For full TV listings for the week, see thetimes.co.uk/tvplanner
Viewing guide, by Ben Dowell
Banned! The Mary Whitehouse Story
BBC2, 9pm
There was much more to Mary Whitehouse than the prim, intolerant, fiercely bespectacled exemplar of prudery and censorship of popular imagination. As well as being a strong woman of genuine Christian faith, this Midlands teacher was a savvy media operator who was in some respects actually way ahead of her time. The early part of tonight’s first episode of this intelligent series tells the first half of her life story — building the National Viewers’ and Listeners’ Association from the ground up, firing off letters to the BBC and seriously antagonising its director-general Hugh Carleton Greene, whose wartime experiences of Nazi censorship made him (in many people’s eyes) a champion for the permissive culture of the 1960s. He wouldn’t allow Whitehouse on air, but she was not to be put off. It would be easy for the director, Hannah Berryman, to side with Whitehouse’s opponents, who were convinced they were on the right side of history. It’s also hard not to snigger at the moment when David Dimbleby interviews Whitehouse’s husband and says: “Goodness, being Mr Whitehouse, it must be sometimes difficult.” From some of the talking heads used here — step forward, film director Ken Loach — we discover that she is still spoken about with a slight metropolitan sneer. But Whitehouse was clear-sighted in the face of the cruel send-ups that came her way and even the burning of her book in the comedy Till Death Us Do Part. Now we see in our own re-examination of the exploitative nature of pornography and the treatment of women on film sets a vindication of many of her arguments.
The Duke of Edinburgh: A Service of Thanksgiving
BBC1, 10.30am
Huw Edwards presents live coverage of the service of thanksgiving in memory of Prince Philip from Westminster Abbey featuring readings and music close to the duke’s heart. Members of the royal family and of the duke’s family will attend the service, which honours the longest-serving royal consort in history, who died last April at the age of 99. Also in attendance will be representatives from the many organisations the duke supported who were unable to attend the funeral, which was scaled down due to Covid restrictions.
Concert for Ukraine
ITV, 8pm
Joining the millions of people trying to do their bit for the beleaguered people of Ukraine are the music stars Ed Sheeran, Camila Cabello, Emeli Sandé and the rock band Snow Patrol. All proceeds from this two-hour event at the Birmingham Resorts World Arena will go to the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) Ukraine Humanitarian appeal, which funds leading aid charities including British Red Cross, Save the Children UK and Oxfam UK to provide food, water, shelter and medical assistance to refugees in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. ITV is also donating all advertising revenue and sponsorship from this broadcast, which it estimates will be £3 million.
The Simpler Life
Channel 4, 9.15pm
More from the group of 24 British strangers adopting the simple life on a Devon farmhouse under the tutelage of an Amish family. We have already seen them adapt to a new life lived communally and frugally without phones, the 24-hour news cycle or social media, but tonight we see if they can interact with the outside world without losing their commitment to their new life when they sell produce in the local market town. A new herd of pigs are a welcome addition to the farm, but a contraband radio causes a rift.
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Becoming Parents: A Believer’s Guide
BBC1, 10.35pm
There has been a noticeable shift across BBC programming to focus more on religious faith and this upbeat five-part series is the latest example. Its aim is to “show what belief can provide in times of challenge, crisis or transition” — finding a partner, moving home, becoming parents, getting older and losing a loved one. Each episode will feature people who belong to one of Britain’s main religions — Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism and Judaism — and in the first episode we follow a young Muslim couple who are expecting their first child.
Catch-up TV, by Joe Clay
Steps of Freedom: The Story of Irish Dance
BBC iPlayer
What better way to tell the story of the history of Irish dance than through the medium of Irish dance? Ruán Magan’s performance-based documentary features original set-piece dances from the finest dancers of their generation, with a stirring musical score by Colm Mac Con Iomaire. The routines here are filmed in Ireland, but also in Britain, America, France, China and the Caribbean. Archive film, photographs and documents reveal the origins of the traditional peasant dance, with one fascinating story showing how interactions between Irish immigrants who lived and worked alongside people of African origin on slave plantations in America evolved into a dance form that we know today as tap. And have no fear, Michael Flatley and his Riverdance chums aren’t glossed over.
Film choice, by Wendy Ide
Tomorrowland: A World Beyond (12A, 2015)
BBC1, 11.50pm
A George Clooney blockbuster based on a Disney theme-park attraction that came with a hefty price tag of, reportedly, $120 million. It has jetpacks, robot fighting, interdimensional travel, rockets, high-kicking karate action and a timebomb finale. Clooney plays an inventor whose childhood was derailed by a covert trip to the alternative-reality utopia of the title, a megalopolis where the sun always shines. In the hands of another director this would prompt some savage satire, but Brad Bird (who directed The Incredibles and worked on The Simpsons during its golden era) plays it within a bland blockbuster formula, as Clooney plus an ageless Tomorrowland girl embark on a mission to unearth the park’s secrets. Convoluted, but a visual spectacle. (130min)
Thelma (15, 2017)
Film4, 1.40am
Scandi noir takes a supernatural turn in Joachim Trier’s creepy, erotic thriller. Eili Harboe plays Thelma, a young Norwegian woman whose lesbian affair with a fellow student (Kaya Wilkins) in Oslo ignites mysterious forces. She has convulsive seizures, birds plummet into windows and people disappear; but how much of it is down to Thelma and how much is down to her authoritarian, devoutly Christian father? Harboe and Wilkins have chemistry and there are echoes of Don’t Look Now and Carrie in the air of simmering repression and sexually charged uncertainty. Yet it’s all performed — and directed by Trier — with stylish Nordic restraint. The film has several themes and key plot elements in common with the British writer Marie Corelli’s 1887 romantic novel, Thelma. (116min) Ed Potton
Radio choice, by Ben Dowell
The Documentary: The House That Viktor Built
World Service, 8.06pm
Early next month Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, who has held office since 2010, is seeking a record fourth consecutive term in elections. But how will Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine affect the chances of Orban and his anti-immigration Fidesz party? The reporter Nick Thorpe, who has known Orban since the 1980s, reflects on the tens of thousands of people who have crossed the border from Ukraine in recent weeks to a generally warm Hungarian welcome. Orban has also presented himself as the European politician who understands (and frequently meets) Putin. But this might not be the boast it once was.