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The Guardian
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
TV tonight: Brianna Ghey's mother bravely tells her daughter's story
9pm, ITV1The last text Esther Ghey sent to her daughter, Brianna, said 'how good it was' that she was going out and re-entering society. Esther doesn't know if she ever saw that message – Brianna was murdered in 2023 by two 15-year-olds, one who she believed was her friend, in a brutal attack partly motivated by her transgender identity. This devastating and brave documentary tells Brianna's story, from the sparkling, beloved girl she was to how the disturbing online world affected her wellbeing. It also examines the legacy she has left, as her mother continues to campaign for social media reform. Her friends help paint a picture of her, while journalists and police give insights into a case that shocked and saddened the nation. Hollie Richardson 10pm, Channel 4This real-time documentary follows journalist Christo Grozev, whose exposés on Putin lead to him having to flee an assassination plot. It also follows a defector from Russia's 'poison programme' trying to get his family to safety in Europe, and a Russian activist twice poisoned by Putin, whose wife wants to team up with Grozev to free him during his treason trial. Alexi Duggins 9pm, Channel 5Sainte Victoire's antique-dealing sleuth Jean White (Sally Lindsay) gets stuck into another murder case: Aunt Fifi's poisoning. Her nephew Charlie's interest in her valuable antiques collection makes him a suspect. HR 9pm, BBC Three Stacey Dooley is once again brilliantly engaging as she spends time with the Gypsy and Traveller communities. She meets four different women as they go about their day-to-day lives, including Chantelle who is popular TikToker Gypsy Wife. HR 9pm, Sky AtlanticA lethally spiked shipment of cocaine has upset the fragile peace between London's underworld factions. Surely gangster pariah Sean Wallace (Joe Cole) couldn't have orchestrated it all from behind bars? As series three of the bloodthirsty crime drama ramps up, some heavily armed stakeholders seem determined to find out. Graeme Virtue 10pm, Sky AtlanticAs Chris O'Dowd's Hollywood-in-Ireland dramedy ambles amiably towards next week's finale, the production is plunged into crisis – not helped by the fact that Wendy (Christina Hendricks) never read the source novel. Meanwhile, Séamus (Paddy Considine) is facing a disciplinary. The real trouble, though, is in his marriage. Ellen E Jones Holland (Mimi Cave, 2025), Prime Video Mimi Cave's comic mystery is set not in the Netherlands but Holland, Michigan, though it does boast tulips and a windmill. Nicole Kidman's 'life management' schoolteacher Nancy Vandergroot lives a chintzy, slightly suffocating life as a dutiful wife and mother. But her husband, optician and model-railway enthusiast Fred (Matthew Macfadyen), is away a lot at conferences and Nancy suspects he is having an affair. She and her colleague Dave (Gael García Bernal) try their hand at amateur sleuthing in a story of humorous, if mild, peril – until an almighty twist throws everything out of whack. Simon Wardell
The Guardian
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
TV tonight: fundraising bonanza Comic Relief turns 40
7pm, BBC OneIt's that time of year again – the fundraising marathon returns, packed with sketches, heart-tugging stories and downright bizarre moments. And this is its 40th anniversary! Davina McCall, Joel Dommett, Alison Hammond and AJ Odudu are among the night's hosts, with Strictly, Gladiators and Beyond Paradise some of the shows getting the comic treatment. Hollie Richardson 7.30pm, Channel 4This investigation into the rise of institutions in South Africa dedicated to using military methods to instil discipline in teenagers focuses on the Rising Stars Generation camp. Run by 25-year-old Prince Motlou, its practices including corporal punishment and making children march for hours in the heat without water. Alexi Duggins 8pm, BBC TwoWith glimmers of sunshine finally arriving in the UK, it's OK to get excited about things such as jewel garden borders again – which is exactly what Monty Don is doing this week. Over in Carmarthenshire, Sue Kent is harnessing the Welsh weather to grow some veg. HR 8pm, Channel 4Claudia Winkleman hosts the high-stakes, high-concept quiz, where only one question stands between contestants and £100,000. This time, father and son Duncan and William compete alongside twins Teresa and Maddy. Ali Catterall 9pm, Sky Max The tour rolls on, now managed by Marcus. But when Deborah meets an old comedy rival and finds her selling shoes for a living, she is forced to agonise over how being a good parent and successful comic don't always go hand in hand. Cue Ava stepping up like a surrogate daughter for a touching pep talk. Alexi Duggins 10pm, Channel 4Fabulously dressed artist Grayson Perry and football-mad comedian Maisie Adam join Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker to dissect yet another chaotic week that has featured more if-you-don't-laugh-you'll-cry moments from our world leaders. Hopefully, there'll be a good story in there, too ... please? HR Birdy, 6am, 3.55pm, Sky Cinema Greats A neglected entry in the slew of Vietnam war movies released in the 1980s, Alan Parker's drama is an affecting tale of childhood friendship and trauma, with a cracking Peter Gabriel score. Nicolas Cage throws his all into the role of injured US soldier Al (he even had two teeth extracted to simulate his character's facial injury), who visits his childhood best mate, mute war veteran Birdy (Matthew Modine), in a military psychiatric facility. Flashbacks to their teenage scrapes in Philly, and Birdy's escalating obsession with birds and flying, offer clues to his breakdown. Simon Wardell Sweet Sue, 11.15pm, BBC TwoOn this evidence, Leo 'son of Mike' Leigh is clearly a chip off the old block. The lives of working-class people are made complex, vital and tragic in his comedy drama following party-shop owner Sue (Maggie O'Neill). She's had her troubles, but things start to look up after she meets strong, silent biker Ron at her brother's funeral. Sadly, he's silent because he's bottled up emotionally, and also has a fraught relationship with his influencer son Anthony (Harry Trevaldwyn). O'Neill is terrific as a woman up for fun but too self-assured to play nursemaid to inadequate men. SW Athletics: World Indoor Championships 10.15am, BBC Two. Day one from Nanjing, China. World Cup football: England v Albania 7pm, ITV1. A Group K qualifier at Wembley.
