Discovering Queen
Documentary – Tuesday, 7.30pm, Bio, 6/10
One day I suppose I’ll get sick of watching docos and retrospectives on Queen and Freddie Mercury. But not yet. And if you’re not a Queen tragic, you’ll get even more value from this tidy primer on one of the 20th century's more unusual bands. In it a range of British music writers elucidate all the many things that made Queen special – up to and including Freddie Mercury appearing in a music video in drag and a handle-bar moustache, decades before Conchita Wurst wowed Eurovision.
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The Strain
Drama – Wednesday, 8.30pm, Fox8, 7/10
Previews weren’t available of this new fantasy/horror/drama from Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan but early notices from the US have been positive. A plane lands at JFK airport in New York with the lights off and the doors sealed. Inside a specialist from the Centres for Disease Control finds 200 corpses – and four survivors. And things just get weirder from there. Del Toro has long had a fascination with fairytales as parables for the human condition, and with scary monsters. I think we can expect plenty of both those things here.
Deadliest Catch
Reality – Wednesday, 8.30pm, Discovery, 7/10
The old sea dogs – and some pups – are back for a remarkable tenth season of Deadliest Catch. Often imitated but never bettered, this series was one of the earliest to blend the documentary and reality genres to create an exhilarating mix of boys’ own adventure and classic soap opera. On the downside, this means we have it to thank for Jersey Shore. On the upside, over a decade it has managed to hang on to the key ingredients that have made it so addictive. It’s undoubtedly a celebration of the hardest working of the working class, beautifully capturing the wit, humanity, frailty and resilience of the men working in the most dangerous occupation in the western world. (It’s certainly about the only place left – on telly or real life – where you see people smoking so freely and unselfconsciously. They have graver dangers to worry about.) The characters are distinct and memorable. And improved production values mean every season we get an ever-more visceral sense of both the beauty and the danger of the work in which they’re involved. Tonight’s instalment opens with the whole fleet in limbo when 2013’s Congressional stalemate meant fishing permits weren’t being issued. But the real issue is how high a price Wild Bill is going to pay for dissing his greenhorn’s voodoo mojo.
Deep Fried Masters
Lifestyle – Saturday, 8.30pm, TLC
What’s weird is not that there’s a cooking show devoted entirely to deep-frying. What’s weird is that there’s more than one of them. Less weird is that most seem to take place in Texas – in this episode San Antonio, where the State Fair attracts millions of people eating tonnes and tonnes of greasy goodness. Our competitors are drawn from those concession stands and produce some truly extraordinary “food”, including deep-fried cheeseburger sliders on a stick, and deep-fried lemonade.
DOCUMENTARY
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DISCOVERING QUEEN
Tuesday July 29 7.30pm, Bio
One day I suppose I’ll get sick of watching docos and retrospectives on Queen and Freddie Mercury. But not yet. Not just yet… And if you’re not a Queen tragic, you’ll get even more value from this tidy primer on one of the 20th centuries more unusual bands. In it a range of British music writers clearly elucidate all the many things that made Queen special – up to and including Freddie Mercury appearing in a music video in drag and a handle-bar moustache, decades before Conchita Wurst wowed Eurovision.
DOCUMENTARY
***
DISCOVERING QUEEN
Tuesday July 29 7.30pm, Bio
One day I suppose I’ll get sick of watching docos and retrospectives on Queen and Freddie Mercury. But not yet. Not just yet… And if you’re not a Queen tragic, you’ll get even more value from this tidy primer on one of the 20th centuries more unusual bands. In it a range of British music writers clearly elucidate all the many things that made Queen special – up to and including Freddie Mercury appearing in a music video in drag and a handle-bar moustache, decades before Conchita Wurst wowed Eurovision.
DOCUMENTARY
***
DISCOVERING QUEEN
Tuesday July 29 7.30pm, Bio
One day I suppose I’ll get sick of watching docos and retrospectives on Queen and Freddie Mercury. But not yet. Not just yet… And if you’re not a Queen tragic, you’ll get even more value from this tidy primer on one of the 20th centuries more unusual bands. In it a range of British music writers clearly elucidate all the many things that made Queen special – up to and including Freddie Mercury appearing in a music video in drag and a handle-bar moustache, decades before Conchita Wurst wowed Eurovision.
DOCUMENTARY
***
DISCOVERING QUEEN
Tuesday July 29 7.30pm, Bio
One day I suppose I’ll get sick of watching docos and retrospectives on Queen and Freddie Mercury. But not yet. Not just yet… And if you’re not a Queen tragic, you’ll get even more value from this tidy primer on one of the 20th centuries more unusual bands. In it a range of British music writers clearly elucidate all the many things that made Queen special – up to and including Freddie Mercury appearing in a music video in drag and a handle-bar moustache, decades before Conchita Wurst wowed Eurovision.
