Your complete guide to the week’s television, films and sport, across terrestrial and digital platforms
: Robert Viglasky/Disney+
Friday 18 October
RivalsDisney+As the woman who put the bonk into “bonkbuster”, the idea that her fabulously lusty Rutshire Chronicles might one day be the centre of Disney’s autumn TV schedules would probably, back in her 1980s heyday, have had Jilly Cooper choking on her canapés. But the world has changed, and so has Disney, and Rivals gives us a hugely entertaining sense of just how much.
Right from the opening scene – featuring bare-bottomed antihero Rupert Campbell-Black (Alex Hassell) thrusting himself supersonically into the Mile High Club on Concorde – Rivals goes to extraordinary lengths to honour the spirit of Cooper’s writing by making you feel you’ve been parachuted back into the Eighties at their most farcically excessive. The setting is the burgeoning world of satellite TV, the cast Cooper’s stock set of bitchy, quippy upper-class cads, status-seeking bounders and satisfaction-starved beauties; played, with gusto, by David Tennant, Aidan Turner, Emily Atack, Katherine Parkinson, Danny Dyer, Claire Rushbrook and many more. As for the bonking… Well, it’s everywhere. And unapologetically so, but that’s half the fun – the intimacy coordinators must have been kept very busy. GO
The Devil’s Hour Amazon Prime VideoJessica Raine returns in the convoluted drama about a social worker whose ability to “remember” the future draws the attention of Gideon (Peter Capaldi), a time-jumping serial killer. In series two – “simultaneously a sequel and a prequel” – Gideon reveals to Lucy that his mission, really, is to stop a sinister force of evil.
The Office AustraliaAmazon Prime Video Less an Aussie “version” more a refresh of the concept behind the hit comedy, updated to reflect post-pandemic office life. Felicity Ward brings a fresh edge to the David Brent-ish role of the office manager desperate to avoid losing her “family” of coworkers through creeping work-from-home culture.
Our Lives: The Lakes: Our Life on the EdgeBBC One, 7.30pm; Scot, 8pm; NI, 8.30pm; not WalesA warm, thoughtful and spectacularly scenic film following Anna and Mat, a couple whose passion is free-climbing, as they embark on a seven-day, 100-mile hike around the Lake District, scaling (without support or safety equipment) five of the region’s highest peaks along the way, as they try to figure out what next steps to take in life.
Vinted’s Dirty Laundry: DispatchesChannel 4, 7.30pmAn investigation into the booming online-marketplace app, founded in Lithuania, that allows users to recycle used clothes and fashion accessories by selling them on. Reporter Ellie Flynn meets Vinted users across the UK to uncover the truth behind some of the products being sold via the platform.
The Man Who Definitely Didn’t Steal HollywoodBBC Two, 9pm; Wales, 11.15pmA hugely entertaining film about international man of mystery Giancarlo Parretti, an Italian former waiter who in 1990 successfully bid $1.3 billion to buy Hollywood’s crown jewel, MGM Studios, using money with origins nobody could explain, and nearly tanked the whole business. Parretti contributes here, but his answers are enigmatic.
Harder Than the Rock: The Cimarons StorySky Arts, 10pmA fascinating film exploring the impact and influence of the UK’s first reggae band. Now all but forgotten they were once legends in reggae circles, backing virtually every major artist on the circuit, yet never achieving wider fame in their own right… until, perhaps, now.
Woman of the Hour (2023) ★★★★NetflixBased on the life of serial killer Rodney Alcala, who in 1978 appeared on TV show The Dating Game in the midst of a murder spree, Pitch Perfect’s Anna Kendrick directorial debut is an entertaining slice of true-crime. Kendrick plays contestant and aspiring Hollywood actress Cheryl Bradshaw, who wins a date with the weird-seeming Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) – not knowing he’s already killed five women.
The Radleys (2024) ★★★Sky Cinema Premiere, 8pm Adapted from Matt Haig’s 2010 bestseller, The Radleys is perfect for spooky season. Directed by Euros Lyn, the black comedy follows a family of vampires who chose to abstain from drinking blood – until their teenagers go through puberty and develop a taste for the red stuff. Damian Lewis and Kelly Macdonald are a hoot as the parents; Harry Baxendale, Bo Bragason and Siân Phillips co-star.
The Blues Brothers (1980) ★★★★★ITV4, 9pm The car chase! The shades! The Blues Brothers is an endlessly quotable compendium of madness (“We’ve got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it’s dark and we’re wearing sunglasses… Hit it!”). Beginning out on US entertainment show Saturday Night Live, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi created musicians Elwood and Jake Blues; Aykroyd wrote the witty screenplay, while director John Landis provides ice-cool rhythm.
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