Television
One World: Together at Home
Lady Gaga dusts off her celebrity Rolodex for this globally televised concert celebrating the world’s frontline healthcare workers and key staff during the pandemic. Joining her from a safe distance will be the likes of Elton John, Paul McCartney, Billie Eilish, Lizzo and Alanis Morissette, with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert hosting.
Sunday 19 April, 7.15pm, BBC One
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins
Chief sadist Ant Middleton and his band of never-merry men lead 12 celebrities through an exaggerated Tough Mudder course. Donning the unflattering camouflage this year are reformed Flake enthusiast Anthea Turner, semi-sentient reality star Joey Essex, dancefloor don Brendan Cole and Katie Price. Expect mud and plenty of tantrums.
Monday 20 April, 9pm, Channel 4
The Big Night In
Comic Relief and Children in Need unite for the first time in this live telethon celebrating the nation’s heroic key workers. Peter Kay is one of the home-based performers, with hosts including Lenny Henry and Zoe Ball, and music from the likes of Gary Barlow.
Thursday 23 April, 7pm, BBC One
Gangs of London
When the most powerful criminal in London is murdered, what happens next? In Sky Atlantic’s almost hilariously violent new series, his impulsive son (Joe Cole) steps up to the plate and triggers a chain of events that galvanises the entire international crime world. Can he and his mysterious ally Elliot Finch (Sope Dirisu) protect the empire?
Thursday 23 April, 9pm, Sky Atlantic
After Life
Ricky Gervais’s heavy-handed but occasionally heartwarming comedy returns for a second season. Gervais is Tony, a man who decides to act on his most nihilistc impulses following the death of his wife, before eventually being worn down by the kindness of others.
Friday 24 April, Netflix
The Last Dance
A 10-part, heart-thumping examination of one of the greatest basketball players of all time and his triumphant comeback. Centring on the 1997-98 NBA championship campaign of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, we get a play-by-play insight into the team’s fraught relationship with coach Phil Jackson and the overwhelming pressure on Jordan to win.
Monday 20 April, Netflix
Cooked With Cannabis
Launched on the international day of weed – 4/20 – singer Kelis brings us a new cooking contest where the aim is to incorporate marijuana into every dish. It might be a recipe for guaranteed munchies but there are gourmet offerings aplenty.
Monday 20 April, Netflix
Beastie Boys Story
This much-anticipated documentary on the New York rap trio by longtime friend Spike Jonze covers their origins as wannabe hip-hop stars to their time as parodic party boys and, ultimately, torchbearers of a new scene. It’s all the more poignant following the death of founding member MCA in 2012.
Friday 24 April, Apple TV+
The Midnight Gospel
Adventure Time creator Pendleton Ward returns with another gloriously trippy animation, this time in collaboration with the comedian and podcaster Duncan Trussell. We follow Clancy, a “spacecaster” who leaves his extra-dimensional home to interview beings on other worlds.
Monday 20 April, Netflix
Defending Jacob
Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery star in this darkly hued miniseries, adapted from William Landay’s best-selling novel of the same name. They play the parents of 14-year-old Jacob (It star Jaeden Martell) who is accused of murdering a fellow student, sending their seemingly perfect life into freefall. Cherry Jones, Betty Gabriel and JK Simmons offer sterling support.
Friday 24 April, Apple TV+
I Am a Men’s Rights Activist
Journalist Alvaro Alvarez follows Philipp Tanzer, a gay porn actor-turned-men’s rights activist, as he travels to Chicago for the annual International Conference on Men’s Issues. A sort of anti-feminism mopefest, it is ultimately unedifying yet bleakly fascinating.
Tuesday 21 April, BBC Three
The House of Flowers
Mexican director Manolo Caro’s transgressive satire of telenovelas returns for its third and final season. Built on the shaky foundations of the pseudo-perfect De la Mora family, previously chipped away at by affairs, suicides and criminal activity, season three delves further into their past to uncover even more secrets. Heavily influenced by Pedro Almodóvar, it’s a visual treat, too.
Thursday 23 April, Netflix
Podcasts
Greatest Music of All Time
While the title is slightly misleading – Ronan Keating appears, for example – this is an insightful series digging into the stories behind some of the biggest songs. Season one focuses on male artists, with early episodes featuring bona fide legends such as Smokey Robinson.
Podcast
Behind the Bastards
From authoritarians to amoral billionaires, this podcast dives into the life stories of the “worst humans in history”. As well as bristling with righteous indignation, it is often very funny. Recent eps have taken on L Ron Hubbard and those profiting from the current pandemic.
Podcast
Films
The Damned United (15)
(Tom Hooper) 120 mins
Just the thing for the footie-deprived: Tom Hooper’s fact-based account of Brian Clough’s hellish 44-day stint as manager of Leeds, the club he hated, reeks of the sweat-and-embrocation of the 70s game. Adapted from David Peace’s novel, it has Michael Sheen giving it 110% as Clough: a fine balance between football visionary and moody old git.
Saturday 18 April, 11.45pm, BBC One
Who You Think I Am (15)
(Safy Nebbou) 102 mins
Juliette Binoche is rivalling Gérard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve as the great ever-present of French cinema. This is very much a tale for the social-distancing era: Binoche plays a fiftysomething woman who, cruelly dumped by her young boyfriend, goes online and begins a virtual romance with his flatmate, using a fake persona to do so.
Curzon Home Cinema
Circus of Books (No cert)
(Rachel Mason) 92 mins
Performance artist Rachel Mason directs this documentary about her parents’ business: a gay bookshop in LA they ran from 1982 to 2019. The twist: the Masons were a conservative, straight couple who never told Rachel what they did for a living.
Netflix
The Willoughbys (No cert)
(Kris Pearn) 92 mins
There’s a pretty big-name voice cast, including Will Forte, Maya Rudolph, Jane Krakowski and Ricky Gervais, for this animated adaptation of Lois Lowry’s kids’ book, about a bunch of siblings who get rid of their self-involved parents on a holiday, but are sent a nanny to look after them. Lessons are ripe for the learning.
Netflix
Selah and the Spades (No cert)
(Tayarisha Poe) 97 mins
Lovie Simone plays a queen bee student in this boarding-school teen drama from debut writer-director Poe. Looking for a successor ahead of her graduation, it seems as if she has found it in Celeste O’Connor’s newbie photographer.
Amazon Prime Video
Martin Margiela: In His Own Words (No cert)
(Reiner Holzemer) 90 mins
Another entry in the niche area of fashion documentaries. Martin Margiela is the Belgian clothes designer who founded his own label in the 1980s but has barely been seen – in the flesh – since. This film offers insight into his creative impulses.
Digital platforms
