The Lenny Henry Birthday Show
Lenny Henry is about to turn 60. If you remember him on Tiswas, that’s a statement likely to make you feel very old indeed. His comedy has always been variable in quality but he’s a likable and pioneering presence so there should be no shortage of goodwill surrounding him in this celebratory special. Stormzy and Stevie Wonder (!) guest.
Wednesday 22 August, 8pm, BBC One
The Innocents
Another week, another dark supernatural drama. This one is a British original in which Harry and June, a pair of teenagers, run away together – only for June to discover an unwelcome special ability. It’s equal parts supernatural drama and love story.
Available from Friday 24 August, Netflix
Manhunting With My Mum
Funny and charming one-off documentary in which British TV presenter AJ Odudu gives up on finding love in the UK and looks for a husband in her mother’s native Nigeria. With her mother. The mother-daughter dynamic is a delight.
Tuesday 21 August, 10pm, Channel 4
Krypton
Does the world need another Superman prequel? Apparently so. This one (starring Cameron Cuffe, Shaun Sipos and Aaron Pierre) is set two generations before the destruction of Superman’s home planet. Adam Strange (Sipos) has travelled from present-day Earth to warn Seg of a plot to change the past. Sounds like trouble.
Sunday 19 August, 9pm, E4
My Asian Family: The Musical
An ambitious project this: telling the stories of all 90 members of an extended British Asian family in Leicester through the medium of song. We begin with Jyoti, a child who fled Uganda in 1972, and then take it, speedily and evocatively, from there.
Wednesday 22 August, 10pm, BBC Four
Grayson Perry: Rites of Passage
Another of Grayson Perry’s reliably fine documentary series. After dipping his toe in the sharky waters of Brexit last year, he has returned to more universal themes. How do we celebrate the landmark events in our lives? What do our birthday, wedding day and mourning traditions say about us? And how will society’s increasingly secular nature affect these practices?
Thursday 23 August, 10pm, Channel 4
The Great God of Depression
New York Times writer Pagan Kennedy fronts this affecting podcast exploring mental illness. Among others, she explores the case of William Styron, the author of Sophie’s Choice and a man who wrote lyrically about his struggles with depression. Not an easy listen but a very valuable one.
Podcast
Key Largo
Gangsters and goodies holed up in the Florida Keys with a hurricane brewing: highly charged atmospherics in John Huston’s version of Maxwell Anderson’s play. The cast help crank up the electricity. Edward G Robinson is rotten Rocco; Humphrey Bogart the ex-army officer mulling over whether to take action; and Lauren Bacall an ineffably cool young widow.
Monday 20 August, 7.25am, TCM
Follow This
A Netflix-Buzzfeed hook-up, this new series is somewhere between a news digest and a documentary strand. The idea is to explore both serious and trivial stories in an accessible way. Episode one explores autonomous sensory meridian response videos (things that make satisfying and soothing noises, basically).
Available from Thursday 23 August, Netflix
Celebs on the Farm
You might think that Channel 5’s 2004 reality experiment The Farm (in which Rebecca Loos achieved intimacy with a pig) would be one of those TV moments that no one would want to revisit. You would be wrong. C5 is going there again, now in the company of a new, even more needily compliant bunch of celebs, including Louie Spence and Sandi Bogle.
Monday 20 August, 10pm, Channel 5
