Sunday

Theresa V Boris: The Battle To Be PM

9pm, BBC Two

In light of recent events, tonight’s documentary sounds more interesting than it might have a few weeks ago. But, in light of recent events, it’s worth stating that it’s not actually about recent events, or anything that might happen in light of them. Instead, this film looks back to – was it only a year ago? – the strange summer of 2016, when, having realised what he had done, David Cameron ran away, leaving a gaping Brexit-shaped hole where a Tory party leader should be, and a leadership contest erupted, or at least oozed out, between Theresa May, Boris Johnson, a lady whose name I’ve forgotten, and, coming up on the outside like a grey horse called Wee Knife In The Back, Michael Gove.

It’s an interesting film, though not a particularly good one. On the plus side there are on-camera testimonies from several insiders involved with the campaigns of the contenders, and there is the insinuation of off-the-record contributions from some others who might prefer not to be named. On the down side, to illustrate the latter, there are many frankly terrible dramatic reconstructions, written like the umpteenth 10th-rate Thick Of It copycat to have failed to appreciate The Thick Of It, featuring actors who bear little resemblance to the people they are supposed to be playing. (As May, former Doctor Who/Coronation Street regular Jacqueline King looks more like a slick, freshly stunned Grayson Perry; although Will Barton fares better as Johnson, aided by a wig and a decent vocal impression.)

To be fair, the filmmakers have been caught on the hop. The documentary was commissioned before that fun snap election we just had, and it shows. The version I saw was still in rough cut form, and going through a nervous breakdown of title changes. Originally announced as “20 Days: Battle For Supremacy,” it became “20 Days: A Very British Revolution,” then “Theresa V Boris: How May Became PM,” then, finally, maybe, “Theresa V Boris: The Battle To Be PM” – which, as noted, sounds far juicier now.

As an inside view of the 2016 Conservative Party leadership campaign, it’s solid enough, but underwhelming. While various special advisors and other members of Team May and Team Boris whisper of the twists and turns, blunders, betrayals and private curry nights held to curry favour as the contest unfolded, there is little that didn’t make it into the public domain at the time.

What is fascinating, however, is the general tone. Although they lined up on rival sides back then, all the contributors here present a united front of smugness at what a great rah-rah lark it all was. The film feels very much an artefact of the pre-election Tory party, when an unassailable poll lead was supposedly carved in stone, and they felt poised to crush any opposition. The version I’ve seen ends with May calmly, quietly victorious, imperious, having seen off all challengers. She looks almost strong and stable – although I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a re-edit, to inject a hint of vacancy and weak wobbling.

The new title, “Theresa V Boris: The Battle For PM,” has obviously been chosen to cash-in on the uncertainties and fractures exposed again by the election. However, it already

feels out of date.

A new Tory leadership contest doesn’t feel imminent, because it appears the entire cabinet is lining up to stand behind Mrs May. Or maybe hide behind her is more like it, using her as a shield, taking the flak until the smoke clears.

Monday

Ripper Street

9pm, BBC Two

The rip-snorting Victorian cop saga’s fifth and final series first went out via Amazon Prime late last year, but it’s finally landing on the programme’s original terrestrial BBC home tonight for the faithful who don’t subscribe to the streaming service. Things pick up more or less straight from the Season Four cliffhanger finale, which saw the bloody demise of arguably the show’s best character, Drake, the doughty detective played by Jerome Flynn. In the aftermath, his buddies DI Edmund Reid (Matthew Macfadyen), Captain Jackson (Adam Rothenberg) and Long Susan (MyAnna Buring) are on the wrong side of the law, and on the run in London, seeking to clear their names and bring to justice the corrupt Assistant Commissioner Dove and his secret serial-killer brother, Nathaniel. Tonight, the quest leads them to the dog-fighting pits of Whitechapel, but their prey proves slippery. Meanwhile, an old foe returns, as the malicious Inspector Jedediah Shine (Joseph Mawle) is brought back to help lead the hunt for them.

