Joanna Lumley and the Human Swan
ITV
★★★★☆
The Outlaws
BBC1
★★★☆☆
It was difficult to watch parts of Joanna Lumley and the Human Swan, knowing what was coming. I wonder how it felt for Dan Burton’s family, seeing his kindly, smiling face, hearing his voice again, witnessing his cheerful demeanour, when it was only six weeks ago that he was killed after a mid-air paramotor collision with Sacha Dench, aka “the human swan”, who was seriously injured. I hope it was comforting to them; it was certainly very respectful.
Lumley’s narration talked of him in the present tense, as if he were still here, which in a way he was. Their Round Britain Climate Challenge aimed to draw attention to the disastrous effects of global warming to coincide with Cop26, and it was in the Scottish Highlands, on their final leg of the journey, that they met their own disaster. Burton’s family wanted the film to go ahead, and you can see why.
There is no time to waste on this crisis, as Lumley said, with her elegant poise, and everyone can do their bit. “It’s not out of our control. If all of us do something, it’s massive.” Her opening address dedicated the film to Burton, who was 54 and a father of two. Yes, not showing it, given what he sacrificed, would have been senseless.
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It was obvious that Lumley, an eco-campaigner and lifelong non meat eater (what an advert she is for the meat-free life: at 75 she looks fantastic), was a fangirl of Dench, who was lion-hearted going up in that flimsy-looking contraption, like a graceful moth with long blonde hair. You couldn’t have paid me to go up in that microlight over the White Cliffs of Dover, as Lumley did. I think I might have been “unavailable” that day.
While it’s easy to beat one’s chest over planet-wrecking humans, here Lumley and Dench, who earned her nickname flying with endangered swans from Arctic Russia to England, presented the case for optimism. The lovely litter pickers, the eco-warriors and the people trying to ensure that the Scottish wildcat, which looked a lot like my tabby, do not go extinct. It’s hard to believe that they are the same species as the sadistic low-life who threw stones at a dying seal on a Norfolk beach, but sadly they are.
I enjoyed the second episode of Stephen Merchant’s The Outlaws far more than the first, which, frankly, was a bit boring. Last night’s offering not only had some very good lines, especially when Merchant’s character, Greg, was in a car receiving oral sex from a lady of the night (“Oooh, you’ve done that before,” he said in his Bristol accent). It also featured the wondrous Claes Bang, with whom I’ve been enamoured since Dracula, as a drug gangster. Great cameo; may his part grow bigger.
Even though it has its duff moments, Merchant’s comedy is proving to be sharp and warm, witty and menacing, showing flashes of the splendidly sick humour of The Office. Heartless businessman John (Darren Boyd) complained that the government trashed the economy during lockdown to save people in care homes when they didn’t “have long left” anyway. “I mean, four hundred billion in debt so Nanna gets an extra year watching Bargain Hunt?” It’s finding its feet.
