Being Blacker
Brixton legend Blacker Dread has been a community mentor, a DJ and a shopkeeper. He has lost a child to gun violence and faces prison himself. Molly Dineen’s intimate yet expansive documentary (her first in a decade) follows Blacker and friends over three years. What emerges is a portrait of an area and an era, as well as of a unique individual.
Monday, 9pm, BBC Two
The Good Fight
Real-life horror looms large over the second season of this spin-off drama as Donald Trump worms his way into every aspect of American life. But alongside the politics, there is humour and action too, as the law firm prepares to reluctantly welcome a new partner.
Thursday, 9pm, More4
Ricky Gervais: Humanity
Possibly Gervais’s most nuanced standup show to date, Humanity gleefully crosses various red lines concerning gender and mortality. But it also showcases a more contemplative side and offers a few hints about the roots of his comic persona.
Available from Tuesday, Netflix
Paddington 2
The Paddington reboots are fast becoming modern family classics thanks to their pitch-perfect tone, dry wit and on-the-nose casting. This latest bout of ursine urban adventuring sees our furry hero lavishing an especially hard stare on Hugh Grant’s washed-up luvvie Phoenix Buchanan, whose nefarious scheming lands Paddington in prison.
Available from Monday, Sky Store
Smilf
The title – which adds the word “single” to the well-known acronym – doesn’t do this new series justice. Frankie Shaw writes, directs and stars in a funny and soulful comedy exploring the American working poor through the life of single mother Bridgette. An involvingly hardscrabble tale – and it’s semi-autobiographical so authenticity seems assured.
Wednesday, 10pm, Sky Atlantic
Requiem
In a tellyscape dominated by more heralded but less effective dramas (yes, we’re talking to you, McMafia and Collateral), Requiem has been the sleeper hit of early 2018. This week, its spooked-out collision of folk horror and modern manners climaxes in compelling style.
Friday, 9pm, BBC One
Britannia
You’d be hard pushed to call Britannia an unequivocal success but if it has been a failure, at least it’s been a glorious one. Jez Butterworth’s historical fantasy has maxed out the druggy absurdity and highlighted the sheer strangeness of pre-modern life. As it concludes, can plucky Cait save the day?
Thursday, 9pm, Sky Atlantic
Swipe Left Swipe Left
The trials and tribulations of modern, app-driven dating feel like perfect podcast material, and so it proves. The analysis from hosts Claire and Gavin can err towards the over-earnest at times but some of the tales are masterpieces of excruciating cringe comedy, and these days they’ll be pretty universal, too.
Podcast
45 Years
There is no escaping the past in Andrew Haigh’s riveting domestic drama. Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay are bleakly brilliant as Kate and Geoff Mercer, living in rural Norfolk and planning a big 45th- anniversary party. However, a letter from Switzerland summons the ghost of Geoff’s long-lost love in a searchingly intelligent, sad and truthful tale.
Saturday, 9pm, Channel 4
Below the Surface
The apparently inexhaustible supply of moody crime dramas from Scandinavia shows no sign of letting up. This Danish series boasts some serious pedigree with the Bafta-winning producers of The Killing and Borgen on board. The action revolves around the hijacking of a subway train and the media frenzy that ensues as events unfold.
Saturday, 9pm, BBC Four
