Boat Story, Fur Babies, Bob Dylan and Mayfair Witches: TV highlights this week

Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom (Saturday 02/12/23, BBC2, 10pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

Saturday night has long been music night on BBC2. In the last few weeks alone, we’ve had evenings dedicated to Dolly Parton, Blondie and Take That.

Tonight though, the spotlight is on one of the most acclaimed artists of the past century – Bob Dylan. (Although admittedly, he does have to wait until the snooker is finished to get on screen.)

Born Robert Zimmerman in Minnesota in 1941, Dylan emerged from the New York folk scene to become one of the most influential songwriters of his generation – even the Beatles took inspiration from him.

During the course of his incredible career, he’s picked up numerous Grammys, an Oscar, the French Legion of Honour and the US President Medal of Freedom. In fact, he’s received so many awards, he can afford to be a little blasé about them – when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2016, he declined to attend the official ceremony, picking it up in private at a later date.

That’s evidence of a contrarian streak that has also often been in evidence in his live shows – fans aren’t guaranteed to get his signature songs, and if Dylan does perform them, they will sometimes be radically reworked.

However, we should know what we’re in for with the first programme tonight, Bob Dylan: Shadow Kingdom. which was shot in 2021. As you may remember, not many acts were hitting the road at the time – even Dylan had to halt what fans have dubbed his ‘Never Ending Tour’ due to the pandemic. So, it finds him performing on a studio soundstage in Santa Monica, California, surrounded by musicians wearing masks as they perform songs from the early years of Dylan’s career, including Forever Young, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, It’s All Over Now Baby Blue and many more.

It’s followed by another chance to see both instalments of Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed documentary Bob Dylan: No Direction Home.

Drawing on archive footage, rare recordings, in-depth interviews and photographs, it puts Dylan’s life in the context of a time of great social change.

The first episode charts his early years as a rock ‘n’ roll loving kid in the Midwest, through to him becoming a leading light of the folk scene.

The second part picks up the story as at 23, Dylan is facing the pressures that come with being dubbed the voice of a generation. Unwilling to take on the role, he instead started to explore new musical directions, making the decision to go ‘electric’, which younger viewers may not think would have been that controversial, but at the time saw him labelled a sell-out and a traitor.

The night then ends with Sings Dylan II at 2.15am. If you’re one of those people who like Dylan’s songs, but think they sound better with someone else singing them, then it may be worth staying up for, or at least catching on iPlayer at a more civilised hour.

It takes in everyone from Joan Baez to Adele, although the most surprising reinterpretation might be Cliff Richard and the Nolan Sisters’ tackling Blowin’ in the Wind.

Three Little Birds (Sunday 03/12/23, ITV1, 8pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

‘Life-affirming’, ‘triumphant’ and ‘engrossing’ are just three of the ways Lenny Henry’s deeply personal project has been described since it began airing in the middle of last month.

For Rochelle Neil, who plays the central character of Leah, it started out as being rather scary. Thankfully, that didn’t last long.

“When I was first cast, it was really intimidating,” she explains. “It’s Sir Lenny Henry, and you’re playing a character inspired by his mama. And God love him, he’s just been really generous and gracious in giving me full rein to play Leah. He has seasoned the pot. If there was ever anything I questioned – ‘It’s interesting that she’s making this choice…’ – he would sit down and discuss that with me. He’s been incredibly encouraging and incredibly empowering and just said, ‘Go and fly. I trust you. I think you’re great. Have fun’.”

The actress, whose previous credits include Das Boot, Guilt and The Nevers, also draws comparisons between the story and that of her own relatives.

“My dad was born in Jamaica and his mum and dad came over, and then the kids arrived two years later,” says Rochelle. “So they spent two years setting up home here. One of my dad’s earliest memories is the lights at Heathrow. He was about five and he doesn’t really remember his life in Jamaica.

“My mum was born here, but it was the same thing. My nan came over with a friend, my Auntie Bernice, and my Auntie Tiny, her older sister. It’s insane how similar their stories are to Three Little Birds. It’s like my exact lineage. My dad’s mum also wrote her memoirs, so I’ve had so much firsthand about her life in Jamaica growing up in the culture and going to church. She trained to be a seamstress as well. How lucky am I to have a script land in my inbox that is just so close to home for me and my family? It’s a joy.”

She adds: “When I spoke to my grandparents, they told me survival was a bigger thing than self-protection. They didn’t really have the same vocabulary that we have for our emotions and our mental health. It was very much like, ‘Get on with it. I need to keep a roof over my head. I need to keep food in my belly. I need to keep my kids alive and healthy.’ Happiness hopefully will come, but that was never the goal.”

Will Leah find lasting happiness? We’re about to find out as the final episode dawns, although first she has to ensure that Aston and Hosanna’s wedding takes place after a last-minute hitch.

