TV: Catastrophe
Featuring the estimable talents of Sharon Horgan (Pulling) and Rob Delaney, Catastrophe looks the real deal: a properly adult comedy about the big things – relationships, childbirth, etc – that also features the gleefully puerile scene of a drunk woman urinating on a wedding ring. If that sounds like your thing, and really there’s no reason why it shouldn’t, the opening two episodes are available to view on 4oD.
TV: Bitter Lake
Using a combination of hypnotically edited offcuts from the BBC archive and his own equally mesmeric old school narration, this iPlayer-only epic sees Adam Curtis explain how the west’s behaviour fostered a climate in which the roots of extremist Islam were able to take hold. Afghanistan’s war-torn history and a fateful meeting between President Roosevelt and the king of Saudi Arabia provide the central motifs for this dreamlike documentary, whose compelling alternative history shatters the stock narratives about events in the Middle East that, on closer inspection, never quite held water in the first place.
TV: The Legacy
Over its 10-week run, this slightly melodramatic family drama has subverted Denmark’s reputation for producing inscrutable, stern-faced thrillers. Not necessarily a bad thing as it turns out, as the travails of the Grønnegaards, battling for their mother’s estate with her recently revealed secret daughter, has in its own way been as compelling as the political machinations of Borgen or The Killing’s murder mysteries. Ahead of this week’s series finale, subscribers can catch recent episodes on demand.
Sky On Demand
Video: Broad City Meets Sleater Kinney
This one should have you sold on the description alone: Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer, the stars of the extremely funny web series-turned-US sitcom, quiz the band on their recent reunion and new album. In truth, Glazer and Jacobson are extremely rough-round-the-edges as interviewers and a few of their questions come off as a bit pat, but their sheer exuberance, and the riot grrrl trio’s thoughtful and funny answers, prevent this from falling flat.
TV: Black Sails
A vastly more gory prequel to Treasure Island, this manages to overcome the campness of its premise with swearing, violence and surprisingly nuanced political plotting. Series two has just hit Amazon Prime, with Toby Stephens where the show’s first run can also be found, so best get plundering, you scurvy curs.
Amazon Instant Video
