DOCTOR WHO, BBC1, 7.20pm
GET the dressing-up box out because the Doctor arrives in Regency London tonight. It’s 1812 in a city of mist, dandies and dampness, and the locals are gathering on the frozen Thames for a “frost fair” where stalls, games and merriment could be found on the solid river.
It all sounds very quaint and festive, so what could possibly upset this jolly winter scene?
The Doctor climbs out of the Tardis to find there is horror behind the rosy-cheeked cheer: “Something is stirring under the ice.”
It’s a classic scary movie trope which never fails to frighten, with the ice cracking or melting to unleash something unspeakable that has been locked inside. Now the air revives it and it comes to life…
The Doctor and Bill discover that visitors to the frost fair have begun disappearing, and the duo need to tackle the monstrous source, as well as the crude attitudes of Regency society where, as Bill points out, slavery is still fresh in the mind.
THE BBC AT WAR, BBC4, 8pm
IT’S hard not to feel sorry for the BBC. So many people these days see it as an enemy when it comes to news reporting, and it’s true it often does itself no favours.
Only yesterday another row about bias and misrepresentation erupted when BBC News interviewed a nurse who praised Labour’s NHS plans, but they didn’t reveal, or perhaps they didn’t know, that the nurse was an activist and a Corbyn supporter.
It’s also being nipped at for the quality of its dramas because it can’t possibly compete with the huge budgets of Netflix and Amazon.
I often feel for it and wonder if the BBC longs for the good old days of the war, when the corporation was held in great affection and seen as “Auntie”.
Jonathan Dimbleby presents this two-part series which looks at the BBC’s invaluable role during the Second World War and how it coped with censorship, morale, and the challenge of reporting from the frontline.
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