So that’s K5’s budget gone for another year. How patriotic of them to fork out for Hannibal. As luck would have it, there’s already an overview of how it’s performed in the US on page 18, but just in case you can’t be bothered, here’s a quick summary: Hopkins is God; Lecter is great in small morsels (Silence, Manhunter) but less so in big portions (Rising, Hannibal the film and now Hannibal the series); too much screen time and we remember he’s a cannibal, and we don’t like those.
Another backstory series debuting this week, with not even the faintest hint of human flesh on the menu, is Endeavour. Set in Oxford during the 1960s, it traces the early career of Inspector Morse. The prequel, according to the Guardian, is a “bit loopy” but outshines the sequel Lewis as “Shaun Evans is beguiling in the title role – certainly he has more presence and charisma than Kevin Whately. And there are lots of nice little nods to the future: the car, the beer, the women, the music.”
Plenty of that in Ringer (TV2 Zulu, Sun 12:20) in which Sarah Michelle Gellar, yet another mafia turncoat, capitalises on her twin sister’s death to assume her identity as a socialite in New York. Which is cool, but the mob aren’t going to know it’s not her, like they haven’t heard the twin excuse before. The critics also didn’t want to know and it was quickly cancelled.
No danger of that happening to Dangerous Roads (TV2, Thu 23:10), a popular travel show that reunites two former members of the Mary Whitehouse Experience (Hugh Dennis and David Baddiel) to negotiate some of the world’s most terrifying highways.
No doubt, a few of them will be in Africa like In the Shadow of the Sun (SVT2, Tue 22:00), which focuses on the disturbing practice of killing albinos to satiate the demand for their body parts from witch doctors.
Elsewhere, the jury’s out on whether Sade Live: Bring me Home (DR3, Sat 22:10) should stay in the 1980s; Churches: How to read them (DRK, Wed 22:30) will help you make the best of boring holidays; and don’t forget to set your alarm clocks for the Chinese Grand Prix (TV3+, Sun 08:00) but to spend a penny before you get on the coach/couch.
