Counter Culture

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3,474 words, 18 minutes read time.

Pat Harrington presents his weekly guide to the best in TV, film, and streaming from an alternative standpoint. This week’s selections include searing modern dramas, noir classics, and eccentric curiosities, ranging from Powell & Pressburger to Park Chan-wook. Tim Bragg’s music tips you in the right mood—serious, subversive, and soul-sharpening. Three standout choices have been marked as 🌟Highlights: Decision to Leave, 28 Days Later, and Nightmare Alley. They demand attention not just for their artistic power but also for the questions they pose about trust, truth, and transformation. Original music in our video edition is by Tim Bragg.

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Saturday 14 June

Carry On Up the Khyber (ITV3, 8:50 AM, 1968)
A classic of British comedy, this riotous entry in the Carry On series takes on the imperial era with a mix of slapstick, saucy humour, and wonderfully exaggerated performances. Set against the backdrop of the British Raj, the film follows the hapless exploits of Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond (Sid James) as he attempts to maintain control over the local Burpa tribe, led by the scheming Khasi of Kalabar (Kenneth Williams).

Williams, Charles Hawtrey, and Sid James revel in their familiar personas, delivering a cavalcade of cheeky jokes and farcical situations with impeccable timing. Joan Sims is a scene-stealer as Lady Ruff-Diamond, bringing her usual flair for comedy, while Bernard Bresslaw, as the imposing Bungdit Din, makes for a gloriously over-the-top tribal leader.

The film is packed with outrageous misunderstandings, exaggerated colonial pomp, and set-piece gags that still raise a chuckle. The infamous dinner scene—where British officers dine unflinchingly while cannon fire rages around them—is a perfect example of the film’s unshakable stiff-upper-lip absurdity. Carry On Up the Khyber may not concern itself with historical accuracy, but it delights in poking fun at British self-importance with a knowing wink.

Though its humor reflects the era in which it was made, it remains one of the most memorable Carry On outings—full of irreverence, double entendres, and all the usual antics that made the series such a British institution.

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The Magnificent Seven (BBC Two, 1:55 PM, 1960)
A Hollywood reimagining of Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai, this Western epic distills the essence of frontier heroism into one of the genre’s most enduring touchstones. Yul Brynner, exuding quiet authority, leads a crew of gunslingers—outsiders and drifters—who come together to defend a vulnerable Mexican village from predatory bandits. Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, and James Coburn each bring their own rugged charm to the ensemble, their characters defined by skill, personal codes, and the unspoken loneliness that comes with a life of violence.

The Magnificent Seven operates as pure myth-making, reinforcing a vision of American exceptionalism where courage, sacrifice, and a clear moral purpose define the Western hero. Yet, beneath the bravado, the film also wrestles with the costs of violence and the fleeting nature of heroism. For all their skill, the gunmen are transients, drawn to battle by necessity rather than nobility. The villagers seek protection, but their fate is ultimately tied to forces beyond their control—the cyclical nature of power, corruption, and survival.

Socially, the film underscores a world in transition. The gunmen, relics of a vanishing frontier, embody both the virtues and contradictions of a bygone era—living by honour yet condemned to displacement. Politically, it touches on American interventionism, positioning the hired defenders as symbols of external salvation. Though not explicit, there’s a lingering question: do these warriors bring lasting peace or merely a temporary reprieve?

Psychologically, The Magnificent Seven explores the tension between individualism and duty. Each member of the group finds meaning in the mission, yet their motivations vary—some seeking redemption, others chasing the thrill of battle, all aware that glory fades. The film is at its most poignant in its quieter moments, when characters reflect on what comes after the fight, knowing full well that peace is a luxury they may never experience.

Elmer Bernstein’s soaring score amplifies the grandiosity of the narrative, merging adventure with operatic tragedy. The music elevates the film’s themes of sacrifice and fleeting heroism, ensuring that even as the genre evolves, this remains one of its defining works—a film that celebrates the Western legend while quietly questioning the price of wielding a gun in the name of justice.

