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FAMILY DRAMA AFTER THOMAS SW, Tue 26 Dec, 9pm
Reviews
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It may well be the season to be jolly, but that has never stopped the humbug-riddled TV schedulers from dumping misery, fear and despair upon us from a great height. So, in fine Christmas (and ITV all year round) tradition, After Thomas has got the lot. Keeley Hawes plays Nicola, the war-torn mum of a severely autistic six-year-old boy, Kyle, with Ben Miles as the jaded dad Rot- Vi ho contemplates an attention-diverting fling while attempting to convince his doubting wife that sending their son 100 miles away to a special school is the best solution all round.
The Thomas in question, as I’m sure you’re wondering, is a golden retriever that they bring into the household as a focus for Kyle and as a way of having a member of the family which the parents can at least rely on. For a while, the puppy’s presence brings Kyle slowly out of his shell, but in this life, all the parents can really expect is the unexpected, and a
trauma soon unsettles the calm.
A heartrending and occasionally terrifying drama (in particular the nightmarish opening ten minutes of a mother coping very badly under extreme pressure), the piece rises way above the kind of overt conscience- tugging which tends to drag down such films, thanks to a captivating performance from newcomer Andrew Byrne. But ‘ho ho ho’ it certainly is
not. (Brian Donaldson)
REMOTE CONTROL
Brian Donaldson finds some wonderful political comedy. searing social drama and a man face down in some broken glass. Just for your festive pleasure.
It may well be set in the Big Smoke and had a working title of 'London'. but Dominic Savages Born Equal (BBCI. Sun I7 Dec. 9pm) explores such universal and painful truths that it would be wrong for it to have been fully metropolised. With Robert Carlyle. Colin Firth and Anne Marie-Duff on excellent form. this tells of a city (world) diyided into rich and poor Willi aspiration pitted against hopelessness. No matter where you are perched on the social ladder, one quirk of fate can
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render status meaningless. and we are all ultimately headed in the same direction.
With the uncertainty over Chris Langham's future. it's unclear quite what direction Armando lannucci's The Thick of It (BBC4, Tue 2 Jan. 10.30pm) is headed. But for this one- hour special. they have got rOund the problem by having Hugh Abbot let off for a bzvirely-earned break in Oz. leaVing
even more chaos in his wake. What remains constant is Peter Capaldi getting the best lines while he crops up in calmer mode for the gently comic Haunted Hogmanay (BBC 1. Sun 37 Dec. 5.25pm). an animated ghost tale set in the dungeons and vaults of spooky Edinburgh With Taggart's Alex Norton the voice of a sceptic who gets a rather rude awakening.
Fresh amid a sea of repeated drama spectaCulars for the kids are a speechless yet thoroughly Slavic Peter and the Wolf (Channel 4. Sun 24 Dec. 4.30pm; and a barnstorming
Wind in the Willows (BBCI. Men I Jan. 6.20pm) with Matt Lucas especially great as a car-obsessed Toad. For the bigger kids. Hopeless Pictures (/TV/f. Sun 77 Dec. 12.20am) might remind you in style and tone of Duck/nan. With its flawed here a mOVie producer with nothing but dross spewmg from his failed company. It's surely the only show of the year to have the phrase: 'Stanley Kubrick was not in a persistent vegetative state.‘
Channel 4 might not worry too much about making dramas or animations at this time of year. but it simply adores its modern operas. Man on the Moon (Channel 4. Tue 26 Dec. 3.20an is in the same vein as the Diana piece When She Died and the Achille Lauro drama The Death of K/i'nghoffer. and takes on a similar epochal moment. the lunar space landing. Told from the point of view of Edward ‘Bii//‘ Aldrin. it focuses on the detrimental effect the historic project had on the second man on the moon's life.
Derren Brown: Something Wicked This Way Comes Channel 4. Fri 29 Dec. 10an features the psychological illusionist on cracking form at the Old Vic as he walks on glass before lying down in it (as a volunteer presses Brown's face into the many shards). sticking a long nail deep
Chn’stmas Turkeys
Dracula Marc Warren dons the cape and fangs in this wholly toothless adaptation with a role which is a cross (ha) between Gary Oldman's Nosferatu and Michael Jackson. A kind of Wacko Dracko. possibly. 8807, Thu 28 Dec, 9pm. Heseltlne on Trees Tarzan tackles trunks. Timber!!! Five, Thu 28 Dec, 8pm.
The Worst Christmas of My Life This three-part sitcom probably has the most apt title of the festive period. 8807. Tue 19. Thu 27, Fri 22 Dec. 9.30pm. Hogfather There's a very good reason why filmmakers have baulked at delving into Terry Pratchett‘s Discworld. Because they would turn out something like the big fat mess here. And poor Marc Warren is in this. too. doing a Depp Willy Wonka thing while playing a mean assassin. Sky One, Sun 77 & Mon I 8 Dec, 8pm.
Hogmanay it's never really very good. is it? Across the board.
into his nose passage and performing feats of mental agility and mass persuasion that leave you gasping for air. He's the finest showoff in town.