Regular viewers will be hoping all goes well, and Rochelle is keeping her fingers crossed that the series as a whole has made an impact.

“We do very much tell the truth and show the racism and the prejudice and the cold and the acclimatising,” reveals the actress. “But for all that, it’s a joyous drama. I do feel like it has a very universal multicultural appeal because there is a cast of other races other than just Black people.

“And so I really hope people are entertained, and I really hope it starts conversations in households about that time – I hope they think about the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Boat Story (Monday 04/12/23, BBC One, 9pm)

Words by Sarah Morgan

When the names Harry and Jack Williams are attached to a project, you know it’s going to be something intriguing; they’ve become almost a byword for small screen inventiveness during the past few years.

Among their previous projects have been Missing and its spin-off Baptiste, as well as The Tourist (a second run of which is on its way), Liar and Angela Black; they also helped develop and produce Fleabag.

But perhaps their biggest achievement to date is Boat Story, an offbeat thriller starring Daisy Haggard and Paterson Joseph as a strapped-for-cash duo who, after finding a drugs haul in a shipwrecked boat, try to sell it off – a move they soon live to regret.

If Alfred Hitchcock were around today, he’d describe the drugs as a ‘McGuffin’, the word he gave to something that sets a plot in motion, but isn’t necessarily at the heart of the story. It was also the item that first inspired the siblings to come up with the plot.

“The idea for Boat Story came from having seen articles about similar things involving large amounts of drugs washing up on shores somewhere,” explains Harry. “Most of the shows we come up with are through a series of conversations that we have with each other. This one was, what would we do if we had stumbled across a boatload of washed-up drugs? We probably wouldn’t do what the characters did, but that would make for a less interesting series. Instead, we imagined what would happen should we have done such a thing.”

“A lot of our shows come from situations where we think ‘what would you do if…’ and they start at relatable places,” adds Jack. “As Harry said, it doesn’t end up in the most familiar place and I don’t think most people would do what our lead characters do.

“Boat Story is a contemporary morality tale and the challenge we wanted to set ourselves was to say, how do you tell this story in a way that is going to feel fresh, original, and different? What we landed upon, was to make it a show about stories themselves, and why people tell stories and why people watch and enjoy them.”

Now, the final episode is upon us and, hopefully, you’re up to speed with events so far. If you’re not, do yourself a favour and watch its predecessors on the BBC iPlayer. If you’re still unsure, check out what else the brothers have to say about the series, which they hope viewers will regard as a Yorkshire-based take on the work of Quentin Tarantino and Martin McDonagh thanks to its mix of action, violence and dark humour.

“It’s full of surprises and it ends up in a place I don’t think anyone would ever really guess. It’s so weird, in a brilliant way,” claims Harry.

Jack agrees: “There are moments watching it where I think to myself that I can’t quite believe that they’re letting us get away with this. Keep watching because whatever your expectations are, we’re fairly sure you won’t quite know what’s happening next.”

Tuesday 05/12/23

The Doll Factory (Channel 5, 10pm)

Words by Rachael Popow

Paramount+ brought us the first two episode of The Doll Factory in November, with the rest of the series becoming available to stream on December 1.

Now there’s a chance for Channel 5 viewers to see what all the fuss is about as it broadcasts the opening instalment.

Adapted from the best-selling novel by Elizabeth Macneal and set in London in 1851, The Doll Factory stars Esmé Creed-Miles (who took the title role in the TV version of Hanna) as frustrated artist Iris. By day, she works alongside her twin sister Rose (Mirren Mack) making mourning dolls. For the uninitiated, those were likeness of deceased children commissioned by grieving families during the Victorian era.

By night though, Iris manages to give the watchful Mrs. Salter (Pippa Haywood) the slip and escapes to the cellar where she can let her imagination run riot and create her own paintings. Her favourite subject is herself as she paints naked self-portraits.

Meanwhile, Silas (Éanna Hardwicke) is a taxidermist who hopes to one day find an item so unique it will make him famous, and Louis (George Webster) is a painter and member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in search of his next muse.

In the build-up to the Great Exhibition, Iris’s world collides with those of Louis and Silas, giving her a chance to start a new life.

However, to take advantage of these opportunities she must sacrifice her sister – and her reputation. That may seem a price worth paying to explore her sexuality, challenge the patriarchy and generally achieve the ambitions that had previously seemed like impossible dreams. But as Iris pursues her newfound independence, a story of dark obsession begins to unfold.

The results should please fans of the book – the author Elizabeth Macneal is certainly very pleased with the way her book has been brought to the screen.

She says: “It might sound like a cliché, but to have my novel turned into a TV series is a dream come true. It has been an extraordinary process to see ideas that once existed only in my head, coming to life on set and now on screen.

