The Honourable Woman
On paper, what a treat. But should it all perhaps have stayed on paper? Hugo Blick is the BBC's resident auteur, a writer-director with a carte blanche to do what he will. Last time around, Blick stocked up on his 70s noir and gave us the The Shadow Line, a brilliantly brooding or indigestibly mannered policier, depending on your point of view. Now he takes on the entire intractable mess of the Middle East in a thriller that harks back to the impenetrable complexities and uncertain loyalties of the Cold War. Our heroine is a Jewish peer of the realm whose Israeli father was murdered before her eyes as a child, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal (with Jake Gylleenhaal the starriest sister brother combo since MacLaine and Beatty). The Hollywood actress effortlessly channels Emma Thompson to achieve a slightly nasal and perfect Anglo accent and running barefoot resembles an Amazonian gazelle. That her performance at times turns execrably unwatchable is down to lines no human being could utter credibly, such as, 'It's the Middle East, Shlomo - enemies is what you make.' Listening to this stuff is like swimming through treacle, so Lord knows what it's like to actually say the words, which perhaps explains why Stephen Rea's British spy is afflicted with the tightly clenched expression of a man with a severe case of constipation.
Still, everything looks magnificent and the plot plants intriguing seeds between the deaths that bookend the opener, so press on and you may be rewarded in the coming seven episodes.
NOT TO BE MISSED
Inside Asprey, ITV, Thursday, 9pmA dazzling look inside the jewellery shop that has been providing gems to
the royal family ever since Queen Victoria was on the throne, where the
high-born and Hollywood stars come to browse and buy multi-million
pound baubles.
Imagine: Monty Python - And Now For Something Rather Similar, BBC1, Sun (subject to World Cup)
Boys will be boys - but as they prepare to reform, have the troupe's gags gone past their sell-by date? Alan Yentob asks the questions and takes a sneak peak of the show about to go pm at the O2.
The World’s Best Diet, Channel 4, Monday, 9pm
Jimmy Doherty is off on a globe-trotting tour to sample cuisines across borders, and journeys to different tribes and cultures hoping to find the single healthiest diet of all.