What's on TV and radio this weekend — ELO at the BBC

Times

04-07-2025

BBC2, 8.05pmGiven their very last concert takes place next Saturday (in Hyde Park), it feels right that the pop pioneers from Birmingham's turn for the full BBC archive treatment. Among the performances filmed in front of Auntie's cameras are the hits 10538 Overture, Don't Bring Me Down, Livin' Thing, Sweet Talkin' Woman and, of course, the big one, Mr Blue Sky. It is followed by a welcome repeat of Mr Blue Sky: The Story of Jeff Lynne and ELO (BBC2, 9.05pm), a sprightly film from 2012 that opens with Paul McCartney saying of the singer/songwriter: 'Funny, shy, ever so clever, great musician and a total twat.' He's clearly joshing because, while ELO owed much of their sound to the Beatles, the Liverpool legend is generous in his praise for Lynne, as both man and talent. Ben Dowell
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BBC4, 8pmOf all the big and small-screen Miss Marples there was none better than Joan Hickson. When she took up the knitting needles in the 1980s her look as well as her calm, quizzical, precise delivery was so perfect it is hard not to imagine her voice whenever you read the books. Ahead of a repeat of her debut (The Body in the Library, BBC4, 8.10pm), the producer George Gallaccio remembers his work on the series, explaining why the stories were perfect for television and what a pleasure it was to work with Hickson — well, TV history would have to be rewritten if he said otherwise. Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley's theme tune wasn't bad either. BD
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BBC1, 12.20pm/7.15pm
What may be a groan inducing summer for non sports fans is certainly hotting up with live tennis from Wimbledon (BBC1, 12.20pm/7.15pm) as the players battle for a place in the second week. Also on today's sporting menu is the start of the Tour de France (ITV1, 11.45am) and the fourth day's play in a lively second test match between England and India (Sky Sports, 11am start). BD
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ITV1, 7pmTake your mind back to that glorious England win against Germany in 2022, the team congaing into the press conference and the sense that women's football had the status it deserved. Since then the team has slightly stuttered and there have been some high-profile departures, including the bullish goalkeeper Mary Earps. But we have a chance t. Laura Woods presents the Lioness's opening game against France, with Emma Hayes, Karen Carney and Laura Georges in the studio and Seb Hutchinson and Lucy Ward on commentary detail. BD
BBC iPlayerEschewing the images of tsunamis and collapsing buildings that tend to accompany most speculative dramas about global warming, the Danish director Thomas Vinterberg's seven-part miniseries is far less emotionally manipulative but just as chilling. Set in a world where rising sea levels have forced the entire population of Denmark to evacuate their country and seek asylum elsewhere, Families Like Ours asks difficult questions about immigration, self-survival and privilege but never once does it feel didactic or manipulative. Andrew Male
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Channel 4, 10pmWith the reunion tour underway, here's a showing of Mat Whitecross's riotous rock-doc, which traces the rise of Oasis from working-class Manchester to their triumphant concerts at Knebworth in 1996. The film follows the executive producer Asif Kapadia's no-talking-heads ethos, although a more helpful comparison is with Ron Howard's Beatles documentary, Eight Days a Week — Noel and Liam Gallagher have the same comedic instincts and disarming honesty that made the Fab Four such luminous subjects. (117min) Ed Potton
BBC1, 10.20pmAn Oscar-winning performance from Will Smith defines nearly every scene of this biopic. He plays Richard Williams, the father of tennis champions Venus (Saniyya Sidney) and Serena Williams (Demi Singleton), in a movie that is authorised by the Williams family and could so easily have been a trite account of ambition, moxie and devotion. Smith's Richard, however, scotches any claims of lazy bias. He's a mercurial figure, complex and irascible; an ornery martinet one minute, a dewy eyed guru the next. (144min) Kevin Maher
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Radio 4, 8pmA century after the publication of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, John Kampfner — whose Jewish father fled Czechoslovakia in 1939 — looks at its origins, impact and how the book is still influencing readers today. It was republished in 2016, heavily annotated by historians, and Kampfner is struck by how much its spirit lives on in digital spaces and political rhetoric. Clair Woodward
