who’s also doing a sterling job in her starring role, Drifters seems to simply go from strength to strength. We only kicked off this second series last week, but there’s no mention as yet of a third – although fingers crossed that the powers that be will see to that for us.

As the comedy continues, Meg, Bunny and Laura are no closer to having figured out love and live in the West Yorkshire city, so because they’re all broke and single, Meg organises a night in.

However, the night soon gets out of hand when two of the girls insist on a game of Truth or Dare, and can one of them attract the attention of good-looking neighbour Scott?

Knappett is joined by co-stars Lydia Rose Bewley, Lauren O’Rourke and Brett Goldstein.

PROFILE: My Grandfather Dylan (UTV, 11.40pm)

For many who admire and respect good poetry and penmanship, it won’t have gone unnoticed that 2014 is a rather momentous year – it marks 100 years since the birth of Dylan Thomas.

It’s certainly not going unnoticed in his home town; in fact all over Wales, people are celebrating the poet and author of Under Milk Wood.

Poetry wasn’t always the plan, though. Thomas left school at 16 an undistinguished pupil and became a journalist for a short while, and, while much of his work had been printed by this point, it was the publication of Light Breaks Where No Sun Shines that caught the attention of the literary world.

He met wife Caitlin Macnamara while living in London, and it’s no secret that the two shared an explosive relationship, said to be defined by alcohol.

But his granddaughter Hannah Ellis feels the image of the roaring boyo with a cigarette in his hand is unfair, and should be replaced with the story of a dedicated craftsman, one who loved the Welsh countryside and sea towns.

FILM: Drive (BBC3, 10pm)

(2011) A Hollywood stuntman who earns extra money as a garage mechanic and getaway driver is trying to escape his shady double life when he falls for the wife of a neighbour who’s currently in jail.

The stuntman tries to protect her and her child until her husband is released; he then tries to persuade his love rival to go straight for the sake of his family – but the pair of them become embroiled in a robbery that lands them in conflict with the Mafia.

This is one of the most acclaimed films for many a moon.

Although it wrong-footed some viewers, who were expecting more high-octane action and less art house moodiness, it’s still gripping, atmospheric and pretty much unforgettable.

Starring: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks, Christina Hendricks, Ron Perlman

DOCUMENTARY: A Parting Gift (RTE One, 10.15pm)

A Parting Gift is a two-part series which secures unprecedented access to tell the story of the Body Donation Programme at Trinity College, Dublin.

Filmed over 18 months, the programme focuses on ‘the gift’ of body donation: an act of real generosity that contributes to world-class medical education, research and scientific endeavour.

The documentaries captures different perspectives on the body donation: from the motives and life-stories of donors to the experience of their bereaved families; the staff of the Anatomy Department who receive and prepare remains; and the medical students (past & present) who benefit from a donor’s parting gift.

The documentaries encompass science & medical history, cultural attitudes towards death &

bereavement and the big questions of mortality & spirituality.

Most importantly, it will be about the humanity of those giving the gift, those mourning the loss, those dealing with the donation and those learning from it.

more courts articles

Man (25) in court charged with murdering his father and attempted murder of mother Man (25) in court charged with murdering his father and attempted murder of mother
Man appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman in van Man appears in court charged with false imprisonment of woman in van
Man in court over alleged false imprisonment of woman Man in court over alleged false imprisonment of woman

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