“Each scene has been perfectly rendered – from the artist Louis Frost’s lavish painting studio, to the doll shop where twins Iris and Rose paint the faces of china dolls.

“[Production company] Buccaneer has been a joy to work with, and Charley Miles’s script excited me from the very first page. I can’t wait to share this story with viewers!”

Buccaneer Executive Producer Anna Burns, added: “We are so excited for viewers to enter the world of The Doll Factory. We couldn’t be more proud of what our incredible creative team have created, and of our phenomenally talented cast.”

That impressive cast also includes Sharlene Whyte (Stephen), newcomer Reece Kenwyne-Mpudzi, Freddy Carter (Shadow and Bone), Saoirse-Monica Jackson (Derry Girls), Laurie Kynaston (The Sandman), Jim Caesar (The Witcher), Akshay Khanna (Chloe), Aysha Kala (The Undeclared War) and Nell Hudson (Outlander).

Mayfair Witches (Wednesday 06/12/23 BBC Two, 9pm)

Words by Richard Jones

Despite being one of the most in-demand actresses in Hollywood, Alexandra Daddario has not yet been the lead in her own movie or TV series.

However, the 37-year-old New Yorker finally gets the chance to shine in Mayfair Witches, the second AMC drama (after Interview With The Vampire) to be set in Anne Rice’s ‘Immortal Universe’.

Following her breakthrough role in the Percy Jackson film series, Daddario appeared in movies Hall Pass, Texas Chainsaw 3D, San Andreas, Baywatch and We Summon the Darkness.

She has also guest-starred in TV series White Collar, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, True Detective, New Girl and American Horror Story: Hotel.

However, it wasn’t until 2021 that the actress, who made her TV debut aged 15 in daytime soap All My Children, received critical acclaim.

Daddario was cast as conflicted newlywed Rachel in the first season of The White Lotus, and her performance earned her an Emmy nomination.

Since then, fans have been eagerly awaiting what would be next for Daddario, and when the opportunity to lead the cast of Mayfair Witches came up, she grabbed it with both hands.

“I’m fascinated by Anne Rice even though I hadn’t read any of her work before booking the show,” she explained to The AV Club.

“I wanted the opportunity to dive into who she was and why she wrote these stories. I had also never been the lead of my own TV show, which felt cool.”

Daddario plays Dr Ronan Fielding, an intuitive paediatric neurosurgeon in San Francisco who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches.

As she grapples with her newfound supernatural powers, Ronan must also contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations.

“Rowan isn’t exactly the friendliest at times, but there’s a reason,” Daddario says.

“It’s because she’s struggling and compartmentalising so much. I tried to approach her as the mess she is, and how the world reacts to who she is.

“I thought it was well-written because she faced tough struggles even before finding out the truth about her family.”

The eight-part series begins tonight as Rowan learns that her adoptive mother Elena’s (Erica Gimpel) cancer has returned.

When Rowan’s chief surgeon refuses to help her get Elena into a clinical trial, she envisions the arteries inside of his head, and he collapses.

Elena quietly makes a call to the Talamasca (a secret society) for help, and agent Ciprien Grieve (Tongayi Chirisa) soon arrives, reassuring Elena that ‘the man’ remains in New Orleans.

Then, over in New Orleans, Dr Vernon Lamb (Billy Slaughter) secretively withholds Thorazine from a catatonic Deirdre Mayfair (Annabeth Gish) so he can give his new patient a proper psychiatric exam.

Elena later dies, and the entity Lasher (Jack Huston), bound to Deirdre, appears to Rowan.

Flashing back to the past, we see a young Deirdre guarded closely by her stern aunt Carlotta (Beth Grant), with Mayfair patriarch Cortland (Harry Hamlin) hiring a young man to seduce her.

She becomes pregnant and is saved from suicide by ‘the man’, aka Lasher.

After Deirdre gives birth, Carlotta hands baby Rowan over to her niece, Elena, with strict instructions to disappear with the child and never return…

Mayfair Witches received decent reviews on its release in the States earlier this year.

It will be interesting to see if its main star and her colleagues can cast a spell on viewers on this side of the Pond.

Fur Babies (Thursday 07/12/23, Channel 4, 8pm)

Rachael Popow

If you consider your pet to be a part of the family, then it can be very exciting to discover your ‘fur baby’ is expecting a baby of its own. However, animal pregnancies can be an anxious time, and not every story gets a happy ending.

There are also ethical considerations around breeding animals which responsible owners will want to keep in mind.

Now, the new series Fur Babies, follows vets Dr James Greenwood and Dr Bolu Eso as they support owners and the mums-to-be. It explores some of the pitfalls and the importance of finding suitable homes for the new arrivals, and generally celebrates the bond between pets and the people who love them.

