Matthew Jenkin takes a look ahead at the week’s TV schedules.
EVER since the recession first tightened its grip on the UK, few people, except City fat cats, have been laughing all the way to the bank.
But despite the grim economic climate, charity Comic Relief are hoping to do just that, as a gaggle of top comedians and celebrities make fools of themselves on the biennial Red Nose Day telethon on BBC1, Friday, from 7pm.
Raising money for vulnerable and disadvantaged people in Africa and the UK, the show will feature the usual mix of comedy sketches, spoofs of popular TV shows, live music and poignant reminders about how your generous donations will help our neighbours both at home and further afield.
In what must be his only decent TV job nowadays, apart from being the “face” of a cheap hotel chain, Lenny Henry will be on presenting duty again with a list of stars which reads like a who’s who of prime time light entertainment — think Fearne Cotton, Graham Norton and Jonathan Ross.
Edgy comedy, it is not. But even if your ribs are only lightly tickled by the programmed comic specials of Masterchef and The Choir, seeing the plight of men, women and children living without basics such as clean drinking water or a roof over their heads really puts our country’s supposed crippling cuts and austerity measures into perspective.
So, dig deep into those pockets, buy a red nose or pick up the phone and give someone more needy than you a fat wad of dosh.
Taking a break from traversing the space/time continuum, Dr Who actor Matt Smith stars as acclaimed novelist Christopher Isherwood in glossy biopic Christopher and His Kind on BBC2, Saturday, at 7.30pm.
Chronicling the Englishman’s formative years as a young and wide-eyed writer in 1930s Berlin, this one-off drama looks simply stunning and thankfully doesn’t sacrifice a thought-provoking story in exchange for high production values.
For fans of Isherwood’s book Cabaret and the iconic film adaptation starring Liza Minnelli, it provides a fascinating glimpse into the real life characters and hedonistic world which featured in that story among others.
With steamy sex scenes, a stellar cast, cute boys and a Nazi love affair, honestly, what’s not to like?
In a month which has seen Libya spiral ever further into civil war and Japan suffer the most devastating earthquake and tsunami since records began, squeaky clean mummy’s boy Russell Howard will try to find something pointless to laugh about from this week’s news with a new series of Russell Howard’s Good News, tomorrow on BBC3 at 10.30pm.
No doubt the Mock the Week star will be making mildly amusing jokes about cats riding bicycles or people tripping over into manholes, Benny Hill style, in a desperately unfunny slapstick fashion. Oh joy.
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