Tuesday

Twin Peaks

9pm, Sky Atlantic

Chance 9pm, Universal

There’s the odd thing you can predict or wish for (dreams came true last week for all who hoped Dale Cooper’s legendary unseen colleague Diane might turn out to look like Laura Dern), but it hardly needs saying that it’s impossible to guess what might happen in each new episode of this astonishing Twin Peaks. Or, indeed, if anything is going to happen: who knows, tonight might just consist of an hour of Dale standing beside a statue humming, or Harry Dean Stanton smoking and looking at the sky. Which would be all right by me. This is the only thing on TV I want to watch right now. Elsewhere, tonight sees the arrival of Hugh Laurie’s new American one, Chance. In a glum noir-by-numbers, he plays Eldon Chance, a brooding, troubled San Francisco psychiatrist, whose troubles deepen with the arrival of a troubled, beautiful new patient (Gretchen Mol), abused by her shady cop husband. Laurie is good as ever and San Francisco looks great, but it’s lacking spark to begin.

Wednesday

The Proclaimers: This Is The Story

9pm, BBC Two

In recent years, the man, the myth that is Bill Drummond – the former KLF leader and Zoo Records guru, also known for burning a million pounds – has eschewed doing interviews, to instead make spiky little no-budget 60-second online video monologues, and it’s fantastic to see a new one broadcast on proper TV tonight in the middle of this documentary on the Auchtermuchty miracles, Craig and Charlie Reid. Proclaimers fans will be in heaven with this in-depth film on the brothers’ career, which feels like something put together by fans itself, chief among them David Tennant. Around their reminiscences come contributions from collaborators including Dexy’s Kevin Rowland and Beautiful South/ Housemartins man Paul Heaton, who were both instrumental in helping the brothers get heard early on; Edwyn Collins, who produced their difficult fifth album; and Matt Lucas, a long-term follower, who also directed their Spinning Around In The Air video in 2012. Muriel Gray, Christopher Brookmyre and Del Amitri’s Justin Currie are among other voices paying tribute.

Thursday

Who Should We Let In? Ian Hislop

On The First Great Immigration Row

9pm, BBC Two

Present-day arguments get an airing in this documentary. Mostly, though, Hislop considers today through the prism of yesterday, with another in his excellent series of films unearthing forgotten stories and unlikely facts from the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The Victorians had an open-door immigration policy, but rising immigration in the 1890s triggered fierce “debate,” fuelled by clashing values, economic anxiety and, especially, the media. While the young Winston Churchill argued against “insular prejudice against foreigners,” the 1905 “Aliens Act” constituted modern Britain’s first peacetime immigration controls – and around it, Hislop argues, British views on immigrants crystallised, leaving a legacy we’re still grappling with. Among the episodes are how the proto-fascist British Brothers League stoked hostility against Jewish refugees in 1901, and the sensationalist scaremongering “Yellow Peril” articles that cultivated anti-Chinese prejudice around 1906.

Friday

The Celebrity Crystal Maze

9pm, Channel 4

Glastonbury 2017

7.30pm, BBC Four

If you’ve spent the past two decades pining for the return of Channel 4’s maze-running, time-zone-jumping game show, you’re in for a night of bittersweet cheese as The Crystal Maze returns for its first full series since 1995. Bitter, because Richard O’Brien, the original host with the most, is no longer aboard; sweet because new presenter Richard Ayoade makes a good, arch replacement, and everything else is much the same, ie, it still looks like it’s taking place in a recently abandoned Blake’s 7 set. The contestants hoping to gather crystals are Ore Odube, Louie Spence, Lydia Bright, Alex Brooker and Vicky Pattison. Meanwhile, the Glastonbury mothership touches down across the BBC tonight. Look out for sets by The Pretenders, Kris Kristofferson and Royal Blood (from 7.30pm, BBC Four); Dizzee Rascal’s headline slot on the Holts Stage (10.30pm, BBC Four); and returning heroes Radiohead’s headline performance on the main stage (around 10pm, BBC Two).

