The Tudors (Friday 9pm, BBC1)
There’s something utterly joyous about The Tudors, isn’t there? It’s trashy and historically inaccurate, of course, but that’s hardly an original criticism of this show, so it’s best to just look the other way. Tonight there’s a Christmas present for Henry from the wonderfully pouty Anne Boleyn, but the King is busy trying to make his marriage to Catherine of Aragorn a thing of the past, which naturally Thomas More isn’t happy about (on behalf of God).
Comedy Connections (Friday 10.35pm, BBC1)
I must admit, I didn’t really get Ripping Yarns, but realise I’m probably alone in this stance among discerning comedy fans. But one can’t deny that, of all the shows covered by Comedy Connections, Ripping Yarns is perhaps the best connected of the lot, featuring as it does comedy royalty Michael Palin lampooning the classic era of boys’ own adventure tales. Amidst the clips, Palin fondly recalls the show, and there are also contributions from the likes of fellow-Python Terry Jones, who popped up in an episode.
The Great Wall of China (Saturday 7pm, Channel 4)
As the Olympics gets underway in Beijing, this docu-drama looks at the construction of The Great Wall of China and the minds behind its construction. Fascinating stuff, this is told from the point of view of a lowly soldier, an engineer and the young Chinese emperor of the day. While great feats are being performed in the name of sports in the present, gaze upon a great feat of the past.
Sleepers (Saturday 8pm, BBC4)
A little repeated drama from 1991 starring Nigel Havers and Warren Clarke as two Russian sleeper agents who are installed in Britain, where they blend in and wait for the call to serve their country and spy on the Brits. Problem is, when that call doesn’t come for 25 years, you might get a bit comfortable with the Rule Brittania life and not be too keen to start snooping, and that’s exactly what happens. Enjoyable and sweet, Havers and Clarke are brilliant, and with a supporting cast that includes David Calder, quality is assured. Now, if BBC4 can get round to repeating Taking Over the Asylum and Tutti Frutti, that would be great.
Casualty (Saturday 8.50pm, BBC1)
It’s the conclusion of a tense two-parter that sees Maggie up in court and fighting for her future. There might also be some medical stuff alongside somewhere - this is Casualty after all. After going through a good patch about a year ago, Casualty has returned to its dreary, mundane default. And to say that this is the top-rated and best show on a Saturday night is about as depressing as it gets. Hey ho.
The West Wing (Saturday 11.50pm, More4)
The West Wing meets Sesame Street? That’s got to be worth an hour of somebody’s time!
Britain from Above (Sunday 9pm, BBC1)
Lots of nice pictures of Britain from, erm… above. Pretty but ultimately pointless (obviously I’m not talking about presenter Andrew Marr…)
Spooks: Code 9 (Sunday 9pm, BBC3)
Perhaps the most incomprehensible spin-off from a TV series ever that actually ends up not really being a spin-off at all, so I don’t quite get the point of giving it the Spooks moniker. It’s 2013 and London, including the MI5 HQ Thames House, has been destroyed in a nuclear attack, and for some reason this means that the only people who can take on the terrorist threat are young people. Erm… just because, it seems. I just don’t get it - it’s like somebody set out to make The Sarah Jane Adventures and ended up with the first season of Torchwood. There’s a good cast populating this double-bill opener, including Joanne Frogatt and Georgia Moffett, but really, what’s the point?
Takin Over the Asylum out on DVD now, and on BBC4 later this month.
Don't miss it!
I totally thought Spooks Code 9 was like Torchwood too!! What with the gloomy gritty visuals (which I actually kind of like as production values go), and the twist with one of the characters (completely nicked from first ep of Torchwood, which was in turn probably taken from another show I imagine).
Thing is, I've never watched Spooks. It just seemed a bit... blah. MI5, grown ups, whatever, *yawn*. I'm in my 20s and think I'll probably grow out of BBC3 fairly shortly, but it was good to see actors around my age getting to save the world (the girl playing Rachel, I mean... was she asleep the whole time? Her performance was so one note, she barely changed tone of voice the whole time).
Although I found all the doomsday terrorist threats pretty unsettling. The world's a scary place, do we really need that magnified even more?