CRITICS’ CHOICE
Stark storylines await
Game Of Thrones (Sky Atlantic, 2am; Monday, 9pm)
It’s not just in terms of stories, budgets and casts that non- network American TV services have been game-changers; they have also broken rules about when programmes are aired. Dramas are often launched on Fridays; international transmission times may be eccentric, with the likes of GoT and Twin Peaks debuting at 2am; and the world’s biggest show tonight boldly begins its penultimate run in high summer.
With Cersei (Lena Headey) installed on the Iron Throne, HBO has signalled that much of series seven will be taken up with challenges to her rule, probably by Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Jon Snow (Kit Harington). This trio all have allies with the potential to turn against them, respectively Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Sansa (Sophie Turner). Also hinted is that the characters will be too busy with war to find time for romance, but that has to be a bluff, surely?
John Dugdale
BBC Proms (BBC4, 8pm)
The Proms’ first week resembles a Glastonbury whose stars — composers, conductors, birthday boys — are almost all old men. In Prom 4, his second gig in two days, Daniel Barenboim, 74, conducts the Staatskapelle Berlin in the premiere of Deep Time (dedicated to the late Peter Maxwell Davies) by Harrison Birtwistle, 82. The German band also performs Elgar’s Second Symphony, having played his First in Prom 2. (JD)
Poldark (BBC1, 9pm)
Possibly the current series’s best episode: Morwenna has to decide whether to marry an obnoxious toff or run away with Drake; Ross clashes with George over the vicious way the latter tries to put Drake out of the picture; Dwight, apparently traumatised by his French experiences, behaves coldly towards Caroline; and there is a particularly fine example of those male topless scenes that are the Poldark equivalent of porn. (JD)
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F1 British Grand Prix (Sky Sports 1, 12.30pm; C4, 12.35pm)
While it’s “quiet, please” for the gentlemen’s singles final at Wimbledon (BBC1, 1pm), there will be a real racket and a less courteous duel 80-odd miles to the northwest. Here at Silverstone, Lewis Hamilton, winner on the past three occasions, and Sebastian Vettel continue their bitter rivalry at the sharp end of the drivers’ championship. Start time is 1pm. (Martin James)
The Handmaid’s Tale (C4, 9.30pm)
“Forget about escaping,” says Moira (Samira Wiley). “This is Gilead — no one gets out.” The compelling drama continues with an episode called Jezebels, which sounds like a 1970s Romford disco, but here it is the name given to the prostitutes at a Boston brothel where Offred (Elisabeth Moss) and Moira are briefly reunited. More intriguing storytelling tonight — with Moss as magnetic as ever. (MJ)
FILM CHOICE
The Lone Ranger (2013)
BBC2, 8pm
Like quite a few other films that became notorious for losing piles of money, Gore Verbinski’s revival of the masked Wild West hero is not a stinker, just a foolish muddle. Johnny Depp’s trippy Tonto may be fatuous, but Armie Hammer is genial in the title role, and though the film’s mix of action and comedy is erratic, it also inspires the director to cry “Hi-ho!” and go galloping into remarkable set pieces.
A Street Cat Named Bob (2016)
Sky Cinema Premiere, 10am/6.10pm
As a London busker, James Bowen found that his adopted cat helped draw listeners, and this feelgood telling of the story (with Luke Treadaway) duly uses its feline performer to keep its audience happy. Dir: Roger Spottiswoode
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Bridge Of Spies (2015)
Sky Cinema Tom Hanks, 3.30pm
Playing an American lawyer defending a Soviet spy in the 1950s, Sky Cinema’s star of the week is on dependable form in Steven Spielberg’s smart dramatisation of a true story, but the actor who makes the biggest impression is Mark Rylance, who won an Oscar as the red agent.
The Life And Death Of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Talking Pictures TV, 12 midnight (Sky 343; Freeview 81; Freesat 306; Virgin 445)
Powell and Pressburger’s moving and ingenious portrait of a stuffy old English military man (Roger Livesey) reveals him to be kind, noble and — in his devotion to his ideal woman (Deborah Kerr) — even a bit of a romantic.
Previews by Edward Porter
Sports choice
Test Cricket England v South Africa (Sky Sports 2, 10am)
Radio pick of the day
Cerys Matthews (6 Music, 10am)
Digital radio’s most popular weekend show, Matthews’s patchwork of wondrous sounds covers everything from swamp funk and big-band jazz to Punjabi folk and 1940s gospel, with occasional kickbacks for good conversation. This week, Adam Ockelford, the professor of Music at Roehampton University, tells the presenter how music therapy helps blind and autistic children.
Andrew Male
You say
No comments about Doctor Who? I admit I was not expecting much but I have been totally blown away. Great stories bringing back old favourite adverseries and a subtle sense of humour.
Mike Pratt
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I have been a fan since the William Hartnell days and the final episode of this series was a triumph. The soliloquy by Peter Capaldi was a truly great speech: it didn’t lack humour, yet showed the Doctor as reflective and vulnerable.
Fiona Ferguson
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