Broadly TV
Vice continues to advance its ongoing quest for world domination, this time by launching Broadly, a microsite aimed at women. In addition to the usual smart, provocative writing, Broadly also carries a selection of well-made and thought-provoking documentaries. The Abortion Pill is an early highlight, exploring the widespread removal of women’s access to the titular pills (which are safe to use and, crucially, possible to take at home away from prying eyes). Shrewdly, it pinpoints the moral arguments surrounding the issue as a smokescreen and identifies abortion access as a problem relating to class and economic power. A promising start.
What Not To Do
After BBC3’s season exploring disability issues, All 4 are getting in on the act with these new shorts. They’re part squirmy comedy, part cautionary tale, as the real, reported experiences of disabled people in scenarios ranging from the first day of new jobs to getting haircuts are acted out – in all their excruciating awkwardness – in front of other people who aren’t in on the joke. Alex Brooker presents, in typically irreverent style.
BBC 6Music Prom
This year’s Proms have felt admirably open-minded. One highlight was this show from the Royal Albert Hall that saw drone minimalists A Winged Victory For the Sullen and keyboard prodigy Nils Frahm keep London’s grandest venue spellbound. It was originally shown under the red button and it’s worth catching on the iPlayer.
United
Remember when top-flight footballers earned the same as butchers and bakers? Nope, us neither. But this Brylcreem-slathered drama does. It touchingly tells the story of the Munich air disaster – with Jack O’Connell affecting as Bobby Charlton – but mainly, it’s a paean to a time when footballers didn’t spit-roast teenagers in hotel rooms but, instead, engaged in kickabouts with tousle-haired urchins in terraced northern streets.
Music Masters
The BBC is opening up its archive and delivering a few choice cuts to the iPlayer. These Music Master films are a case in point. Presented by Charles Hazlewood, this pair of documentaries are proudly high-brow, dealing first with minimalist composer John Adams and then with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Speaking in 2001, Stockhausen talks at length about everything from writing for three simultaneous conductors to the influence of farm animals on his work.