James says: “Pet pregnancy is not always an easy road. We want to highlight the ups and downs of pet pregnancies and show how important it is for families that are thinking of breeding their pets to do so under the guidance and support of their vets, as we’ve seen first-hand the upsetting consequences of unscrupulous pet breeding over the past few years.”

Bolu adds: “It’s exciting to be part of a programme that’s focusing on the nuances of pet ownership and here we are first hand, able to showcase the marvel of pet pregnancies but also demonstrate all the factors that contribute to breeding our pets responsibly.

“Being able to help families navigate the intricacies of their pet’s pregnancy will hopefully serve as a great teachable moment.”

In the first episode, we meet Holly, who took in chocolate Labrador Bella as her eldest son was preparing to leave for university.

Bella is now a fully established member of the family and is expecting her first litter. Dr James’ scan confirms there will potentially be five pups, which leaves Holly concerned that this relatively small (by Labrador standards) litter won’t include the female pup that she was planning to keep as a companion for Bella.

Then the dog goes into labour, and the birth delivers much more than anyone was expecting, plunging Holly and her family into nine chaotic weeks.

In Essex, Kelly took in British shorthair cat Leyla two years ago, and the results have already been life changing – the feline has become a best friend to Kelly’s 11-year-old son, Ronnie.

Now, Leyla is expecting kittens, and the experience is proving to be emotional for Kelly, as it stirs up memories of Ronnie’s traumatic birth.

Bolu suggests that the family create a birthing area, but sadly Leyla doesn’t seem to have got the memo and follows her own instincts during what proves to a dramatic night.

Meanwhile, Kaylee is experiencing a classic pet owners’ scenario (one that was even recently a storyline on The Archers). She believed she’d bought three male guinea pigs for her young family, so would never have to worry about the collection suddenly expanding. But now it turns out that one of the trio, Splodge, is pregnant…

Keeping It Up: The Story of Viagra (BBC Two, 9pm, Friday 08/12/23)

Words by Richard Jones

It’s been 25 years since Viagra came onto the market, changing the lives of millions of males and making billions of dollars for pharmaceutical firms.

But just how did the ‘magic’ little blue pill come about?

Well, despite the drug’s popularity today, the researchers who discovered Viagra weren’t actually looking for it.

Initially named compound UK-92,480, sildenafil (sold under the brand name Viagra) was developed to treat hypertension and angina in the 1980s.

However, when Pfizer biologists in Sandwich, Kent, started testing the drug, hoping that blood flow would increase to the heart and reduce chest pains, some patients soon began reporting other effects to their nurses – specifically an improved blood flow to the penis.

The sildenafil was clearly working, albeit in the wrong part of the body, and after a few years, Viagra became a hit as an erectile dysfunction (ED) drug, especially for older males.

The drug was patented in 1996, approved by the FDA in 1998, and offered for sale in the United States later that year.

By 2000, Viagra sales accounted for 92 per cent of the global market for prescribed erectile dysfunction pills, and annual sales of Viagra peaked at US$1.934 billion in 2008.

In this 90-minute Storyville documentary, triple Bafta Scotland award-winning filmmaker Stephen Bennett travels from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales to New York to tell the story of the creation, promotion and exploitation of the so-called ‘potency pill’, which is now available over the counter in the UK.

As well as looking at the origins of Viagra, and its marketing (it was famously being endorsed by former US Senator Bob Dole and football star Pelé), Keeping It Up explains how, in the last few years, more and more young males have turned to this pharmaceutical solution.

For many, it’s something new to try and a bit of fun, while some (rightly or wrongly) believe that the drug can increase libido, improve sexual performance and permanently increase penis size

However, if we look into the many personal reasons behind its popularity among millennials, the trend is a lot deeper and emotionally rooted than it first appears.

Although there is nothing pharmaceutically addictive in Viagra, the assurance it gives, coupled with increasing use and higher doses, can be psychologically addictive for some.

So is Viagra a harmless quick fix, or are young males now relying on the pills too much?

And what can this tell us about the relationship between the physical and mental health of 21st-century men?

The programme also looks at the common side effects including headaches, heartburn and flushed skin, and one other aspect that Bennett investigates Viagra’s co-use with drugs like MDMA and ecstasy, as a way of maintaining erections.

Plus, there’s a look at the exploitation element of the drug. According to a Pfizer study, Viagra is one of the world’s most counterfeited medicines, and fake Viagra, despite generally being cheaper, can contain harmful substances or substances such as blue printer ink, amphetamines, metronidazole, boric acid and rat poison.

Looking ahead, the programme considers the future of Viagra.

Will the little blue pill, which kick-started the second sexual revolution and a controversy unlike any drug before it, have the staying power and potency to survive in the cutthroat pharmaceutical industry?