Radio Times 30-6th May 2022

THE RESPONDER HAS been one of our television highlights of the year: an outstanding drama that dared to cast an everyman in the role of hero, as Martin Freeman starred as a flawed policeman going about his job on the streets of Liverpool, wrestling with his conscience and the needs of the forgotten, downtrodden and dispossessed. When Martin talked in RT – and on our podcast – to our own Jane Garvey about his drama, he revealed what drew him to the story, written by former policeman Tony Schumacher, and what it took to bring it to life on screen. It was a compelling account of what goes into making TV to remember – and the magic that is weaved once the stars step onto the set. Now we are thrilled to…

Television Your TV guide starts on p53 ▶ 1 The Staircase Thursday 9.00pm, 10.20pm, 11.35pm Sky Atlantic You’ve seen the Netflix documentary, now watch the dramatised version as Colin Firth takes on the role of Michael Peterson, the American author accused of killing his wife, Kathleen (Toni Collette). Three back-to-back episodes provide the perfect opportunity to binge. 2 Jay Blades: No Place like Home Tuesday 9.00pm Channel 5 The Repair Shop presenter goes back to his east London roots and uncovers some eye-opening local history facts in this charming series that’s part The Secret History of Our Streets and part A House through Time. 3 Imagine… Monday 10.40pm BBC1 (11.10pm in Northern Ireland) Whether you find his multi-layered jazz-pop magical or a bit much, Jacob Collier has become a global phenomenon. And as Alan Yentob discovers at his Aladdin’s cave…

PARMINDER NAGRA “I was feeling a bit down recently, so I watched reruns of The Golden Girls on Disney+,” says the actor. “Just watching those women sit around a table eating cheesecake was such a comfort. Also on Disney+, I’m watching the crime drama Terriers.” Meet DI Ray — page 16 MICHELLE DOCKERY “The Netflix drama Ozark is such a great show,” says the actor. “I also watched Pam & Tommy on Disney+ recently and really enjoyed it. I was so proud of my friend Lily James, who plays Pamela Anderson – she was phenomenal.” The new Downton Abbey film — page 8…

HOW OFTEN HAVE you settled on the sofa for a new crime drama and found yourself watching a young woman being chased through the woods, panicking and stumbling as she goes? I enjoyed the Scandi-noir craze as much as anyone, and I adored The Killing. Since then I’ve lapped up endless continental detectives, American procedurals, and British cosy crime. But I know I’m not alone in finding it distasteful that so much crime drama should have at its heart a dead, possibly naked, young woman. Is there any genre that thrills us as much as crime? I think not. It’s because in our cosseted modern world, where there are machines and medicines and policies to protect us from danger, it’s really only in crime fiction or journalism that we get an exciting…

WHAT WE WATCHED Nerys Hughes and Polly James were back on BBC1 in a revival of The Liver Birds, but a lot had changed since their 70s heyday. Sandra (Hughes) was running a slimming class and sharing accommodation with her mother (played by Carmel McSharry), while Beryl (James) was divorced, unemployed and looking for a new flat. “These are not wonderful, vibrant women,” said the show’s writer, Carla Lane. “They have had very strange lives.” Unfortunately, the poignancy of seeing Beryl and Sandra coping in the aftermath of their failed marriages didn’t prove appealing to viewers and the new sitcom only lasted for a single series. WHAT YOU SAID Jack Rosenthal’s play Eskimo Day (BBC1) about parents helping their kids at a university interview day won over Carole Anne Bullock of East Sussex,…

Downton Abbey: a New Era in cinemas from Friday 29 April ‘You realise your time is coming to an end… this film is a reminder of that’JULIAN FELLOWES IT’S BEEN MORE than six years since the final credits rolled on ITV after the 2015 Christmas special, but Julian Fellowes, writer and creator of the hugely successful Sunday-night drama, is still in reflective mood about Downton Abbey. Over the course of six series, the weekly chronicles of the Crawleys and their staff in the early decades of the 20th century gripped more than ten million viewers in the UK and took the world by storm, while the first film spin-off in 2019 made £150 million worldwide at the box office. Now Fellowes has penned a follow-up movie, Downton Abbey: a New Era. Since 2010, the…