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🌟 Decision to Leave (BBC Two, 12:30 AM, 2022)
Park Chan-wook’s haunting noir is less a thriller than a sensual puzzle, delicately arranged. A detective investigating a climber’s suspicious death becomes enmeshed in the life of the dead man’s widow. The film oscillates between seduction and suspicion, reality and performance, framed with visual elegance that recalls Hitchcock and Wong Kar-wai in equal measure.

Tang Wei is mesmerising—her performance is all surface restraint with emotional undercurrents that pull you under. Park Hae-il matches her with understated despair, portraying a man who has lost his moral anchor in the fog of obsession.

Themes of migration, translation, and alienation pulse beneath the romantic stylings, suggesting that love, like crime, often depends on what you choose to ignore.

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Sunday 15 June

Hue and Cry (Film4, 11:00 AM, 1947)
This post-war Ealing comedy kicks off the studio’s golden age. A group of resourceful boys uncover a criminal racket in London and take it upon themselves to foil the gang. A young Harry Fowler leads a cast brimming with spirit, and the film’s energy still feels fresh despite its age.

The rubble-strewn city provides a vivid backdrop—half playground, half battleground—and the film becomes a document of working-class resilience in a broken but rebuilding Britain. Director Charles Crichton captures a rare combination of innocence and urban grit.

Though it’s primarily played for laughs, Hue and Cry contains more than a hint of social realism. It celebrates collective effort, mistrusts authority, and places its faith in the sharp instincts of ordinary people.

Out of Sight (Legend, 9:00 PM, 1998)
Steven Soderbergh’s stylish adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s novel is a dance of wit and chemistry. George Clooney’s bank robber and Jennifer Lopez’s U.S. Marshal find themselves in a prolonged flirtation that stretches across heists, hideouts, and handcuffs.

It’s a film that luxuriates in cool—gliding between timelines, locations, and perspectives with jazzy confidence. But underneath the slick exterior is a melancholy meditation on choices, second chances, and the thin line between criminality and charisma.

Soderbergh plays with genre expectations to give us a noir romance where both lovers know they’re heading for heartbreak. One of the smartest, sexiest films of the ’90s.

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🌟 28 Days Later (BBC One, 10:30 PM, (2002)
Over two decades since its release, Danny Boyle’s apocalyptic horror still pulses with urgency, freshly remastered to remind audiences why it remains one of the most unsettling visions of societal collapse in modern cinema. From its haunting opening, where Cillian Murphy’s Jim stumbles out of a hospital into a deserted London, the film grips with an eerie realism—its empty streets and flickering remnants of normal life amplifying the loneliness and confusion of its protagonist.

Shot with a grainy digital immediacy, 28 Days Later strips back the polish of traditional horror, making everything feel raw, unpredictable, and dangerously real. At its core, Boyle crafts a survival nightmare rooted in the fragility of civilisation: the infected—rage-fueled, mindless husks—are terrifying, but the true horror emerges elsewhere. The military, tasked with restoring order, becomes an unchecked force of control, turning the idea of protection into something darker, something more brutal. The theme is clear—crisis does not merely destroy; it warps morality, turns desperation into tyranny, and exposes the thin veneer of human decency.

Naomie Harris’s Selena is a standout, refusing to fall into genre clichés of vulnerability or romance. Her performance radiates toughness, pragmatism, and emotional depth, elevating the film beyond its blood-soaked tension into something deeply human. Brendan Gleeson brings warmth as Frank, a father desperately clinging to hope, making his fate all the more devastating.

Beyond its horror beats, 28 Days Later simmers with political undercurrents. Boyle plays with anxieties about viral outbreaks, government dysfunction, and the ethics of bio-weaponry—ideas that have only gained relevance over time. The film lingers on dehumanisation, not just in the infected but in the people left behind. Survival comes at a cost, and Boyle ensures we feel every moment of its weight.

