Art That Made Us
BBC Two, 9pm
The BBC’s new landmark series presenting an “alternative history of the British Isles, told through art” gets off to a bloated and almost ridicule-inviting start. That’s because the series’ chief focus seems to be on neither history nor art, but rather an endless succession of moodily shot talking heads drafted in to waffle pretentiously about obscure works that, interesting as they may be, barely get a look in as a result. Do we really need Michael Sheen giving a 7th-century poem an absurd degree of thespian welly, just to make the point that Wales had a bardic tradition before the Anglo-Saxons produced Beowulf? Or installation artist Cornelia Parker gazing soulfully at her kitchen ceiling comparing the process of making art to the unearthing (by a metal detectorist) of the Staffordshire Hoard?
The point being hammered home in this opening episode, which covers the period up to the Norman Conquest, is an entirely valid one – that British culture is a living, unstable and constantly evolving thing comprised of many intertwining threads and influences. One just wishes that the producers had relied less on posturing and focused instead on the material itself, teasing out threads with some real substance and insight. GO
Return to Space
Netflix
Exquisitely filmed and directed by Oscar-winning documentary-makers Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, Elon Musk’s quest to put the first SpaceX crew on the International Space Station becomes an eye-popping hymn to human ambition and scientific achievement. GO
Senzo: Murder of a Soccer Star
Netflix
A five-part true-crime series investigating the murder of Senzo Meyiwa, captain of the South Africa football team, in 2014. Although there were six eyewitnesses to the killing, it has taken eight years to get the suspects (allegedly hired hit men) to trial, amid widespread rumours of a cover-up to protect those who really commissioned the killing. GO
Golf: The Masters
Sky Main Event, 2pm
The days are getting longer, the weather a little warmer and there’s fevered speculation about Tiger Woods. Yes, it’s time for the Masters, golf’s first Major of the year from the lush environs of Augusta National in Georgia. Woods, who hasn’t played since a horrific car crash in 2021, was the last man to win back-to-back titles at Augusta, 2001-2002, something Hideki Matsuyama will be attempting to do. Matsuyama became the first Japanese male golfer to win a major when he pulled on the Green Jacket last year. He leads a field shorn of the 2021 PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson but replete with talent, including US Open champion Jon Rahm and Open champion Collin Morikawa, plus Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy. GO
Secrets of the Museum
BBC Two, 8pm
We are given a glimpse of the V&A’s large collection of Beatrix Potter sketches and manuscripts in this returning third series, as well as some Tommy Cooper memorabilia on loan to Blackpool’s new entertainment museum. Best, though, is a new acquisition: a portrait by US artist Kehinde Wiley, a key exhibit for the V&A’s huge new East Stratford centre opening in 2024. GO
Falklands War: The Forgotten Battle
ITV, 9pm
Ben Fogle presents the gripping story of the Falklands War’s first battle, before the arrival of the task force, between a small but expert unit of Royal Marines (NP 8901), already stationed on the islands, and an invading Argentine force of hundreds. “The veterans of 8901 don’t want medals,” says Fogle. “They just want you to know they were there.” GO
Nikki Grahame: Who Is She?
Channel 4, 9pm
A moving tribute to the reality TV star who died last year. Nikki Grahame shot to fame on Big Brother in 2006, her Diary Room tantrums propelling her to tabloid stardom. But as friends and family, including her mother Sue, explain, she never got the better of a lifelong struggle with anorexia. GO
The Rise & Fall of John Leslie
Channel 5, 10pm
The story of John Leslie’s meteoric rise from Blue Peter presenter to hugely popular This Morning host, until his career imploded following a series of sexual misconduct allegations both on air and in the tabloids. TV presenters, journalists and friends in the media relate how, despite numerous victories defending his name in court, public opinion has taken a harsher view of Leslie. GO
Top Gun (1955, b/w) ★★★☆☆
TCM Movies, 5.15pm
Anyone who tunes in expecting aeroplanes will be bitterly disappointed by this lesser Western from Ray Nazarro, but perseverance bears rewards. Sterling Hayden stars as Rick Martin, a gunslinger who returns to his home in Wyoming only to learn that a large posse of outlaws is en route to raid the town. Rick must try to muster the defense, but his own reputation comes back to haunt him as he is rejected by the very people he is trying to save.
One, Two, Three (1961, b/w) ★★★★☆
Great! Movies Classic, 6.45pm
There are so many sharp one-liners in this Billy Wilder farce that if you laugh at one you risk missing the following three. James Cagney fires on all cylinders as the Berlin manager of a US soft-drinks corporation looking to expand into the Eastern bloc. But, oh dear, his boss’s daughter (Pamela Tiffin) has gone and married a Red. How to convert him to capitalism before dad finds out?
Calamity Jane (1953) ★★★★☆
BBC Four, 10.40pm
Doris Day stars in this musical twist on a Western, loosely based on the life of the legendary, hip-shooting frontierswoman. Following a dramatic clash with Native Americans, Jane sees both a business opportunity – to bring Chicago ladies to the women-starved townsmen – and a chance for love. But when a rescued cavalry officer proves fickle, can her friend “Wild” Bill Hickock (Howard Keel) win her heart? Also on Saturday on BBC Two at 1.50pm.
