James R | On 13, Sep 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.)

First Dates – All 4

“Do you have any political views yourself?” asks Louis at the start of the fourth season of First Dates. Channel 4’s reality series is a reminder of how good the broadcaster can be at devising TV concepts. This one is brilliantly simple: a bunch of singletons all go to a restaurant and attempt to woo their assigned partner. Think Blind Date, but without the studio pre-amble. That places the emphasis firmly on each pairs’ interaction, as they set up their own questions and answers – ones that are even more awkward than the ones the late Cilla Black would read out.

The show’s entertainment lies in the basic pleasure of seeing whether people get on or don’t: it’s like getting all the gossip at work about a night out that went wrong. The diversity of participants, meanwhile, ensures that the conversations are varied: Louis, a posh boy from Oxford, is so shy he stammers through the three courses (and his confession of being a Lib Dem voter), but the episode’s highlights come from Anna, who works in PR and is paired with Liam, who works in recruitment. “I though you were older,” he offers, after telling the camera that women are like gazelles that should be hunted. She, meanwhile, confesses to having high standards of her suitors. The surprise of seeing who gets off with who – as they’re interviewed later – is the icing on the cake.

Photo: Dan Joseph and Rory Mulvey / Channel 4

Gogglebox – All 4

“In the week where the Queen become the UK’s longest reigning monarch, we enjoyed lots of great telly,” begins our narrator.

If First Dates highlights Channel 4’s knack for simplicity, Gogglebox proves it beyond doubt. The series, back for its sixth season, sticks a camera on TV sets across the country and watches other people watching telly. It shouldn’t work, but it does, mostly thanks to the sheer joy of recognising your own living room banter between family members and friends. (It’s no coincidence that First Dates ends with a mini-Gogglebox of the daters viewing their own dates, while we watch them.)

“Where did get soft vegetables at that time of year?” asks one middle-aged watcher during a historical series. “Doesn’t sound like The Beatles,” says another mid-X Factor. “She’s doing the Amy Winehouse version,” a relative responds. “Doesn’t sound like the Amy Winehouse version,” comes the blunt reply.

Over time, the familiarity of each viewing party increases the fun of seeing their predictable reactions. Diversity is, again, a crucial element to Gogglebox’s success (whether people know what a vol-au-vent is becomes a major dividing point) but the editing is the show’s secret weapon: the team not only brings us the best highlights of the week’s couch chatter, but knows when to cut in for a close-up of someone’s face while their partner is talking.

At a time where shows warn us about the dangers of sugar, the perils of real world conflict and the supposed importance of being a famous celebrity, it’s a refreshing diversion to sit down to watch a programme that tells us the most important thing in life is TV.

Photo: Jude Edginton / Channel 4

Hunted – All 4

Tired of the same old reality formats? Channel 4 completes its sweep of the week’s TV with this absurdly high-concept offering, which sees a group of volunteers go on the run for 28 days, only to be tracked by a team of crack security experts and counter-terrorism investigators. Edited with the panache and pacing of a Bourne thriller, what begins as a trashy piece of silliness turns into a surprisingly gripping study of surveillance in modern society. Everything from private messages and social media profiles to number plate recognition is used by the authorities without hesitation, each measure accompanied by a vox pop explaining the context in which they would normally be permitted to use such extreme tactics (far more often than you might expect). The format, meanwhile, dares you to cheer for the underdogs fleeing Big Brother. But the dual perspective leaves your sympathies uncomfortably divided, as clueless people give their positions away through ATM machines and phone calls to their family. You start out curious about who will make it to the end of the series. You end up wondering if anyone will at all. Chilling stuff.

Available until: Colin Hutton / Channel 4

Photo: Laurence Cendrowicz / ITV

The Nick – ITV Player

Ever since the days of The Bill, Britain’s bobbies have been desperate to appear cool on camera. Dramatic voice overs of high-speed car chases are the norm for programmes looking at the police. The Nick is a welcome change of pace, following officers on the beat in Brighton. Challengers range from a homeless guy living in a tent to a rapist, but it’s never glamorised or overdone. We’re more likely to see our coppers enjoying a Cornetto than handcuffing a crime lord. Even a scene with a drugs bust involve a toilet and a bunch of cuddly toys that are pointedly far from the boys in blue of Hollywood.

Available until: 2nd October

Photo: Laurence Cendrowicz / ITV

 

Best movies on Freeview VOD

30 Days of Night – My5

Josh Hartnett stars in this horror about an isolated Alaskan town, where the residents fight to survive after being besieged by a group of blood thirsty vampires.

Available until: 14th September

Cutthroat Island – My5

Love it or love to laugh at it, this Geena Davis pirate flick is worryingly enjoyable.

Available until: 29th September

Open Water – My5

A couple are stranded in the middle of the ocean and surrounded by sharks in this low-key thriller that slowly washes into tense waters.

Available until: 2nd October

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