Who Do You Think You Are?; My Zinc Bed; The Last Word Monologues

Tag : zinc

Who Do You Think You Are?
BBC One, 9pm
After the fun and games with Boris Johnson last week, we return torediscovered misery with a vengeance as Jerry Springer tracksfamily members murdered in the Holocaust. It is another sequence ofappalling accounts of persecution, ghettos, gas chambers and, for alucky few, including Jerry's parents, escape to England. The trailacross Germany and Poland can be followed in detail because theNazi authorities were obsessive record-keepers. Inevitably, emotionoverwhelms him and Springer struggles to end with his hallmarktrite, but uplifting moral.
My Zinc Bed
BBC Two, 9pm
The words “stylish” and “sophisticated”barely do justice to the subtle nuances and psychologicalwrong-footing that give this drama, adapted by David Hare from hisown stage play, its pungent fascination. Bar a few walk-ons, thisis a three-hander with a formidable cast. Paddy Considine plays thenarrator-hero, Paul Peplow, a penniless poet and recoveringalcoholic sent to interview tycoon Victor Quinn (Jonathan Pryce).When he discovers that Quinn's wife Elsa, played with damagedpassion by Uma Thurman, shares the same weakness, they embark on anaffair. But Quinn has his own enigmatic agenda, and the play is astudy in psychological control and the nature of addictivebehaviour. The programme of the week.
Alan Carr: Tooth Fairy Live
Channel 4, 10pm
In a more innocent, yet sexually repressed epoch, before “gayliberation” and “out and proud”, the Britishpublic adored a mincingly camp sissy delivering double-entendres,and the smuttier the better. Bizarrely Alan Carr has succeeded inresurrecting this stereotype in the post-Julian Clary and LilySavage era and has done so in a remarkably good-humoured way.Unlike Kenneth Williams, Larry Grayson or John Inman, he is not coyabout his sexuality. This is a recording of last year's UK stand-uptour, which is full of witty and polished routines that won'tdisappoint fans.
The Last Word Monologues
BBC One, 10.45pm
Hugo Blick's trio of monologues concludes with the darkest storyyet and a performance from Bob Hoskins that is weirdly poignant,but completely chilling. Hoskins returns to playing an old-schoolLondon criminal, but this time he is not a boss, as in The LongGood Friday, but an ageing enforcer. His own boss has paid to putHoskins's son through private school and Oxford, an unusual act ofgenerosity which remains suspiciously unexamined. Like MichaelCorleone, the son has now taken over the business and plans to golegit. As he waits to do on last hit, Hoskins reflects on a worldhe now finds baffling.