Saturday

Doctor Who

6.45pm, BBC One

Glastonbury 2017

5.30pm, BBC Two

Time flies and it’s the penultimate episode of Peter Capaldi’s final series as The Doctor already, sniff. But tonight’s adventure is important for other reasons, too. For one thing, there’s the return of one of the programme's most iconic monsters, once again in their original, creepiest, cloth-faced incarnations. (Just a shame they didn’t do the episode in black-and-white, with less rubbish music.) For another there is Missy…and…The Master! It’s complicated. Meanwhile, the BBC’s coverage of the festival at Worthy Farm continues to roll. Things begin with a look back on this afternoon’s performances by Jools Holland and Craig David (5.30pm, BBC Two), and continue with more highlights including Katy Perry (8pm, BBC Two), Toots And The Maytals and Liam Gallagher (7pm, BBC Four). Then it’s into live sets from The National (BBC Four, 7.45pm), Father John Misty (BBC Four, 9pm) The Jacksons (10.15pm, BBC Four) and tonight’s headliners, Foo Fighters (9.45pm, BBC One). Keep an eye on the Red Button channel for more. It’s complicated.

LAST WEEK….

There’s no denying that the sight of director Oliver Stone sitting down with Vladimir Putin to get cosy and watch a DVD of Dr Strangelove together ranked among this week’s most remarkable TV moments. It’s equally true that, in terms of telling us much, Stone’s movie date with the Russian President didn’t really accomplish anything. As always across the first two episodes of Stone’s four-part documentary, The Putin Interviews (Sky Atlantic), Putin’s poker face remained set to bemused but immobile, in contrast with Stone’s twitchy editing. And while, afterwards, Putin politely praised Stanley Kubrick’s demented 1964 satire on nuclear holocaust, you could tell he wasn’t really feeling it, and perhaps regretting that he’d agreed to spend 103-minutes sitting in a chair in the dark when he could have been off doing something more dictatorial instead.

But as an absurd if stilted piece of theatre, it was a triumph, and led to one of the Putin-tells-a-joke moments that make the series curiously hypnotic. After the movie, Stone presented Putin with the DVD as a memento as he left; a second later, Putin reappeared, showing that the case was empty: “Typical American gift.”

This wasn’t the first gag Putin cracked, although it’s hard to say if the first was intended as a joke at all. Stone, having heaped praise on the president’s work ethic and hands-on approach to ruling, asked if he ever had a bad day. “No,” Putin replied. “I’m not a woman, so I don’t have bad days.” Stone laughed, a sound pitched between genuine surprise at the answer, and the faint air of obsequiousness with which he has approached this entire task.

Accusations of flattery, fawning, and generally giving an easy ride have dogged the series, just as they did Stone’s previous interview projects with other American bugbears like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez. But there is perhaps method in his mildness. In some respects, Stone seems onside with his interviewees, which is part and parcel of his career-long project, to present American audiences with (sometimes paranoid) counter-narratives to accepted homeland history. But in these Putin interviews, there is also a slightly stronger suggestion of him feeding his subject rope; although the chances of Putin hanging himself with it are remote.

While these talks reveal Putin’s sexism and homophobia, Putin is hardly troubled by that, hardly “caught out.” Meanwhile, Stone makes no real attempt to combat him, preferring to play it as it lays. All pleasant on top, the interview has the tension of a chess match heading to stalemate underneath. Apparently, though, in the final two episodes (which I’ve not yet seen), Stone’s questions do grow tougher, and cover issues like Ukraine and Trump. If only for the incredible access Stone gained, though (the series is edited from over 30 hours of footage from 12 interviews conducted between 2015 and 2017, with Putin exploiting every opportunity to burnish his macho image, with talk of judo and shots of him playing ice-hockey) this is a noteworthy document, undeniably flawed, undeniably fascinating.