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BBC2, 9pm/10pmIn late October 1984, Bob Geldof was sitting at home with his wife Paula Yates when they caught Michael Buerk's BBC news report from the 'biblical' famine that had struck Ethiopia. The singer's determination to do something to stop people dying led to the Band Aid single, Do They Know It's Christmas?, and on July 13, 1985, the intercontinental rock spectacular Live Aid. As a story that exists at the intersection of politics, culture and celebrity, it's fabulously rich ground for documentary-makers and this excellent three-part series locates all the drama, poignancy and — despite the human tragedy on display — absurdity of this complicated, controversial knot of rock history. Midge Ure, Bono, Sting and Geldof share their memories, while there are also contributions from George W Bush and President Obasanjo of Nigeria. Victoria Segal
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Channel 4, 8pmIt's been 20 years since Jimmy Doherty first came to the public's attention as an agricultural neophyte setting up his own farm. Then, the childhood friend of Jamie Oliver was wholly committed to rare breed pigs; now, he and his wife, Michaela, are also focused on conservation, their Suffolk farm housing brown bears, tapirs, crocodiles and camels. While he admits his choices have been eccentric — 'I mean, who has a giant anteater?' — this series follows him as he takes on a truly wild task: rehousing two polar bears who are about to lose their home in Sweden. Doherty and his team start building Europe's largest polar bear reserve to cater for their complex needs, but there is a distinct lack of We Bought a Zoo sentiment as the realities of bringing huge predators to Suffolk become crushingly apparent. VS
Channel 4, 2.30pmThe Red Bull team, home of reigning F1 champ Max Verstappen, conceded defeat in the world championship last weekend after Verstappen crashed out of the Austrian Grand Prix. The race ended in a 1-2 for McLaren's Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, with Piastri holding a slender lead over his teammate in the drivers' standings. The Bristol-born Norris will look to press on with his title charge in front of 150,000 passionate supporters in his home Grand Prix at Silverstone today. Joe Clay
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5, 9pmSome people approach turning 40 with dread, but it's particularly acute for Emma Averill (Vicky McClure) in this dark six-part psychological thriller, first shown on Paramount+ last year. Her mother suffered from insomnia, eventually having a violent psychotic breakdown on the night of her 40th birthday. History seems to be repeating itself as Emma experiences severe insomnia as she approaches the landmark age. The twists are hardly plausible but McClure is reliably good as a woman on the edge. JC
ITVXOne of Disney+'s first UK-made series is now on ITVX. J Blakeson's Culprits is a darkly comic eight-part crime thriller. The action begins three years after a crew of elite criminals have pulled off a daring heist. They have divvied up the spoils and gone their separate ways, but soon find themselves targeted by a ruthless assassin who starts picking them off, one by one. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett leads the cast as Joe, a former criminal trying to put his past behind him to live the American dream as a suburban dad, with Gemma Arterton as a notorious crime boss and Eddie Izzard as the mysterious Vincent. JC
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BBC1, 10.30pmThe wisecracking cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) finds himself once again facing the bad guys and seemingly insurmountable odds. It is Christmas Eve, and an inconsiderate rogue military cadre has taken over an airport and is threatening to crash the aircraft in the holding pattern, one by one, unless its needs are met. It's a solid sequel, bigger in spectacle but not the equal of the first film. Willis has a nice line in vulnerable machismo — a combination that shouldn't work but does. (123min) Wendy Ide
Channel 4, 11.05pmDaniel Craig has an indecent amount of fun playing Benoit Blanc, a southern sleuth with a deep-fried accent, in Rian Johnson's superlative Agatha Christie remix, which takes familiar ideas and upends them. Chief among those is the 'big-house murder', where a wealthy patriarch (Christopher Plummer) is dispatched in the dead of night, leaving a trail of clues that implicate his entire family, played by a quality cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson and Toni Collette. The film unfolds with precision timing — the plot twists arrive at just the right moments. (130min) KM
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Radio 2, midnightIn a three-part series that is part of the Radio 2 Loves Jazz season, Myrie celebrates the great male voices of the genre by interviewing relatives of the jazz kings. In today's programme Ray Charles Jr discusses growing up with a superstar father and his struggles with heroin addiction. Later in the series Myrie interviews Nat King Cole's nephew and Enrico Tomasso. Tomasso befriended Louis Armstrong when he was a child and the pair went on to have a lifelong relationship. Also today, the Soul Jazz Summit (8pm) features the BBC Concert Orchestra and the Guy Barker Big Band plus guest artists including Damien Lewis, Emeli Sandé and Curtis Stigers. CW