Counter Culture

Highlights this week include a re-showing of Terror on PBS America, The People`s Piazza: a History of Covent Garden on BBC2 and the Netflix series Fifa Uncovered.

Saturday 12 November 2022

Inferno: The Great Fire of London 7.35pm C5

When the Great Fire of London began in 1666, it was the largest fire in the city’s history. Burning for four days and nights, the fire destroyed over 13,000 homes and businesses. In this riveting new documentary, Inferno: The Great Fire of London, explore the events that led to the fire and the what followed. Featuring eye-witness accounts and expert interviews, Inferno: The Great Fire of London is a fascinating look at one of England’s most devastating disasters.

Stories from Ukraine (1/2) 9.45pm BBC Radio 4

The first half of an original story about a young couple traveling Ukraine and finding the quirks that make it ‘The’ Ukraine. Their adventures lead them across the landscape filled with oddities, anger and tenderness, where they find each other and the beauty of the small things.

Sunday 13 November 2022

The People`s Piazza: a History of Covent Garden 9pm BBC2

Telling the story of one of the nation’s best-known public spaces, the Covent Garden Piazza, from its early years as a playground for the aristocracy, through decline and dereliction to eventual rebirth, TV historian, presenter and StoryTrails Executive Producer David Olusoga steps back in time to explore the iconic piazza’s tumultuous history. Over four centuries the Covent Garden Piazza has been a market, a meeting place, and a site of protest, performance and renewal. In this documentary David Olusoga explores its history, and with the help of a host of experts and eyewitnesses, conjures up the ghosts of the past – market traders, orphans, artists and activists.

Young, Black and Right-Wing 10pm C4

Zeze Millz explores what it means to be young, Black and right-wing in Britain. She meets right-wing groups, uncovers their views, and considers where she is on the political spectrum.

Monday 14 November 2022

Against the Odds. Wales – the 64 year Wait ITV 12.05

The story of the Wales national football team’s journey to the 2022 World Cup, as they attempt to defy the odds, unite a nation and realise their World Cup dream. Featuring contributions from Gareth Bale, Aaron Ramsey and Chris Coleman

Terror: the Bombing of the King David Hotel (1/6) 9.50pm PBS America

The 22nd of July, 1946. The headquarters of the British Army in Palestine is located in the luxurious King David Hotel. Members of the Irgun, the Jewish resistance movement, smuggle milk churns packed with explosives into the hotel and hide them in the basement. Thirty minutes later an enormous explosion brings down the entire south wing of the hotel. Ninety-one people die. Two years after the explosion the British leave Palestine and the state of Israel is established. What significance did the friendship between the leaders of the Irgun and the Irish Republican Army have? How did a famous play staged on Broadway and starring Marlon Brando contribute to the Zionist cause? And how do three daughters look back upon their fathers’ involvement in the attack on the hotel?

Tuesday 15 November 2022

How to win the World Cup 6pm BBC Radio 4

David Conn investigates how Qatar won the right to host the World Cup bid and why it matters.

Terror: Algeria 1956 (2/6) 9.50pm PBS America

A young Algerian woman visits a bar in the European quarter of Algiers. She orders an ice cream, plants a bomb under her chair and leaves.

Wednesday 16 November 2022

Terror: Munich 1972 (3/6) 5,35pm PBS America

Members of the Black September movement attack the apartments of the Israeli Olympic delegation. Immediately, the TV cameras switch from the sport to the hostage drama.

The Missing Hancocks 8am BBC Radio 4 Extra 8am

Long-lost, classic Hancock’s Half Hour comedies, freshly recorded. Written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson and starring Kevin McNally as The Lad Himself.

Thursday 17 November 2022

Philomena (2013) 9pm BBC4

A world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman’s search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.

Michael Dobbs Remembers… House of Cards

Author, politician and member of the House of Lords Michael Dobbs looks back on the TV drama that had 90s Britian hooked on political intrigue and infighting. Followed by four episodes of the drama from 10.30pm to 2am.

Terror: Bologna Station 1980 (4/6) 5.35pm PBS America

A suitcase is left in Bologna Central Staion. An explosion rips the station apart, killing 85 people and injuring 200. Who is responsible?

The English 9pm BBC2

Last Thursday I watched the first (of six) episode of The English on BBC2. Lady Cornelia Locke (Emily Blunt) arrives in Kansas from England, seeking revenge on the man she blames for her son’s death. • There, she meets Mr Watts (Ciarán Hinds), who is torturing Eli. She tries to buy his safety but is beaten for her trouble. It becomes clear that news of her vengeful intentions has gone before her and that Watts is under instructions to kill her. The murder will be pinned on Eli.
One semi-mutual rescue and at least four bloody deaths later, their fates – along with his quest and her revenge narrative – have become firmly intertwined. A great start and I will be watching Episode 2: Path of the Dead with interest.

Friday 18 November 2022

Britain`s Communist Thread (1/3) 11am BBC Radio 4

Historian Camilla Schofield explores a century-long thread of communism in Britain.

Like fascism, we often think of communism as alien – as an external threat – a threat to the British way of life. But what happens if we challenge that a little – and think about communism as a British story?

Terror: USS Cole 2000 (5/6) 5.35pm

The American naval vessel USS Cole docks in Aden, Yemen to refuel. Twom men in a small boat rame the ship at full speed.

And Streaming

In Mammals — a new six-part series for Amazon Prime Video by playwright Jez Butterworth — the professional schmoozer and occasional actor stars as Jamie, a harried chef launching his own fine-dining establishment. But his family and friends are left with a bad taste in their mouths on the opening night as Jamie very publicly reveals that his wife and muse, Amandine (Melia Kreiling), has been cheating on him. Playwright Jez Butterworth’s Amazon series is all too eager to remind us that humans are essentially animals

Fifa Uncovered — Netflix series asks why Qatar was awarded the World Cup

A Netflix docu-series featuring contributions from investigative journalists, lawyers, and former Fifa grandees (including disgraced four-term president Sepp Blatter). Over four episodes, the show provides a fascinating, thorough and dispiriting account of the corruption that has beset world football’s governing body for decades, culminating in a 2015 FBI-led criminal indictment of 14 Fifa officials.

Selections by Henry Falconer and Patrick Harrington