Catch up TV reviews: Peep Show, As Yet Untitled, Kitchen Impossible
David Farnor | On 16, Nov 2015
What’s available on-demand on Freeview? Keep up-to-date with our weekly catch-up TV column, including reviews of shows on ITV Hub, new releases on All 4 and a guide to My5.
(For BBC TV reviews and round-ups, see our weekly Best of BBC iPlayer column. Or for reviews of the shows on All 4’s Walter Presents, click here.)
Peep Show (All 4)
“Think of it like a sunken bed,” says Jez, as we catch up with his current living situation: a bathtub. Mark, meanwhile, is shacked up with a even duller man than he is. Welcome to the final season of Peep Show, six months after Season 8, aka. DobbyGate. The El Dude Brothers are soon brought back together for Super Hans’ stag do, a party that involves sober conversation and a juice bar – a sign that things have changed for our depraved internal monologuers. But the old tensions soon come back to the surface, delivered with the familiar bile, awkwardness and endearing honesty that have made David Mitchell and Robert Webb such likeable friends these past 12 years. Jez’s attempts to apologise for his sleeping with Dobby are as pathetic as they are believable. Some things change. Some things, thankfully, never do.
As Yet Untitled (UKTV Play)
Alan Davies’ comedy show on Dave, back for a third season, has a rather neat premise: a bunch of guests sit around chatting in an attempt to come up with a title for that week’s episode. It’s the kind of thing that could wind up indulgent and cliquey, but Davies’ unassuming presence makes for an ever-likeable host, while the editing cuts down any idle chat from the presumably long recording process into, well, entertaining idle chat. The result is essentially a visual podcast and, in an age where big stunts, big sponsorship deals and big promises of musical stardom are commonplace on the small screen, this is a welcome change from the norm – low-key and quick, it’s a smartly cheap move from Dave and a reminder that sometimes, all you need is people talking to each other to amuse a studio audience.
Available until: 3rd December (Episode 1)
Photo: Copyright Mark Yeoman 2013 / UKTV
Kitchen Impossible (All 4)
Channel 4’s latest reality series sees a group of disabled people trying to make it as a top chef. It sounds like a cruel concept, but Michel Roux Jr is a chef who has spent his career to help young people into work and shows his participants both encouragement and sympathy. It’s tough for people with a disability in the UK to get a job, with blindness hampering one participant’s ability to work independently and Tourette’s meaning another struggles to control her outbursts when not over the stove, but this show – with no sense of competition or bullying – gives them a chance to demonstrate their talent and gives Michel a chance to boost their confidence, not to mention offer some valuable experience. The ingredients could be poorly seasoned, but this concoction is judged just right.
The Nation’s Favourite Beatles Number One (ITV Player)
Another clip show where we count down familiar footage with contributes from “celebrity” fans? Get back! If it were anyone else but The Beatles, this would join a long line of tiresome, lazy programming, but any chance to relive the Fab Four’s stirling selection of number one hits is one to recommend from me to you.
Available until: 12th December
