Picks of the week
The Bunker
Raging about the state of UK politics is one of life’s pleasures at the moment, and the inhabitants of The Bunker make it an artform. Whether they are taking down the boomers who ruined their kids’ futures or delving into the murky world of impeachment, they bring smart one-liners and Swearmaster General Ian Dunt’s furious but funny profanities. This week, shifting Irish politics and the wonky justice system are under the microscope, with a panel of guests including the Atlantic’s Helen Lewis. Hannah Verdier
The Marvelous Mrs Maisel’s Connor Ratliff has spent two decades wondering why Tom Hanks fired him from a bit part in the miniseries Band of Brothers. Haunted by the explanation that Hanks thought he had “dead eyes”, the comedian is now ready to investigate the mystery, Serial-style. It brings him to consider those moments of disappointment that make you re-evaluate life, as well as discussing the hell and elation of auditions with Jon Hamm, whom he forces to ponder the sadness in his eyes. HV
Producer pick: The Nobody Zone
Chosen by Danielle Stephens (audio producer)
I must admit, The Nobody Zone – made by RTÉ in Ireland and Third Ear in Denmark – was an easy sell to me. A story about an Irish person living in London, who turned out to be one of the UK’s most notorious serial killers, was always going to intrigue an Irish person, living in London (who isn’t a serial killer – promise).
In the first episode of this six-part true crime series, Tim Hinman introduces us to Kieran Patrick Kelly, a homeless man who, in 1983, spent two weeks confessing to multiple murders he had committed over the previous 30 years. The people he killed were from the so-called “Nobody Zone” – they were nobodies to anyone, who existed in the same dangerous underworld as Kelly.
Teasing music, intricate sound design and an old cassette tape of one of the police interviews set the scene nicely. But the real genius is in the scripting. By the end of the opening episode, I wondered why Kelly’s spree lasted decades, and why I had never heard of him – or his vulnerable victims.
Guardian pick: The Gene Gap: Common Threads
This new three-part series hears from people whose lives could be touched by gene editing technology. Episode one looks at how DNA and identity interact. Does DNA make us who we are? What if we were to change that? And what does it mean to be different in a world that strives for perfection?
Talking points
The BBC podcast Tunnel 29, about a series of daring, stranger-than-fiction missions under the Berlin Wall, is to be made into a TV series or a film, from the producers of Chernobyl. After The Missing Cryptoqueen was nabbed earlier this month in what Deadline described as a ‘heated auction’ between programme-makers, which show will be on our screens next?
Why not try: The Reality Tea | Mel Giedroyc is Quilting | Something Rhymes with Purple
