Tuesday’s TV tips
It’s always said in television, you should never work with animals or children - unless of course it’s for similar purposes of this observational documentary, in which they don’t realise they’re being watched.
Cameras film 10 four-year-olds as they meet in a nursery, and all the raw emotion is captured as they encounter a world without their parents – although they will be watching the kids’ every move, whisper and tantrum.
The children meet in October, and again in May, and while there might be arguments and tears shed, allegiances are also formed.
As this pivotal stage of childhood is observed, educational neuroscientist Dr Paul Howard-Jones and developmental psychologist Dr Sam Wass will also offer their thoughts on a nursery setting that mirrors the way that scientists work.
Drawing on this model, they suggest some interventions to explore the children’s various stages of development.
As a stand-up comedian, Nick Helm isn’t backwards in coming forwards.
In fact he’s well-known for his confrontational delivery, and so has been a hit on shows like 8 out of 10 Cats and Russell Howard’s Good News.
But last year, he tried something altogether different with this dark comedy, in which he stars as Andy, a dissolute out-of-work musician. And he must have been doing something right because Uncle has been invited back for a second run.
This first instalment picks up one year on, with 13-year-old Errol struggling to pluck up the courage to ask Ben to drop the restraining order.
Meanwhile, Sam is now a therapist, struggling with a client, and well, not much has changed for Andy, who’s still stuck in a dead-end job and has lost any enthusiasm he once had for writing.
Elliot Speller-Gillott and Daisy Haggard provide the support.
The next time you are tearing your hair out about your teen refusing to do his or her homework, spare a thought for the parents of the children featured in this, frankly, shocking new two-parter.
In America at any one time, there are over 70,000 children behind bars, and so cameras head into Indiana’s Pendleton Juvenile Correctional Facility, where they emphasise treatment over punishment, and in this episode we meet the sex offenders considered the lowest on the pecking order.
Garrett Clutter, 15, and 14-year-old Tavarius McNair are best mates – and sex offenders who have to complete a programme before release.
Plus, 18-year-old William McConnell, one of Indiana’s most dangerous sex offenders, is monitored for his predilection for grooming younger boys in the prison. This is his third stay at Pendleton, and he is medicated to curb his impulsive behaviour.
Rhod Gilbert has enjoyed a phenomenal couple of years n nobody can argue with that.
But while he might have settled in nicely to his new permanent role as presenter of Never Mind the Buzzcocks, it would seem the comic is keen to get back out there for another stretch of work experience. You can’t fault the man’s work ethic, we’ll give him that.
In the first episode of the new run, Rhod is trying his hand at one of the most dangerous jobs in Britain – that of a deep-sea fisherman.
As if the job isn’t tough enough, it’s not long before our host is feeling seasick, there are fish to be gutted, and a very irritated skipper to be dealt with.
Somehow we can’t see him giving up his day job to head out on the seas regularly – it’s to be hoped the programme makers have lined up something a little easier for him in the coming weeks.
In this action sequel mismatched LAPD detectives Riggs and Murtaugh take on Wah Sing Ku, a master criminal who is expert in martial arts and heads a Chinese triad wanted on charges of people-trafficking and forgery.
The Four Fathers of organised crime have been brought to the United States by the nasty Chinese general and the triads are trying to win them back with counterfeit money.
Riggs and Murtaugh intercept a shipload of slave labourers and end up adopting one of the refugee families.
It’s a slickly packaged Hollywood blockbuster with impressive special effects and jaw-dropping stunt sequences.
The script may be nothing out of the ordinary, but the underwater fight scene is a particular highlight and Jet Li will inspire viewers with his martial art skills.
Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Jet Li, Rene Russo
It’s a John Lennon biopic, focusing on his pre-Fab Four teenage days in Liverpool.
Following the break-up of his parents’ marriage, John has been raised by his Aunt Mimi, but his uncle’s death inspires him to seek out his estranged mother, Julia.
He discovers that she’s a flirty free-spirit who’s happy to encourage his budding interest in rock ’n’ roll, but their growing closeness leaves the more strait-laced Mimi feeling pushed out.
This is an impressive feature debut from artist-turned-Fifty Shades of Grey director Sam Taylor-Johnson.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson is a charismatic young Lennon, while Anne-Marie Duff and Kristin Scott Thomas are both great as the two very different mother-figures in his life.
And, unlike another birth-of-the-Beatles movie, Backbeat, it resists the urge to slip in any groan-inducing references to their future hits – in fact, the word Beatles is never uttered in the movie.
Aaron Johnson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Anne-Marie Duff, Thomas Sangster, David Morrissey
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