CRITICS’ CHOICE
Back to the future
Secrets Of Silicon Valley (BBC2, 8pm)
The blogger Jamie Bartlett begins his two-part series on California’s tech companies by highlighting casualties of the revolutionary “disruption” they see as necessary to bring about a better world (oh, and make them mega-rich): misled Uber drivers in India; Barcelona residents rebelling against Airbnb; communities in California itself that are robbed of revenue by the firms’ battles to pay minimal tax.
While these stories are well-handled (and provide Bartlett with ammunition when he quizzes Silicon Valley bosses), they are also familiar; his first programme only starts to grip when he turns to automation and, with the help of a former Facebook executive preparing for the automated apocalypse, sketches a far bleaker future than was envisaged by BBC4’s recent, sunny, pro-robot two-parter Hyper Evolution. Students of the relevant course at the Open University, which was involved in making both series, could be forgiven for feeling confused.
John Dugdale
Hate In The Beautiful Game (BBC2, 10.30pm)
When Gareth Thomas came out in 2009, he became the first openly gay professional rugby union player — but he found immediate acceptance and support from teammates and the sport more broadly. Here, in a fascinating film first shown in his native Wales last month, he switches sports to investigate attitudes within British football and sadly finds that this is, indeed, a whole new ball game. (Martin James)
BBC Proms (BBC4, 7pm)
Thomas Adès conducts the National Youth Orchestra in an adventurous programme that begins with his own Polaris, “a voyage for orchestra” into interstellar space. Then comes Mural (“a grotesque symphony, in which Dionysus meets Apollo”) by the young Spanish composer Francisco Coll, before the evening’s only gesture towards standard repertoire, Stravinsky’s radically modernist ballet score The Rite of Spring. (JD)
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Diana — In Her Own Words (C4, 8pm)
Marking the 20th anniversary of Diana, Princess of Wales’s death in 1997, this programme makes controversial use of videotapes she made four years earlier in sessions with her public-speaking coach. Topics include the breakdown of her marriage (and the Queen’s reaction when she asked for help), Charles’s adulterous affair with Camilla, and Diana’s platonic romance with a bodyguard. (JD)
The Last Days Of Patrick Swayze (C5, 10pm)
Enjoy a Swayze Sunday afternoon on Channel 5, with the movie Dirty Dancing (5.10pm) showing the late star in his finest hour; but here the focus falls instead on his sadly premature demise. Doctors and friends piece together the last couple of years before pancreatic cancer finally won its fight with the tough Texan and, on September 14, 2009, aged 57, he closed his eyes and drifted away. (MJ)
FILM CHOICE
The King’s Speech (2010)
C4, 9.50pm
Despite its irksome rewriting of history, Tom Hooper’s account of George VI’s struggle with his stutter is an enjoyable film. The story it tells about the monarch (Colin Firth) and his unorthodox speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) is concerned partly with performance and the playing of roles, and the actors (who also include Helena Bonham Carter as Queen Elizabeth) respond by putting on a good show.
Blood Father (2016)
Sky Cinema Premiere, 12.35pm/8pm
Seemingly not worried that his public image might need softening a little, Mel Gibson gives another of his fierce, wild-eyed performances in this well-made action movie, the story of an ex-convict trying to save his daughter (Erin Moriarty) from bad guys. Dir: Jean-François Richet
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Frozen (2013)
BBC1, 1.40pm
This Disney hit is sure to keep winning new fans. Its wintry fairy tale (inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen) is well told, and shrewdly focuses on the relationship between two sisters, rather than a lovey-dovey romance. Co-dirs: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
The Recruit (2003)
BBC1, 11.15pm
Drawn into CIA intrigues by a spy instructor (Al Pacino), this thriller’s brainy hero (Colin Farrell) is soon unsure who to trust. For viewers, however, things are simpler: we can rely on Pacino’s usual growliness to enhance Roger Donaldson’s generic film.
Previews by Edward Porter
Radio pick of the day
Private Passions (Radio 3, 12 noon)
Professor Nick Davies of Cambridge, a renowned expert on cuckoos, chooses larks, toads and wildlife-inspired music. David Mellor (Classic FM, 7pm) marks Vladimir Ashkenazy’s (pictured) 80th birthday with some of his great recordings. Doctor Kevin Fong, the consultant anaesthetist and TV science host, is the last castaway on Desert Island Discs (R4 FM, 11.15am) before it takes a summer break.
Paul Donovan
Sports choice
Test Cricket (SSME, 10am) England v South Africa
Football Arsenal v Chelsea (BT Sport 1, 1pm); Uefa Women’s Euro Final (C4, 3pm)
You say
Jack Farthing is a highly underrated actor. In Blandings, he was a well-meaning nitwit. Now, in Poldark (BBC1), he is the repellent George, cruel, calculating and spiteful. I hope we see more of this accomplished, versatile performer.
Keith Lee
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My wife, who is far too busy to email You Say, assures me that wedding cakes were not iced during the Poldark era. She is seldom wrong on such matters — or, indeed, many, many others.
Denis Harris
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