Elusive, intense, and eerily prophetic, this is more than just a zombie thriller. It’s a warning, a reflection, and a masterpiece of modern horror filmmaking that refuses to age. Essential viewing.

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America’s Veterans: The War Within (ITV1, 10:20 PM)
A harrowing exploration of the mental health crisis gripping U.S. military veterans, this documentary shines a stark light on the invisible wounds of war—those carried long after the battlefield is left behind. Through firsthand testimonies and expert analysis, it reveals the devastating impact of PTSD, homelessness, and suicide among those once celebrated as protectors of the nation.

Beyond the raw statistics, the programme examines the broader societal failure to support veterans in their transition back to civilian life. Many face bureaucratic hurdles, financial instability, and inadequate healthcare, compounding their struggles. The documentary confronts difficult questions: Why do so many veterans feel abandoned? What does it say about a country that reveres its soldiers in uniform but neglects them when they are most in need?

The human cost of war is laid bare—not just in combat but in the psychological toll that lingers long after the fighting stops. Interviews with veterans detail the isolation, the difficulty in reconciling wartime experiences with everyday life, and the desperate search for stability in a system that often fails them.

The film also investigates the role of institutions—how government policies, underfunded support programs, and societal misconceptions contribute to a crisis that has been largely ignored. It critiques the gap between rhetoric and reality; while veterans are frequently praised in political speeches, the tangible resources available to them tell a different story.

Through these accounts, America’s Veterans: The War Within serves as both an exposé and a call to action—urging viewers to reconsider the meaning of service, sacrifice, and national responsibility. It is more than a documentary; it is a sobering reminder that heroism does not end when the war does, and that real support must extend beyond the battlefield.

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Monday 16 June

The Piano (BBC Two, 11:00 PM, 1993)
Jane Campion’s gothic romance remains emotionally raw and visually spellbinding. Holly Hunter’s mute Ada, arriving in colonial New Zealand with her piano and young daughter in tow, confronts cultural oppression and sexual politics with unflinching determination.

Michael Nyman’s score swells with longing, acting as both Ada’s voice and the film’s emotional map. Hunter and Harvey Keitel offer performances that eschew traditional romantic arcs, and Anna Paquin—aged just 11—gives a frighteningly precocious turn.

Campion’s film explores silence, resistance, and the tension between personal autonomy and societal roles. It’s a strange, powerful experience—sensual and unsettling in equal measure.

The Bush Years: Family, Duty, Power – Ep. 1 of 6 (PBS America, 8:50 PM)
The first chapter in this political dynasty docuseries delves into the formative years of the Bush family, exploring the ambitions and ideological forces that shaped their rise to power. From Prescott Bush’s early ventures in finance and politics to the disciplined upbringing of his son, George H.W. Bush, the episode traces the foundations of a legacy built on loyalty, service, and the careful cultivation of public image.

Slickly produced and well-paced, the documentary unpacks how privilege, networking, and inherited influence played a decisive role in positioning the Bushes as one of America’s most enduring political families. Yet, it also examines the personal dynamics—how family duty was instilled as a guiding principle, often leading to internal rivalries and defining moments of political transformation.

Beyond individual biographies, the episode considers the broader implications of dynasty in American politics. It raises questions about the balance between meritocracy and legacy, the extent to which power is passed down rather than earned, and how media narratives reinforce the image of leadership.

With archival footage, interviews, and expert insights, The Bush Years provides a fascinating glimpse into how political legacies are crafted—not only by policy and governance but by carefully managed optics, deep-rooted connections, and an unwavering commitment to sustaining influence across generations.

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Tuesday 17 June

The Guard (Film4, 11:20 PM, 2011)
John Michael McDonagh’s Irish black comedy is an anti-cop film wrapped in the uniform of a buddy cop flick. Brendan Gleeson plays a foul-mouthed, morally ambiguous guard whose strange brand of justice collides with Don Cheadle’s straight-laced FBI agent. The culture clash is played for laughs—but also for pathos.