The Guardian
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
TV tonight: an essential report on the civil war in Sudan
7.30pm, Channel 4This documentary strand may be a bleak testimony to the amount of misery the world is capable of generating, but it remains as essential as ever. Krishnan Guru-Murthy is in Sudan exploring the horrific facets of the ongoing civil war: about 30 million people need humanitarian assistance, certain regions are experiencing famine and the conflict rumbles brutally on – bombings, executions and sexual violence are rife. Phil Harrison 7.30pm, BBC OneThe last subject for this moving modern portrait series is 20-year-old student Millie, who has Down's syndrome and is campaigning for equal abortion laws. Currently, abortion is legal up to the 24th week of pregnancy in most cases, but where a disability is detected, it is permitted up until birth. Hollie Richardson 8pm, Channel 4Claudia Winkleman's takeover of light entertainment continues apace with this deceptively difficult quizshow in which contestants have to answer a single question. It's the turn of retired Cardiff couple Terry and Angela and Yorkshire uncle-and-nephew team Peter and Jamie to try their luck. PH 8.30pm, BBC OneAfter months of renovation, Amanda Holden and Alan Carr have almost finished transforming a run-down Granada townhouse into a B&B. Their final challenge? Design a bar. That means a boozy research trip to Jerez and working out how to make an onyx countertop 'glow like ET's fingers'. Graeme Virtue 9pm, BBC OneThe penultimate episode of the sun-kissed Caribbean whodunnit starts with a flashback to the last movements of DI Mervin Wilson's mother before she was murdered. Back in the present, Mervin (Don Gilet) has reopened her case and there is one very fishy prime suspect – but why can't the detective collar him? HR 9pm, BBC TwoIn 2019, Royal Ballet superstar Steven McRae ruptured his achilles tendon live in front of a 2,000-strong audience. This deeply personal film shadows the candid Aussie as he continues his gruelling physical rehab with the aim of returning to the spotlight, supported by his wife Elizabeth Harrod, a former Royal Ballet soloist herself. GV Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter One, 11am, 8pm, Sky Cinema Premiere With its creator and star Kevin Costner anticipating three more chapters, the first tranche of his epic western has a definite scene-setting mood. It revolves around the nascent Arizona frontier settlement of Horizon at the start of the civil war. Folk for whom the dream of a town could become a reality – though the local Apaches have their own views on it – include Sienna Miller's homesteader, Costner's horse trader and a wagon train led by Luke Wilson's trail boss. Simon Wardell Medusa Deluxe, 11.05pm, BBC Two Thomas Hardiman's one-camera whodunnit roams around backstage at a regional hairdressing contest where one competitor has just been murdered. As the stylists and models come to terms with the death, gossip and rumour swirl in the air alongside copious clouds of hairspray. The suspects include the dead man's main rival Cleve (a marvellously angry Clare Perkins), Darrell D'Silva's event organiser Rene, and Kendra (Harriet Webb), who may or may not have fixed the result. The single-shot technique keeps things bubbling, while the hairdos are suitably outrageous. SW The French Dispatch, 11.20pm, Film4 Arguably the most Wes Andersony of all Wes Anderson's films, this whimsical doll's house of a comedy dramatises the contents of a fictional American magazine based in Ennui-sur-Blasé, France. Sections include Tilda Swinton's art critic celebrating Benicio del Toro's jailed killer turned painter, Frances McDormand's reporter taking in a May 68-style student protest, and Jeffrey Wright's James Baldwin-like food writer being caught up in a kidnapping. Gently satirical, with nods to the Nouvelle Vague, Jacques Tati and the New Yorker, it's a feast for the eyes. SW Women's Super League Football Liverpool v Man Utd, 7.05pm, BBC Three. From Anfield.
