Audio: Athletico Mince
Who are the kindest, wackiest and saddest Premier League managers? What’s the latest on German midfielder Max Kruse’s Nutella addiction? And who is the likeliest Premier League footballer to appear in Game Of Thrones? (It’s Marouane Fellaini, obviously). This podcast is the handiwork of Bob Mortimer and Andy Dawson (the man behind splenetic website Get In The Sea). If you like football but despair of its endless, humourless self-importance, you’ll love this. But it’s funny enough to raise a few chuckles in even the most resolute football sceptic.
TV: The Last Days Of Legal Highs
From this Wednesday you won’t be able to wander into your friendly neighbourhood head shop and buy a packet of Magic Crystals or a bag of Spice. Is this a long-overdue closing of a dangerous legal loophole or yet another counter-productive attempt by government to hold back an unstoppable tide? This documentary visits Portsmouth to explore the trade from the point of view of both retailers and consumers. It doesn’t feel like a ringing endorsement of either the trade or the people involved, but it does acknowledge the hypocrisy involved in closing head shops while booze-related crime and injury continues to stretch public services on a weekly basis.
TV: Happy Valley
You’re running out of time to catch the concluding episodes of series two of Sally Wainwright’s impossibly taut Calder valley crime thriller on the iPlayer. But if you’ve missed out altogether and fancy finding out what all the fuss is about, both series are available in full over at BBC Store.
Video: Vice Talks Film With Ben Wheatley
The High-Rise director talks Ballard, dystopia and gentrification in this interview. Wheatley’s one of the more inventive, unpredictable and uncategorisable directors currently working, and his insights are predictably fascinating.
TV: Pure Evil
Anyone got room for an Argentinian psychological crime thriller in their lives? Given the exponential widening of our TV horizons in recent years, we’d imagine so. This drama utilises a mixture of dreamy and nightmarish atmospheres to explore the murder of a young girl and the personal and professional struggles of the police hunting her killer. Yet another example of the ability of the “brilliant cop with troubled private life” trope to transcend language and make as much sense in Buenos Aires as it does in Bergen.
