Radar: My Cultural Picks 13.10.25

Blue Lights (BBC IPlayer)

This is the third series of Bafta-winning Blue Lights and, boy oh boy, is it better than ever. Coming from Northern Ireland, I always prepare myself to wince whenever I hear the Norn Irish accent on TV, for reasons I can’t really explain; there’s just something cringey about characters using phrases such as ‘dead on’ and ‘nah mate’ in written dialogue. However, I’ve got to hand it to writers Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson who have crafted not only an original and engaging plot, but a dialogue between characters which is to be praised for both its authenticity without veering into Norn Irish clichés; it strikes an excellent balance in this regard. There are moments of true warmth and humanity, which are balanced out by the thuggish brutality of gangland Belfast. At no point does the show sentimentalise Belfast as a Post-Troubles land of milk and honey, and it’s all the better for it. You get the feeling that drug busts like this really do still happen in Belfast and probably more often than you’d like to know. Yet, despite this,  if there was anything I took away from the programme it was how much we rely on our police force and care system, yet how much we take them for granted. As well as how much Westlife’s ‘World of Our Own’ really is, in the words of Shane, "a bangin’ tune."

Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping (Channel 4)

You’ll struggle to find someone who loves comedy sketch shows as much as me. I feel like a formative part of my cultural life was watching The Fast Show on a Friday night. And what a show The Fast Show was, in fact I’d go as far as to say it set the standard against which all sketch shows should be measured. I’m sure if you also watched it we could spend many hours quoting the lines and phrases such as - but not limited to - ‘little bit woah, little bit whey, little sh-sh-sh-sh’; ‘I was very, very drunk’; ‘squeezy peas’; or simply ‘nice’. Add to this that I’m a fan of Mithcell and Webb – particularly Mitchell and his performances on ‘Would I Lie to You’ made all the better for his chemistry with Lee Mack (in fact, I wonder if they’ve ever thought about doing a double act?) – and you’d think that I would have loved their newest sketch show ‘Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping’ on Channel 4. But, to be honest, I found it, well, a bit sketchy, as in patchy. The airport scene was the funniest by far but I’m afraid I’m struggling to remember any of the rest apart from a very puzzling one which featured a very sweary Australian. On top of this, unlike the fast show, it struggled to produce those catchy one-line phrases you’ll be repeating to friends and family the next day. I wonder if maybe there’s a reason nobody commissions sketch shows anymore – aside from the fact they’re expensive to make – and that reason may be that nothing will ever again reach the giddy (very giddy) heights of The Fast Show. So, in the regard of resurrecting the sketch show, I suppose, unfortunately, no, Mitchell and Webb, on this occasion, really aren’t helping.

How Are You? It’s Alan (BBC IPlayer)

Another disappointing, big-name comedy I watched recently was Steve Coogan’s latest hit-out as Alan Partridge. I’ve loved Alan Partridge (particularly the feature film Alpha Papa - hands up if you remember him singing along in the car to Roachford?), and think he really is a uniquely British comedy icon, and his place in the comedy canon is safe, however this latest iteration as Norfolk’s most feckless retired radio presenter was a bit under par. I think the main reason for this was that it didn’t really take on its subject of mental health with the bravery I was expecting of it, and just played it too safe with the jokes. Alan Partridge works best when he majorly puts his foot in it, and the programme – for whatever reason, maybe the BBC intervened or got cold feet or maybe the writers did – just trod too lightly. Maybe depression just isn’t that funny. Maybe we’re not ready for a comedy about mental health yet. Maybe there was too much fear of offending groups of people. I don’t know. Whichever way, I was expecting more laughs from this and more engagement with the theme it tries to put front and centre. Aha? More like, meh.

Sounds of the 70s with Bob Harris, BBC Sounds

While I was too young to watch the original Old Grey Whistle, like many others, I remember buying a DVD with selected highlights from HMV in Belfast in the early 2000s and watching it again and again and again. I loved it and felt like I was born in the wrong time. There was something so electric about the stripped back set and the performers just playing their music in some corner of a cavernous TV studio; there was a purity and intimacy about it which I fell in love with, and Bob Harris was the softly spoken, bearded, benevolent delivery man. One of the performances which I found equally bonkers and captivating was Otway and Barrett’s performance of 'Really Free.' The blend of cockney vocals (‘Cor baby, that’s really free’) with dampened, distorted guitar and exuberant performances was just utterly mesmerising. So, it was a pleasure to listen to Bob Harris revisit that moment on his most recent Sunday Sound of the 70s show, and listen to it all over again. But you can watch the original performance here. 

Later… with Jools Holland, BBC IPlayer

While I didn’t have The Old Grey Whistle Test, I did, and still do, have Later… with Jools Holland, and am pleased to see it still going strong. Olivia Dean – surely the next big thing to come out of UK Music – gave a soulful rendition of Man I Need. Watching her, you feel like she could well have featured on the original Old Grey Whistle Test (is it the Hammond organ in the background?), and there’s definitely a Fleetwood Mac (circa Stevie Nicks) vibe about her sound, particularly in tracks like Nice to Each Other, while Man I Need is more soulful. She’s performing at Carnegie Hall as I write this on 6th October and you feel like that’s just the start for her.