Gleeson’s character, Sergeant Boyle, is a contradiction: racist yet not malicious, indifferent yet oddly heroic. His deadpan observations slice through the absurdities of rural corruption and global crime. The dialogue is razor-sharp, and the humour pitch-black.

Underneath the gallows wit, The Guard is a melancholy reflection on honour in a dishonourable world. It’s cynical, yes—but never without heart.

The Bush Years – Ep. 2 of 6 (PBS America, 8:50 PM)
This episode delves into George H.W. Bush’s years as Vice President and President, balancing Cold War diplomacy with domestic challenges. The tone is respectful but not sycophantic, offering insight into a transitional era of U.S. conservatism.

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Wednesday 18 June

The Lady from Shanghai (Talking Pictures, 3:00 PM, 1947)
Orson Welles’ dreamlike noir is a carnival of shadows, mirrors, and betrayals. Playing an Irish drifter caught in a wealthy couple’s web of deceit, Welles constructs a story that resists logic but compels through mood. Rita Hayworth’s transformation—icy, platinum-blonde femme fatale—is one of cinema’s great image shifts.

The film is fractured, hallucinatory, and often incoherent, but it is precisely this strangeness that gives it staying power. The climactic hall-of-mirrors shootout is a masterclass in visual metaphor and genre subversion.

This is noir as fever dream—dense, disorienting, and intoxicating.

The Bush Years – Ep. 3 of 6: “A Family Triumph” (PBS America, 8:50 PM)
This episode traces George W. Bush’s rise to the Texas governorship, framing it as both political redemption and familial expectation. The tone hovers between myth-making and mild critique.

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Thursday 19 June

Night of the Demon (Talking Pictures, 10:10 PM, 1957)

Jacques Tourneur’s eerie adaptation of Casting the Runes remains one of the finest examples of British horror, effortlessly blending supernatural terror with psychological unease. Dana Andrews plays Dr. John Holden, a pragmatic American psychologist intent on debunking occult practices, only to find himself entangled in a sinister plot orchestrated by Julian Karswell—a cult leader whose charm masks something deeply unsettling.

What sets Night of the Demon apart is its commitment to tension over spectacle. The horror simmers beneath the surface—built through unsettling whispers, flickering candlelight, and ominous wind that rattles through the countryside. Tourneur, a master of restraint, ensures that suggestion is more terrifying than revelation. The film plays with shadows and uncertainty, daring the audience to question what they see and what they only suspect.

Karswell’s library is a place of dreadful knowledge, its books promising power yet dripping with menace. The séance scene crackles with unease, while the film’s rural landscapes transform the familiar into something quietly oppressive. Even mundane conversations carry an eerie weight, as though truth itself is a precarious illusion.

The moment of the demon’s appearance remains one of horror cinema’s most debated sequences. Some argue that showing the creature diminishes the carefully built dread, while others see it as a shocking punctuation mark in a film that otherwise thrives on ambiguity. But Tourneur understood that fear is as much about what lurks in the mind as what manifests before the eyes.

Beneath its supernatural elements, Night of the Demon is a philosophical ghost story—a battle between belief and scepticism, power and reason, fate and free will. Holden’s journey is not just about escaping a curse; it’s about confronting the limits of rationality and the unsettling possibility that some forces defy explanation.

Elegant, eerie, and richly atmospheric, this remains a cornerstone of British horror—a film that lingers not just in the mind but in the shadows it so expertly conjures.

🌟 Nightmare Alley (Film4, 10:55 PM, 2021)
Guillermo del Toro’s bleak vision of carnivalesque corruption casts Bradley Cooper as a charming grifter ascending through a world of illusion. With Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, and Willem Dafoe adding edge and menace, the film gleams like chrome and cuts like glass.

It’s a critique of ambition and self-deception, where even the ‘gifted’ are doomed by their hunger. The production design is meticulous, evoking 1940s noir with art-deco dread, and the pacing lingers just long enough on every moral turning point.

This is del Toro at his darkest: unflinching, unsentimental, and utterly magnetic.

