TV Tonight: Penis Surgery Docs, Holst Deconstructed and a Gold-Hungry Grinner
Storyville: Manhood follows Dallas businessman Bill Moore's bid to take penis enhancement surgery mainstream, while Sky Arts deconstructs Holst's The Planets. Full tonight's picks.
Programme
- Storyville: Manhood, about penis enhancement surgery, airs at 10pm on BBC Four
- Inside the Music on Sky Arts at 8pm deconstructs five symphonies, starting with Holst's The Planets conducted by Edward Gardner
- Stacey & Joe: In Too Deep returns to BBC One at 8pm after rumours about Stacey Solomon's marriage to Joe Swash
- Forensics: Murder Scene moves from Yorkshire to south Wales, opening with the case of 89-year-old Sylvia Phillips, found three years after her death
- Tall Tales & Murder continues at 10.40pm on BBC One with Aidan Gillen as Grinner
BBC Four airs a documentary about penis enhancement surgery tonight at 10pm, and it stays admirably nonjudgmental about it. That's the rarest thing on television: restraint.
Storyville: Manhood introduces Dallas businessman Bill Moore, who wants to move enlargement procedures into the mainstream. The reviewer's question is blunt: is this surgery beyond the pale, or simply the next inevitable phase in the looksmaxxing trend (the online movement devoted to maximising one's appearance)? The film doesn't answer for you. It leaves you to decide whether Moore offers solutions to male insecurity or simply leeches off it. A film that trusts its audience. Imagine that.
What else is on?
Stacey & Joe: In Too Deep, 8pm, BBC One. "Despite what the press say," Stacey Solomon confirms, "we're still together." The new run of the fly-on-the-wall series arrives after rumours about Solomon's marriage to Joe Swash — and, in what the listings coyly call a remarkable coincidence, a paparazzo appears while Solomon walks in a field. Elsewhere, it's the usual soft-focus blur of carefully distressed domesticity: Swash tries to stock his fishing lake while Solomon tuts fondly. The verdict here is that the formula still sells, and nobody involved seems embarrassed by that.
Inside the Music, 8pm, Sky Arts. This is the pick of the night for anyone who wants television to actually explain something. The new series deconstructs five symphonies, beginning with Holst's The Planets — a work, says London Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Edward Gardner, best understood as a metaphor. "When you engage with the idea that it's about us as humans, something is unlocked," Gardner says. It's rare to see this level of analysis on TV, and the show is thoroughly refreshing for it. One conductor, one orchestra, one idea per movement. Compared with the celebrity schmooze that usually fills the classical slot, it feels almost luxurious.
It'll Be Alright on the Night, 9pm, ITV1. "Let's kick off the cock-ups!" Tom Allen channels the ghost of Denis Norden for another compilation of on-set mishaps. Tonight's haul: farting child actors, a pensioner hijacking Ant and Dec, and an extra vagina on Countdown. If that sentence alarms you, the show is working exactly as intended.
Forensics: Murder Scene, 9pm, Channel 5. The sensitive documentary following crime scene investigators and police detectives relocates from Yorkshire to south Wales this series. The opening double bill concerns the body of 89-year-old Sylvia Phillips, found in disturbing circumstances in Porthcawl three years after her death. Suspicion falls on her son Christopher. Grim material, handled — per the listing — with care.
Tall Tales & Murder, 10.40pm, BBC One. The breezy thriller continues to showcase leads Ella Lily Hyland and Casey Walsh, respectively shrewd and goofy as robbers Bridget and Paul. This week they realise the danger of crossing Grinner (Aidan Gillen), however keen they are to get their hands on his gold. They're in too deep now, which is either the premise or the warning label.
So what's worth the remote?
Sky Arts at 8pm, if you want your brain fed. BBC Four at 10pm, if you want a documentary that asks hard questions about body modification culture without shouting. BBC One's thriller at 10.40pm if you want Aidan Gillen being quietly dangerous — a reliably good use of anyone's evening. The rest is comfort food of varying nutritional value. Set your recorder accordingly.
Source: theguardian.com
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News editor covering companies, deals and strategy in arts in the broadest sense at Arts & Voices.
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