Outrageous (U&Drama, 9:00 PM)

A fascinating look at the lives and legacies of the Mitford sisters, Outrageous explores the contrasting paths of this influential British family, whose members shaped literature, politics, and social movements in ways that continue to spark debate. The programme delves into the sisters’ varied ideologies—from fascism to communism—and the enduring myths surrounding their aristocratic upbringing, rebellious spirits, and sometimes scandalous choices.

With a blend of archival footage, interviews, and dramatized sequences, Outrageous doesn’t shy away from the more divisive aspects of the Mitfords’ lives, yet it also celebrates their intelligence, wit, and impact. Nancy’s literary sharpness, Diana’s political notoriety, Jessica’s radical activism, and Unity’s disturbing admiration for Hitler—all are examined with a keen eye on both personal motivations and historical context.

The documentary raises compelling questions about class, privilege, and how certain figures—no matter their controversies—continue to captivate public imagination. Whether seen as rebels, visionaries, or cautionary figures, the Mitford sisters remain some of Britain’s most discussed and dissected personalities, and Outrageous ensures they are anything but forgotten.

The Bush Years – Ep. 4 of 6 (PBS America, 8:50 PM)
Focuses on the political manoeuvring behind Bush Jr.’s presidential run, offering a fascinating glimpse into the PR-driven mechanics of dynasty.

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Friday 20 June

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (BBC Two, 11:00 PM, 1994)
This Aussie road movie about two drag queens and a trans woman crossing the Outback in a lavender bus remains a dazzling celebration of queerness and resilience. Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, and Guy Pearce offer performances full of bite and soul.

Behind the feathers and ABBA lip-syncs lies a story about acceptance and chosen family. It doesn’t flinch from the bigotry the characters face, but it refuses to let them be victims. The scenery is gorgeous, but the emotional topography is even richer.

Priscilla helped pioneer queer visibility in mainstream cinema. It’s joyous, defiant, and unforgettable.

Sheroes (Channel 4, 12:55 AM, 2023)
This pulpy action flick centres on four women rescuing a kidnapped friend in Thailand. A blend of neon visuals and empowerment themes, it’s not subtle—but it’s undeniably entertaining for a late-night watch.

The Bush Years – Ep. 5 of 6: “Sibling Rivalry” (PBS America, 8:50 PM)
Tackles the differences between George W. and Jeb Bush, framing their rivalry as a study in legacy, image, and political fate.

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And Streaming

For those looking for thought-provoking viewing, these upcoming streaming releases between June 14–20, 2025, explore social, political, and psychological themes across different platforms:

• Netflix – State of Control (June 15)
  A tense political drama about mass surveillance and government oversight, where a journalist uncovers a secret program that threatens civil liberties. Sharp writing and gripping performances make this a chilling reflection on modern power dynamics.
• Amazon Prime – The Mind’s Edge (June 17)
  A neuroscientist develops memory manipulation technology—only to find herself questioning reality as her own past unravels. A stylishly shot psychological thriller exploring trauma, identity, and the consequences of playing with human consciousness.
• Disney Plus – Echoes of Power (June 19)
  This historical drama traces the rise and fall of a political dynasty, revealing the personal and ideological battles that define leadership. Layered storytelling and rich performances explore ambition, loyalty, and moral compromise.
• Apple TV+ – Echo Valley (June 13)
  A grieving mother is drawn into a desperate cover-up when her daughter arrives home covered in blood. With intense performances and a gripping narrative, this psychological thriller probes themes of survival, trauma, and moral reckoning.
• Hulu – A Complete Unknown (June 17)
  A biographical drama chronicling Bob Dylan’s early years, set against the cultural and political upheaval of the 1960s. The film examines artistic identity, rebellion, and the power of music as a force for change.
• Max – The Brutalist (June 16)
  A historical drama following an architect’s struggle to build a legacy in post-war America, navigating political pressures, artistic integrity, and personal sacrifices. A thought-provoking meditation on creativity, ambition, and resilience.

Our video guide will follow shortly.